Post 61: The Foreknowledge of God

No Christian who has studied his Bible denies that God knows future events, but one of the most controversial topics among Christians is the question of "how?"--how does God know the future? While Bible scholars propose several possible answers to that question, here are the two most common positions:

1. God knows the future because, being outside of space and time, he can foresee everything that will happen.

This perspective is often referred to as the "eternal now", where the past, present and future can be perceived by God as a single moment in time. Note that with this understanding, the future determines God's foreknowledge.

2. God knows the future because, in his sovereignty, he has predetermined everything that will happen.

This perspective proposes God's divine "meticulous providence" in all things. In other words, God's foreknowledge determines the future.

So, which perspective of divine foreknowledge is the most faithful to the teaching of Scripture-- #1, or #2?

An Illustration

Here is a simple illustration of what I believe the Bible teaches about the foreknowledge of God.

The night before a big lottery drawing, a man sits down to decide which numbers he will select and he writes them down on a sticky note: 6, 12, 18, 32, 33, 45.

The following morning, he grabs his sticky note, drives to a local convenience store, pulls out the note, and selects the numbers he chose and wrote down the night before: 6, 12, 18, 32, 33, 45.

We could say that the man picked the numbers that he foreknew that he would choose. The selected numbers were foreknown to him because he decided on them beforehand. That is to say, his foreknowledge--his decision the night before--is what determined the events of the following day; including, when he would go to the store (the next morning), the store he would go to (the local convenience store), and the numbers he would select.

That's the essence of option #2 above where God's foreknowledge determines the future, not the other way around.

Foreknowledge ≠ Foresight

A couple of months ago, a good friend sent me a video of a sermon by a well-known and highly respected pastor who was preaching on Romans 8:29

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29 ESV)

In order to avoid the controversial belief that God chose some people for salvation before the foundation of the world (a doctrine I vehemently dispute in my book), this pastor was proposing what I believe is a common misunderstanding of divine foreknowledge. He was conflating God's foreknowledge with God's omniscience. He asserted that God foreknows things because he can simply look ahead into the future and see what will happen--option #1 above. In other words, he proposed that God's foreknowledge is really God's foresight of future events.

The problem with that understanding is that it seems to contradict the clear meaning of divine "foreknowledge" in all of the applicable New Testament passages. There are only a few such passages, so here they are with a short annotation to give them context.

Acts 2:23 NASB - this [Man,] delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put [Him] to death.

Peter is addressing a large crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. In explaining the events leading up to the crucifixion, Peter tells them that Jesus was crucified according to "the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God."

The events surrounding the cross were not only predetermined by God but supernaturally, divinely brought about. The crucifixion was always part of God's plan, not something he merely foresaw would happen by looking into the future.

Romans 11:2 ESV - God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

We're told in Deuteronomy 7 "The LORD your God had chosen [the nation of Israel] to be a people for his treasured possession..."

Paul is explaining to the saints in Rome that God has not forsaken the nation of Israel. Again, the selection of Israel to be his "treasured possession" was something decided by God beforehand and then carried out, not something he merely foresaw.

1 Peter 1:20 ESV - [Christ] was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.

It would be quite silly and completely meaningless to think that God merely looked into the future and saw that Jesus would be the Messiah. The plan to save the world through Jesus was predetermined by God from before time in eternity past. God's foreknowledge determined the future.

Cause and Effect

Divine "foreknowledge" is never synonymous with simple "foresight". The passages above refute any notion that God "looked down the corridors of time" to see what will happen, and then made a determination based on what he foresaw.

When the Bible tells us that God foreknew an event, we should understand that He pre-planned the event and then caused it to happen.

When the Bible tells us that God foreknew people, we should understand that people were chosen by God beforehand to accomplish a purpose he predetermined for them.

God's foreknowledge indicates both predetermination and causality. Divine foreknowledge, then, is the ultimate expression of cause and effect. What God foreknows (aka, predetermined), he will bring about.

Final Thought

In a sense, the Bible is clear that there were events and people predetermined by God at some time in the past (perhaps, written down on a "celestial sticky note") and then effectuated--called into action--at the predesignated hour to ensure God's eternal plan would come to pass.

In no case do we find support for God's foreknowledge to be synonymous with his foresight into the future. Biblically, God's foreknowledge is more an expression of his omnipotence than of his omniscience.

Next Post: To be determined