Biblical Foreknowledge? (Part 2)

(By Nathan Williams)
Last week we began to look at the Biblical concept of foreknowledge and tried to gain some understanding of what the idea means. We did this by defining the term and by giving specific examples from Scripture that help us in our understanding of the term.
It is important to reemphasize something I said last time but which may have gotten overlooked. One of the negative responses to the proper understanding of the term foreknowledge is that it essentially makes no difference between foreknowledge and predestination. The terms are similar but each has its own emphasis. “Foreknowledge” emphasizes God’s covenantal love for the one He has chosen, while “predestined” emphasizes His electing will. Together, these two concepts make up God’s gracious choice of believers to salvation in eternity past. They are like two sides of the same coin. I believe Wayne Grudem got it right when he said that foreknowledge means “according to God’s fatherly care for you before the world was made.”
My main goal throughout these two articles has been to explain that foreknowledge does not mean only “to know beforehand.” This week I would like to examine some further arguments that will help us to gain a proper understanding of the term “foreknowledge”. These arguments are not always drawn from any one passage in particular, but are taken from the whole of Scriptural teaching.
Theological Arguments
As one examines the passages that deal with God’s “foreknowledge” it becomes evident rather quickly that “foreknowledge” deals with individuals and not facts. The term never deals with God knowing something about someone. It always deals with the fact that God knew the person. Romans 8:29 says that God foreknew certain individuals. It is best to understand this to mean “those whom he long ago thought of in a saving relationship to himself.” (Grudem)
It is also important to recognize where the final authority for salvation rests. If God looks down the corridors of time with no intimate involvement and simply sees who will exercise faith and then chooses those who will choose Him, this leaves the ultimate authority for salvation with man. It makes God react to the decisions of men. This negates all of the Scriptural teaching that election is God’s gracious prerogative.
The Bible is saturated with the language of election, and all of it attributes the decision involved in election to God and not to man. In John 15:16 Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. . . .” John 6:44 states that no one is able to respond to God unless the Father draws him to Himself. Scripture does not give final authority and sovereignty to man, but to God (1 Thess 1:4; John 13:18; Rom. 9:11; 15-16; Eph 2:10; Acts 13:48).
Scripture never teaches that our faith was the reason God chose us for salvation. Romans 9:11 says “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls.” Ephesians 1:5 says that our election was “according to the kind intention of His will”. The idea that our election is based on foreseen faith is strangely absent from Scripture. This is teaching that has been read into multiple passages to make a theological system work.
Next, one cannot come to the Arminian understanding of foreknowledge with a proper concept of faith and how men exercise it. The scriptural teaching concerning the nature of man is that man has fallen into sin and has turned his back on God (Gen. 3). Now, every person is born a sinner (Ps. 51:5). Being born into sin, we have no desire for God. In fact, the natural direction of man is to hate God and oppose everything He stands for (Rom. 3:9-20). Because of this, the Bible describes humans as dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1).
A dead person does not respond, he has no life in him and is not able to move one inch. For the Arminian view of foreknowledge to be correct, the Biblical teaching on the sinfulness of man must be altered. How can man respond in faith to God if he is dead in his sins? The simple answer is that he cannot. Faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9) and one cannot exercise it unless it has first been graciously given by the Lord.
Finally, let’s assume for a moment that foreknowledge only means prescience and that God really does elect those whom He sees will exercise faith. This means that God, who has a true knowledge of the future, has already seen exactly what will happen to people. This means that what God sees of them is absolutely certain to come to pass. So the destinies of men have already been determined. If they have not been determined by God, by what have they been determined? When we wind up in this position we end up trusting the fate of our lives to something outside of God.
My hope is that these articles have been beneficial to your understanding of the Biblical concept of foreknowledge. The doctrine of election and all the teaching that goes along with it is precious truth. It is vital to understand properly and when it is understood it certainly will incite the believer to praise our sovereign God.
Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”