Comparing Herman Witsius (Theologian) and Brian Greene's (Cosmologist) views on Man's purpose.

Brian Greene defines significance in this way:

Some people recoil at the notion of parallel worlds; as they see it, if we are part of a multiverse, our place and importance in the cosmos are marginalized. My take is different. I don't find merit in measuring significance by our relative abundance. Rather, what's gratifying about being human, what's exciting about being part of the scientific enterprise, is our ability to use analytical thought to bridge vast distances, journeying to outer and inner space and, if some of the ideas we'll encounter in this book prove correct, perhaps even beyond our universe. For me, it is the depth of our understanding, acquired from our lonely vantage point in the inky black stillness of a cold and forbidding cosmos, that reverberates across the expanse of reality and marks our arrival.

(p. 10, The Hidden Reality)

Witsius defines why God created Man:

The soul of man was formed for the contemplation of God, as the supreme truth, truth itself, and to seek after him, with all the affection of his soul as the supreme good, goodness itself; and it may be said truly to live, when it delights in the contemplation of that truth, and in the fruition of that goodness.

(The Economy of the Covenants Book I, Chapter V, Paragraph XIV).

So we might ask ourselves, what source of significance seems more compelling: getting to know an universe or even multiverse that seems increasingly cold and forbidding or to pursue knowing an infinite and personal God who creates us and invites us with open arms to know Him?

Calvin on Work and Prayer

In the Institutes Calvin elaborates on the Lord's Prayer. He explains why we have to pray for our daily bread even though we have good jobs and can provide for ourselves.

When we ask God to give us, the meaning is, that the thing asked is simply and freely the gift of God, whatever be the quarter from which it comes to us, even when it seems to have been specially prepared by our own art and industry, and procured by our hands, since it is to his blessing alone that all our labors owe their success.

(Institutes, Book III, Chapter XX, Paragraph 44).

God as our father.

I thought about my dad the other day. He was going through some family issues. I then thought about my sons and I reflected that a man cannot know the depth of a father's love for his children until he has children. Of course, I then remembered how incredible it was that God voluntarily sent His own only begotten Son to die for us. I could not comprehend the pain both the Father and the Son suffered for us. It was even more incredible that God adopted us as His children and that He loved us as His children.

I was reading Calvin's Institutes this morning. Calvin was teaching on the Lord's Prayer. He wrote the following about how God is our Father and prayer:

The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec. 17ñ19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons in Christ? He being the true Son, has been given to us as a brother, so that that which he possesses as his own by nature becomes ours by adoption, if we embrace this great mercy with firm faith. As John says, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name," (John 1:12). Hence he both calls himself our Father, and is pleased to be so called by us, by this delightful name relieving us of all distrust, since no where can a stronger affection be found than in a father. Hence, too, he could not have given us a stronger testimony of his boundless love than in calling us his sons. But his love towards us is so much the greater and more excellent than that of earthly parents, the farther he surpasses all men in goodness and mercy (Isaiah 63:16). Earthly parents, laying aside all paternal affection, might abandon their offspring; he will never abandon us (Ps. 27:10), seeing he cannot deny himself. For we have his promise, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Mt. 7:11). In like manner in the prophet, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee," (Isaiah 49:15). But if we are his sons, then as a son cannot betake himself to the protection of a stranger and a foreigner without at the same time complaining of his father's cruelty or poverty, so we cannot ask assistance from any other quarter than from him, unless we would upbraid him with poverty, or want of means, or cruelty and excessive austerity.

(Institutes Book 3, Chapter 20, Paragraph 36).

Witsius on the Love of Our Neighbor

Witsius asserts that our love of God would dictate that we love our neighbor since our neighbor bears the image of God.

