This is a study of Jesus as the source of all things. From Him and through Him and for Him are all things.

1. JESUS WAS THE SOURCEOF ALL THINGS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 11:36 36Forfrom him and through him and
for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!
Amen.
Laus Deo BY SPURGEON
“Forof Him and through Him and to Him, are all things: to whom be
glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:36
MY text consists almostentirely of monosyllables, but it contains the loftiestof
sublimities. Such a tremendous weightof meaning is concentratedhere that
an archangel’s eloquence wouldfail to convey its teaching in all its glory to
any finite minds, even if seraphs were his hearers. I will affirm that there is no
man living who can preachfrom my text a sermon worthy of it. No, among all
the sacredorators and the eloquent pleaders for God, there never did live and
never will live a man capable of reaching the height of the greatargument
containedin these few simple words. I utterly despair of successandwill not,
therefore, make an attempt to work out the infinite Glory of this sentence.
Our greatGod alone can expound this verse for He only knows Himself and
He only can worthily set forth His own perfections. Yet I am comforted by this
reflectionthat maybe, in answerto our prayers, God Himself may preach
from this text this morning in our hearts. If not through the words of the
speaker, yetby that still small voice to which the Believer’s earis so well
accustomed. If thus He shall condescendto favor us, our hearts shall be lifted
up in His ways.
There are two things before us, the one worthy of our observation and the
secondof our imitation. You have in the text, first of all, doctrine and then
devotion, The doctrine is high doctrine–“OfHim and through Him and to

2. Him, are all things.” The devotion is lofty devotion–“To whombe glory
forever. Amen.”
1. Let us considerTHE DOCTRINE.It is laid down by the Apostle Paul as
a generalprinciple that all things come of God–they are of Him as their
source. Theyare through Him as their means. They are to Him as their
end. They are of Him in the plan, through Him in the working and to
Him in the Glory which they produce. Taking this generalprinciple,
you will find it applies to all things and it is ours to mark those in which
it is most manifestly the case. Maythe Lord, by His Holy Spirit, open
His treasures to us at this moment that we may be enriched in spiritual
knowledge and understanding.
Meditate, dear Friends, upon the whole range of God’s works in Creationand
Providence. There was a period when God dwelt alone and creatures were
not. In that time before all time, when there was no day but, “The Ancient of
Days”–whenmatter and createdmind were alike unborn and even space was
not–God, the great I Am, was as perfect, glorious and blessedas He is now.
There was no sun and yet Jehovahdwelt in light ineffable. There was no earth
and yet His Throne stoodfast and firm. There were no heavens and yet His
Glory was unbounded.
God inhabited eternity in the infinite majesty and happiness of His self-
containedgreatness. If the Lord, thus abiding in awful solitude, should choose
to create anything, the first thought and idea must come of Him, for there was
no other to think or suggest. All things must be of Him in design. With whom
can He take counsel? Who shall instruct Him? There existed not another to
come into the councilchamber, even if such an assistancecouldbe supposed
with the MostHigh.
In the beginning of His way before His works of old, eternal Wisdom brought
forth from its ownmind the perfect plan of future creations and every line
and mark therein must clearlyhave been of the Lord alone. He ordained the
pathway of every planet and the abode of every fixed star. He poured forth
the sweetinfluences of the Pleiades and girt Orion with His hands. He
appointed the bounds of the sea and settled the course of the winds. As to the
earth, the Lord alone planned its foundations and stretchedHis line upon it.
He formed in His own mind the mold of all His creatures and found for them
a dwelling and a service.
He appointed the degree ofstrength with which He would endow each
creature, settledits months of life, its hour of death, its coming and its going.
Divine Wisdom mapped this earth–its flowing rivers and foaming seas–the

3. towering death. Nothing could have been suggestedby any other, for there
was no other to suggest. It was in His powerto have made a universe very
different from this if He had so pleased. And that He has made it what it is
must have been merely because, in His Wisdom and prudence, He saw fit to
do so.
There cannot be any reasonwhy He should not have createda world from
which sin should have been foreverexcluded. And that He suffered sin to
enter into His creationmust againbe ascribedto His own infinite Sovereignty.
Had He not known that He would be masterover sin and out of evil evolve the
noblest display of His own Glory, He had not permitted it to enter into the
world–but, in sketching the whole history of the universe which He was about
to create, He permitted even that black spot to defile His work–becauseHe
foreknew whatsongs of everlasting triumph would rise to Himself when, in
streams of His own blood, Incarnate Deity should washout the stain. It cannot
be doubted that whatever may be the whole drama of history in Creation and
Providence, there is a high and mysterious sense in which it is all of God.
The sin is not God’s, but the temporary permission of its existence formed
part of the foreknownscheme and to our faith the intervention of moral evil
and the purity of the Divine Characterdo neither of them diminish the force
of our belief that the whole scope ofhistory is of God in the fullest sense.
When the plan was all laid down and the Almighty had ordered His purpose,
this was not enough–mere arrangementwould not create. “ThroughHim,” as
well as “of Him,” must all things be. There was no raw material ready to the
Creator’s hand. He must create the universe out of nothing. He calls not for
aid–He needs it not and besides, there is none to help Him. There is no rough
matter which He may fashion betweenHis palms and launch forth as stars.
He did not need a mine of unquarried matter which He might melt and purify
in the furnace of His powerand then hammer out upon the anvil of His skill–
no, there was nothing to begin with in that day of Jehovah’s work–fromthe
womb of Omnipotence all things must be born. He speaks andthe heavens
leap into existence!He speaks againand worlds are begotten with all the
varied forms of life so fraught with Divine Wisdom and matchless skill. “Let
there be light and there was light,” was not the only time when God had
spokenand when things that were not, were, for aforetime had He spokenand
this rolling earth and yon blue heavens had blossomedout of nothingness.
Through Him were all things–from the high archangelwho sings His praises
in celestialnotes–downto the cricketchirping on the hearth. The same finger
paints the rainbow and the wing of the butterfly. He who dyes the garments of
evening in all the colors of Heaven has coveredthe kingcup with gold and lit

4. up the glowworm’s lamp. From yonder ponderous mountain piercing the
clouds down to that minute grain of dust in the summer’s threshing floor–all
things are through Him. Let but God withdraw the emanations of His Divine
powerand everything would melt away as the foam upon the sea melts into
the wave which bore it!
Nothing could stand an instant if the Divine foundation were removed. If He
should shake the pillars of the world the whole temple of Creationfalls to ruin
and its very dust is blown away. A dreary waste, a silent emptiness, a voiceless
wilderness is all which remains if God withdraws His power. No, even so
much as this were not if His powershould be withheld. That nature that is as
it is, is through the energyof the present God. If the sun rises every morning
and the moon walks in her brightness at night, it is through Him. Away with
those men who think that God has wound up the world as though it were a
clock and has gone away–leaving it to work for itself apart from His present
hand!
God is present everywhere–notmerely presentwhen we tremble because His
thunder shakes the solid earth and sets the heavens in a blaze with lightning–
but just as much so in the calm summer’s eve when the air so gently fans the
flowers and gnats dance up and down in the last gleams of sunlight. Men try
to forget the Divine Presenceby calling its energy by strange names. They
speak of the power of gravitation. But what is the powerof gravitation? We
know what it does, but what is it? Gravitation is God’s own power!
They tell us of mysterious laws of electricity and I know not what. We know
the laws, and let them wear the names they have. But laws cannotoperate
without power. What is the force of nature? It is a constantemanationfrom
the greatFountain of power, the constantout-flowing of God Himself–the
perpetual going forth of beams of light from Him who is “the greatFatherof
Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow.” Tread softly, be
reverent, for God is here, O Mortal, as truly as He is in Heaven! Wherever
you are and whateveryou look upon, you are in God’s workshopwhere every
wheelis turned by His hands. Everything is not God, but God is in everything
and nothing works, oreven exists, exceptby His presentpower and might.
“Of Him and through Him are all things.”
Beloved, the greatglory of all is that in the work of Creationeverything is to
Him. Everything will praise the Lord–He so designedit. God must have the
highest motive and there can be no higher motive conceivable than His own
Glory. When there was no creature but Himself and no being but Himself,
God could not have takenas a motive a creature which did not exist. His
motive must be Himself. His own Glory is His highest aim. The goodof His

5. creatures He considers carefully. But even the goodof His creatures is but a
means to the main end–the promotion of His Glory. All things, then, are for
His pleasure and for His Glory they daily work.
Tell me that the world is marred by sin and I lament it. Tell me that the slime
of the serpent is upon everything beautiful here and I sorrow for it. But yet,
even yet shall everything speak of the Glory of God. To Him are all things and
the day shall come when with eyes spiritually illuminated you and I shall see
that even the introduction of the Fall and the curse did not, after all, mar the
splendor of the majesty of the MostHigh. To Him shall all things be. His
enemies shall bow their necks unwillingly but abjectly, while His people,
redeemedfrom death and Hell, shall cheerfully extol Him.
The new heavens and the new earth shall ring with His praise and we who
shall sit down to read the record of His creating wonders, shall sayof them all,
“In His temple does everyone speak of His Glory and even until now to Him
have all things been.” Courage then, Beloved!When you think that matters go
againstthe cause of God, throw yourselves back upon this as a softcouch.
When the enemy hisses in your ears this note–“Godis overcome!His plans are
spoiled. His Gospelis thrust back. The honor of His Son is stained,” tell the
enemy, “No, it is not so!To Him are all things.”
God’s defeats are victories. God’s weakness is strongerthan man and even the
foolishness ofthe MostHigh is wiserthan man’s wisdomand at the last we
shall see most clearlythat it is so. Hallelujah! We shall see, dearFriends, one
day in the clearlight of Heaven, that every page in human history, however
stained by human sin, has nevertheless something of God’s Glory in it. And
that the calamities of nations, the falling of dynasties, the devastations of
pestilence, plagues, famines, wars and earthquakes have all workedout the
eternal purpose and glorified the MostHigh!
From the first human prayer to the last mortal sigh! From the first note of
finite praise onwardto the everlasting hallelujah all things have worked
togetherfor the Glory of God and have served His purposes. All things are of
Him and through Him and to Him. This greatprinciple is most manifest in the
grand work of Divine Grace. Here everything is of Godand through God and
to God. The greatplan of salvationwas not drawn by human fingers. It is no
concoctionofpriests, no elaborationof Divines. Grace first moved the heart of
God and joined with Divine Sovereigntyto ordain a plan of salvation.
This plan was the offspring of a Wisdom no less than Divine. None but God
could have imagined a wayof salvationsuch as that which the Gospel
presents–a wayso just to God–so safe to man. The thought of Divine

