Van Til on the Glorification of God

[InSlaveryToChrist]

Cornelius Van Til, quoted in R. J. Rushdoony, By What Standard? (Fairfax, VA: Thoburn Press, 1974), 89.

"God made all things in this universe for Himself, that is, for His own glory. But not all things can reflect His glory self-consciously. Yet it is self-conscious glorification that is the highest kind of glorification. Accordingly, God put all things in this universe into covenant relation with one another. He made man the head of creation. Accordingly, the flowers of the field glorified God directly and unconsciously, but also indirectly and consciously through man. Man was to gather up into the prism of his self-conscious activity all the manifold manifestations of the glory of God in order to make one central self-conscious sacrifice of it all to God."


I've bolded the phrases that didn't make sense to me. What I do not understand here is how making man the head of creation makes the flowers of the field glorify God consciously through man. And what seemed even more confusing to me was the last, long phrase of the quote. Could someone, please, explain it to me in some other words?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

We observe all the manifold wonders of creation from many views, which coelesce into a single conscious observation of the glory of God. The prism metaphor is apt, but employed by Van Til in reverse. A prism taking in white light (single observation) will output a rainbow (many manifold wonders of creation).

AMR

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

We observe all the manifold wonders of creation from many views, which coelesce into a single conscious observation of the glory of God. The prism metaphor is apt, but employed by Van Til in reverse. A prism taking in white light (single observation) will output a rainbow (many manifold wonders of creation).

AMR

Thanks, AMR! I think I now understand the last phrase a little better. But why is the single observation of all the manifold manifestations of God's glory considered a "sacrifice" to be offered to God? Also, how does this last phrase fit to what has been said before (the flowers of the field glorifying God consciously through man)?

 

[py3ak]

Man re-expresses the glory of God seen in each leaf and flower and squirrel in the utterance of praise that such things, when rightly apprehended, draw from him.

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

Man re-expresses the glory of God seen in each leaf and flower and squirrel in the utterance of praise that such things, when rightly apprehended, draw from him.

Thank you very much, Ruben! Now I understand the "covenant relation" between mankind and the rest of creation, and how it fits to the last phrase. The only thing that is still confusing me is the "sacrifice" thing. It sounds like Van Til is saying the following: we contemplate on God's glory in all its manifold manifestations and then offer this contemplation of His glory to God as a sacrifice. What is that suppose to mean?

 

[jwright82]

Just a shot in the dark but he may be refering to the underlying religous elements of everything we do including epistemology. He is using religous language to describe the act of scientific inqury. You see all science and human activity are fundementaly religous because we either do it as covenant-keepers in Christ (hence to God's glory) or as covenant-breakers in Adam (hence to our own glory). Van Til's epistemology has rightly been called revealational epistemology but it could also be described as covenantal espistemology.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

The quote by Rushdoony is from Van Til's In Defense of the Faith: Christian Theistic Ethics, vol. 3. The full passage from the quote should clarify...

"The most important aspect of this program for man is surely that man should realize himself as God's vicegerent in history. Man was created God's vicegerent and he must realize himself as God's vicegerent. There is no contradiction between these two statements. Man was created a character and yet he had to make himself ever more a character. And so we may say that man was created a king in order that he might become more of a king that he was...For the individual man the ethical ideal is that of self-realization...That the ethical ideal for man should be self-realization follows from the central place given him in this universe. God made all things in this universe for himself, that is, for his own glory. But not all things can reflect his glory self-consciously. Yet it is self-conscious glorification that is the highest kind of glorification. Accordingly God put all things in the universe into covenant relation with one another. He made man the head of creation. Accordingly the flowers of the field glorified God directly and unconsciously, but also indirectly and consciously through man. Man was to gather up into the prism of his self-conscious activity all the manifold manifestations of the glory of God in order to make one central self-conscious sacrifice of it all to God.

Now if man was to perform this, his God-given task, he must himself be a fit instrument for this work. He was made a fit instrument for this work but he must also make himself an ever better instrument for this work. He must will to develop his intellect in order to grasp more comprehensively the wealth of the manifestation of the glory of God in this world. He must will to develop his aesthetic capacity, that is, his capacity of appreciation; he must will to be an ever better priest than he already is. Finally he must will to will the will of God for the whole world; he must become an ever better king than he already is. For this reason then the primary ethical duty for man is self-realization. Through self-realization man makes himself the king of the earth, and if he is truly the king of the earth then God is truly king of the universe, since it is as God's creature, as God's vicegerent that man must seek to develop himself as king. When man becomes truly the king of the universe the kingdom of God is realized and when the kingdom of God is realized then God is glorified."

Make yourself an even better instrument, willing to...etc.--sacrifice.

AMR

 

[py3ak]

The re-expression I mentioned could be called "the sacrifice of praise." It is something offered to God, the praise due to his name.