GOD-FOREKNOWLEDGE
The
foreknowledge of God is based upon His decree, plan, or purpose which expresses
His will, and not upon some foreseen act of positive volition on the part of
man.
TULIP, The Five
Points of Calvinism in the Light of Scripture, Baker, 1979, p. 29-30.
When the
solemn and blessed subject of Divine foreordination is expounded, when God’s
eternal choice of certain ones to be conformed to the image of His Son is set
forth, the Enemy sends along some man to argue that election is based upon the
foreknowledge of God, and this “foreknowledge” is interpreted to mean that God
foresaw certain ones would be more pliable than others, that they would respond
more readily to the strivings of the Spirit, and that because God knew they would
believe, He, accordingly, predestinated them unto salvation. But such a statement is radically wrong. It repudiates the truth of total depravity,
for it argues that there is something good in some men. It takes away the independency of God, for it
makes His decrees rest upon what He discovers in the creature. It completely turns things upside down, for
in saying God foresaw certain sinners would believe in Christ,
and that because of this, He predestinated them unto salvation, is the very
reverse of the truth. Scripture affirms
that God, in His high sovereignty, singled out certain ones to be recipients of
His distinguishing favors (Acts 13:48), and therefore He determined to bestow
upon them the gift of faith. False
theology makes God’s foreknowledge of our believing the cause of His
election to salvation; whereas, God’s election is the cause, and our believing
in Christ is the effect.
A.W. Pink
The Attributes of God, Baker Book House, p.
23.
The fact is
that “foreknowledge” is never used in Scripture in connection with
events or actions; instead, it always has reference to persons. It is persons God is said to “foreknow,” not
the actions of those persons.
A.W. Pink
The Attributes of God, Baker Book House, p.
24.
God foreknows
what will be because He has decreed what shall be. It is therefore a reversing of the order of
Scripture, a putting of the cart before the horse, to affirm that God elects
because He foreknows people. The truth
is, He “foreknows” because He has elected. This removes the ground or cause of election
from outside the creature, and places it in God’s own sovereign will.
A.W. Pink
The Attributes of God, Baker Book House, p.
26.
The
word foreknowledge is actually better understood as “thought of
endearingly beforehand,” or “foreloved,” or
“foreordained with forethought.”
Jim Elliff
A
Three-legged Stool: All Side of God’s Salvation Process, Christian
Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The
foreknowledge spoken of (in Romans 8:29) is foreknowledge of persons, not
events. The statement reads, “whom He
foreknew…” You see this as well in Romans 11:2, speaking of His endearment to
Israel: “God did not reject His people whom He foreknew.” Therefore we can
deduce that foreknowledge as related to salvation is not just seeing a person's
conversion experience prior to election and therefore electing on the basis of
the individual’s choice. It is a foreloving of
persons.
Jim Elliff
A
Three-legged Stool: All Side of God’s Salvation Process, Christian
Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
“But,” say
others, “God has elected them on the foresight of their faith.” Now, God gives faith, therefore He could not
have elected them on account of faith which He foresaw.
C.H. Spurgeon
1.317.
It is absurd
to think that anything in us could have the least influence upon our
election. Some say that God did foresee
that such persons would believe, and therefore did choose them; so they would
make the business of salvation to depend upon something in us. Whereas God does not choose
us FOR faith, but TO faith. “He
hath chosen us, that we should be holy,” (Ephesians 1:4), not because we would
be holy, but that we might be holy. We
are elected to holiness, not for it.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 83.
God is omniscient and knows everything. He has
known everything from the beginning. Nothing is a surprise to God, nor does He
ever come into possession of new knowledge. Thus God knows all people. But
(foreknowledge) means more than an intellectual knowledge. It means that God
knows some in a special way. In grace, in life from eternity.
This is the initiative of our salvation. Redemption has its rise to God and not
in man.
J.P. McBeth
Election took
place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of
holiness, or any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on
a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for
the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on.
The Canons of Dort
The First Main Point of Doctrine: Divine
Election and Reprobation. Article 9-
Election not based on Foreseen Faith.
(God’s
foreknowledge is) the selective knowledge of God that makes one an object of
God's love; it is more than mere knowledge or cognition beforehand. The term focuses on God motivation to act,
relating to persons rather than what the persons will or will not do.
H. Wayne House
Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine,
Zondervan, 1992, p. 91.