6. Substitution and the Sacrifice ofGod on man’s behalf could never have
suggesteditselfto the most educated of all God’s creatures. GodHimself
suggestsit and the plan is “ofHim.” And as the greatplan is of Him, so the
fillings up of the details are of Him. God ordained the time when the first
promise should be promulgated–who should receive that promise and who
should deliver it. He ordained the hour when the greatPromise-Keeper
should come–whenJesusChristshould appear–ofwhom He should be born,
by whom He should be betrayed, what death He should die, when He should
rise and in what manner He should ascend.
What if I say more? He ordained those who should acceptthe Mediator, to
whom the Gospelshould be preachedand who should be the favored
individuals in whom effectualcalling should make that preaching mighty for
salvation!He settled in His own mind the name of every one of His chosenand
the time when eachelectvesselshould be put upon the wheel to be fashioned
according to His will. He ordained pangs of conviction should be felt when the
time of faith should come!How much of holy light and enjoyment should be
bestowed–allthis was purposed from of old! He settledhow long the chosen
vesselshould be glazing in the fire and when it should be takenup–made
perfect by heavenly workmanship to adorn the palace of God MostHigh. Of
the Lord’s Wisdom every stitch in the noble tapestry of salvationmost surely
comes.
Nor must we stop here–through Him all these things come. Through His Spirit
the promise came at last, for He moved the seers and holy men of old.
Through Him the Son of God is born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Through Him, sustainedby that Spirit, the Son of God leads His
thirty years of perfection. In the greatredemption God alone is exalted. Jesus
sweats in Gethsemane and bleeds on Calvary. None stood with our Savior
there. He trod that winepress alone. His own arm workedsalvationand His
own arm upheld Him. Redemption work was through God alone! Notone soul
was ever redeemedby human suffering! No spirit was emancipatedby mortal
penance. All is through Him.
And as through Him the Atonement, so through Him the application of the
Atonement. By the powerof the Spirit the Gospelis daily preached. Upheld by
the Holy Spirit, pastors, teachersand elders still abide with the Church–still
the energyof the Spirit goes forth with the Word to the hearts of the chosen.
Still is “Christ crucified,” the powerof God and the wisdomof God because
God is in the Word and through Him men are called, converted, saved. O my
Brethren, beyond a doubt we must confess ofthis great plan of salvationthat
it is all to Him! We have not a note of praise to spare for another!

7. Silencedforever with everlasting confusionis the man who would retain a
solitary word of praise for man or angel in the work of Grace. You fools!Who
can be praised but God, for who but God determined to give His Son Jesus?
You knaves!Will you rob Christ of His Glory? Will you stealthe jewels out of
His crownwhen He so dearly bought them with drops of His precious blood?
O you who love darkness ratherthan light, will you glorify man’s will above
the energyof the Holy Spirit and sacrifice to your own dignity and freedom?
God forgive you!
But as for His saints, they will always sing, “To God, to Godalone be all the
Glory! From the first to the last let Him who is the Alpha and the Omega have
all the praise! Let His name be extolled, world without end.” When the great
plan of Grace shall be all developed and you and I shall stand upon the
hilltops of Glory, what a wondrous scene will open up before us! We shall see
more clearly then, than now, how all things sprang from the fountainhead of
God’s love. How they all flowed through the channel of the Savior’s mediation
and how they all workedtogetherto the Glory of the same God from whom
they came. The greatplan of Grace, then, bears out this principle.
The word holds good, dear Friends, in the case ofevery individual Believer.
Let this be a matter for personalenquiry. Why am I saved? Becauseofany
goodness in me, or any superiority in my constitution? Of whom comes my
salvation? My spirit cannot hesitate a single moment. How could a new heart
come out of the old one? Who can bring a cleanthing out of an unclean? Not
one! How can the spirit come out of the flesh? That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. If it is spirit it must be born of the Spirit. My Soul, you must be quite
clearabout this, that if there is in you any faith, hope, or spiritual life, it must
have come of God!
Can any Christian here who possessesvital godliness differ from this
statement? I am persuaded he cannot. And if any man should arrogate any
honor to his own natural constitution, I must, with all charity, doubt whether
he knows anything at all about the matter. But, my Soul, as your salvation
must have come out of God–as He must have thought of it and planned it for
you, and then bestowedit upon you–did it not also come to you through God?
It came through faith, but where did that faith take its birth? Was it not of the
operationof the Holy Spirit? And what did you believe in? Did you believe in
your own strength, or in your own goodresolution? No, but in Jesus, your
Lord. Was not the first ray of light you ever had receivedin this way?
Did you not look entirely awayfrom self to the Savior? And the Light which
you now have, does it not always come to you in the same way, by having done
once and for all with the creature, with the flesh, with human merit–and

8. resting with childlike confidence upon the finished work and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Is not, dear Hearer, is not your salvation, if you are,
indeed, saved, entirely “through” your God, as wellas “of” your God? Who is
it that enables you to pray every day? Who keeps you from temptation? By
what Grace are you led onward in spiritual duty? Who upholds you when
your foot would trip? Are you not conscious that there is a powerother than
your own?
For my part, Brethren, I am not takento Heaven againstmy will, I know, but
still so desperate is my nature and so prone to evil that I feelmyself floated
onward againstthe current of my nature. It seems as if all we could do were to
kick and rebel againstSovereignGrace,while SovereignGrace says, “Iwill
save you. I will have you, whatever you may do. I will overcome your raging
corruption. I will quicken you out of your lethargy and take you to Heaven in
a fiery chariot of afflictions, if not by any other means. I will whip you to
Paradise soonerthan let you be lost.”
Is not this your experience? Have you not found that if once the strong hand
of God were takenfrom your soul, instead of going onward to Heaven you
would go back againto Perdition? It is through God you are saved!And what
do you say, Believer, to the last point? Is it not “to Him”? Will you take one
single jewelout of His crown? Oh, there is not one of you who would wish to
extol himself! There is no song we sing more sweetlyin this House of Prayer
than the song of Grace and there is no hymn which seems more in keeping
with our own experience than this–
“Grace allthe work shall crown,
Through everlasting days.
It lays in Heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.”
Let who will extol the dignity of the creature. Let who may boast in the power
of free will–we cannotdo it! Wehave found our nature to be a very depraved
one and our will to be under bondage. We must, if other creatures do not,
extol that unchangeable Omnipotent Grace which has made us what we are
and will continue to keepus so till it brings us to the right hand of God in
everlasting Glory! In eachindividual, then, this rule holds good.
Once more, in every work which the Christian is enabled to do, he should
bear in mind the rule of the text. Some of you are privileged to work in the
Sunday schooland you have had many conversions in your class. Others of
you are distributing tracts, going from house to house and trying to bring
souls to Christ, not without success, by God’s Grace. Some of us, too, have the

9. honor of being sent to preach the Gospelin every place and we have sheaves
of our harvest too many for our barns to hold. In the case ofsome of us, we
seemto have receivedthe promised blessing to its fullest extent. The Lord has
spiritually made our children like the sand of the sea and the spiritual
offspring of our heart like the gravel.
In all this it behooves us to remember that, “of Him and through Him and to
Him,” are all things. “Of Him.” Who makes you to differ? What have you
which you have not received? The burning heart, the tearful eye, the
prayerful soul–allthese qualifications for usefulness come of Him. The fluent
mouth, the pleading tongue–these musthave been educatedand given by Him.
From Him all the many gifts of the Spirit by which the Church is edified–from
Him, I say, they all proceed. What is Paul? Who is Apollos, or Cephas–who
are all these but the messengers ofGodin whom the Spirit works, dividing to
every man according as He wills?
When the preacherhas achievedhis usefulness, he knows that all his success
comes through God. If a man shall suppose himself capable of stirring up a
revival, or encouraging evenone saint, or leading one sinner to repentance, he
is a fool! As wellmight we attempt to move the stars, or shake the world, or
graspthe lightning flash in the hollow of our hand as think to save a soul, or
even to quicken saints out of their lethargy! Spiritual work must be done by
the Spirit. Through God every goodthing comes to us. The preachermay be a
very Samsonwhen God is with him–he shall be like Samsonwhen God is not
with him only in Samson’s degradationand shame!
Beloved, there never was a man brought to God exceptthrough God and
there never will be! Our nation shall never be stirred up againinto the
celestialheatof piety except by the Presenceofthe Holy Spirit anew. Would
God we had more of the abiding sense ofthe Spirit’s work among us! That we
lookedmore to Him! That we restedless in machinery and men and more
upon that Divine but Invisible Agent who works all good things in the hearts
of men! Beloved, it is through GOD that every good thing comes. And I am
sure it is to Him. We cannottake the honor of a single convert. We do look
with thankfulness upon this growing Church, but we can give the Glory alone
to Him! Give glory to the creature and it is all over with it! Honor yourselves
as a Church and God will soondishonor you!
Let us lay every sheafupon His altar, bring every lamb of the fold to the feet
of the GoodShepherd feeling that it is His. When we go abroadto fish for
souls, let us think that we only fill the net because He taught us how to throw
it on the right side of the Church. And when we take them they are His, not
ours. Oh, what poor little things we are and yet we think we do so much! The

10. pen might say, “I wrote Milton’s Paradise Lost.” Ah, poor Pen! You could not
have made a dot to an “i,” or a cross to a “t,” if Milton’s hand had not moved
you! The preachercould do nothing if God had not helped him. The axe might
cry, “I have felled forests! I have made the cedar bow its head and laid the
stalwartoak in the dust.” No, you did not–for if it had not been for the arm
which wielded you, even a bramble would have been too much for you to cut
down!
Shall the swordsay, “I won the victory! I shed the blood of the mighty! I
causedthe shield to be castaway?” No, it was the warrior, who with his
courage and might made you of service in the battle, and apart from this you
are less than nothing. In all that God does by us let us continue to give Him
the praise–soshallHe continue His Presence withour efforts. Otherwise He
will take from us His smile and so we shall be left as weak men. I have,
perhaps, at too great length for your patience, tried to bring out this very
simple but very useful principle. And now, before I go to the secondpart, I
wish to apply it by this very practicalremark.
Beloved, if this is true, that all things are through Him and to Him, do you not
think that those doctrines are most doctrines commonly called Calvinistic (but
which ought never to have been called by such a name, for they are simply
Christian doctrines), which I think commend themselves to the minds of all
thoughtful persons. Forthis reason, mainly, that they do ascribe to God
everything.
Here is the doctrine of election, for instance. Why is a man saved? Is it the
result of his own will or God’s will? Did he choose God, or did God choose
him? The answer, “Manchose God,” is manifestly untrue because it glorifies
man. God’s answerto it is, “You have not chosenMe, but I have chosenyou.”
God has predestinatedHis people to salvationfrom before the foundation of
the world. Ascribing the will, which is the hinge of the whole matter, and
turns the balance–ascribing that to God–we feelwe are speaking in keeping
with the doctrine of our text.
Then take effectualcalling. By what poweris a man called? There are some
who saythat it is by the energy of his own will, or at leastthat while God gives
him Grace, it depends upon him to make use of it. Some do not make use of
the Grace and perish. Others make use of the Grace and are saved–savedby
their own consenting to allow Grace to be effectual. We, on the other hand,
say no–a man is not saved againsthis will–but he is made willing by the
operationof the Holy Spirit. A mighty Grace which he does not wish to resist
enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him and he is
saved. We believe that the calling which saves the soul is a calling which owes

