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NASB | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. [Heb 11:3] |
Subject: why did god create the universe? |
Bible Note: Dear Brian, Let me address your statement: "To suggest that God made man for his own self-glory would be to imply a deficiency of ego within God." (sic) You are correct that nothing external to God compelled Him to create. God is utterly perfect in every sense, and nothing wanting. Nothing can be added to perfection. God is perfectly happy and completely fulfilled in His self existence. He lacks nothing and never has. However, to deny that God does everything to His own glory is to deny a fundamental tenet of His self-revelation. A doctrine that has been recognized from the earliest days of the church. The question to ask: If God doesn't do everything to His own glory, to whose glory would He do everything? Let me try to explain another way. In the first commandment of the Decalogue God states, "You shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:3 ESV) To do so is idol worship. Idol worship is imputing the worthiness of God to something other than God. So I ask this question: Does God have any other gods before Himself? Does God have an idol? Of course not! In other words, He imputes worthiness to Himself alone for He is more precious than anything. Indeed, He knows His own worthiness for what it really is: infinitely worthy! God is the best judge of His own value. For Him to deny that value out of some kind of imagined modesty would be a sinful denial of the truth. I like how Lee Shelton IV put it when he wrote, "As human beings, you and I long for that which is good. We want to do what is right. We strive constantly for something that is higher than we are. And there is nothing higher, more right, or more good than God. He is the epitome of purity and perfection. As such, He cannot help but bring glory to Himself. To do anything less would be a sin -- and God does not sin." "I am the LORD [the self-existent, sovereign one]; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." (Isaiah 42:8 ESV) "Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made." (Isaiah 43:7 ESV) Once we understand why we were created, we more clearly understand sin. "For all have sinned and fall short of the GLORY OF GOD." (Romans 3:23 ESV) God's greatest passion is for His glory. He created the universe in order to make His glory known. Put another way, God created the universe in order to put on display the infinite worth of His attributes. "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed." (2 Thessalonians 1:9-10a ESV) Finally, as I've pointed out the Word states that man was created for God's glory. It does not state that man was created because of God's love. In Him, Doc |