Theology

The World’s Dependence Upon God

From the beginning, creation is dependent upon God in every way. Scripture does not give us the impression that God was in need of the earth, animals, vegetation, or human beings. He was not bored one day and decided that it would be nice to make some companions. He did not create humans and then say to them, “You complete me.” It seems that the best explanation for God’s purpose in creating the world is this: He did it for his glory. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” In 1 Corinthians 10:23-30, Paul exhorts believers to seek the good of their neighbor and not flaunt Christian liberty at the expense of another. He summarizes the entire statement with one sentence in verse 31 by saying “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” The purpose of the world and humanity is to glorify God.

God is the beginning and focal point, not us. If this is true, it has important implications on reality and our existence. It means that we are completely dependent upon God for our existence, continuance, and eternal destiny. In fact, all of the created order is dependent upon God. Since God has no deep need for us and was not under any obligation to create the world and everything in it, he would not be worse off if we never existed. Instead, he freely chose to create everything by his good pleasure and for his glory to be enjoyed in relationship forever. We know that sin messed that storyline up initially. We also know that God rectified the situation by sending Christ to die on the cross and pay the penalty of our sin in our place. We have nothing without God. We are dependent upon Him in every single way.

In A Basic Christian Theology, A.J. Conyers points this out when speaking of God’s work of creation.

In Genesis the idea of the world’s absolute dependence upon God is suggested in the word that God made (bara) the heavens and the earth, rather than “gave birth” to the cosmos. For him to fashion the world as something other than himself, rather than give birth to the world, means that God was under no necessity of nature. He freely created what he willed to create; he was not imposed upon by some process that of necessity brought the world into existence. He was utterly free to act; thus the world is utterly dependent upon his will, and it is absolutely the world he wished to design.

If God gave birth to the world then the argument could be made that the world consists of the same substance as God. If we take on the same substance as God then we are at least one with God. Take it one step further and we become God. On the contrary, God made the world out of nothing. In this case, there is an important distinction between the Creator and creation. This distinction points to the great need we have for God. He didn’t need us. He was not obligated to create us. He freely chose to do so. We would not exist apart from that choice. The world would not exist apart from that choice. Thus, the world is fully dependent upon God and owes its very existence to Him. Remember this point when you seek to share the gospel. Our need for God is great. We would not exist without Him. Sin has separated us from Him. Eternal life is impossible outside of Him. If God created the world, then it only makes sense that He is our only hope for making right what has gone terribly wrong.

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