11. nothing at all to man, but which comes from God. The creature being, then,
passive, while God, like the potter, molds the man like a lump of clay. Clearly
the calling, we think, must be through God–forso it coincides with this
principle, “ofHim and through Him and to Him are all things.”
Then next, the question of particular redemption. Some insist upon it that
men are redeemed not because Christdied, but because they are willing to
give efficacyto the blood of Christ. He died for everybody according to their
theory. Why, then, are not all men saved? Becauseallmen will not believe?
That is to say that believing is necessaryin order to make the blood of Christ
efficacious forredemption! Now we hold that to be a greatlie! We believe the
very contrary–namely, that the blood of Christ has in itself the power to
redeem and that it does redeem and that faith does not give efficacyto the
blood but is only the proof that the blood has redeemed that man. Hence we
hold that Christ did not redeemevery man, but only redeemedthose men who
will ultimately attain unto eternallife.
We do not believe that He redeemedthe damned! We do not believe that He
poured out His life blood for souls alreadyin Hell! We never canimagine that
Christ suffered in the place of all men and that then, afterwards, these same
men have to suffer for themselves–thatin factChrist pays their debts–and
then God makes them pay their debts over again! We think that the doctrine
that men, by their wills, give efficacyto the blood of Christ is derogatoryto
the Lord Jesus and we rather hold to this that He laid down His life for His
sheepand that His laying down His life for His sheep involved and securedthe
salvationof every one of them. We believe this because we hold that, “of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things.”
So, again, take the total depravity of the race and its original corruption–a
doctrine much abhorred of those who lift up poor human nature–but is,
nevertheless, true. We hold that man must be entirely lost and ruined, because
if there is some good thing in him, then it cannot be said that, “ofGod and
through God and to God, are all things,” for at leastsome things must be of
man. If there are some relics of virtue and some remnants of powerleft in the
race of man, then some things are of man and to man will some things be. But
if of God are all things, then in man there must be nothing–man must be set
down as ruined–hopelesslyruined–
“Bruisedand mangled by the Fall,”
and his salvation must be describedas being from the first to the last, in every
jot and every tittle of that almighty Grace ofGod, which at first chose him, at

12. length redeemed him, ultimately calledhim, constantlypreserved him and
perfectly shall present him before the Father’s Throne.
I put these doctrines before you, more especiallytoday, because lastFriday
many Believers both in Geneva and London met togetherto celebrate the
centenaryof the death of that mighty servant of God, John Calvin. I honor
Calvin, not as teaching these doctrines himself, but as one through whom God
spoke and one who, next to the Apostle Paul, propounded the Truth of God
more clearly than any other man that ever breathed. He knew more of
Scripture and explained it more clearlythan most. Luther may have as much
courage, but Luther knows little of theology. Luther, like a bull, when he sees
one Truth, shuts his eyes and dashes againstthe enemy, breaking down gates,
bolts and bars, to clearawayfor the Word!
But Calvin, following in the opened pathway with cleareyes, searching
Scripture, ever acknowledging that of God and through God and to God are
all things, maps out the whole plan with a delightful clearnesswhichcould
only have come of the Spirit of God. That man of God expounds the doctrines
in so excellentand admirable a manner that we cannot too much bless the
Lord who sent him, or too much pray that others like him may be honestand
sincere in the work of the Lord. Thus much then, of doctrine, but one or two
minutes by way of devotion.
II. The Apostle puts his pen back into the ink bottle, falls on his knees–he
cannot help it–he must have a doxology. “To whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Beloved, let us imitate this DEVOTION. I think that this sentence should be
the prayer, the motto for every one of us–“To Him be glory forever. Amen.” I
will be but very brief, for I would not wearyyou. “To Him be glory forever.”
This should be the single desire of the Christian. I take it that he should not
have twenty wishes, but only one. He may desire to see his family well brought
up, but only that, “To God may be glory forever.”
He may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him
to promote this–“To Him be glory forever.” He may desire to attain more gifts
and more graces,but it should only be that, “To Him may be glory forever.”
This one thing I know, Christian–you are not acting as you ought to do when
you are moved by any other motive than the one motive of your Lord’s Glory.
As a Christian you are “of God and through God.” I pray you be “to God.”
Let nothing everset your heart beating but love to Him. Let this ambition fire
your soul! Be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter,
and this your sustaining motive wheneveryour zeal would grow chill–only,
only make God your object! Depend upon it, where self begins, sorrow begins.
But if God is my supreme delight and only object–

13. “To me ‘tis equal whether love ordain
My life or death appoint me ease orpain.”
To me there shall be no choice, whenmy eyes singly look to God’s Glory,
whether I shall be torn in pieces by wild beasts or live in comfort–whetherI
shall be full of despondency or full of hope. If God is glorified in my mortal
body, my soul shall rest content. Again, let it be our constantdesire, “To Him
be glory.” When I wake up in the morning, O, let my soul salute her God with
gratitude–
“Wake andlift up yourself, my Heart,
And with the angels bear your part,
Who all night long unweariedsing
High praises to the eternalKing.”
At my work behind the counter, or in the Exchange, let me be looking out to
see how I may glorify Him. If I am walking in the fields, let my desire be that
the trees may clap their hands in His praise. May the sun in his march shine
out the Master’s Glory and the stars at night reflectHis praise.
It is yours, Brethren, to put a tongue into the mouth of this dumb world and
make the silent beauties of creationpraise their God. Never be silent when
there are opportunities and you shall never be silent for want of opportunities.
At night fall asleeppraising your God! As you close your eyes let your last
thought be, “How sweetto restupon the Savior’s bosom!” In afflictions praise
Him–out of the fires let your song go up! On the sick-bed extol Him! Dying, let
Him have your sweetestnotes. Letyour shouts of victory in the combat with
the lastgreatenemy be all for Him. And then, when you have burst the
bondage of mortality and come into the freedom of immortal spirits–then, in a
nobler, sweetersong–youshallsing unto His praise!
Be this, then, your constant thought–“To Him be glory forever.” Let this be
your earnestthought. Do not speak of God’s Glory with cold words, nor think
of it with a chilly heart, but feel, “I must praise Him. If I cannotpraise Him
where I am, I will break through these narrow bonds, and get where I can.”
Sometimes you will feel that you long to be disembodied–that you may praise
Him as the immortal spirits do. I must praise Him! Bought by His precious
blood, calledby His Spirit I cannothold my tongue! My Soul, can you be
dumb and dead? I must praise Him! Stand back, O Flesh!Away, you Fiends!
Away, you Troubles!I must sing, for should I refuse to sing, surely the very
stones would speak!
I hope, dear Friends, while thus earnest, your praise will also be growing. Let
there be growing desire to praise Him of whom and through whom are all

14. things. You blessedHim in your youth, do not be content with such praises as
you gave Him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give Him more as
He has given you more. Has God given you exmore sweetly!Do you have
happier times than you once had? Have you been restoredfrom sicknessand
has your sorrow beenturned into peace and joy? Then give Him more music!
Put more coals in your censer, more sweetfrankincense, more of the sweet
cane bought with money. Oh, to serve Him every day, lifting up my heart
from Sunday to Sunday, till I reachthe ever-ending Sunday! Reaching from
sanctificationto sanctification, from love to love, from strength to strength, till
I appear before my God!
In closing, let me urge you to make this desire practical. If you really glorify
God, take care to do it not with lipservice which dies awayin the wind, but
with solid homage of daily life. Praise Him by your patience in pain, by your
perseverance in duty, by your generosityin His cause, by your boldness in
testimony, by your consecrationto His work. Praise Him, my dear Friends,
not only this morning in what you do for Him in your offerings, but praise
Him every day by doing something for God in all sorts of ways, according to
the manner in which He has been pleasedto bless you. I wish I could have
spokenworthily on such a topic as this, but a dull, heavy headache sits upon
me and I feel that a thick gloomovershadows my words, out of which I look
with longing, but cannot rise.
For this I may well grieve, but nevertheless God the Holy Spirit can work the
better through our weaknessandif you will try and preach the sermon to
yourselves, my Brethren, you will do it vastly better than I can. If you will
meditate upon this text this afternoon, “OfHim and through Him and to Him,
are all things,” I am sure you will be led to fall on your knees with the Apostle
and say, “To Him be glory forever,” and then you will rise up and practically,
in your life, give Him honor, putting the “Amen” to this doxologyby your own
individual service ofyour greatand gracious Lord. May He give a blessing
now and acceptyour thank offering through Christ Jesus. Amen.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Unsearchable Things Of God
Romans 11:33-36
C.H. Irwin

