Kingdom Ready Blog

Theological/cosmological duality. If pantheism is a classic for of monism, the differentiation between the creator god and the created order is often seen as itself a sort of ‘dualism’. NT Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, pg. 253

The fundamental idea that God is not the same as the world needs to be spelled out. Pantheism says that ‘god’ is in all things, and all things are in part ‘god’. This is the belief behind Hinduism, Buddhism, various forms of paganism, and especially the “New Age” movement.However, none of these other religions state that the world is now evil. As we will see later, some of them deny that “evil” actually exists and is purely subjective. YHWH is not a part of the created world. We see this idea exhibited in apologetics also (cosmological argument). And, since the Scriptures portray YHWH as a positive moral agent in the world – he must be essentially different from the, now evil and fallen, world.

This idea that God is wholly separate from the created order has often been taken to the extreme, particularly in Deism. Deism declares that God has entirely left us. Since he is not part of the created order he is uninterested. He is so far above it. Other religions, and particular emphasis within Christianity have gone so far as to postulate a divine mediator that must exist because the “high God” cannot interact with the creation. This mediator facilitates a relationship, or God’s involvement in the created world.

This concept of a mediator is found in the Old Testament, albeit in a different form, God’s spirit, word, or wisdom. These are are very personal attributes of God. These are in no way other beings in existence. These terms are how we express in language God’s active involvement with the world. The idea that God is not involved with the world is denied, while he is wholly separate from the world. Nor does God use another being as a mediator – he himself, through his spirit/word/wisdom is acting in the world.