Providence in 3D

No single verse or passage of the Bible defines providence precisely. The word itself never occurs in most Bible translations. It appears once in the NASB95 (Acts 24:2, where the Greek word pronoia means forethought or foresight). It also shows up once in the NIV (Job 10:12, translating the Hebrew term for visitation, inspection). It is, nevertheless, a huge theological concept supported by literally—and I do mean literally—scores of passages.

I explored many of those passages in my book Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God. In chapter 2, I also surveyed a number of definitions of providence. That’s where I want to settle in for this post.

Defining Providence

Providence usually describes the biblical doctrine of God’s involvement and intervention, directly or indirectly, in human affairs. Before (re)formulating my own working definition of providence, however, it is worth rehearsing some of the definitions previously devised by others.

In volume 1 of his systematic theology, Charles Hodge devoted an entire 40-page chapter to the topic of providence. He defined providence as God’s

most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their actions. Providence, therefore, includes preservation and government. By preservation is meant that all things external to God owe the continuance of their existence, with all their properties and powers, to the will of God. . . . The latter [government] includes the ideas of design and control. It supposes an end to be attained and the disposition and direction of means for its accomplishment.

In his Outlines in Theology Charles Hodge’s son, A. A. Hodge, gave 20 pages to the topic, and defined providence more succinctly:

Providence includes the two great departments of the continued preservation of all things as created, and of the continued government of all things thus preserved, so that all the ends for which they were created are infallibly accomplished.

Wilbur Tillett contributed an eighteen-column article on the subject in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Providence, he wrote, denotes the

preservation, care and government which God exercises over all things that He has created, in order that they may accomplish the ends for which they were created.

J. I Packer’s entry in the New Bible Dictionary defines providence as

the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.

In keeping with his title (Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology), Millard Erickson’s definition is terse:

God’s care for the creation, involving his preserving it in existence and guiding it to his intended ends.

One of the most descriptive definitions I have come across is by N. M. deS. Cameron in the New Dictionary of Theology:

Providence is the beneficent outworking of God’s sovereignty, whereby all events are directed and disposed to bring about those purposes of glory and good for which the universe was made. These events include the actions of free agents, which while remaining free, personal and responsible are also the intended actions of those agents. Providence thus encompasses both natural and personal events, setting them alike within the purposes of God.

In his 1865 work, Jehovah Jireh: A Treatise on Providence, William S. Plumer collected a number of other definitions of providence, documented only by name. The doctrine of providence is

the care of God over created being(s); divine superintendence. ~Johnson

the care and superintendence God exercises over his creatures. ~Webster

the divine superintendence over all created beings; the care of God over his creatures. ~Worcester

that all things are sustained, directed, and controlled by God. ~Woods

God’s sovereign disposal of all the concernments of men in this world, in the variety, order and manner which he pleaseth, according to the rule and infinite reason of his own goodness, wisdom, righteousness, and truth. ~John Owen

foresight, not merely in the sense of seeing before but in the sense of taking care for the future, or rather an ordering of things and events after a pre-determined and intelligent plan; it supposes wisdom to devise and power to execute. ~Bethune

the care which God takes of all things, to uphold them in being and to direct them to the ends which he has determined to accomplish by them, so that nothing takes place in which he is not concerned in a manner worthy of his infinite perfections, and which is not in unison with the counsels of his will. ~Dick

[God’s] actual operation and government in preserving and continuing the being, powers, dispositions, and motions of all things. ~Clarke

Plumer concludes his list with two definitive confessional statements:

Heidelberg Catechism: The providence of God is his almighty and everywhere present power, whereby as it were by hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health an sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

Westminster Assembly: God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.

Components of Providence

Studies of providence tend to divide the doctrine into two overarching dimensions that virtually all definitions have in common. In fact, Charles Hodge spells out those two divisions in his definition above: preserving providence and governing providence. So, naturally, I followed that two-dimensional summary in my book:

• PRESERVING PROVIDENCE
• God continuously preserves and maintains the existence of every part of His creation, from the smallest to the greatest, according to His sovereign pleasure.
•  
• GOVERNING PROVIDENCE
• God sovereignly guides and governs all events, including the free acts of men and their external circum­stances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.

However, in preparing some recent messages on the topic of providence, I came to conclude that this nearly universal two-component view of providence is good, but incomplete. A third facet—which may often be implied or assumed—surfaces quietly but explicitly in a few of the above definitions. It is an expressly biblical component with theological implications that I think is worth differentiating explicitly, This third facet spotlights not merely a divine activity but a divine posture and a divine role with respect to creation—namely, God’s care. It forestages God’s character and a set of divine attributes that deserve to be singled out, remembered, and meditated on when we talk about God’s providence.

So, I wish to propose that God’s providence entails three distinct but intertwined components:

1. His preserving creation—conveyed in definitions by words like sustain, uphold, conserve, and preserve.
2. His governing creation—conveyed in definitions by words like superintend, direct, and control.
3. His nurturing creation—conveyed in definitions by the word care, and encompassing both animate (Job 38:39–41; 39:1–4; Ps 104:10–12, 14, 17–18, 20–21, 25–30) and even inanimate (Job 38:25–27; Ps 104:13,16), and especially human (Mt 5:45; Acts 14:17; Ps 104:14–15).

Many see preserving and nurturing as related or overlapping. But again, distinguishing them is warranted, and here’s why:

1. Preserving highlights God’s power as Sustainer of his creation.
2. Governing highlights God’s authority as Sovereign over his creation.
3. Nurturing highlights God’s character—his awareness, compassion, benevolence, faithfulness, goodness—as Father of his creation.

The passages listed above are just a few that expressly underscore these dimensions of the divine character in connection with not just humans but even creation itself. So, a separate working definition of the third component of divine providence would be:

• NURTURING PROVIDENCE
• God benevolently tends and cares for His creation—both animate and inanimate, and especially those he created in his own image.

We may not be able to fathom all the intricacies and outworkings of God’s providence, but as Christians we believe in it because the Scripture teaches it and exemplifies it over and over again. As believers, we can rest not only in God’s power and authority, but in his character—his benevolence, compassion, and goodness—in all that he does and allows. We trust him not only because he is omnipotent and sovereign, and righteous and wise, but also because he is always caring and good.