justice constitute the head, political laws the body, and business laws the
clothes. This is why business laws can be changed like clothes.
As for the design that God incorporated into the church, it is that
God is part of every aspect of the church, and so is our neighbor, for
whose sake we are to follow the design. There are as many laws of the
design belonging to the church as there are truths in the Word. Laws
related to God are to constitute its head, laws related to our neighbor its
body, and rituals its clothing.
If the church’s higher laws were not embodied in its rituals, the church
would be like a body stripped naked, exposed to the heat in summer and
the cold in winter. This would be like taking the walls and vaulted ceilings
away from a church building so that the sanctuary, altar, and pulpit stood
in the open air exposed to violent forces of different kinds.
3. In the universe and everything in it, God’s omnipotence follows and 56
works through the laws of its design.God is omnipotent, because he has all
power from himself. All others have power from him. God’s power and
his will are one. Because he wills nothing but what is good, he cannot do
anything but what is good. In the spiritual world no one can do anything
against his or her will—a condition there that comes from God, from the
fact that his power and his will are one. God is in fact goodness itself.
When he does something good, he is in himself. He cannot walk away
from himself.
Clearly then, his omnipotence fills, and works within, the sphere of the
extension of goodness, a sphere that is infinite. At a deep level, this sphere
pervades the universe and everything in it. At a deep level, this sphere also
governs things outside of itself to the extent that they become part of it
through their own design. If things do not become part of that sphere, it
still sustains them. It tries in every way to bring them back to a design in
harmony with the universal design that God inhabits with his omni -
potence and follows in his actions. If things against the design are not
brought back into the design, they are cast out of God; but there he still
sustains them from deep within.
From all this you can see that divine omnipotence cannot move out-
side itself into contact with any evil, nor can it move evil away from
itself. Evil turns itself away, which is how it ends up being completely
separated from God and thrown into hell. Between heaven, where God
is, and hell, there is a huge chasm.
From these few points you can see how insane people are who think
that God can condemn anyone, curse anyone, throw anyone into hell,
predestine anyone’s soul to eternal death, avenge wrongs, or rage against
§56 god the creator & creation 79