Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

manner in which God preserves and governs the world. McPherson seems to think that
only some of the great Lutheran theologians adopted the threefold division; but in this
he is mistaken, for it is very common in the works of Dutch dogmaticians from the
seventeenth century on (Mastricht, à Marck, De Moor, Brakel, Francken, Kuyper,
Bavinck, Vos, Honig). They departed from the older division, because they wanted to
give the element of concurrence greater prominence, in order to guard against the
dangers of both Deism and Pantheism. But while we distinguish three elements in
providence, we should remember that these three are never separated in the work of
God. While preservation has reference to the being, concurrence to the activity, and
government to the guidance of all things, this should never be understood in an
exclusive sense. In preservation there is also an element of government, in government
an element of concursus, and in concursus an element of preservation. Pantheism does
not distinguish between creation and providence, but theism stresses a twofold
distinction: (a) Creation is the calling into existence of that which did not exist before,
while providence continues or causes to continue what has already been called into
existence. (b) In the former there can be no cooperation of the creature with the Creator,
but in the latter there is a concurrence of the first Cause with second causes. In Scripture
the two are always kept distinct.
3. MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING THE NATURE OF PROVIDENCE.
a. Limiting it to prescience or prescience plus foreordination. This limitation is found in
some of the early Church Fathers. The fact is, however, that when we speak of the
providence of God, we generally have in mind neither His prescience nor His
foreordination, but simply His continued activity in the world for the realization of His
plan. We realize that this cannot be separated from His eternal decree, but also feel that
the two can and should be distinguished. The two have often been distinguished as
immanent and transeunt providence.
b. The deistic conception of divine providence. According to Deism God’s concern with
the world is not universal, special and perpetual, but only of a general nature. At the
time of creation He imparted to all His creatures certain inalienable properties, placed
them under invariable laws, and left them to work out their destiny by their own
inherent powers. Meanwhile He merely exercises a general oversight, not of the specific
agents that appear on the scene, but of the general laws which He has established. The
world is simply a machine which God has put in motion, and not at all a vessel which
He pilots from day to day. This deistic conception of providence is characteristic of
Pelagianism, was adopted by several Roman Catholic theologians, was sponsored by
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