God's Providence

Christianity rejects the law of karma, which operates in many reincarnations, and teaches that a person lives only once and that God's Providence is at work in his only earthly life. What is the Orthodox teaching on God's Providence?

Pdp. John of Damascus wrote: "... Providence is God's care for beings... Providence is the will of God, thanks to which all things receive a proper order..."28 Providence is the realization of God's good will for all that exists on Earth, directing all of God's creation to good, helping all that is good, and suppressing evil. The world, according to Orthodox teaching, exists only because it is preserved by God. The Holy Scriptures say: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17); «… we live and move and have our being in Him..." (Acts 17:28). The laws of nature were also created by God.29

The question may be asked: if everything in the world happens according to God's will, then what about the existence of evil in the world? Is God guilty of it? We will consider this issue in more detail in a separate chapter. Now let us briefly dwell on the aspect of the correlation between God's Providence and human freedom. Christian theology teaches that God created man in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). What does it mean to give a person freedom? First of all, the possibility of choice: to be with God or to reject Him. Why did God grant man freedom? God "wanted to call him to the supreme gift of deification, that is, to make man, in an infinite striving, just as God Himself is infinite, by grace what God is by His nature".30 Freedom is always a choice, choice is always a responsibility. Evil is the result of the deviation of man's will from God.

What is the relationship between God's Providence and free human will? Does God force the will of man or does He act differently? St. John of Damascus writes: "Of the works of Providence, one happens by goodwill, and the other by permission. By grace – that which is indisputably good, and by indulgence there are many varieties. For often God allows the righteous to fall into wickedness, in order to show others the virtue hidden in him... At another time, He allows something unseemly to happen, so that something great and wondrous may be accomplished by an act that seems unseemly, just as the salvation of men is accomplished by the Cross. In another way, He allows the saint to endure suffering, so that he does not lose his right conscience or fall into pride because of the power and grace given to him, as was the case with Paul..."31 Thus, God does not force the will of man, He gives the opportunity to make a choice and reap the fruits of this choice. St. John of Damascus continues: "... the choice of what to do is in our power; but good deeds are fulfilled by the cooperation of God, Who, according to His foreknowledge, justly assists those who voluntarily choose good by their conscience; but evil deeds are due to abandonment by God, who, again according to His foreknowledge, justly forsakes [someone]."32 Man is free to choose evil. Man is free to reject God, but there is no life outside of God. The works of God are aimed at the good of all living things: "God did not create death, neither does He rejoice in the destruction of the living, for He created all things for existence, and everything in the world is saving, and there is no pernicious poison, nor is there a kingdom of hell on earth" (Wis. 1:13-14). Moreover, God "... He wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). If a person does not want to be with God, then God, respecting the freedom granted by Himself, leaves the person. If God had acted otherwise, He would have been transformed from a loving Father (John 16:27) into a despot. Pdp. St. John of Damascus explains: "And there are two kinds of abandonment; for there is a house-building and educational abandonment, and there is a complete abandonment in rejection. House-building and educational abandonment is that which occurs for the correction, salvation, and glory of the sufferer, or for the incitement of others to emulation and imitation, or for the glory of God. Perfect abandonment occurs when a person, although God has done everything for his salvation, remains insensible and incurable, or rather, incurable by virtue of his own volition. Then he is given over to complete destruction, like Judas."33 V.N. Lossky wrote: "God's love for man is so great that it cannot coerce, for there is no love without respect. The divine will will always submit to wanderings, deviations, even the rebellion of the human will, in order to bring it to free consent. Such is Divine Providence, and the classical image of the pedagogue will seem very weak to anyone who has sensed in God a beggar begging for love, waiting at the doors of the soul and never daring to break them open."34