For, he who loves God, cannot but love His image too, in which he clearly views express characters of the Deity, and not a small degree of the brightness of his glory. Again, whoever loves God, will, by virtue of that love, seriously wish, desire, study, and as much as in him lies, be careful, that his neighbour, as well as himself, be under God, in God, and for God, and all he has, be for his glory. Again, whoever loves God, will make it his business, that God may appear every way admirable and glorious; and as he appears such most eminently in the sanctification and happiness of men, 2 Thess. 1. 10. he will exert himself to the utmost, that his neighbour make advances to holiness and happiness. Finally, whoever sincerelv loves God, will never think he loves and glorifies him enough; such excellencies he discovers in him, sees his name illustrious, and so exalted above all praise, as to long, that all mankind, nay all creatures, should join him in loving and celebrating the infinite perfections of God. But this is the most faithful and pure love of our neighbour, to seek that God may be glorified in him, and he himself be for the glory of God. Hence it appears, that the love of our neighbour is inseparably connected with that of God, If therefore it flows from the nature of God, to enjoin us the love of himself, as was just proved; it must likewise flow from the nature of God to enjoin us the love of our neighbour.

(The Economy of the Covenants).

Witsius on the Image of God in Man

Witsius defines what the Image of God means in reference to Adam before the fall.

But if we take in the whole extent of the image of God, we say, it is made up of these three parts. 1st, Antecedently, that it consists in the spiritual and immortal nature of the soul, and in the faculties of understanding and will, 2dly, Formally and principally, in these enduments, or qualities of the soul, viz. righteousness, and holiness. 3dly, Consequentially, in the immortality of the whole man, and his dominion over the creatures. The first of these was, as one elegantly expresses it, as precious ground on which the image of God might be drawn and formed: the second, that very image itself, and resemblance of the divinity: the third, the lustre of that image widely spreading its glory; and as rays, not only adorning the soul, but the whole man, even his very body; and rendering him the lord and head of the world, and at the same time immortal, as being the friend and confederate of the eternal God.

(p. 57, Witsius, Vol. 1)(Book I, Chapter II, paragraph XI))

Witsius on holiness

Witsius points out that holiness is not just abstaining from sin, but a fervent desire to please, to know, and to enjoy oneself in God.

It is finely observed by a learned man, that true holiness is not only opposed to hypocrisy or simulation, or to typical purity, but that it denotes a holy study of truth, proceeding from the love of God. For, osios, to which answers the Hebrew TJSPT,signifies in Scripture, one studious in, and eager after good. This true holiness,therefore denotes such a desire, of pleasing God, as is agreeable to the truth known of, and in him, and loved for him.

(Note that osios is a Greek word for holiness. JT)

p. 54, Witsius, "The Economy of the Covenants"

Herman Witsius on Man's Purpose

This an old translation of a latin text so it is hard to read. However, it has good ideas about the ultimate purpose of Man.

Nor was it becoming God to form a rational creature for any other purpose than his own glory; which such a creature, unless wise and holy, could neither perceive nor celebrate, as shining forth in the other works of God; destitute of this light, and deprived of the endument, what could it prove but the reproach of his Creator, and every way unfit to answer the end of his creation. All these particulars the wisest of kings, Eccles. vii. 29. has thrown together with a striking simplicity, when he says; “Lo! This only have I found, that God hath made man upright.”

---

pp. 51-52, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Volume 1, Herman Witsius.

Herman Witsius and Baby Dedications

I was browsing a book by Herman Wits (or Witsius). He was a 17th century Dutch theologian. I found in the introduction that the publishers inserted a brief biography of Wits's life. Two passages about his parents came to mind when I was watching the baby dedications at church yesterday.

The parents of our Witsius, having vowed to devote a child to the ministry, did Upon the birth of this son, call him after his grandfather, praying, that in Herman the grandson, might be revived the spirit of the grandfather; and that, endued with equal, if not superior talents, he might imitate his example.

The grandfather was a famous preacher and theologian at that time. Here's the second quote:

The care which these pious parents took of young Witsius during his tender infancy, was not intermitted as he began to grow; for, being still mindful of their vow, they brought him up in a very pious manner, instructing him in the principles and precepts of religion and Christian piety.

I used to dream when my boys were young and it was obvious they both were much smarter than I, that they would go into physics or engineering. When they were older, I thought IT would be a good field for them. I did not even dream, let alone pray, that they should go into theology so they can serve in the ministry and further God's kingdom.

