Philip Van Limborch on the Divine Decree
Limborch starts with the divisions of the decree he first starts off with saying that the decrees of God are divided with respect to the objects and he gives some examples of this like the creation of the world,the sending of Christ in the world and things that God commands or forbids. When it comes to things that commands, Limborch says God “promotes by the Assistance of his Grace, whilst he would permit the latter for very wise and just Reasons.” Limborch makes sure to say that “this Assistance of God's Grace does not lay any constraint upon a Man to do what is good, but only bestows upon him a Power of Working, and is the very Principle of all Operation, without destroying Man's Free-will: Much lest does the Divine Permission force a Man to sin.” So we see here the standard Arminain resistible grace when grace is given doesn’t mean that man has to do something so the principle of alternate possibilities stays while in calvinism there is no principle of alternate possibilities. Limborch then goes on to explain in what sense does the Decree of God is the cause of all things he says in answering an objection “That all things are indeed in the Mind of God, according as they happen in time, however he has by no means decreed that the things should exist, to the production of which he not only is unwilling to concur, but also forbids and destects.” So for Limborch he will affirm that God doesn’t concur with things he forbids and hates so for Limborch to say the decree is the cause of all things he will say this “All things therefore with respect to their Essence are formed according to the Idea of the Divine Decree, but not with regard to their Existence: That is, God has decreed what should be the Essence of everything when it exists, but he has not decree concerning all things that they should exist.” Limborch very much denies that God decrees the existence of sin or that man should commit a sin since this would mean that God is the author of sin.
He makes the second division of the Divine decrees which he says are general and particular decrees he explains general decrees as “he has appointed some general Laws concerning the Government of the World, the Salvation and Damnation of Man, in which all in general, or at least the greatest Part of Mankind are concerned such for instance is that wherein It Is declared. He that believes shall be saved ,but he that believes shall be damned.” Very simple here general decrees apply to all men while the particular decrees are just “These particular Decrees are for the most part no more than the Application of the general Decree made to him who performs the Condition annexed to that Decree.” So for example the general decree is that if you shall believe you will be saved but if you don’t believe you will be damned now the particular decree here would be that Bob will be saved because he meets the conditions of the general decree i.e faith. He gives scripture to show this distinction for the particular decree he cites 1st Peter 1:20 while for general decrees he cites John 3:16 6:39-40 and Acts 2:21.
Now the last division Limborch makes is Absolute and Conditional decrees “The former of these are such Decrees, the Execution whereof is not suspended by the performing of any stipulated Condition.” And examples of these things would be the creation of the world, granting grace for obeying the divine call and similar things along those lines. Now conditional decrees “are such as have some Condition annexed to them,by the Performance whereof the Execution of them is suspended.” Limbroch shows how plentiful these types of decrees are in scripture and he cites many texts of scripture Exodus 19:5, Isaiah 1:19, Jeremiah 18:7-10, Ezekiel 18:21, John 15:14, Romans 10:9, 2nd Timothy 2:12, Hebrews 10:38 and Revelation 2:5. Limborch knows the objections to this; the first one he tackles is that all of these scripture references are just promises and threats that show the connection between faith and salvation. Limborch answers this objection by giving this answer “Conditional Promises and threatenings are inconsistent with an absolute Decree: for then God would offer Salvation to come under the Condition of believing, whom he had reprobate by his absolute Decree and would threaten others with Death and Damnation upon the account Infidelity, whom by the same Decree he had elected to Salvation, neither of which are consistent with the Divine Veracity and Sincerity, but overthrow all Certainty of the Conditional Promises of God.” Limborch is right here. Let's take a look at Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” If we look here this is a very general statement made by the Apostle Paul so this applies to all of mankind. Since this applies to all of mankind then an absolute reprobation doesn’t work since the reprobate could never fulfill the condition that God institutes in the passage so the promise becomes meaningless and not sincere. And God can’t threaten the elect with death and damnation since he has determined that they will believe so any threat to them is not sincere, it's just a lie at the end of the day. Someone might object that the reprobate could obtain salvation if they have faith but Limborch in the most excellently manner shows how this doesn't work by saying “if they could believe, they might attain to Everlasting Salvation but since, according to their own Opinion, Reprobates are precluded from believing by the absolute Decree of God, they cannot by Faith attain Everlasting Salvation. This supposes, that God requires of his Creatures a Condition impossible to be performed by them, and therefore mocks and makes a sport with Men that are bound up by an absolute and irreversible Decree from performing the Condition required of them, than which nothing can be more unbecoming the Notion we have of God as being an infinitely Just, Holy, and Merciful Being.”
Then he goes to another objection about conditional decrees “That God by Conditional Decrees is described as being in suspense, and waiting on what Man would do before he passes an irrevocable Decree concerning it, which is absurd.” Now Limborch argues “That God when he prescribes a Law to Men under the Sanction of Rewards promised, and Punishments threatened, does place himself in suspense, expecting whether Man will obey the Law or not, before he decrees to him either Reward or Punishment.” Now Limborch is very clear that this waiting that God places himself should not be understood in as we know waiting what he means is “these places are not to be understood of Expectation or Waiting properly so Called, which is an uncertain Expectation of the Event, yet they evince that there is something in God analogous to such an Expectation which could never be, unless God could be laid to suspend his irrevocable Decree concerning a Man, whose Obedience he waited for.” Limborch cites scripture for this he cites 1st Peter 3:20 and Revelation 3:20 to prove his point and I’m gonna take an example from scripture to help illustrate. Let’s look at the fall of Adam we see that God knows Adam will sin but he doesn’t punish Adam until he actually sins so the decree of God to punish sin is suspended until Adam sins. Since it makes no sense to say God punishes Adam before he sins so it makes perfect sense of conditional decrees/promises that God makes in scripture. Now that’s deals with the first sections on the divisions of decrees, the next section is about the order of the decrees.