There may be people who will say: if a person did not turn to Christ, then it happened by God's Providence. The Holy Scriptures say: "... whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, He called, and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified" (Romans 8:29-30). God has not predestined anyone to perdition. There is not a single word in the Holy Scriptures about predestination to perdition! Predestination to salvation is an expression of God's steadfastness to do everything possible to save as many people as possible.35 It is a promise not to abandon a person until there is a possibility that he will direct his will to the Source of Life, and not abuse the free will and become a servant of evil and death. The Holy Scriptures say: "Those who have sinned without the law are outside the law and will perish; but those who have sinned under the law will be condemned according to the law (for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in the sight of God, but the doers of the law who do the law will be justified: for when the Gentiles, who have no law, by nature do what is lawful, they are a law unto themselves: they show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience and their thoughts bear witness; now accusing, now justifying one another)" (Romans 2:12-15). A person who has not had the opportunity to learn about Christ, to enter His Church, will be judged by a different judgment than the one who knew about Him, but rejected Him. God's judgment is wise and gives to everyone according to justice: "But the servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, will be beaten with many stripes; but he who did not know, and did what was worthy of punishment, there will be fewer stripes. And from everyone to whom much is given, much will be required, and from him to whom much is entrusted, from him will be required more" (Luke 12:47-48). Pdp. St. John of Damascus writes: "... God knows everything in advance, but does not predetermine everything... He does not want evil to happen, and does not force virtue... it is in our power either to abide in virtue and follow God, who calls us to it, or to depart from virtue, which is to find ourselves in sin and follow the devil, who calls us to it without compulsion. For vice is nothing else but a withdrawal from the good, just as darkness is a withdrawal from the light."36

It is impossible to comprehend God's Providence with the human mind: "... there are many ways of God's Providence and... they can neither be interpreted by words nor comprehended by the mind."37 A Christian should "... to know that all sorrowful events on those who accept them with gratitude are brought about for salvation and are certainly beneficial."38 Earthly life is only a brief moment before eternal life. The Lord calls people to become children of His Kingdom, which is not of this world (John 18:36).

Many sects and occult teachings that exist today speak of their spiritual development, proposing to replace Christianity, which, according to them, is outdated and does not correspond to modern realities. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of these teachings are pantheistic. In pantheism, the nature of man and God (most often impersonal) are identical, in contrast to Christian monotheism. According to pantheism, God is the world. Does it follow from this that the world is God? If not, then we are forced to admit a certain reality that exists along with the world, but at the same time is not identical with God. But the very meaning of the word "pantheism"39 (pan – everything and theos – god) implies that God exhausts all things. But if the nature of God and man are identical, it means that man's will is determined by his nature and he cannot rise above it. In pantheism, man is, in fact, a slave of nature, its puppet. By the way, that is why in paganism there was virtually no such thing as "personality". If everything is God, as pantheism teaches, and each individual is only a part of the Absolute, destined to dissolve in Him, then such an individual does not represent any intrinsic value. There is nothing unique about it. This teaching puts a sign of ontological equality not only between God and man, but also between man and a mosquito, and consequently between the Almighty and any bug. Christianity, on the other hand, insists on the uniqueness of human nature, for each person is created in the image of God: "The perfection of man does not consist in what likens him to the totality of created things, but in what distinguishes him from the cosmos and likens him to the Creator."40 In pantheism such a perfection is impossible, since in pantheism the will is determined by nature. Monotheism destroys the dictates of nature. In Christianity, the nature of God and man is different, and above the nature of man there is something higher that is capable of transforming it. But if a Christian is able to subdue his nature, then a pantheist can only act as nature dictates. A Christian has a choice: to follow the will of nature or to overcome it by comprehending the Creator. In fact, Christianity is the path to freedom: "You are called to freedom, brethren..." (Gal. 5:13), which stems from the Christian teaching about the image of God in man. If man is not created in the image and likeness of God, if man is destined to be dissolved in the Godhead, then he is only a puppet of nature. It is quite possible that there are those who want to renounce the "image" of God and reduce him to the level of a slave, which moves them to spread the ideas of pantheism. But if a person renounces the image of God, will not the image of the beast replace him? The Holy Scriptures say: "And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who performed miracles before him, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image: both alive were cast into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).

1 Rak I.V. Myths of Ancient Egypt. St. Petersburg, Petro-RIF. 1993. P.154.

2 Ibidem. P.181.

3 Ibidem. P.178.

4 Deacon Andrei Kuraev. Early Christianity and the Transmigration of Souls. Where the soul goes. Moscow, Troitskoe slovo Publ., 2001. P.23.

5 Ibidem. P.22.