Another thought, are we as parents and our church as a whole as concerned about our children's spiritual growth as Wits's parents were about their child?

Brainard meditates on using one's time well.

David Brainard writes in his journal about the benefits of using one's time well. At this point in his life he is living in a Native American village on the pre-revolutionary frontier of America. His home is a shack that he just finished with his own hands. He suffers from TB and loneliness.

"Thursday, Aug. 4. Was enabled to pray much, through the whole day; and through divine goodness found some intenseness of soul in the duty, as I used to do, and some ability to persevere in my supplications. I had some apprehensions of divine things, that were engaging, and which afforded me some courage and resolution. It is good, I find, to persevere in attempts to pray, if I cannot pray with perseverance, i.e. continue long in my addresses to the Divine Being. I have generally found, that the more I do in secret prayer, the more I have delighted to do, and have enjoyed more of a spirit of prayer: and frequently have found the contrary, when with journeying or otherwise I have been much deprived of retirement. A seasonable, steady performance of SECRET DUTIES IN THEIR PROPER HOURS, and a CAREFUL IMPROVEMENT OF ALL TIME, filling up every hour with some profitable labour, either of heart, head, or hands, are excellent means of spiritual peace and boldness before God. Christ, indeed, is our peace, and by him we have boldness of access to God; but a good conscience void of offence, is an excellent preparation for an approach into the divine presence. There is difference between self-confidence or a self-righteous pleasing of ourselves -- as with our own duties, attainments, spiritual enjoyments -- which godly souls sometimes are guilty of, and that holy confidence arising from the testimony of a good conscience, which good Hezekiah had, when he says, "Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart.' `Then (says the holy psalmist) shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy commandments.' Filling up our time with and for God, is the way to rise up and lie down in peace."

Witsius against Perfectionsim

Witsius likened the remains of the flesh in the Christian life to the nations that Israel did not drive out of the land as reported in "Judges." God uses the remains of the flesh to test us and to train us. Witsius lists out a few reasons God allows the influence of the flesh in the Christians life:

But known to God are the reasons of his conduct, in dispensing the operations of the Spirit of grace in believers, so that the remains of the flesh are not entirely expelled in this life, For, 1st. He would by this, shew the difference between earth and heaven, the time of warfare and of triumph, the place of toil and of rest, that we may the more earnestly long for our translation out of this valley of sin and misery into the heavenly country, where every thing shall be made perfect; and may with open arms, embrace death, which will bring us to the perfection, crying out with the apostle; "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me form the body of this death?" Rom. vii.24.

The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man Volume II by Herman Witsius (p. 47).

Dorothy L. Sayers on Work and Vocation

Sayers wrote a lot of articles on work. This is from "Why Work?"

The official Church wastes time and energy, and moreover, commits sacrilege, in demanding that secular workers should neglect their proper vocation in order to do Christian work – by which She means ecclesiastical work. The only Christian work is good work well done. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is church embroidery, or sewage farming. As Jacques Maritain says: “If you want to produce Christian work, be a Christian, and try to make a work of beauty into which you have put your heart; do not adopt a Christian pose.” He is right. And let the Church remember that the beauty of the work will be judged by its own, and not by
ecclesiastical standards.

http://faith-at-work.net/Docs/WhyWork.pdf

G. K. Chesterton on God and Work

G. K. Chesterton viewed the making of products for personal use as one of the highest goods. The true path to happiness, according to Chesterton, is the self-sufficient home where the family produces goods for themselves. God is to be praised because he is the maker of things.

And this experience had made me profoundly sceptical of all the modern talk about the necessary dullness of domesticity; and the degrading drudgery that only has to make puddings and pies. Only to make things? There is no greater thing to be said of God Himself than that He makes things. The manufacturer cannot even manufacture things; he can only pay to have them manufactured

The Autobiography of G. K Chesterton by G. K. Chesterton.

Steve Jobs on Vocation

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” (Steve Jobs: Commencement Address at Stanford, June 2005)

My problem with Steve Jobs's view of life is intuition and one's inner voice can be wrong. Consider this quote from Dr. H. H. Holmes (1896)who was a mass murderer.

