Часть вторая. О Боге в отношениях Его к тварям

§ 1. Composition and division of the doctrine of God in His relations to creatures The Triune God, all-perfect and all-blessed, dwelling in the unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), deigned to reveal His invisible and incomprehensible Divinity and His eternal (Rom. 1:19-20), or His glory in the world, and, as the all-good One, wanted to make other beings partakers of His goodness. He brought everything that exists from non-existence into existence, preserves the existence and powers of creatures and in many different ways directs and promotes their achievement of great goals determined by His holy will. In other words, God in His relation to the world is the Creator and Provider of the world. In particular, in the works of His providence for people, through whose ancestor evil and death entered the entire human world, and even the unreasonable creation fell into temporary slavery of corruption (Rom. 8:20-22), God was noble to show His goodness and His other perfections in a special way. The special actions of God's thoughts in relation to the human race are all the actions of God as the Accomplisher of our salvation (οικονομία) - the incarnation of the Son of God, redemption, sanctification by the grace of the Holy Spirit. As an omnipotent and supremely wise being, it cannot be characteristic of God that the goals assigned to created being do not come to fulfillment at the time determined by Him and to a certain extent. And God will indeed, at the time appointed by Him, appear as the Executor of His eternal decrees about the whole world and the human race - at the second glorious coming of Christ, when the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, the general judgment, and the opening of the kingdom of glory will follow. This is, in its most important and general outlines, the teaching of revelation and the church about God in His relations with creatures. The disclosure of this teaching constitutes the content of the second part of Dogmatic Theology. Divided into particular sections, the entire composition of the teaching about God given in revelation and taught to the church about God in His relations with creatures is embraced and naturally arranged in the following sequence: Dept. I, – The doctrine of God as the Creator of everything visible and invisible. Dept. II. – The doctrine of God as the Provider of the world. Dept. III. – The doctrine of God the Savior and His special relationship to the human race (θεολογία οικονική). Dept. IV. – The doctrine of God as the Executor of His decrees about the whole world and the human race (eschatology). In this order we will present the teaching of revelation and the church about the works of God in relation to creatures. You might be interested in: