Creation and Predestination

Abstract In Edwards’s theology, the doctrines of creation and predestination exemplify the ‘contemplation of supreme things,’ often pressing the boundaries of Reformed and catholic orthodoxy. Edwards makes a link between the election and predestination of Jesus Christ and the act of creation. Edwards’s views on creation and predestination are rooted in a robust, trinitarian conception of God. Although Sang Hyun Lee and Oliver Crisp have both made substantial contributions to the contemporary discussion of Edwards’s view of God, we have found cause to qualify their claims at certain points. Contesting Lee’s account, we will argue that the Son’s disposition to communicate his glory and goodness is not purely the result of a reconceptualization of God’s essence as a dynamic disposition toward actuality, but instead follows from the differentiation of Father and Son in the act of creation. An explicitly trinitarian account of God is needed to grasp the full dimensions of Edwards’s account of creation. Regarding Crisp’s views, we take issue with the unqualified assertion that the creating of the world (or of any world) by Edwards’s God is ‘necessary.’ Rather than calling God’s act of creation ‘necessary,’ it might be better to call it ‘fitting.’