Providence in the Story of Scripture
In Providence in the Story of Scripture, Adamson Co walks through the work of God in Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. While Co describes his book as an introductory guide to providence, I found it to be a fresh and insightful study, particularly in how he uses the motif of creation to make God’s providence meaningful in the Christian life.
God Takes Care of His Creation
Co defines providence as the actions God takes in the care of His creation. He uses Genesis 22 as the locus classicus—the most well-known and authoritative passage—for the doctrine of providence. Through God‘s providence, we see three divine attributes at work: (1) God as all-loving, (2) God as all-wise, and (3) God as all-powerful. The purpose of God revealing His providence is to bring comfort and reassurance. Co goes on to give a fair representation of both Calvinism and Arminianism. He examines God’s sovereignty, human free will, and divine governance through these frameworks. Because the center of providence is not on the human side of the equation but on the divine, I was left with the conclusion that Calvin presents the more biblical position on providence.
One of Co’s greatest strengths is his use of helpful illustrations. For instance, he uses the illustration of a car accident to show that the driver is the proximate cause of the event. This helps demonstrate that while God is always the ultimate cause, there are proximate causes—human agents—who are still morally responsible for their actions.
The book really takes off when examining God‘s providence before the fall and then in the post-fall seventh day of creation. Providence is presented through the idea of partnership. In Jesus, we see the embodiment of pre-fall, seventh-day human existence. He lived freely and actively for God and in partnership with his heavenly father.
Partner Together with God
Co identifies self-determination as the sin that stems from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This act breaks the partnership that God had envisioned with humanity. Trust is broken, and the relationship is breached. The book beautifully portrays divine provision as the means of restoring this broken partnership and creation. These include divine forbearance, the continued provision of life, God’s sustaining of human conscience, the ordination of human society and governance, nature’s aesthetic draw toward God, and God’s ongoing involvement and intervention. Reading this made me deeply grateful for God’s providence as we can find a measure of rest in this world through common grace
I was particularly intrigued by the concept of “prolepsis”—drawing upon God’s completed future and bringing aspects of it into the present. Co illustrates this, although he says it is imperfect, with Disneyland’s Tomorrowland as a way to understand how we can maintain a hopeful outlook on the future and live with that same hope now. I learned that Christians can synchronize with God’s time by living under the reality of Christ’s imminent return. I was challenged to perceive God’s timing even in suffering. We can experience a foretaste of new creation and God’s providence in what Co calls the “eighth day of creation.”
This book wonderfully and expertly frames the doctrine of providence through the theological lenses of the seventh and eighth days of creation. Before reading this book, I viewed myself as passive in response to God’s providence. I now see that I can actively partake in it. Unlike the frame of a painting, this book is like the frame of a window—revealing God’s work of providence as something that can be stepped into and experienced.
I received a media copy of Providence in the Story of Scripture and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.