15. These words may be takenas a fitting conclusionto the doctrinal or
argumentative part of the Epistle. As we see how the apostle shows first of all,
in the condition of both the heathen and the Jewishworld, that all have
sinned, and that all needed a Divine Saviour; and how he then unfolds the
greatdoctrine of justification by faith and its results; as we see also the great
privileges for time and eternity which are bestowedupon the Children of
God; may we not also exclaim, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge ofGod! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
past finding out!"
I. HIS UNSEARCHABLE WISDOM. "Ohthe depth of the riches of the
wisdom of God!" says the apostle (ver. 33); and againhe asks, "Who hath
been his counsellor?"(ver. 34). Beyondall human wisdomis the wisdom of
God - a wisdom self-sufficient;derived from no other source;a wisdom of
which, indeed, all human wisdom is but the faint reflection, the outcome and
the overflow. Take the very wisestof men - men like Socrates, Plato, Seneca,
or Bacon:how foolishwere some of their thoughts, their proposals, ortheir
actions!Take the very wisestman whom you know, and he will be glad
sometimes to take counselof some one else. Indeed, in this the wise man shows
his wisdom. It is fools who despise reproof, and who will not take advice. But
God needs no advice. He makes no mistakes. This thought of the unsearchable
wisdom of God teaches us a lessonof faith and trust. God's dealings are often
mysterious to us, but there is an infinite wisdom behind them all. He doeth all
things well. It teaches us also a lessonof obedience. God's wayis always
wisest, safest, best, happiest. It might be said to us as Moses saidto the
children of Israel, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as
the Lord my God commanded me. Keep therefore and do them, for this is
your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall
hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people."
II. HIS UNSEARCHABLE KNOWLEDGE. We have made much progress in
scientific knowledge in this nineteenth century, and yet how very limited, after
all, is human knowledge!How many things in chemistry, in geology, in
astronomy, are still unrevealed! Even of a single science no man can say that
he knows all about it, though he may have given a lifetime to the study of it.
And then few men are masters of more than one branch of knowledge. Life is
too short to do more than touch the surface of things. But the knowledge of
God is unsearchable. "Ohthe depth of the riches of the knowledge ofGod!...
Who hath known the mind of the Lord?" (vers. 33, 34). Nothing is hidden
from him. Every part and path of the universe is knownto him. Every nation

16. is known to him - its national history, its national sins. Every family is known
to him. The joys and sorrows ofevery home, he knows them all. The secret
thoughts, the secretmotives, the secretplans of every life, he knows them all.
This thought carries with it greatcomfort. "Your heavenly Father knoweth
what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." He knows allour difficulties
and all our wants. And as we look forwardto the future, to the judgment-seat,
is there not a comfort in feeling that God's judgment upon us will be a
perfectly fair one, because it will be based upon a complete and accurate and
perfect knowledge ofour lives? Our motives may be misunderstood by men;
but God knows all about them. "Thenshall the righteous shine forth as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father." It carries with it also solemn warning. If
God knows all about me, how careful I should be to live as in his sight! How
careful I should be to live as in the presence ofthe judgment-seat! "Forthere
is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be
known."
III. HIS UNSEARCHABLE MERCY. "ForGod hath concluded them all in
unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. Oh the depth of the riches both of
the wisdomand knowledge ofGod!" Here God's unsearchable wisdom and
knowledge are representedas co-operating in his plan of universal mercy.
Here againwhat depths there are that we cannot fathom! How very
unmerciful men are at the best! How harsh the judgments even of professing
Christians! and how limited and narrow are sometimes their views as to the
possibility of the salvation of others! But the mercy of Godis wider than all
our creeds, and broader than the judgments of individual Christians. What a
depth, what a breadth of mercy is revealedin those words of Christ, "Godso
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life"! Whosoever!In that word
there is hope for the guiltiest of sinners who will repent of his sin, and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. So, while we speak of the unsearchable things of
God, we do not take the agnostic position. We do not saythat God is unknown
and unknowable. We do not know the depth of his wisdom and knowledge
and mercy; but we do know that he possessesandmanifests all these sublime
qualities in his dealings with men. There are mysteries in God's providences,
but there is one greattruth which will bring peace to every soul that acts upon
it; which will bring every soul that acts upon it into the eternal presence and
fellowship of God: "Believe onthe Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved." There are thoughts that are unsearchable about God, and yet they are
thoughts that we can feel within our spirits as the very power of God unto
salvation, even as we canfeel the warm sunshine on our faces though we

17. cannot walk along the bright pathway by which it comes. Jesus Christis
God's "unspeakable Gift;" yet many can say of him," I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keepthat which I have
committed unto him againstthat day." The love of God is called"the love of
God, that passethknowledge;" and yet many have experiencedits powerin
their hearts. The peace ofGod is a peace "thatpassethall understanding;" yet
many have known how, in a time of disquietude or trial, that peace, like a
sentinel, has kept our hearts and minds in quiet confidence and calm security.
"Now we know in part; but then shall we know even as also we are known." -
C.H.I.
Biblical Illustrator
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge ofGod!
Romans 11:33
The depth of the divine wisdom
Elnathan Parr, B.D.
As a man wading into the sea, whenhe comes up to the neck and feels the
waterbegin to heave him up and his feetto fail him, cries out, "O the depth!"
and goes back, so it fares with Paul in this place, and it is as if he should have
said thus: "O you Romans and my countrymen the Jews, I have writ unto you
these things as far as I can;for the restI am swallowedup, being more unable
to pass farther into this bottomless, than to wade through the depth of the sea.
Cease,therefore, to put more questions, and admire with me the depth of the
wisdom of God."

18. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)
The wisdom and knowledge of God
ArchdeaconGifford.
The true distinction betweenknowledge and wisdom is indicated by . "He
foreknew these things from the beginning, and, having foreknownthem, He
arrangedthem wisely." Bishop Lightfoot says, "While gnosis is simply
intuitive, sophia is ratiocinative also. While 'gnosis'applies chiefly to the
apprehension of truths, 'sophia' superadds the power of reasoning about them
and tracing their relations." To complete the distinction, we must add that,
while knowledge is theoretical, wisdomis practical; and while knowledge is
purely intellectual, wisdom is also moral; and for that reasonis both the most
perfect of mental gifts (, "Nic. Eth." 6:10) and the queen of all the virtues (,
"De Off." 1:43). In the present context, "gnosis" seems to refer especiallyto
God's foreknowledge ofthe free determinations of man's will, both in
individuals and nations; while "sophia" denotes the admirable skill with
which He includes man's free actions in His plan, and transforms them into so
many means for the accomplishmentof His goodpurpose.
(ArchdeaconGifford.)
The depths of the Godhead
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. HOW THEY STAND REVEALED BEFORE US in His —
1. Nature.
2. Works.
3. Ways.
II. HOW WE STAND OVERWHELMED BEFORETHEM in —
1. Humility.
2. Faith.
3. Hope.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
The depth and wealthof Divine grace
J. Lyth, D. D.

19. I.WISDOM conceivedthe purpose.
II.KNOWLEDGE devisedthe plan.
III.JUDGMENTS prepare the way.
IV.GRACE achieves the result.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
The unfathomable depth of redeeming love
J. Lyth, D. D.
I. WISDOM IN THE PLAN.
1. In the gift of His Son.
2. In the communication of His righteousness.
3. In the glory of the issue.
II. MYSTERYIS THE PROCEDURE.
1. With the world at large.
2. With individual believers.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
The depths of salvation
I. S. Spencer, D.D.
I. CHRISTIANITYIS A SYSTEM OF WONDERS.
1. The very proposal of salvationfor sinners is a matter of wonder. God was
not obligedto save. Mandeservedto perish; and God could have filled his
place instantly with better beings. Moreover, man is the solitaryobject of
saving mercy. When sin broke out in heaven, God hurled the thunderbolt of a
just vengeance.Certainlyhere is ground for amazement.
2. The incarnation of Christ was a miracle beyond any other miracle of God.
Deity took upon Himself the form and nature of humanity. Among all God's
wonders, you canfind no analogyfor the person of Christ.
3. Our ordinary idea of the proceedings of justice is confounded by the
sufferings of Christ. We connectsuffering with sin; at least, we considerthat
an innocent being cannotjustly be treated as a malefactor. Yet the sinless Son
of God was a man of sorrows and died as a culprit, abandoned even by the

20. Father whom He always pleased. Reasoncanonly exclaim, "O the depth!" at
this.
4. Amazement rises higher at the Bible representationthat He suffered the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. How could justice be
satisfiedby the sufferings of an innocent One? How canit be a just thing that
they should be acceptedas a propitiation for our sins? God has taught us the
fact, and hence we believe it; but the fact is a wonder. These are only
examples. Things of the same marvellous nature run all through the systemof
redemption. Infidelity is confounded by these depths. But what confounds an
infidel comforts a Christian.
II. THOSE WONDERSARE REASONS FOR OUR ACCEPTING IT AND
BEING COMFORTEDBY IT.
1. They constitute a feature of our religion which comports with our
experience on all other subjects. The facts which we have mentioned are all
plainly revealedfacts. There is no darkness or depth in them. The depth and
darkness meetus only as we proceedto philosophise. The further we
investigate the things of God anywhere the more deep and wonderful they
become.(1) The astronomerfinds it so. His wonder grows as he passes the
known suns and stars; and now, as he casts his keeneye out upon the
illimitable space beyond him, he is compelledto feel that he has not yet passed
the porch of the temple of God. All he can sayis, "O the depth!"(2) So in the
ever-descending field of microscopic study.(3) The providences of God, again,
are full of wonders. What a marvel is human history!
2. There are many things of importance, but they are not all of equal value.
Unorganisedmatter lies below the organisms of life. Brute life is of a lower
rank than human. The mental kingdom, while superior to the vegetable and
animal, is inferior to the moral. Now, we are limited creatures, andcannot
have an equal understanding of all subjects, and must expectto meet with the
highest wonders in the highestdepartments. An infidel tells us he meets with
the most wonders in Christianity. For that reasonhe rejects it, and for that we
glory in it. Considertwo arguments here.(1)God is glorious in everything, but
not in everything of equal glory. His highestglory lies in His saving sinners.
The angels knew this who sung over Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the
highest." Well, on that high field of wonders, where God is more glorious than
anywhere else, shall we not expectHim to be more amazing than anywhere
else?(2)Considerthe soul. It is immortal, and its capacitieswill expand for
ever. It is to be saved or lost. When a soul is perilled, shall God for its
salvationwork no more wonders than He does about the petty interests of a
world of matter and beasts, and threescore years andten?

