作者: Steven Lawson 譯者: Maria Marta
上帝為何創造？當然不是因為祂需要（找）人去愛。縱貫永恒的過去，上帝享受祂自己存有內部的完美的愛和親密的交通。神格裏的三個位格-----聖父、聖子、聖靈-----享受完美的關系，彼此完全滿足。因此，上帝既不內心孤獨，也不獨自虛空；祂完全自我補贖（self-satifaction）、自滿自足（self-content）、自我內含（self-contained）。因此，上帝不是因為祂裏面有某些局限而需要創造。相反，祂從無創造一切，目的是彰顯祂的榮耀給祂所喜悅的受造物，好讓他們宣告祂的偉大。創世記記載了上帝的主權以非凡的方式，在祂用說話創造的存有上-----和拯救他們的過程中彰顯出來。
在創世記，摩西首先記載上帝的主權在創造上的驚人表現。上帝不是俯視著時間隧道，觀看宇宙從無中進化出來。祂沒有預見到一個大爆炸，然後采納混沌這一結果作為祂的永恒計劃。相反，上帝有目的地藉其說話從無中創造一切。祂不在任何的威壓之下創造。祂沒有受到任何外部的壓力。相反，祂創造的行動彰顯出祂偉大的帝國主權。沒有外部束縛能置于上帝至高無上的權威之上，撒旦不能，牠的墮落天使也不能，當然世人更不用說了。
平克（A. W. Pink）以引起思考的驚異來描述上帝在創造前的非凡主權：
「在創世記一章1節之前，永恒浩瀚無垠，伸展無涯，那時宇宙還未生出，創造僅存於偉大的造物主的意念之中。上帝以祂至高主權的威嚴獨自存在。我們指的是天地被造之前那段悠悠遠久的時期，那時沒有天使讚美上帝，沒有受造物占據祂的注意力，沒有叛逆者被征服。偉大的上帝單獨處於祂那浩瀚宇宙的萬籟俱寂之中。但即便在那時，倘若可以稱為那時，上帝亦是至高無上的。祂可以按著祂自己的美意創造或不創造。祂可以用這種或那種方式創造；祂可以創造一個或一百萬個世界，誰能抵擋祂的旨意呢？祂可以創造一百萬個不同的受造物，將他們放在絕對平等的位置上，賦予他們相同的才能，將他們安放在同樣的環境當中; 或者，祂可以創造一百萬個互不相同的受造物，不具保留其身份的任何共同之處，又有誰能挑戰祂的權力呢？同樣，倘若祂喜悅，祂就能創造一個無比龐大的世界，以致它的維度完全超出有限的計算範圍; 同樣，倘若祂願意，祂就能創造異常微小的有機體，以致只有用最強大的顯微鏡才能顯示出它的存在，讓肉眼能觀察得到。祂擁有至高無上的主權，一方面，創造出撒拉弗，燃燒著圍繞在祂的寶座，不停且特別地讚美祂；另一方面，微小的昆蟲在出生的同時就死去了。倘若大能的上帝選擇在祂的宇宙有一個巨大的等級，從高貴的天使到爬行的爬蟲，從旋轉的世界到流動的原子，從宏觀領域到微觀領域，而不是使萬物千篇一律，有誰能質疑祂主權的喜悅呢？」
上帝在創造上的主權的輝煌彰顯，是祂主權掌管救恩計劃的啟蒙書。上帝, 在創造的第一天命令有光，很快就命令福音之光照進靈性盲目的罪人的黑暗心中。上帝，在第二天將水分開，亦會促成一道使自己與罪人分隔的無邊鴻溝。上帝，在第三天使天下的水都聚在一處，將會把罪人聚在一起歸給自己。上帝，在第四天創造了太陽、月亮、星星，將會無所不能地創造得救的信心。上帝，在第五天了創造動物王國，將會恩慈地差遣祂的兒子去作上帝的羔羊，除去世人的罪孽。上帝，在第六天創造了亞當和夏娃，很快會在罪人裡面重新塑造祂的形象。在對失喪之人（包括男女）的拯救中，上帝白白的恩典將完成第二部創世記。
本文摘錄自《Foundations of Grace》，Steven Lawson著。
Why Did God Create?
FROM
Steven Lawson
Why
did God create? Certainly not because He needed someone to love. Throughout all
eternity past, God enjoyed perfect love and intimate communion within His own
being. The three persons of the Godhead—Father, Son, and Spirit—enjoyed perfect
relationships and completely fulfilled one another. Thus, God was not inwardly
lonely or personally empty; He was entirely self-satisfied, self-content, and
self-contained. So God did not create because of some limitation within
Himself. Instead, He created everything out of nothing in order to put His
glory on display for the delight of His created beings and that they might
declare His greatness. The book of Genesis records God’s extraordinary display
of sovereignty in speaking creation into being—and in saving it.
In
Genesis, Moses first recorded the stunning demonstration of God’s sovereignty
in creation. God did not look down the tunnel of time and see the universe
evolve out of nothing. He did not foresee a big bang and then adopt the chaotic
results as His eternal plan. To the contrary, God intentionally spoke into
being everything out of nothing. He was under no coercion to create. There was
no external pressure upon Him. Rather, His act of creation magnificently
displayed His imperial sovereignty. No outside restraints can be placed upon
God’s supreme authority, not by Satan and his fallen angels, and certainly not
by mere men.
A. W.
Pink writes with thought-provoking wonder of the extraordinary sovereignty of
God before creation:
In
the great expanse of eternity, which stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe
was unborn and creation existed only in the mind of the great Creator. In His
sovereign majesty God dwelt all alone. We refer to that far distant period
before the heavens and the earth were created. There were then no angels to
hymn God’s praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought
into subjection. The great God was all alone amid the awful silence of His own
vast universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was
sovereign. He might create or not create according to His own good pleasure. He
might create this way or that way; He might create one world or one million
worlds, and who was there to resist His will? He might call into existence a
million different creatures and place them on absolute equality, endowing them
with the same faculties and placing them in the same environment; or, He might
create a million creatures each differing from the others, and possessing
nothing in common save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His
right? If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that
its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so disposed,
He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most powerful
microscope could reveal its existence to human eyes. It was His sovereign right
to create, on the one hand, the exalted seraphim to burn around His throne, and
on the other hand, the tiny insect which dies the same hour that it is born. If
the mighty God chose to have one vast graduation in His universe, from loftiest
seraph to creeping reptile, from revolving worlds to floating atoms, from
macrocosm to microcosm, instead of making everything uniform, who was there to
question His sovereign pleasure?
God’s
dazzling display of sovereignty in creation was a primer on His right to rule
in matters of salvation. God, who commanded the light to appear on day one of
creation, soon would order gospel light to shine into the darkened hearts of
spiritually blind sinners. God, who separated the waters on day two, would
cause an infinite chasm to separate Himself from sinners. God, who gathered the
waters together on day three, would gather sinners to Himself. God, who created
the sun, moon, and stars on day four, would omnipotently create saving faith.
God, who began to create the animal kingdom on day five, would graciously send
His Son to be the Lamb of God to take away sin. God, who created Adam and Eve
on day six, would soon re-create sinners into His image. His free grace would
perform the second Genesis in the salvation of lost men and women.
This
excerpt is taken from Foundations of Grace by Steven Lawson.
