Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief by John M. Frame

Author:John M. Frame
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Apologetics, Religion & Spirituality, Christian Books & Bibles, Theology
ISBN: 9781596389403
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Published: 2015-06-28T21:00:00+00:00

The Present: The Greater-Good Defense

Scripture’s new historical perspective enables us to look at our own present experience in a new way. In short, God is even now using evil for his own good purposes. This is sometimes called the greater-good defense, and of all the classical defenses (see chapter 7), it is the only one with scriptural support. It does, however, require some clarification.

As Jay Adams311 and Doug Erlandson312 have pointed out, Scripture deals with the problem of evil in its typically theocentric, as opposed to anthropocentric, way. So many traditional treatments of the problem assume that God’s ultimate purpose is to provide happiness for man, and of course that is not so. God’s ultimate purpose is to glorify himself, and indeed man’s own chief end “is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”313 Greater-good defenses often fail to see this point, and thus they arrive at a doctrine hard to distinguish from pagan hedonism. Erlandson therefore rejects this defense. But his point can be made just as well (and other important points can be made more easily) if instead of rejecting the greater-good defense we simply understand it theocentrically. That is, one good is greater than another when it is more conducive to the glory of God.

At the same time, theocentricity does not require us to ignore the happiness of human beings.314 The biblical God is not Moloch, the pagan deity who demanded human sacrifice. Although we deserve death at his hands, the true God sacrifices his own Son to bring us life, and to bring it abundantly (John 10:10). Obedience to God is a way of life and happiness (Deut. 5:33; 8:3; 11:13–15; 28:1–14; 30:11–20; Pss. 1; 119:7). Self-denial and persecution are, of course, part of the Christian life, but the passages that stress these also emphasize that they lead to the most enduring happiness (Matt. 6:24–34; 10:16–42; Mark 10:29–31). Suffering is for a while; glory is for eternity.315 Let us not forget that even the Westminster Shorter Catechism adds “and to enjoy him forever” to its theocentric statement of man’s chief end. Therefore, when God seeks a “greater good” for himself, he seeks at the same time a greater good for his whole creation, that good described so rapturously in Revelation 21 and 22.

But we need still more clarification. The paragraph above might suggest universalism, the doctrine that all human beings will be saved. Scripture does not teach that; indeed, it teaches that some will endure eternal punishment for their wickedness. For this group, history is not working toward a “greater good,” but toward a “greater curse.” Obviously, more needs to be said about this than I can say in this particular book.316 I conclude, then, that God’s greater glory does bring with it a “greater good” for creation in general, and for those who love God (Rom. 8:28), but not for every individual person or thing in the universe. So at points the glorification of God does conflict with the happiness of some human beings; when that happens, we must choose the theocentric view.

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