06-FOREKNOWLEDGE
Chapter Five
Foreknowledge
The Central teaching of Calvinism is Unconditional Election, which has already been defined above. It is true that the principles of election and predestination are found in the Scriptures, but there is a basis for "election unto salvation." That basis is God’s foreknowledge. In order to understand the true meaning of election and predestination, we must first understand the meaning of foreknowledge.This is the definition of the Greek word translated foreknowledge:
Proginosko - From pro (before) and ginosko (to know) To percieve or recognize beforehand, to know previously, to take into account or specially consider beforehand, to grant prior acknowledgement or recognition to someone. (Robinson) The key verse which presents predestination according to foreknowledge is found in the book of Romans:
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Even though this verse is not specifically addressing salvation, Calvinistic Soteriology uses it as such, so therefore so will we. This passage in Romans and another in Ephesians are the only places in the Bible where we see the word predestinate. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the word. Predestination is connected to the teaching of Unconditional Election. The meaning is, as we have seen above, that God selected some before the foundation of the world, and predestinated, or predetermined, them to be saved in the future. However, Romans 8:29 says that God predestinated according to His foreknowledge (foreknow). The ancient argument is this: What is it that God foreknew? C.I. Scofield, writes in his reference version: "Election looks back to foreknowledge; predestination foward to destiny. But Scripture nowhere declares what is is in divine foreknowledge which detrermines divine election and predestination." (note on 1 Peter 1:20) The question is: Did God know beforehand whom He would choose, or who would believe? Calvinists will tell us that there is no place in the Bible that says that God predestinated those whom He knew would believe in the future. This statement in itself may be true, but let us consider this question: Can we find any examples in the Bible where God intervened with a person or persons based on His foreknowledge of what they would do in the future?? Yes we can!! I would like to offer three:
13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
God told Pharaoh, through Moses, that He had raised him up to show His power to the world through His judgments on Egypt. He went on to say fifteen times in the book of Exodus that He would "harden Pharaoh’s heart." However, notice what God says to Moses previous to that from the burning bush in Exodus chapter three:
18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
We see in verses 19-20 that God foreknew that Pharaoh would refuse to let the Jews go and His judgments against Egypt were based on His foreknowledge. This passage is a genuine example of God taking action based on foreknowledge of what a person would do in the future.
Here is another example:
Exodus 13:17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
We need some clarification here first. The word peradventure does not refer to a possibility of something happeneng. The two words "lest peradventure" are actually translated from one Hebrew word Pen, which means: to remove or prevent something from happeneng. God foreknew that if He allowed Israel to go through the land of the Philistines, there would be conflict and Israel would change their mind (repent) and return to Egypt. Acting upon His foreknowledge, God led them to the Red Sea, and we know what happened there!!
One more example (Please follow this account very carefully and notice how it unfolds):
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. Did Jesus foreknow something about these "believers?" What did He know about them that would cause Him not to commit Himself to them? Jesus’ foreknowledge begins to unfold in John chapter six, the day after He had fed five thousand men with a few loaves and fishes. The multitude had followed Him from Tiberius, across the Sea of Galillee, to the shores of Capernaum where they confronted Him.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Jesus foreknew that these "believers" would be following Him because they wanted something. They sought Jesus because they were looking for more free bread. They reminded Jesus that God had supplied Israel with manna from heaven (John 6:30-31). Jesus foreknew back in chapter two that these "believers" would show thier true colors in chapter six. Therefore, He would not commit Himself to them. Further evidence for this conclusion will become more convincing as we continue in the passage. Now, notice what Jesus tells them in verses 35-37:
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. In verse 36, Jesus clearly tells the followers that they are unbelievers. He tells them, Ye also have seen me. They had heard His words, they had seen His miracles, but they did not believe he was the Messiah. Calvinism claims that verse 37 teaches election, but the qualifying factor of verse 37 is found in verse 36, namely, belief. Calvinists will tell us that these followers would not believe in Jesus because God did not "give" them the faith to believe. But actually, the opposite is true. God did not give them to the Savior because of their unbelief. We will find this to be true in later verses, but for now let us continue the narrative. In verses 38-63, Jesus gives His famous theme on the Bread of Life. The statements He makes in these verses cause many of His followers to be offended.
John 6:60-63 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Now please understand what is happening here. Jesus is in the process of exposing the counterfeit disciples. He uses His Bread of Life theme to uncover their unbelief (v.60). Now notice the statements He makes in verses 64-66:
64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
There are two significant statements here in these verses. Verse 64 tells us that Jesus knew from the beginning who were the unbelievers. This was the reason He would not commit Himself to them back in chapter two. The other significant statement is found in verse 65. We will need to consult the original Greek to get the full impact of Jesus’ words. Notice the underlined word in verse 65 (Therefore). This word is translated from two Greek words dia and touto.
