Meat and Potatoes: Foreknowledge

 Recent conversations on the aspect of God's foreknowledge in relation to His election or predestination have inspired me to begin a series of blogs where I dig into the meat and potatoes of theology, hence the main title. In this particular post I want to deal with what foreknowledge really means in the Bible, specifically the New Testament. I am aware that this has been and will continue to be heavily debated amongst evangelicals, so I will leave my comments open for disagreements and corrections if there be any. I'm certain that there are many different views and opinions on the meaning of foreknowledge, but the debate seems to be mostly between Calvinists and Arminians, so these are the two camps I will be dealing with. Before I begin I want to be perfectly clear that it is not my intention to be divisive or arrogant in any way. If I appear to be either one of those things at any point in this post, please forgive me in advance. I simply love God's word and theological discussion, so I would like to enter my opinion into the public square. I can lock arms with any brother or sister who takes a different theological stance, as long as it is under the banner of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the holy scripture (within orthodoxy).

If you look up foreknowledge in the dictionary, you will find that the word means the awareness of something before it happens or exists. This definition is certainly helpful to grasp a general understanding of what we are discussing, but my endeavor here is to determine the biblical definition of the word as it relates to salvation, and more specifically - predestination. 

The two main views of foreknowledge in the Bible laid out in quick and basic terms are as follows:

1. God's election is based on His foreknowledge of who would have faith. This view of foreknowledge suggests that God looked into the future through the corridors of time, saw who would choose to place their faith in Christ, and predestined them for salvation according to that knowledge. This view still allows for the autonomous free will of man, and is prevalent in Arminian theology. 

2. Foreknowledge means that God, in His grace, establishes a love relationship with someone before the foundations of the earth, without consideration of any merit or foreseen faith. This suggests that God's election is totally and completely by His sovereign choice. Faith and repentance are granted to the elect as a gift when God takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. This would be the Calvinistic position on this issue. 

With the basic understanding of the the two views and their clear differences, I would like to dig into a few different texts in the New Testament where the word foreknowledge is used, but before doing so - I have a few objections to the Arminian position. 

When I began to think about this issue logically, I was quickly confronted with this thought; God is the creator of all things, including time itself. Why would God have to look through the corridors of time as if it is a crystal ball, when it is His own creation? To further this objection, to suggest that God did indeed look into the future to see who would choose Him, seems to also imply that God learned something He did not initially know. If this view is followed to its logical conclusion it lands on very shaky ground. To be fair, I don't know of an Arminian who would deny the omniscience of the Almighty, but it seems that in order to hold to this position, one would have to do some theological gymnastics not to uproot this very attribute. This view of foreknowledge is shown to be inconsistent when confronted with the doctrine of regeneration. Ezekiel 36 is a beautiful description of what God does to the sinners heart in regeneration. He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh, and sprinkles clean water on us, cleansing us from iniquity. We are unable to do this for ourselves, God must do it for us. A heart of stone is dead, unresponsive to stimuli. If we know this to be true, and we take into account from Paul's writings that both faith and repentance are granted to us as a gift from God, then it is God who does all the work in salvation and to Him be all the glory! This brings up another issue with the Arminian position. If God does all this for the elect, then He would in effect be looking through the corridors of time to see what He Himself would do on our behalf. To hold to this position, one would have to deny that faith is a gift from God, and take the stance that faith is something mustered up by mere man. This is a shaky view in my opinion, but I am fallible so lets go to the infallible text of scripture. 

Romans 8:29 "Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so the He would be the firstborn among many brothers;"

Now I will submit to you that on the surface, it does seem like this verse could be used as a defense for the Arminian position due to the word "foreknew" being placed before "predestined", but with further study I think you will see that it is not. In this passage, the word "foreknew" is an active verb, not a noun. God is not passively taking in information, He is doing something. This word refers to God establishing a love relationship with a person before the foundations of the world, and I believe that this becomes evident when we see how the Bible uses the word "know". Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain (Genesis 4:1), Joseph did not know Mary until after she had given birth to Jesus (Matt 1:25), Jesus tells those who say "Lord, Lord" to depart from Him and that He never knew them (Matt 7:23). To "know" someone in this sense is to share an intimate relationship with them. In the context of Romans 8:29, we see that those who God chose to establish this relationship with, He also predestined them to become conformed to the image of His son. This definition of foreknowledge is supported also in 1 Peter 1:20

1 Peter 1:20 "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you"

The use of foreknowledge in this verse is in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. Although Peter did not use this word in direct reference to the elect here, we can still gain understanding of the biblical meaning of the word from this text. If we apply the Arminian definition to foreknowledge in this context then we are left to believe that Peter intended to communicate that God the Father looked through time to behold Jesus. This is an insufficient interpretation in my view. This verse tells us that God the Father and Jesus Christ had an eternal, intimate, loving relationship with one another. God knew and loved Jesus from eternity past.

Romans 11:2 "GOD HAS NOT REJECTED HIS PEOPLE whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?"

I think this text is another wonderful example of foreknowledge being used to describe the love relationship God sovereignly establishes. Israel had not been rejected. They were most certainly chastised and severely dealt with because of their sin, but the Lord did not reject His people whom He foreknew. If God looked through time to examine the faith of Israel to determine whether He would reject them or remain faithful to His covenant to Abraham, then we know the outcome would be grim for His people. Just look back to chapter 10, "But as for Israel He says, 'ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.'" (Romans 10:21). They all deserved to be rejected for their sin against God, but in His grace the Lord set apart a remnant for Himself. My Arminian brothers could make the claim that God did indeed look down the corridors of time to see who would be faithful to Him and declared them as the remnant, but this too is shown to be an insufficient understanding as we read further into chapter 11 of Romans. In verse 5 Paul writes, "In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to God's gracious choice has also come to be." The remnant were determined according to God's gracious choice. This choice was not hinged on the faith of the individuals, rather, their faith hinged on God's gracious choice! They would have no more faith in Yahweh than the pagans if it were not for His sovereign choice to replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. "But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." (Romans 11:6)

1 Peter 1:1-2 ".....who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

In my opinion this is, on the surface, one of the stronger texts for a defense of the Arminian position, but it is not persuasive. With the hermeneutical principal of interpreting scripture with scripture, we are forced to acknowledge the other uses of foreknowledge when we interpret this text. With the verses that we have gone through, I am convinced that foreknowledge must mean more than God simply being aware of something before it happens. Let me ask you this question, if our God is infinite in His wisdom, then it would follow that there is no beginning to His knowledge, correct? Would that not make it inconceivable that He would look through time and make a reactionary choice based on what He saw? The Lord knew who He would choose before the foundations of the world. He acknowledged them as His and chose them to be saved. How can this be, you might ask. My answer is I don't know. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!" (Romans 11:33). 

Our God is not reactionary. He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose," (Isaiah 46:10). We serve a holy and sovereign God who holds the hearts of kings in His hand, turning them wherever He pleases (Proverbs 21:1). What He as spoken He will bring to pass, and what He has purposed, He will do (Isaiah 46:10). I love and respect my brothers on the other end of this debate, but it is my conviction that the calvinistic view of foreknowledge is the biblical understanding as it is used in scripture. 

Oh, how gracious is the Lord of glory, that He sovereignly chose an undeserving people to redeem, apart from any foreseen faith. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, haters of God, lovers of evil, children of wrath. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."(Romans 5:8). He stepped in our room, bore our sin on the cross, and underwent the wrath of God so that we could be justified by His blood. He granted us faith and repentance, He conforms us to the image of Christ. Salvation is all God, and to Him be all the glory.