📖 Biblical Definition
Secondary causes are the created agents, forces, and means—natural laws, physical processes, human and angelic choices—through which God, the first and primary cause, ordinarily accomplishes His purposes in providence. The doctrine teaches that God, though He could act immediately and alone, has been pleased to govern the world chiefly by working through an ordered system of means, so that effects are truly produced both by God as the ultimate cause and by the creaturely instruments as real and proper second causes. The Westminster Confession states it with precision: God in His ordinary providence maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them at His pleasure. This doctrine holds together two truths that the careless sunder. On one hand, the reality of second causes is genuine—the fire truly burns, the farmer truly plows, the will truly chooses, the medicine truly heals; these are not illusions or mere occasions, but real causes operating according to their natures, which God upholds and concurs with. On the other hand, their operation is wholly subordinate to and dependent upon God, who ordains, sustains, and directs them, so that they accomplish exactly what He purposes and nothing escapes His government. The doctrine guards against opposite errors: against the deism that frees second causes from God and makes nature autonomous, and against the fatalism or hyper-spirituality that denies the reality of means and despises their use. It grounds the diligent use of means—since God ordains ends through second causes, we plant and water, pray and labor, take the remedy and do the duty—while teaching that the increase, the outcome, and the efficacy are God’s. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; the means are real, but the glory is His.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines CAUSE as that which produces an effect; theologians distinguish the first cause (God) from second causes, the created means He employs.
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CAUSE, n. — 1. A suit or action in court; any legal process. 2. That which produces an effect; that which impels into existence, or by its agency or operation produces what did not before exist. The first cause is the Deity; second causes are the created agents which God employs.
SECONDARY, a. — ...Acting in subordination, or as second to another; as a secondary cause.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 — "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
Genesis 45:5 — "...for God did send me before you to preserve life."
Proverbs 21:31 — "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord."
Philippians 2:12-13 — "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition; the doctrine guards against two errors—the deism that makes second causes autonomous and frees nature from God, and the fatalism or hyper-spirituality that denies the reality of means and despises their use.
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The doctrine of secondary causes is corrupted by being collapsed in one of two opposite directions. The deistic error so emphasizes the reality and reliability of second causes that it cuts them loose from the first cause: nature becomes an autonomous system of laws operating on its own, and God is pushed out of His own world, reduced to a distant originator who no longer governs the means He once made. This is the practical creed of secular naturalism—the fire burns, the seed grows, the economy runs, all by their own inherent powers, with no governing hand. It mistakes the reality of second causes for their independence, forgetting that they have no power except what God upholds and concurs with moment by moment.
The opposite error, found among the hyper-spiritual and the fatalistic, despises second causes as if trusting God meant neglecting means. This spirit refuses the medicine and calls it faith, scorns planning and calls it dependence, neglects labor and calls it trusting providence—forgetting that the God who ordains the harvest ordains the plowing, that the God who gives safety prepares the horse for battle, that Paul plants and Apollos waters even though God gives the increase. Both errors miss the biblical balance, which the doctrine of secondary causes preserves: the means are real and to be diligently used, yet they are wholly subordinate to God, who works through them and may work without or against them as He pleases. We work out our salvation precisely because it is God who works in us; we use the means with all diligence, and we credit the outcome wholly to Him. The reality of second causes establishes our duty; their subordination to the first cause secures God’s glory and our trust.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine sets the first cause (God, who gives the increase, auxanō) over the real but subordinate second causes (the planting and watering) through which He works.
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['Latin', '—', 'causa secunda', 'second cause (the created means)']
['Greek', 'G837', 'auxanō', 'to cause to grow, give increase (God gave the increase)']
['Greek', 'G1754', 'energeō', 'to work in (God worketh in you)']
['Greek', 'G5449', 'phusis', 'nature (the natures through which second causes act)']
Usage
"By the doctrine of secondary causes, God ordinarily works through real created means—yet may work without, above, or against them."
"Paul plants and Apollos waters (real second causes), but God gives the increase (the first cause)."
"The doctrine guards against deism, which frees nature from God, and against neglecting the means God has ordained."