“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me… (Exodus 20:2-5 ESV).
We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. For since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures…
…Therefore we reject all human innovations and all laws imposed on us, in our worship of God, which bind and force our consciences in any way (Belgic Confession articles 7, 32).
96. What does God require in the second Commandment?
That we in no wise make any image of God, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded us in His Word (Heidelberg Catechism).
The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture (Westminster Confession, 21.1).
I struggle with the phrase “God doing good unto all.” Is this “all” as in all kinds of people or all as in everyone who has ever lived?
Can God do any moral evil? No.
What is the objective nature of all his works? Good.
Life is an objectively good gift, to everyone. Every single divine provision–regardless of the evil to which particular men have turned it–is good. But natural men hate the good.
God’s good doings toward men does not prevent men from turning his good to their own bad end, even their damnation. Such abuse of goodness increases their condemnation.
God’s “good doing to all” means that his final act of judgment–which unquestionable goes against the evildoer–is still a “good” deed, and might perhaps at times even be considered “just” and “right” by the condemned.