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NASB | Ephesians 5:20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; |
Subject: Should we be thankful for Judas Iscariot |
Bible Note: Dear WOS, I thought you might be interested in the Reformation thinking that distinguishes between primary causes and secondary cause. In a very simple example, if you set up a domino on a table, I can push it over with my finger. The fallen state of the domino was caused by my finger. That is, my finger was the primary cause of the domino falling. Now, you set up a whole series of dominoes, again, I can push the first over with my finger. The fallen state of the first domino has a primary cause of my finger pushing it. The rest of the dominoes are fallen by secondary causes. God is the primary cause of all things. He also is the primary cause for many things we see around us. However, He also makes use of secondary causes. Consequently, men and angels can do all sorts of things, and make all sorts of plans. But God sovereignly uses the results of their actions to accomplish His own eternal purposes. A classic Scriptural example of this is in the book of Job: The Sabeans' violence against Job and his household as recorded near the beginning of book. There are three levels of responsibility here: The Sabeans are responsible for the violence, motivated by whatever motivates vandals -- a desire for loot, perhaps. However, they are also acting as Satan's agents to test Job. So, in another sense, Satan is responsible. His goal is to show up Job. He somehow moved the Sabeans to attack Job's family. However, even Satan is acting accordance with God's plan. God's goal is to vindicate Job's character and God's own justice. The event makes sense on any of these three levels: human, Satan's plan, and God's plan. In fact all three accounts are true. After reading your post, I imagined that you might find this interesting. In Him, Doc |