www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKLFJzdL9hc
Early Christianity on
the All-Sufficiency God the Father
Post-Apostolic Church
INTRO
This is the sixth video in a series on what
the Pre-Nicene Christians believed about the Divinity. And this is the third
video about God the Father.
What have
we heard about what God needs? Does God need mankind in some
way? Does God require that mankind worship Him? Or does God need nothing from mankind, that is, if mankind did not exist, would
God lack anything? The early Christians
wrote that God is all-sufficient, that He does not need or require anything
from mankind and does not depend on us.
Let’s take a look.
GOD HAS NO NEED OF ANYTHING
Aristides wrote,
Now when I say that he
is “perfect,” this means that there is not in him any defect, and he is not in
need of anything but all things are in need of him. (Aristides.
AD 125. ANF, vol 9, page 264.)
But one
may ask, if God needs nothing, then why does God ask us to serve and worship
Him? Does He need those from us? This is a valid question. Irenaeus wrote,
Therefore, in the
beginning did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that He
might have [someone] upon whom to confer His benefits…. Nor did He stand in need of our service when
He ordered us to follow Him; but He this way bestowed salvation upon ourselves.
For to follow the Savior is to be a
partaker of salvation, and to follow light is to receive light. But those who are in light do not themselves
illumine the light, but are illumined and revealed by it: they do certainly
contribute nothing to it, but, receiving the benefit, they are illumined by the
light. Thus, also, service [rendered] to
God does indeed profit God nothing, nor has God need of human obedience; but He
grants to those who follow and serve Him life and incorruption and eternal
glory, bestowing benefit upon those who serve [Him], because they do serve Him,
and on His followers, because they do follow Him; but [He] does not receive any
benefit from them: for He is rich, perfect, and in need of nothing. But for this reason does God demand service from men, in order that, since He
is good and merciful, He may benefit those who continue in His service. For, as much as God is in need of nothing, so
much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of man, to continue and
remain permanently in God’s service. Why
also did the Lord say to His disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have
chosen you.* ” (Irenaeus. AD 180.
ANF, vol 1, page 478.)
* John 15:16.
Clement of Alexandria said similarly, writing,
And for this reason we
rightly do not sacrifice to God, who, needing nothing, supplies all men with
all things. But we glorify Him who gave
Himself in sacrifice for us, we also sacrificing ourselves…. For in our salvation alone God delights. We do not therefore, and with reason also,
offer sacrifice to Him who is not overcome by pleasures, inasmuch as the fumes
of the smoke stop far beneath, and do not even reach the thickest clouds…. Then, the Deity neither is in need of
anything, nor loves pleasure, or gain, or money, being full, and supplying all
things to everything that has received being and [to everything that] has
wants. And neither by sacrifices nor
offerings, nor on the other hand by glory and honor, is the Deity won over; nor
is He influenced by any such things. (Clement
of Alexandria. AD 195. ANF, vol 2, page 526-527.)
Because
God is all-sufficient, mankind cannot bargain with Him because there is nothing
God wants from us that He does not already have.
SCRIPTURES: GOD NEEDS NOTHING
Paul said to the Greek philosophers in Athens,
The God who made the
world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in
shrines made by hands. Neither is He
served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives
everyone life and breath and all things.
(Acts 17:24-25)
God Himself speaks through Asaph’s psalm,
Hear, my people, and I
will speak to you, O Israel: and I will testify to you: I am God, your
God. I will not admonish you on account
of you sacrifices; for your whole-burnt-offerings are before me
continually. I will take no steers out
of your house, nor male goats out of your flocks. For all the wild beasts of the thicket are
mine, the cattle on the mountains, and oxen.
I know all the birds of the sky; and the beauty of the field is mine. If I should be hungry, I will not tell you:
for the world is mine, and the fullness of it.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay
your vows to the Most High. And call
upon Me in the day of affliction; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify
Me. (Ps 50:7-15, Brenton)
CONCLUSION
Our service and worship to God profits Him
nothing, just as Irenaeus said. But this
does not mean we should love God in word only.
We serve, worship, and
obey God because it benefits us by remaining in God’s grace and salvation. As Irenaeus said, we still follow God and
live in obedience to Him, and as Clement of Alexandria said, we sacrifice
ourselves to God just as Christ sacrificed Himself for us.
Therefore, to the degree that God is in need
of nothing from mankind, mankind is in complete and desperate need of God. So sacrifice your praises to God and even
your whole self to Him.
Blessings
and so forth.
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