In the last BLOG we looked at how the doctrine of depravity is understood a lot differently when it is seen from a God-centered perspective than from a man-centered one. But can we think of God Himself in these terms? Can we look at God from a man-centered perspective rather than a God-centered one as well? Here is the crux of the real issue at hand. God never looks at anything from a man-centered point of view. God is God-centered and to have the mind of Christ and to think His thoughts after Him requires human beings to look at all things from a God-centered perspective. After all, that is the perspective that gives truth and real insight into all other issues.
As we reflect a little more on this, surely it can be seen what a profound difference this will make in the way Scripture is interpreted and the way all things are looked at. How are we to look at the fact that God is centered upon Himself instead of man? Even that can be looked at in a man-centered way. Man can try to think that God is centered upon Himself in a way that is better for man. This is simply wresting the nature of God and trying to make Him like man or at least in the service of man. To assert that God is centered upon Himself is to assert that God is focused upon Himself within His triune being and man can do nothing for God at all. The Creator of the universe had no needs before He created and still has none. He did not create man because He had something for man to do apart from Him or something to do that He could not do Himself. But instead God created man as empty of any good or of true power in order to manifest His glory through. Let us look at some Scriptures.
Acts 17: 24 – “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”
Isaiah 40:15 – “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless…22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.”
It should take our breath to even begin to think of a God like this. It should move us to literally gasp at His greatness and His majesty. This is not a God who created man to do something for Him. This is not a God who created man in order to serve Him. God is not served by human hands and He has no needs. It is God that each human is dependent on for life and breath and all things. God cannot be served because He has no need at all as He is serene in His perfect love for Himself within His triune being and is fully self-sufficient. Everything depends on God for each and every thing each moment.
If the entire world and all it contains is simply nothing before Him, and in fact all the nations are less than nothing and meaningless, then we have the view of God on humanity. Those who hold the greatest offices in the world are simply meaningless before God. He is the one that puts them in their positions and He is the One who can and will bring them down. Whatever else our theology does, it must take into account the view of God on a matter. Theology, to live up to its definition (study of God), must always begin with God. If we hold Scripture in high regard, we know that it has been breathed forth by God (II Tim 3:16) and is primarily a revelation of God. Surely we will never study theology properly or interpret Scripture correctly apart from a God-centered view.
Imagine, then, a theology that is trying to assert itself and that from a man-centered viewpoint. To God it would be absolutely blasphemous. It is a form of idolatry and perhaps the worst kind of idolatry to take a being (human beings) made to glorify God and try to look at them from a man-centered way. Flowing from that view is the kind of so-called Christianity that tries to use Christian teaching in the service of man-centeredness. Perhaps that is why Jesus was so hard on the Pharisees. It is possible for Calvinists and Arminians to do the same thing though they might hide it better than the Pharisees did. Man-centeredness is rampant in theological circles today and it turns orthodox theology into idolatry. Without God-centeredness even orthodoxy is turned to the service of man for the benefit of man which is an effort to make God man-centered. Now that is truly horrid.
God Loves... Himself 
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