21. 3. It is in these deep things of God only that we find provision for our deepest
necessities. Reasoncannothope exceptbefore the amazing depths of God's
wisdom and mercy. As sinners, we need God to do for us just the wonders He
has wrought. Had He not done them, we must have despaired.
(I. S. Spencer, D.D.)
Our proper attitude towards the deep things of God
John Howe.
It remains for us dutifully and reverentially to adore that in the Divine
counsels and ways which we do not, and, indeed, cannot, understand. There is
no government that hath not its arcana;and it would be very foolishfor us to
imagine that there should be no secrets belonging to the Divine government.
(John Howe.)
The contemplation of God's redeeming purpose
J. Lyth, D.D.
should prompt —
I. ADMIRATION of —
1. His wisdom.
2. His knowledge.
II. THE CONFESSIONOF HIS UNSEARCHABLENESSin respectof —
1. His purpose and procedure.
2. His all-sufficiency.
III. THE PRAISE OF HIS GRACE, which is —
1. Free.
2. Undeserved.
IV. THE INCREASE OF HIS GLORY.
1. He is the end of all things.
2. To Him be glory for ever.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
God's conduct in the salvationof mankind

22. D. Thomas, D.D.
This is the conclusionof Paul's argument on this subject. He seems to be
overwhelmed with the sense ofits unsearchableness.The depths of God's
wisdom and knowledge appearin —
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESSIN THE
RESTORATIONOF REBELS. Human monarchs have showntheir justice in
crushing rebels, but God in restoring them.
II. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION IN THE
RESTORATIONOF REBELS, Human monarchs may deliver rebels, but
they cannot destroythe spirit of rebellion, God does this.
III. THE AUGMENTATION OF THE FORCE OF MORAL
GOVERNMENTIN THE RESTORATIONOF REBELS. Human monarchs
may weakentheir government by saving rebels, but Godstrengthens the force
of His moral administration by redeeming transgressors.
IV. THE PROMOTION OF ALL THE RIGHTS OF HIS SUBJECTSIN
THE RESTORATIONOF REBELS. Human monarchs, by delivering rebels,
endangerthe rights of loyal citizens God, in the restorationof rebels,
promotes the rights of all.
V. THE ELECTION OF EARTH INSTEAD OF HELL AS THE SCENE
FOR THE RESTORATIONOF REBELS.
(D. Thomas, D.D.)
God's praise
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. ITS THEME.
1. His wisdom.
2. His knowledge.
3. His judgments and procedure.
II. ITS EXPRESSION.
1. Wonder.
2. Submission.
3. Love.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)

23. Wisdom of God in redemption
H. G. Salter.
No one can be said to meditate aright on redemption by Christ who does not
behold God's manifold wisdom, as well as His other perfections, displayed
therein. As we conclude him a very unskilful observer of a curious picture or
statue who only takes notice of its dimensions in general, or the matter of
which it is composed, its colouring, or framework, without considering the
symmetry and proportion of all its parts, the mind, the genius, and
intelligence shownin its design — so it is unworthy and below a Christian to
be able only to say that Christ is a Saviour, or to have a generalidea of this
scheme of mercy, without having his thoughts suitably affectedwith the
wonders of love and grace which it contains, and the designof all, and the
adaptation of every part, to setforth the glory of the triune Jehovah.
(H. G. Salter.)
Incomplete presentations of the gospel
H. W. Beecher.
My bestpresentations of the gospelto you are so incomplete! Sometimes,
when I am alone, I have such sweetand rapturous visions of the love of God
and the truths of His Word, that I think if I could speak to you then I should
move your hearts. I am like a child who, walking forth some sunny morning,
sees grassand flowers all shining with drops of dew. "Oh," he cries, "I'll
carry these beautiful things to my mother!" and, eagerlyplucking them, the
dew drops into his little palm, and all the charm is gone. There is but grass in
his hand, and no longerpearls.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Limitation of human views
DeanStanley.
There is a striking passage in which a greatphilosopher, the famous Bishop
Berkeley, describes the thought which occurredto him of the inscrutable
schemes ofProvidence, as he saw, in St. Paul's Cathedral, a fly moving on one
of the pillars. "It requires," he says, "some comprehensionin the eye of an
intelligent spectatorto take in at one view the various parts of the building, in
order to observe their harmony and design. But to the fly, whose prospectwas
confined to a little part of one of the stones of a single pillar, the joint beauty

24. of the whole, or the distinct use of its parts, was inconspicuous. To that limited
view, the small irregularities on the surface of the hewn stone seemedto be so
many deformed rocks and precipices." Thatfly on the pillar, of which the
philosopher spoke, is the likeness ofeachhuman being as he creeps along the
vast pillars which support the universe. The sorrow which appears to us
nothing but a yawning chasmor hideous precipice, may turn out to be but the
joining or cement which binds togetherthe fragments of our existence into a
solid whole! That dark and crookedpath, in which we have to grope our way
in doubt and fear, may be but the curve which, in the full daylight of a
brighter world, will appear to be the necessaryfinish of some choice
ornament, the inevitable span of some majestic arch.
(DeanStanley.)
How unsearchable are His Judgments, and His ways past finding out
The unsearchablenessofGod
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. WHEN WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND HIS WAYS IT IS ENOUGH TO
BE ASSURED —
1. That He knows what He does.
2. That He needs no counsellor.
II. THEREFOREOUGHT WE TO RESIGN OURSELVES TO HIS WILL,
with —
1. Resignation.
2. Obedience.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
The unsearchablenessofGod's judgments
L Barrow, D.D.
These words are the close ofSt. Paul s disputation concerning God s
providence towards His ancient people, in rejecting the greatestpart of them,
on their refusal to embrace Christianity, and in admitting the Gentiles to
favour on their compliance;in which proceeding the Jews could not discern
God's hand, nor allow such a dispensationto be worthy of Him. The apostle,
after an able vindication of it, winds up the contestwith the modestintimation
that in this and all such cases, forentire satisfaction, we should have recourse

25. to the incomprehensible wisdomof God, who frequently orders things in
methods beyond our ability to trace. Note —
I. SOME CAUSES AND REASONS OF THAT INCOMPREHENSIBILITY.
1. As the dealings of very wise men sometimes are founded on maxims, and
admit justifications not obvious to nor penetrable by vulgar conceit, so may
God's. As there are natural modes of being and operation — such as God's
necessarysubsistence,His eternity without succession, etc. — so there may be
prudential and moral rules far above our reach(Isaiah55:9). Some of these
we may be incapable of knowing on accountof our finite nature; others on
accountof our meanness and low rank among createdbeings. In such cases
the absolute will, sovereignauthority, and pure liberality of God, supply the
place of reasons.
2. As the standing rules of God's acting, so the occasionalgrounds thereof are
commonly placedbeyond the sphere of our apprehension. God is obliged to
prosecute His own immutable decrees;"working all things according to the
counselof His own will": which how can we anywise come to discover? God
also has a perfect foresightof contingentevents. He observes in what relation
and degrees ofcomparisonthings stand towards eachother; whereas we
cannot tell what things to compare.
3. We are also incapable thoroughly to discern the ways of Providence, from
our moral defects, in some measure common to all men; our stupidity, sloth,
temerity, impatience, impurity, of heart, etc.
4. Again, the nature of those instruments which Divine Providence uses in
administration of human affairs, hinders us from discerning it. The footsteps
of Divine wisdom are far more conspicuous in the works of nature than in the
managementof our affairs, and while the one has confirmed faith, the other
has bred doubt.
5. As in nature the influence of heaven and of inferior causes, so in the
production of specialevents among men Divine and human agencyare so
combined, that it is not easyto discriminate what God performs by natural
instruments, and what by superior efficacy.(1)Notseeing the first, we are
prone to ascribe too much to the last, which are most obvious.(2) And this we
are the more apt to do because the manner of Divine agencyis ever soft and
gentle. God so fashions the hearts of men, so manages their hands, so guides
their steps, that even they who are most actedon by Him cannot feelthe
touch.
6. God, in His progress towards the achievementof any design, is not wont to
go in the most direct and compendious ways, but commonly takes a large

26. compass, enfolding severalother coincident purposes;which moves our
impatience, etc.
7. Like every wise agent, He is wont to actvariously, according to the state
and circumstances ofthings, or to the dispositions and capacities ofpersons.
8. There are different ends which Providence pursues in various order and
measure, which we, by reasonofour dim insight and short prospect, cannot
descry.(1)God permits things, bad in their own nature, having regardto their
instrumental use and tendency.(2)Also the expediency of things to be
permitted or crossed, frequently consists, notin themselves singly taken, as
particular acts or events, but in their conjunction with or reference to others,
with which they may become subservient to a common end.
9. That Providence is sometimes obscure and intricate, may be attributed to
the will of God, on many accounts designing it so. He will not glare forth in
discoveries so bright as to dazzle or confound our weak sight.(1)He meaneth
thereby to improve and exalt our faith.(2) It is fit also that He should thus in
many things surpass our understanding, that He may appear to be God
indeed.(3) The obscurity of Providence conciliates anawful reverence towards
it, as darkness raises a dread of invisible powers.(4)It is also requisite that
God should dispose many occurrences, crossto our notions, and offensive to
our carnalsense, that we may thus be prompted to think of Him, and to seek
Him.(5) It is needful that the present course ofProvidence should not be
perfectly clearand satisfactory, that we may be well assuredconcerning a
future account, and forcedin our thoughts to recur thither for a solution of
our doubts and difficulties.
II. SOME PRACTICALAPPLICATIONS GROUNDED ON THE
FOREGOINGREASONS.
1. It should render us modest and soberin our judgment about providential
occurrences, since it is plain arrogance orimposture to assume perfectskill in
what passethour capacityto learn.
2. It should make us cautious in passing judgment or censure on events, since
it is temerity to give sentence on what is incapable of evidence.
3. It should repress wanton curiosity, which would only make us lose our time,
etc.
4. It should keepus from conceitand confidence in our own wisdom.
5. It should preserve us from infidelity, and despairon accountof any cross
accidents.
6. It should prevent our taking offence atsuch.

