the glorious exchange

This is the first in a series of seven blog posts (at least) to address this system of thinking about Scripture, and God’s work of redemption. You can see the original post here (link). The first point of PRAIRIE, my proposed solution to the shortcomings of Calvinism, is the Providence of God.

The reason for this point is because it is where Scripture starts. Calvinism, in the traditional sense, begins in reaction to Arminianism, whereas a true Gospel-centered systematic will begin where the Bible begins: with God creating all things good.

This point says that God is providential and sufficient in all of our necessities. That His grace is what breathes into us life, and that His grace has provided us with creation around us to inhabit. His Spirit allows us to continually live, according to Job 34:14-15. The providence of God also states that not only has He created all things once upon a time, but that every moment of the day He is continually bringing things into, and keeping things in existence. Every nanosecond of every day is an act of Hebrews 11:3 proportion: bringing something into existence from nothing. The reason for this is clear: there is nothing in this second that necessitates anything continuing to exist in the next second.

Colossians 1:15-17 puts it plainly:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

God is not only proficient, sufficient, and efficient for our existence, but for our salvation as well, according to Romans 3:21-25:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

and according to Ephesians 2:4-9:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.