Die voorsienigheidsleer van Calvyn: Uit sy debatte

Abstract

Calvyn se leer van God se voorsienigheid is ongetwyfeld een van die mees kontroversiële onderwerpe van sy teologie. Dit word duidelik in al die debatte waarin Calvyn sy leer oor die voorsienigheid moes verdedig, byvoorbeeld teen Pighius, Bolsec, Bullinger en Castellio. Vyfhonderd jaar later word Calvyn weer in die openbaar oor sy voorsienigheidsleer aangeval deur ’n Suid-Afrikaanse teoloog, Adrio König. Calvyn se antwoord op Castellio in Die verborge voorsienigheid van God is duidelik nie deur König in ag geneem nie. In Calvyn se verdediging van sy voorsienigheidsleer verwerp hy nooit die soewereiniteit van God nie, maar gee ook nie vir God die skuld vir die kwaad nie – ’n beskuldiging wat Castellio en König teen Calvyn inbring. Die troos van God se voorsienigheid lê vir Calvyn juis daarin dat God alle dinge, ook teenspoed en verdrukking, deur sy verborge voorsienigheid beskik met die doel om sy kinders nader na Hom te lei.

Calvin’s teaching on providence: From his debates. Calvin’s teaching on God’s providence is without doubt one of the most controversial subjects in his theology. This is clear in all the debates in which Calvin had to defend his teaching on providence, against, for example, Pighius, Bolsec, Bullinger and Castellio. Five hundred years later Calvin has again been publicly attacked on his teaching on providence by a South African theologian, Adrio König. König, however, did not consider Calvin’s response to Castellio in The secret providence of God. In Calvin’s defence of his teaching on providence he in no circumstances denies the sovereignty of God, but also does not give God the blame for any ills that might result – an accusation that Castellio and König levied against him. For Calvin, the consolation of God’s providence rests in the fact that God ordains all things, including adversity and affliction, through his secret providence for the purpose of leading his children closer to him.