27. 7. It should guard us againstsecurity, or presuming on impunity for our
miscarriages;for seeing that God does not always fully discoverHis mind, it is
vain to suppose that, because He is now patient, He will always be so.
8. It should quicken our industry in observing and considering the works of
Providence:the fainter our light is, the more attentive should we be in
looking.
9. It should oblige us to be circumspectand wary in our conversation.
10. Also constantly to seek God, and to depend on Him for protection, and for
the conduct of His grace, the only clue in this labyrinth.
11. In fine, it should cause us humbly to admire and adore that wisdom which
governs the world in ways no less greatand wonderful than just and holy.
(L Barrow, D.D.)
Man's inability to find out God's judgments
R. South, D. D.
1. That which first brought both a present guilt, and entailed a future curse
upon mankind, was an inordinate desire of knowledge.And from the fall to
this very day, this fatal itch has stuck so close to our nature, that every one is
eagerto know where he is calledonly to adore and obey.
2. The Scripture is in nothing more full and frequent than in representing the
transcendencyof God's ways above all createdintellectuals (Psalm 139:6;
Psalm36:6; Psalm18:9; Psalm 77:19). If we consult its reports, or those of our
own experience, about the amazing events of Providence, we shall find the
result of our most exactinquiries in the text. I shall demonstrate that the most
advancedwisdom of man is incompetent to judge of —
I. THE REASON OR CAUSE OF GOD'S WAYS. The causes men assignof
the passagesofProvidence are —
1. Forthe most part false, as e.g.,(1)Thatthe prosperous are the objects of
God's love; and the miserable of His hatred. And all this in defiance of the
Spirit of GodHimself who (Ecclesiastes9:1)assures us that "no man knows
either love or hatred by all that is before him"; nor consequently canconclude
himself in or out of favour with God by anything befalling him in this life.
Otherwise Lazarus would have been in flames, and the rich man in
Abraham's bosom. God sometimes curses men with prosperity, and casts His
Jobs upon dunghills, and sells His belovedJosephs into slavery.(2)That the
goodonly must prosper and the bad suffer. A most absurd assertion, for how

28. is it that the goodsuffer and the bad prosper? — a factwhich staggered
Asaph (Psalm73:2), and so confounded Jeremiah(Jeremiah 12:1), that he
could almost have offered to dispute the point with God Himself. And from
the same topic it was that Job's friends argued, until they were confounded by
God's verdict on the whole matter.
2. Always imperfect. Who would assignan adequate reasonof anything which
God does, must see as far into it as God sees. There is no action of God but
there is a combination of impulsive causes concernedin it, one or two of which
man may light upon, but the weakness ofhis discerning powers keeps him
inevitably a strangerto far the greaterpart of them. God, by one and the
same numerical lot of providence, may intend to punish one nation, to
advance another; to plant the gospelin a third, and to let in trade into a
fourth; likewise to make way for the happiness of one man's prosperity, and
for the extinction of another's;to rewardthe virtues of soberand industrious
people, and to revenge the crimes of a vicious and rebellious; and we are no
more able to searchinto these than we are to govern the world.
II. THE ISSUE AND EVENT OF ACTIONS. Men usually prognosticate —
1. According to the measure of the wisdom of secondagents. And it must be
confessedthat it is the best rule were it not controlled by two better, viz.,
Scripture and experience. The former of which brings in God laughing at the
wisdom of the wise;taking and circumventing the crafty in their own wiles
(Job 5:12, 13). And for the latter, history so abounds with instances ofthe
most artificially-spun contrivances dashedin pieces by some sudden and
unforeseenaccidents, that to ascertainthe event of the most promising
undertaking, if we trust but our own eyes, we shall have little Cause to trust
another's wisdom.
2. From successformerly gainedunder the same or less probable
circumstances. Butremember(1) That it is hard, and perhaps scarce possible
to repeat any action under perfectly the same circumstances.(2)Thatin most
actions there are still some circumstances not observed, which may have a
surer and more immediate influence upon the event than those which, coming
more into view, are more depended upon.(3) That the successofevery action
depends more upon the secrethand of God than upon any causes or
instruments visibly engagedin it.
3. According to the preparations made for it, and the power employed in it.
And yet we find that it is not always the biggerweight, but sometimes the
artificial hand managing the balance which turns the scale. And in like
manner, when we have raised armies and manned our fleets, we are still in the

29. hand of that Providence which sometimes sets the crown of victory upon the
weak and the few, and disappoints the hopes and breaks the force of the
confident and numerous Could anything look more invincible than the
Spanish Armada? But we find that there is no commanding the sea without
being able to command the winds too. And what a painful defence is multitude
on the one side, where Omnipotence takes the other!
III. THE USE AND IMPROVEMENT.We may infer —
1. The vanity of making the future event, or presumed successofany
enterprise, the rule of our presentactings about the same.
2. The absolute necessityof an entire, total, unreserved dependence upon
Providence in the most hopeful and promising condition of our affairs.
3. The impossibility of a rational dependence upon Providence with comfort,
but in the way of lawful, honest, and religious courses.
(R. South, D. D.)
Plans of God not fully known
H. W. Beecher.
I should like to hearany man attempt to interpret to a worm what it is going
to be when it is a butterfly. Where is there a foreshadowing analogy, or
anything to indicate to it what it is coming to in its fuller form? And how can
any one disclose whatis to be evolved when God's work is completedin this
life? For, although we may know something, our knowledge is fragmentary
and limited. And it is a glorious consolationto believe that sufferings forgotten
are not less causes ofgoodthan those thus are remembered, and that
sufferings which apparently leave but little trace are working out in us great
and blessedresults in the kingdom to which we are hastening.
(H. W. Beecher.)
God's ways inscrutable, but in accordancewith the highes
DeanGoulburn.
t reason:— Natural instincts, and even moral sense, are no safe guide upon a
subject which soars so infinitely above our limited capacity. We are children;
and in considering the means by which our Heavenly Father will save us, it is
wisdom to acceptsimply His own instructions, desperate folly and
presumption to criticise those instructions by our puerile instincts. E.g., a

30. father, inured to life upon the Alpine mountains, is under the necessityof
crossing a very perilous glacierwith his children. The children are of such an
age that the direction, "Hold this, and keepat as greata distance from me as
you possibly can," canjust be made intelligible to them, while the grounds of
it, viz., that the weight of the party may be distributed, and not bear on one
particular spot, which might thus give way, are, it may be, out of the reachof
a child's capacity. Let us suppose that the children, in fright, begin to reason
about this counsel, and to judge of it by their natural instincts; conceive that
one of them should think and sayas follows:"Can our father, who loves to
have us close around him, say, 'Come not near me, child, at the peril of thy
life'? Say it he may, but I will not believe such to be his meaning, for it
conflicts with all my natural instincts, which are to cling round him in the
moment of danger." But shortly afterwards night falls, and the wearied
children are irresistibly impelled to lie down without any covering, in which
case deathwould overtake them. The father burrows in a snowdrift, and
proposes that in the cavities so made the children shall lie, the cold snow piled
over them, and only the smallestpossible aperture allowedfor the passageof
the breath. Adults, of course, would be aware that this would be the only
method of preserving the vital heat of the body; but not so the children. Snow,
applied only to parts of the person, and not as a generalwrapper, is bitterly
cold; and the children, unable to understand, imagine cruelty in this
arrangement. Now, the child who keeps at a distance from his father, and
buries himself in the snow, is a wise child, because, renouncing the guidance of
his instincts, he places faith in one manifestly his superior in capacity. The
child who clings round his father's neck upon the glacierand stretches his
limbs beneath the open sky in distrust of his parent's directions is a foolish
child; for what is greaterfolly than to refuse to be guided by a recognised
superior in wisdom? And it cannotbe too strongly insisted upon, that one
who, in investigating such a subject as the method of human salvation, follows
the guidance of his natural instincts in preference to that of Revelation, is a
weak person, not a man of bold and courageousthought. Simple dependence
upon God, where God alone can teach, is the truest independence of mind.
(DeanGoulburn.)
Secrets ofGod
T. Adams.
Be not curious to searchinto the secrets ofGod; pick not the lock where He
hath allowedno key. He that will be sifting every cloud may be smitten with a

31. thunderbolt; and he that will be too familiar with God's secrets may be
overwhelmed in His judgments. Adam would curiously increase his
knowledge;therefore Adam shamefully losthis goodness:the Bethshemites
would needs pry into the ark of God; therefore the hand of God slew about
fifty thousand of them. Therefore hover not about this flame, lestwe scorch
our wings. Formy part, seeing Godhath made me His secretary, I will
carefully improve myself by what He has revealed, and not curiously inquire
into or after what He hath reserved.
(T. Adams.)
For who hath knownthe mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor
God all in all
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. THE CHALLENGE.
1. To human intellect.
2. To human merit.
II. THE ASSERTION. Godis —
1. The source of all.
2. The agent in all.
3. The end of all.
III. THE ASCRIPTION.
1. To Him be glory.
2. On earth.
3. In heaven.
4. Forever.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
God's counsels are
J. Lyth, D. D.
I. DEEP.
1. Teaching us the feebleness ofour understanding.
2. Checking our daring speculations.

32. II. TRUE.
1. Inviting our confidence.
2. Commanding our submission.
III. MERCIFUL.
1. Soliciting our love.
2. Inspiring our hope.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
God's independence
C. H. Spurgeon.
Philo, the Jew, compares the greatGod to a tree, and all creatures to the
leaves and fruits, which are all in the tree; but the metaphor is not complete,
because you may remove fruit from the tree, but there can be no creature out
of the powerand will of God by which alone it can exist at all. If you remove
the fruits from. the tree the tree has at leastlost something; but if all creatures
were destroyed, yet still the Lord would be as infinitely God as He is now; if
the creatures were multiplied, God were no more — and if diminished, He
were no less. The creatures, maybe likened to the waves, and God to the great
sea;the waves cannotexist apart from the sea, nor the creatures apartfrom
God: but no earthly figure of the Divine canbe complete, for the waves are a
portion of the sea, but the creatures are not God, nor do they contribute to His
essenceorattributes. The sea would be diminished if the waves were gone, but
if you could take all creatures away, Godwould be no less God, nor less
infinite than He is now.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things
God all in all
J. Brown, D.D.
This is perhaps the most comprehensive accountof the Deity in His relation to
His works that is anywhere to be met with. All things are —
I. OF Him. He is of none. They originate in His will, and but for Him they
would never have been.
II. BY Him. He creates andsustains all.

33. III. TO Him. All things are intended to manifest forth His glory, and will
ultimately serve His purpose. He has made all things for Himself, and it is
obviously meet that it should be so, that His will should be the law, His glory
the end of the universe of which He is the Creator, the Supporter, and
Proprietor.
(J. Brown, D.D.)
God all in all
Bp. Sanderson.
Of Him all things are as their Original Author and Creator;through Him, as
the Giver and Conveyerof them to us; to Him, to His honour, for His use, and
in His disposal;and no further or longer ours than He is pleasedin mercy, not
in justice, as a free gift, and not as a debt, to dispense them to us.
(Bp. Sanderson.)
God must be all in all
J. Lyth, D.D.
I.Him first.
II.Him last.
III.Him midst.
IV.And without end. Amen.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
God the first cause and last end
Abp. Tillotson.
I. THE EXPLICATION OF THE TERMS.
1. That God is the first cause, signifies —(1)Negatively, that He had no cause,
and is independent of every other being, and is eternally of Himself.(2)
Positively, that He is the cause and support of all things besides Himself (John
1:3).
2. The last end; i.e., that all things refer to Him; the aim of all things is the
illustration of His glory, and the manifestation of His perfections.
II. THE CONFIRMATIONOF THE PROPOSITION.

