The Question Of Foreknowledge
THE QUESTION OF FOREKNOWLEDGE
All Christians believe in predestination. They cannot help but to do so, for the Bible very clearly says on a number of occasions that God predestines and chosen.
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:5).
...we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
All Christians hold these verses to be a part of the Bible and an accurate reflection of God's actions. Where theologians part company is over the question: Did God predestine men according to His own will and purpose, or has God merely chosen certain men on the basis of what He foreknew their decision would be? Stated differently, we ask, “Does our salvation depend upon God who has chosen us, or does it depend upon our own free decision?” One popular view is the one stated by Dr. Thiessen, the former chairman of the Faculty of the Wheaton Graduate School. By election we mean that sovereign act of God in grace whereby He chose in Christ Jesus for salvation all whom he foreknew would accept Him (1949:344).
Over against such an interpretation are an abundance of passage that clearly state that it is God who has chosen us according to His will (Ephesians 1:5) and that it does not depend upon the man who wills or the man who runs (Romans 9:16).
However we ought not to neglect those passages that mention the relationship of foreknowledge with predestination. There are two primary passages that deal with this subject. They are Romans 8:29-30 and 1 Peter 1:1-2. Whom He Foreknew, He also Predestined. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; 30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30).
How are we to understand this foreknowledge? The Arminian states that this means God foreknew what each believer's decision would be and then predestined him on that basis. Thus God is said to have “looked down the corridors of time” to see that John Stevenson would believe in Christ and He said, “Since I can see that John is going to believe the gospel, I shall elect him to be one of My chosen people.” The problem is that this verse does not state this to be the case. Paul does not say that God knew something about certain individuals. He says that He knew them. This is important. We know that God foreknows all things and all people, both saved and unsaved. There is nothing that God does not know and there is nothing that God does not know beforehand. Yet we read here that it is those people who have been foreknown that have been predestined and justified and glorified. The Arminian wishes to make the passage appear as such:
God looked down the corridors of time and foreknew all men||
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Only those whom He saw would believe|g|He also Predestined|g|He also Justified|g|He also Glorified|
If we say that this passage merely refers to God's knowledge of of all men, then it must refer to both believers as well as to unbelievers, since God's awareness is not just limited to that of believers. If His foreknowledge is of all men equally, then this passage not only says that God foreknows all men, but also that He predestines and justifies and glorifies all men. Unless one is prepared to hold to a doctrine of universal salvation in which every man under the sun is to be eventually saved, we much conclude that the foreknowledge described in this verse refers to more than a mere general knowledge about all men.
Paul's statement does not fit Arminian Theology. He says that all those whom were foreknown were also predestined and justified and glorified.
All those whom God Foreknew|g|He also Predestined|g |He also Justified|g |He also Glorified|
What kind of knowledge is this describing? It is the knowledge of relationship, similar to that which is described in Genesis 4:1-26 where we read that “Adam knew his wife.” This is an idiom for the closest possible relationship. In the same way, there are a number of passages that demonstrate the use of the term “knowledge” to describe that special relationship that God has with His people.
God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew (Romans 11:2). But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him (1 Corinthians 8:3). But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? (Galatians 4:9).
It is obvious that each of these examples uses the term “knowledge” to refer to that which is much deeper than merely an understanding of all of the fact. In each case, the term is used to describe a love relationship.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Whether or not a person is known by the Lord is seen as the determining factor in one's eternal destiny. When Jesus says to certain men, “I never knew you,” He does not mean that He did not know anything about them. Rather He means that they shared no relationship.