"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing." (Confession, 1896)

In Steve Jobs's case his inner voice changed the world in amazing ways, but one's inner voice is not a reliable guide in life to benefit the whole of society. There has to be a better way.

Richard Baxter on choosing your calling

I heard this quote first on Packer's teaching series on the Puritans but this website has it too: http://www.gracebaptist.ws/sermons/notes/PuritanStudy/Puritan1.html

"Choose that employment or calling in which
you may be most serviceable to God…
Choose not that in which you may be most
Rich or honorable in the world, but that in
which you may do most good…

In choosing a trade or calling, the first consideration should be the service of God and the public good, and therefore, that
calling that most conduceth to the public
good is to be preferred.

Work and Revelation 22:16

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
(Revelation 22:16 ESV)

God made us so that we can worship Him. Therefore, God made our hands and thus, the works of our hands should glorify God. What a great insult to God it must be to take the work of our hands which should glorify God and worship it as a god.

Calvin on Calling (Vocation)

The last thing to be observed is, that the Lord enjoins every one of us, in all the actions of life, to have respect to our calling. He knows the boiling restlessness of the human mind, the fickleness with which it is borne hither and thither, its eagerness to hold opposites at one time in its grasp, its ambition. Therefore, lest all things should be thrown into confusion by our folly and rashness, he has assigned distinct duties to each in the different modes of life. And that no one may to presume to overstep his proper limits, he has distinguished the different modes of life by the name of callings. Every man’s mode of life, therefore, is a kind of station assigned him by the Lord, that he may not be always driven about at random. So necessary is this distinction, that all our actions are thereby estimated in his sight, and often in a very different way from that in which human reason or philosophy would estimate them. There is no more illustrious deed even among philosophers than to free one’s country from tyranny, and yet the private individual who stabs the tyrant is openly condemned by the voice of the heavenly Judge. But I am unwilling to dwell on particular examples; it is enough to know that in everything the call of the Lord is the foundation and the beginning of right action. He who does not act with reference to it will never, in the discharge of duty, keep the right path. He will sometimes be able, perhaps, to give the semblance of something laudable, but whatever it may be in the sight of man, it will be rejected before the throne of God; and besides, there will be no harmony in the different parts of his life. Hence, he only who directs his life to this end will have it properly framed; because, free from the impulse of rashness, he will not attempt more than his calling justifies, knowing that it is unlawful to overleap the prescribed bounds. He who is obscure will not decline to cultivate a private life, that he may not desert the post at which God has placed him. Again, in all our cares, toils, annoyances, and other burdens, it will be no small alleviation to know that all these are under the superintendence of God. The magistrate will more willingly perform his office, and the father of a family confine himself to his proper sphere. Every one in his particular mode of life will, without repining, suffer its inconveniences, cares, uneasiness, and anxiety, persuaded that God has laid on the burden. This too, will afford admirable consolation, that in following your proper calling, no work, will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendor and value in the eye of God. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 10, Paragraph 6).

Habakkuk on performing work without God

Habakkuk 2:12-14 ESV

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts

that peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

O. Palmer Robertson comments on verse 14

The certitude of the vanity, the pointlessness of people's oppressive ways that build seemingly stable and worthwhile communities rests on the unchanging word of God that Habakkuk now quotes. Their consumption in the fire of God's judgment is not guaranteed simply by the rise and fall of many previous civiliaztions. Instead, it is the oath of Yahweh himself that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh that quarantees the vanity and futility of all efforts to the contrary. Beauty in song, in dance, in architecture--all to the glory of God--shall fill the earth as the waters covers the sea.

Rest in Hebrews 4

In his commentary on Hebrews called The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary, Homer A. Kent, jr. defines rest as used in Hebrews 4:

What is this rest of God? Certainly it did not connote the cessation of all activity, for that is contradicted by the Biblical teaching of miracles and providence, as well as by the statement of Jesus cited above (John 5:17). Inasmuch as the author takes us to God’s rest after creation, the prominent thought would seem to lie in the concept of the rest which comes with accomplishment, completion, and satisfaction. At the conclusion of creation, God “rested” from His project because it was accomplished; and because His work was good, His rest was also one of satisfaction and enjoyment. This rest of eternal blessedness and fulfillment is what God wants to share with His children.