34. 1. By natural light.(1) The notion of a God contains in it all possible
perfection. Now the utmost perfection we can imagine is for a being to be
always of itself, and to be the cause and support of all other things. From
hence follows that all things must refer to Him as their last end. For every
wise agentacts in order to an end. Now the end which is most worthy the
attaining is the manifestation of God's being and perfection, which is called
God's glory.(2) These titles were discoveredby the natural light of the
heathens. Aristotle calledGod the first being, the first cause, and the first
mover; and Plato calls God the author and parent of all things, the architect
of the world, and of all creatures, the fountain and original of all things.
Porphyry calls Him "the first," from whence he reasons that He is the
ultimate end, and that all things move towards God; that all motions centre in
Him, because, saithhe, it is most proper and natural for things to refer to
their original, and to refer all to Him from whom they receive all. Antoninus,
speaking ofnature (which with the Stoics signifies God), had these words, "Of
Thee are all things, in Thee are all things, to Thee are all things."
2. From Scripture.(1) Hither belong all those places where He declares
Himself to be "the first and the last" (Isaiah41:4; Isaiah 43:10;Isaiah 44:6;
Isaiah48:12, 13; Revelation1:8).(2) But more expressly, see 1 Corinthians
8:6; Acts 17:24.(3)Hither we may refer those texts which attribute the same to
the SecondPersonin the Trinity {John 1:3, 10; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians
3:9; Colossians 1:16, 17;Hebrews 1:2, 3).
III. THE APPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE.
1. If God be the first cause ofall things, from hence let us learn —(1) With
humility and thankfulness to own, admire, and bless God as the author of our
being and of all the blessings we enjoy (Revelation4:11; Psalm 103:1-4). With
patience and quietness to submit to all events that come upon us, as coming
from Him (1 Samuel 3:18; Psalm 39:9).
2. If God be the lastend of all, let us make Him our last end, and refer all our
actions to His glory (Matthew 22:37; 1 Corinthians 10:31).
(Abp. Tillotson.)
The Trinity
T. Robinson, D.D.
1. The Father's love and purpose the origin of all things.
2. The Son's mediation and rule their continuance and direction.

35. 3. The Spirit's agencyconducts all things to the end designed. All things of the
Father, through the Son, by the Spirit
(T. Robinson, D.D.)
Laus Deo
C. H. Spurgeon., Bp. Sanderson.
My text consists ofmonosyllables, but it contains the loftiest sublimities. Our
greatGod alone can expound this verse, for He only canworthily set forth His
own perfections. MayHe do so now! Consider —
I. THE DOCTRINE. All things are of Him as their source, through Him as
their means, to Him as their end. They are of Him in the plan, through Him in
the working, and to Him in the glory which they produce. Taking this general
principle, you will find it apply to all things.
1. To the whole range of God's works in creationand providence.(1) There
was a period when Godinhabited eternity in His self-containedand solitary
greatness.All things must be of Him in design, for there was no one with
whom He could take counsel. Before His works ofold, eternalwisdom
brought forth the perfectplan of future creations, and every line must have
been of the Lord alone. He might have made a different universe, and that He
has made it what it is was because He saw fit to do so.(2)When the plan was
all laid down this was not enough; mere arrangementwould not create.
"Through Him" must all things be. There was no raw material ready, and
there was none to help. He speaks, andthe heavens leap into existence. He
speaks again, andworlds are begottenwith all the varied forms of life so
fraught with Divine wisdom and matchless skill. Through Him were all things,
from the archangeldownto the insect. The same finger paints the rainbow
and the wing of the butterfly. He who dyes the garments of evening in all the
colours of heaven has coveredthe kingcup with gold, and lit up the
glowworm's lamp. Nature is as it is through the energyof the present God.
Out upon those men who think that God has wound up the world like a clock,
and left it to work for itself. Wherever thou art, thou art in God's workshop,
where every wheelis turned by His hand.(3) But the greatglory of all is that
everything is to Him. God must have the highest motive, and there can be no
higher motive than His own glory. When there was no being but Himself God
could not have takenas a motive a creature which did not exist. The goodof
His creatures He considerethcarefully, but even that is but a means to the
main end. And the day shall come when even the fall will be seennot to have

36. marred the Divine glory. His enemies shall bow their necks, whilst His people
shall cheerfully extol Him.
2. To the grand work of Divine grace.(1)Here everything is of God. The plan
of salvationis no concoctionofpriests, but the offspring of a wisdom no less
than Divine. None but God could have imagined a plan so just to God, so safe
to man. And as the greatplan is of Him, so the fillings up of the minutiae are
of Him. God ordained the time and circumstances ofthe first promise, and the
hour when the greatpromise-keepershould come, etc. Every stitch in the
noble tapestry of salvation is of the Lord.(2) Through Him. Through Him the
Son of God is born of the Virgin Mary by the powerof the Spirit. In the great
redemption God alone is exalted. And as through Him the atonement, so
through Him the applicationof the atonement. By the powerof the Spirit the
gospelis daily preached, and through Him men are calledand saved.(3)All is
to Him; we have not a note of praise to spare for another.
3. To the case ofevery individual believer.(1)Of whom comes my salvation?
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.(2)Did it not also come through God;
through faith, which was the operation of the Holy Spirit? And what didst
thou believe in but in Jesus the Lord?(3) Is it not also "to Him"?
4. To Christian work.
(1)The powercomes from God.
(2)The success comesthrough God.
(3)The honour is to God.
II. DEVOTION. "To whombe glory for ever, Amen." This should be —
1. The single desire of the Christian. He may desire prosperity or to attain
more gifts and graces,etc., but it should only be that "to Him may be glory for
ever."
2. Our constantdesire at our work behind the counter, or in the exchange, or
walking in the fields, etc.
3. Our earnestdesire. Do not speak of God's glory with coldwords, nor think
of it with chilly heart.
4. Our growing desire. You blessedHim in your youth; do not be content with
such praises as you gave Him then.
5. Make this desire practical. Praise Godby your patience in pain, your
perseverance in duty, your generosityin His cause, your boldness in
testimony, your consecrationto His work.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

37. To whom be glory for ever. Amen. — As the rivers return againto the place
whence they came, they all come from the sea, and they all run into the sea
again;so all our store as it issued at first from the fountain of God's grace, so
should it fall at lastinto the oceanofHis glory.
(Bp. Sanderson.).
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(36) Of him, and through him, and to him.—All things proceedfrom God, all
things are made or wrought by Him, and all things exist for His glory, and to
carry out His ends. It is a mistake to see in this, as some of the older
commentators have done, an allusion to the Trinity. This can hardly be. The
subject of the whole verse appears to be Godthe Father, and the prominent
idea is rather the unity of creationcorresponding to the unity of the Godhead.
The whole system of things issues from and returns to Him, accomplishing in
its course His beneficentdesigns. It is true, however, that the use of the
prepositions is such as in more analyticalpassageswouldbe taken to express
the threefold relation (origination, mediate causation, and retrocession)which
the doctrine of the Trinity embodies.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
11:33-36 The apostle Paul knew the mysteries of the kingdom of God as well
as ever any man; yet he confesses himselfat a loss;and despairing to find the
bottom, he humbly sits down at the brink, and adores the depth. Those who
know most in this imperfect state, feeltheir own weakness most. There is not
only depth in the Divine counsels, but riches; abundance of that which is
precious and valuable. The Divine counsels are complete;they have not only
depth and height, but breadth and length, Eph 3:18, and that passing
knowledge. There is that vast distance and disproportion betweenGod and
man, betweenthe Creatorand the creature, which for ever shuts us from
knowledge ofhis ways. What man shall teachGod how to governthe world?
The apostle adores the sovereigntyof the Divine counsels. All things in heaven
and earth, especiallythose which relate to our salvation, that belong to our
peace, are all of him by way of creation, through him by way of providence,
that they may be to him in their end. Of God, as the Spring and Fountain of

38. all; through Christ, to God, as the end. These include all God's relations to his
creatures;if all are of Him, and through Him, all should be to Him, and for
Him. Whateverbegins, let God's glory be the end: especiallylet us adore him
when we talk of the Divine counsels and actings. The saints in heaven never
dispute, but always praise.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For of him - εξ αὐτοῦ exautou; compare 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians
8:6. This expressiondoubtless means that he is the original source and
fountain of all blessings. He is the Creatorof all, the rich "fountain from
which all streams of existence take their rise. The design of this verse is to
show that no creature has any claim on God. Jews and Gentiles must alike
receive salvationon the ground of his mercy. So far from having a claim on
God, the apostle here affirms that all things have come from him, and
therefore all must be derived to us. Nothing has been produced by chance, or
haphazard; nothing by createdskill or might. All has been formed by God;
and therefore he has a right to dispose of all.
And through him - δἰ αὐτοῦ di autou.) That is, by his immediate operating
agency. The former expression, "ofhim," affirmed that he was the original
source of all things; this declares thatall are by him, or through him, as their
immediate cause. It is not merely by his plan or purpose; it is by his agency,
by the direct exertion of his powerin their creationand bestowment. By his
powerthey are still directed and controlled. Human agency, therefore, could
not lay him under any obligation. He does not need the aid of man; and he did
not callin that aid in the creationand government of the world. He is the
independent Creatorand Lord, and on him none canhave a claim.
To him - εἰς αὐτὸν eis autos. This expressiondenotes the final cause, the
reasonor end for which all things were formed. It is to promote his honor and
glory. It is to manifest his praise, or to give a proper putting forth of the
glorious attributes of God; that the exceeding greatness, and goodness, and
grandeur of his charactermight be evinced. It is not to promote his happiness,
for he was eternally happy; not to add anything to him, for he is infinite; but
that he might actas God, and have the honor and praise that is due to God. As
this was the design of all things, so it followedthat the bestowmentof his
favors must be in accordancewith this in such a way as to promote his glory;
and not so as to consult the feelings or views of either Jews or Gentiles.
All things - The universe; the creation, or still more particularly, the things of
which the apostle is discoursing. He does not affirm that he is the author of sin
or of sinful thoughts; not that he creates evil, or that evil is designedto