Order of the Decrees
Limborch rejects people who say “that God in one single Act of his Will has at once decreed all things, and that there is no prior or posterior in the Divine Decrees for by this means there would be no Order but downright Confusion in the Decrees of God, as might be easily evinced.” But Limborch will affirm that God has absolutely decreed the ends before he did the means which are subservient thereto the thing Limborch is trying to do is escape this objection “it does from thence follow, that the Decree of God, by which he wills the Salvation of Men, is prior to his foreseeing of their Faith and Obedience: and because this Decree cannot be prior, unless upon the account of its being the Cause,therefore the granting" of Faith and Obedience, and the Foresight thereof, must be the Effect: of that Cause.” Limborch answers this objection “The End may admit of a twofold Meaning,and may be considered, (1.) As an End absolutely in-tended, which in the Divine Decree does precede the Choice of the Means, and is the Cause why such or such Means are chosen as most: proper for the attaining of that End.” So he makes this distinction in the meaning of the word “end” one that is absolute while the other is a reward and this meaning he says “which in the Divine Volition or Decree does not precede the Means, which are required before-hand as the Condition of that Reward.” So for example Limborch would take the second meaning of the word “end” when it comes to the salvation of man since the objection wouldn’t work against it and an example I can think of to illustrate his point. Let’s have Timmy cleans the bathroom and his mom rewards him that reward has to come after the action/condition since it ceases to be a reward if the reward comes prior to the action/condition. Limborch doesn’t deal with this issue that much besides the one and a quarter page he dedicated to this issue. He ends the section with “From this Order in the Divine Decrees between the End and the Means, we may easily apprehend what sort of Order they have with respect to other Objects. But we shall not insist any further on this nice Subject, but proceed to consider the Attributes of the Divine Decrees.”
Attributes of The Divine Decrees
Limborch starts off this section by talking about the eternality of the divine decree and he rejects that the decrees are eternal. He gives a couple reasons why the first being “we believe nothing to be Eternal but God only and since we have already proved that the Decrees of God are not Essential to him, its evident that they are not absolutely Eternal.” The second reason he gives for rejecting this is that since the decrees are the free effects of God’s will the decree have to be posterior to God who is absolute eternal. Then the third point he makes is that if something is absolutely eternal it means that thing is a necessary being. For example God is eternal and is a necessary being so if the decrees are eternal then they are necessary which lead to the conclusion that “God himself, who does all things according to the Counsel of his Will, would be a necessary Agent.” But Limborch will concede that “that God, as he is a Being endued with Understanding and Will, cannot be without some Act of Decreeing ab Infinito. However it does not from thence follow, that what God has decreed with respect to his Creatures, was so decreed from all Eternity.” And surprisingly Limborch uses the fierce opponent of Arminius to prove his point Francis Gomarus which Limborch says “Francis Gomarus in his ninth Disputation concerning the Eternal Decree of God, has very fairly stated this Question and proves, because the Decree of God is not God himself, that therefore there is a manifest Distinction between the Eternity of God and of his Decree.”
Now Limborch goes over the texts of scripture that people cite for God’s decree to be eternal. The first one on the chopping block is Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Limborch argues that “it relates to the Calling of the; Gentiles , which St. James from Amos 9:11, 12. proves; to have been decreed by God several Ages before.” Then how he explains Ephesasins 1:4, 1 Corinthians 2:7 and 1 Timothy 1:9 “As to all those Texts in general we say, that what was before the Creation of the World, was not therefore absolutely Eternal, since the Angels, who by the Confession of many Divines and Fathers, were created before this Visible World, had a Beginning, and consequently were not from all Eternity.” Limborch does a very interesting move by using the confessions of Divines and Fathers to illustrate that his interpretation makes sense. I would like for him to cite some people for this point but he is right if you concede that Angels were created before the visible world then all of those passages don’t necessarily have to mean that God’s decree is eternal.
Now he goes over the last three attributes of God’s decree in a rapid pace compared to his treatment on eternality when it concerns the divine decree. The second attribute liberty is an important attribute for Limborch since the divine decree “depends solely upon the Good-Will of God.” The third attribute for Limborch is the extent of the decree and he says“nothing happens in the World, but what God has decreed.” Immutability is the fourth attribute that Limborch affirms when it comes to both general and particular decrees but he makes sure to nuance this. When it comes to the general decree there is no change from God and from man but when it comes to the particular decrees there is a change but the change only comes from man. As Limborch masterfully explains “Whereas the Particular Decrees, which are for the most part an Application of the Universal, are so often altered as there is a Change made in Men to whom the General Decree is applied. And This Alteration is not on God's but on Man's part, so that the Purpose of God standeth sure and fixed.” So God and the particular decree stay immutable while man is the one who is mutable since it is improper to say God changes since scripture is clear that God doesn’t change Mal 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
Now that’s the end of this blog post I hope you find this interesting since many people don’t know about Limborch or his view of the divine decree. So I want to thank you for reading this blog post and I hope you have a great day.
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