(p. 82)

The highest proof of George Washington's Virtue

I've been reading a biography of George Washington. One of the most amazing things about Washington was that he stepped down after he won the revolutionary war. His troops adored him and the whole country idolized him. He could have easily became king of the United States. This stepping down from power, caused more admiration from Europe than his conduct of the war. Chernow writes:

When John Trumbull later painted a series of portraits for the U. S. Capitol, he chose Washington's resignation at Annapolis as one of the crowning moments of the founding era and the highest proof of Washington's virtue. At the time of the resignation, Trumbull was in London and recorded European wonderment at the news, saying that it "excites the astonishment and admiration of this part of the world." (p. 457, "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow)

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20 (Solomon on Toil)

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (ESV)

Our days won't drag on. God's gift to us is the ability to focus on Him as our joy and the giver of gifts to us.

Live as you are called (1 Corinthians 7:14)

Interpreters from Luther to Calvin to modern day commentators treat this differently. I'm not sure how to treat this. I need to think about this in relation to work or vocation.

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

(1 Corinthians 7:17-24 ESV)

Job's Simile

To explain the futility of life, Job uses the simile of life is like the days of a hired hand:

[7:1] “Has not man a hard service on earth,
and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?
[2] Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
[3] so I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
(Job 7:1-3 ESV)

Work in Heaven (Isaiah)

Paul Marshall points out that Isaiah 2:4, the nations will turn weapons of war into tools of work. In eternity, God will give us work to do to give Him glory.

He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4 ESV)

Later in Isaiah

[20] No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for the young man shall die a hundred years old,

and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

[21] They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

(Isaiah 65:20-21; Isaiah 65:22-23 ESV)

[22] They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

[23] They shall not labor in vain

or bear children for calamity,

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their descendants with them.

(Isaiah 65:20-21; Isaiah 65:22-23 ESV)

Hannah On Work

In Hannah's prayer we see that God is in control of our success and failures.

The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's,
and on them he has set the world.
(1 Samuel 2:7-8 ESV)

Possessing the Gate of Your enemies

I noticed that two references concerning blessing refer to "possessing the gate of your enemies."  Look at God blessing Abraham:

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, (Genesis 22:17 ESV)

Now, look at Jesus commending Peter for Peter's identification of Jesus as the Christ. Jesus commends Peter and then blesses the Church:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Both passages talk about basically possessing the gates of their enemies. I'm not sure what it means, but it is an interesting parallel.

Francis Schaffer on Work, Life and Death

His [Schaeffer] view of death and his own death was having confidence that life matters and that the world matters, that life and existence is something real, true and eternal and is not going to just disappear into thin air. Because of that you fight to live, and because of that you need to go out and carry on the good fight. You do matter, and God does exist. So you put your hand to the plow, you work and you struggle—you do what you can in all different areas, with passion. You don’t sit in a corner somewhere and wait to die. You don’t embrace death. You see death as a terrible, terrible enemy. What you look forward to is not death, but the Second coming. You are longing and working for that. Contrary to what people say—that you can’t take anything with you—yes, you do take your work with you. It’s a biblical teaching, that what you do matters and will continue on into eternity—building houses, walls, and hiking paths and the whole of human existence. You live with energy.

Colin Duriez quoting Debby Midelmann, 2007 about her father's, Francis Schaeffer, views on life and death.

Evangelism Under Constantine

There is little evidence of orthodox mission into barbarian territories. Even when the Roman Christians found themselves captured and confined outside the empire, the church was slow to send pastoral assistance. Christianity was planted among the barbarians, but it was carried by captives and traders, or through barbarians who served in Constantine's army, rather than through missionaries. ...

Yet this needs to be qualified in two ways. Barbarians did convert, but they converted not because missionaries were sent to them but because they migrated into the empire. ...

p. 289. Defending Constantine, Peter J. Leithart