39. promote his glory. The apostle is not discoursing of these, but of his method of
bestowing his favors; and he says that these are to be conferredin such a way
as to promote his honor, and to declare the praise of hint who is the original
source, the creator, and the proprietor of all things.
To whom be glory - This ascription of praise is the appropriate close of the
argumentative part of the Epistle, as well as appropriate to the train of
remarks into which the apostle had fallen. It expresses his hearty amen in
concurrence with this view; the deep desire of a pious man that all might be to
God's glory and honor. He had not merely come to it by reasoning, but it was
the sincere desire of his soul that it might be so. The Christian does not merely
admit this doctrine; he is not merely driven to it by argument, but it finds a
hearty response in his bosom. He rejoices in it; and sincerely desires that all
may be to the honor of God. Sinners are often compelledby argument to
admit it, but they do not love it. They would rejoice were it otherwise, andbe
glad if they were permitted rather to seek their own glory than that of the
living God.
Glory - Praise, honor.
Forever- Not merely amid transitory events now, but ever onward to eternity.
This will be the case.There never will be a time when the affairs of the
universe shall not be conducted with reference to the glory of God. That
honor and glory shall shine brighter and brighter, and all worlds shall be
perfectly adapted to show his praise, and to evince his greatness,goodness,
power, and love foreverand ever. Thus, let it be, is the language ofeveryone
that truly loves him.
This closes the argumentative part of the Epistle. From the close ofthis
chapter we may make the following observations.
1. God is infinitely wise, and just, and good. This is seenin all his plans and
doings, and especiallyin the glorious plan of saving people.
2. It becomes man to be humble. He can see but few of the reasons ofthe
doings of an infinite God. He is not qualified to sit in judgment on his plans.
He is not suited to arraign him. There is nothing more absurd than for a man
to contend with God, or to find fault with his plans; and yet there is nothing
more common. Man speaks, andthinks, and reasons onthe great things
pertaining to the divine mind and plan, as if he were qualified to counselthe
being of infinite wisdom, and to arraign at the bar of his own reasonthe being
of infinite goodness.
3. It is our duty to be submissive to God. His plans may often require him to
cross the path of our pleasures, orto remove some of our enjoyments. He tries

40. us by requiring us to put confidence in him where we cannot see the reasonof
his doings, and to believe that he is qualified for universal empire. In all such
casesit is our duty to submit to his will. He is seeking a granderand nobler
objectthan our private good. He is seeking the welfare of a vastuniverse; and
he best knows in what way that canbe promoted.
4. God is the creatorand proprietor of all things. It would be possible to prove
this from his works. But his word unequivocally assertsit. He has formed, and
he upholds, and he directs all things for his glory. He who formed all has a
right to all. He who is the source of life has the right to direct it, or to
withdraw the gift. He on whom all depend has a right to homage and praise.
5. He has formed a universe that is eminently adapted to declare his glory. It
evinces infinite power in its creation;and it is suited to fill the mind with ever-
growing wonder and gladness in its contemplation. The sacredwriters were
filled with rapture when they contemplated it; and all the discoveries of
astronomy, and geology, andscience in general, in modern times, are suited to
carry forward the wonder, and fill the lips with new expressions ofpraise. The
universe is vast and grand enough to occupy the thoughts forever. How little
do we know of the wonders of his creation, evenpertaining to this little world;
to our own bodies and souls;to the earth, the ocean, the beastand the reptile,
the bird and the insect;how much less ofthat amazing view of worlds and
systems which modern astronomy has openedto our view, the vast starry
frame which the eye can penetrate for millions and millions of miles, and
where it finds world piled on world, and system rising above system, in
wonderful order and grandeur, and where the utmost power of the telescore
can as yet find no bounds.
6. Equally true is this in his moral government. The system is such as to excite
our wonder and praise. The creationand control of free, and active, and
mighty minds is as wonderful as the creationand control of matter, even the
vast masses ofthe planetary systems. Creationis filled with minds. God has
peopled the worlds with conscious,free, and active intelligences. The
wonderful wisdom by which he controls them; the amazing moral power by
which he guards and binds them to himself, by which he restrains and awes
the rebellious;and the complete subjectionby which he will bring all yet at his
feet, is as much replete with wonderas the wisdom and skill by which he
framed the heavens. To govern mind requires more wisdom and skill than to
govern matter. To control angels and human beings evinces more glory than
to roll the streams or the ocean, orthan to propel and guide the planets. And
especiallyis this true of the plan of salvation. That wondrous scheme is
adapted to call forth eternal, praise, and to show foreverthe wisdom and

41. mercy of God. Without such a plan, we cannot see how the Divinity could be
fully manifested; with that, we see Godas God, vast, grand, mighty, infinite;
but still seeking to do good, and having powerto enter any vastmass of
iniquity, and to diffuse purity and peace overthe face of an alienatedand
dying world.
continued...
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom—"to
Him"
be glory for ever. Amen—Thus worthily—with a brevity only equalled by its
sublimity—does the apostle here sum up this whole matter. "Of Him are all
things," as their eternalSource:"THROUGH Him are all things," inasmuch
as He brings all to pass which in His eternal counsels He purposed: "To Him
are all things," as being His own lastEnd; the manifestationof the glory of
His own perfections being the ultimate, because the highest possible, designof
all His procedure from first to last.
On this rich chapter, Note, (1) It is an unspeakable consolationto know that in
times of deepestreligious declensionand most extensive defectionfrom the
truth, the lamp of God has never been permitted to go out, and that a faithful
remnant has ever existed—a remnant larger than their own drooping spirits
could easily believe (Ro 11:1-5). (2) The preservation of this remnant, even as
their separationat the first, is all of mere grace (Ro 11:5, 6). (3) When
individuals and communities, after many fruitless warnings, are abandoned of
God, they go from bad to worse (Ro 11:7-10). (4) God has so ordered His
dealings with the greatdivisions of mankind, "that no flesh should glory in
His presence."Gentile and Jew have eachin turn been "shut up to unbelief,"
that eachin turn may experience the "mercy" which saves the chief of sinners
(Ro 11:11-32). (5)As we are "justified by faith," so are we "keptby the power
of God through faith"—faith alone—unto salvation(Ro 11:20-32). (6)God's
covenantwith Abraham and his natural seedis a perpetual covenant, in equal
force under the Gospelas before it. Therefore it is, that the Jews as a nation
still survive, in spite of all the laws which, in similar circumstances,have
either extinguished or destroyedthe identity of other nations. And therefore it
is that the Jews as a nation will yet be restoredto the family of God, through
the subjectionof their proud hearts to Him whom they have pierced. And as
believing Gentiles will be honored to be the instruments of this stupendous
change, so shall the vast Gentile world reap such benefit from it, that it shall
be like the communication of life to them from the dead. (7) Thus has the

42. Christian Church the highest motive to the establishment and vigorous
prosecutionof missions to the Jews;God having not only promised that there
shall be a remnant of them gatheredin every age, but pledged Himself to the
final ingathering of the whole nation assignedthe honor of that ingathering to
the Gentile Church, and assuredthem that the event, when it does arrive,
shall have a life-giving effectupon the whole world (Ro 11:12-16, 26-31). (8)
Those who think that in all the evangelical prophecies ofthe Old Testament
the terms "Jacob,""Israel," &c., are to be understood solely of the Christian
Church, would appear to read the Old Testamentdifferently from the apostle,
who, from the use of those very terms in Old Testamentprophecy, draws
arguments to prove that God has mercy in store for the natural Israel (Ro
11:26, 27). (9) Mere intellectual investigations into divine truth in general, and
the sense ofthe living oracles in particular, as they have a hardening effect, so
they are a great contrastto the spirit of our apostle, whose lengthenedsketch
of God's majestic procedure towards men in Christ Jesus ends here in a burst
of admiration, which loses itselfin the still loftier frame of adoration(Ro
11:33-36).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; i.e. all things are of
him, as the efficient cause;through him, as the disposing cause;to him, as the
final cause. Theyare of him, without any other motive; through him, without
any assistance;and to him, without any other end, i.e. for his sake alone.
To whom be glory for ever. Amen: a usual doxology in Scripture: see
Galatians 1:5 2 Timothy 4:18 Hebrews 13:21 1 Peter5:11.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For of him, and through him, and to him are all things,.... Not only all things
in nature and providence, he being the Makerand efficient cause ofthings,
and the preserver and supporter of them their beings, and to whose glorythey
are all designedand directed; but all things in grace owe their original to him,
as their first cause;they are produced by him, and make for his glory; they all
spring from his sovereignwill, are brought about by his almighty power, and
tend to the glory of his grace;as does every thing in election, redemption, and
regeneration:particularly the counsels and purposes of Godrespecting men
may be here meant; which all rise out of his own heart, without any motive or
inducement to them in the creature;are accomplishedby his divine power,
notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils; and all issue in his glory,
even such of them as may seem to carry in them severity to some of his

43. creatures:and since this is the case, the following doxology, or ascriptionof
glory to God, is justly and pertinently made,
to whom be glory for ever; and which will be given to him by angels and men
to all eternity, for the perfection of his being, the counsels ofhis will, and the
works of his hands, both of nature and grace;to which the, apostle annexes
his
amen, so be it, assenting to it, wishing for it, and believing of it.
Geneva Study Bible
For of him, and through him, and to {k} him, are all things: to whom be glory
for ever. Amen.
(k) That is, for God, to whose gloryall things are ascribed, not only things
that were made, but especiallyhis new works which he works in his elect.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Romans 11:36 does not apply to all the three foregoing questions (Hofmann),
but simply the last of them is establishedby the connective ὅτι (for truly) as
regards its negative contents: “No one has beforehand given to God,” etc.
All things are from God (primal cause), in so far as all things have proceeded
from God’s creative power; through God (ground of mediate agency), in so
far as nothing exists without God’s continuous operation; for God (final
cause), in so far as all things serve the ends of God (not merely: the honour of
God, as many think). Comp. 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians1:16;Hebrews
2:10. These passagesspeak quite againstthe opinion, that in the present
passagethe relation of Father, Son, and Spirit (Olshausen, Philippi,
Thomasius, Jatho, Krummacher, following Ambrosiaster, Hilary, Toletus,
Estius, Calovius, and others)is expresseda view which is also quite remote
from the connection. The context speaks simply of God (the Father), to whom
no one can have given anything beforehand, etc., because He, as Bengelaptly
expresses it, is Origo et Cursus et Terminus rerum omnium. This may be
recognisedby the exegesis thathas the deepestfaith in Scripture without any
rationalistic idiosyncrasy, as the example of Bengelhimself shows. With
reasonneither Chrysostom, nor Oecumenius, nor Theophylact, neither
Erasmus, nor Melanchthon, nor Calvin, nor Beza have expressedany
reference to the Trinity in their explanations; but Augustine has this
reference, againstwhichalso Tholuck, Hofmann, and Gess (v. d. Pers. Chr. p.
158)have been sufficiently unbiassedto declare themselves.