88 – Materiale of Good and Evil Acts
MATERIALE OF GOOD AND EVIL ACTS
§ 88. The performance of the materiale only of works prescribed by the divine Law is no more the performance of good works1 than God can be truly said to work evil 2 as such, when, while He has no part in the formale of the evil acts of men, He concurs in such acts as to their materiale,3 without which divine concurrence all acts of created beings would be impossible.4
1. The performance of the materiale only of works prescribed by the divine Law is no more the performance of good works
Cf.§ 87.
2. than God can be truly said to work evil
Psalm 145:17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.
Psalm 5:5 The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
3. as such, when, while He has no part in the formale of the evil acts of men, He concurs in such acts as to their materiale,
Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
Amos 3:6 Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?
Lamentations 3:35–38 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good.
4. without which divine concurrence all acts of created beings would be impossible.
Acts 17:28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.
Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart diviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps
Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand.
Job 34:13–15 Who hath given Him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world? If He set his heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.