Dia - A primary preposition denoting the channes of an act; in very wide applications, local, or causal. In composition, it retains the same general import: after, always, among, at, to avoid, because of. (Strong). To put this definition in simpler terms: Dia is a preposition denoting the channeling of an act, or simply the reason for an action.
Touto - That thing, here, unto, it, partly, self, the same, this. (Strong). Or simply touto means that thing refered to.
Now if we put these two Greek words together, we see that "therefore" in verse 65 means "The reason I said that thing to you." We must be very careful to correctly interpret what Jesus is saying here. Calvinism teaches that Jesus is saying that these followers cannot believe because God did not give them the faith to believe.(v.37) Their teaching is that no person can believe in Jesus Christ until God gives him the faith to believe. They call it Irresistable Grace, and they teach that God is selective as to whom He gives this grace. Is this what Jesus is saying here?? Let us examine His words again. In verse 64, Jesus tells some of the followers that they do not believe, and the verse goes on to say that Jesus knew, or foreknew who they were from the beginning (John 2:24). In verse 65, Jesus says "therefore" or because of that thing (dia touto), I had told you before that no man can come to me except it were given unto him of my Father (John 6:37). Because of what thing? What was the cause and what was the effect? The cause was their unbelief and Jesus foreknowledge of their unbelief. The effect was that God would not give these disciples to Jesus. Calvinism has it backwards!! If we carefully examine the words of Jesus throughout the entire passage; if we compare precept upon precept and line upon line, we can come to no other conclusion. If we were to make a paraphrase of Jesus words in chaprers 2 and 6, based on what we have learned, we could say it this way: Some of you disciples following me are not true believers (John 6:64), and I knew who you were from the beginning (John 6:64). Therefore, I would not commit myself to you (John 2:24). And that is the reason I said to you that no man can come to me (John 6:65), except it is given to him of my Father (John 6:37), because of your unbelief. As stated above, Calvinism teaches that God must give a person the necessary faith before he can come to the Savior, and no man can come to Jesus until the Father gives him to Jesus. But we can clearly see from this passage that it was the disciples unbelief that was the cause of God not giving them to the Savior. In fact, belief and unbelief are the underlying themes throughout this passage.
6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
- They were only interested in physical satisfaction
6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
- Jesus was interested in giving everlasting life 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
-They were nterested in works, not faith 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
-Jesus was interested in faith, not works 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
-They were interested in more free bread
6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
-Jesus was offering them Spiritual Bread, but they must believe 6:36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
-Their problem was unbelief 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
-Don’t put the cart before the horse - God gives us to Jesus when we believe
6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
-The key is belief 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
-Jesus clarifies this statement in verse 65
6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
-Not only was their unbelief the hindrance, but Jesus foreknew who the unbelievers were, and based His judgment on that foreknowledge (2:24) 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
-It was their unbelief that prevented them from being given to Jesus. Not all the disciples left Jesus that day. Some stayed, but why did they stay??
John 6:67-69 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
- Even as unbelief was the hindrance, belief was the assurance!!
It is also true that God must take the first step in drawing us to the Savior before we believe, and we will see how He does that in the section on God’s Drawing. For now we need to be clear on what the Bible teaches about election. We have seen in these three examples how God responds to individuals based on His foreknowledge. If we apply this knowledge to Romans 8:29 ( For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.), we can conclude that God’s predestination is indeed based on His foreknowledge of who will believe. Again, the clear teaching of the Bible is that the doctrine of predestination according to foreknowledge means that God foreknew, before the foundation of the world, who will believe and embrace the gospel, and these he predestinated. God’s free gift of salvation is offered to ALL PEOPLE, even though he knows who will believe and who will reject. But there is a big difference between knowing who will believe and choosing who will believe. God endures all the wickedness of an ungodly world so that He can give more people an opportunity to accept his free gift of salvation. He is a God of love, patience, and mercy. Here is an interesting thought. If God decreed all things before the foundation of the world, as Calvinism teaches, why would He have the kind of response we see in the following passage?
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. The word repented here does not mean to change one’s mind about something. The Hebrew word is nâcham which means a deep inward sigh caused by great sorrow. Why would God have great sorrow and grief about the conditions He saw on the earth if everything that happens is according to his decrees? There may have been millions of people on the earth in the1656 years from the creation to Noah’s time. Of all these people, could it be true that God only predestinated eight people to be saved?? Would it not be more biblically accurate to say that God gave all people free will to accept or reject Him, and when He saw so many people reject Him that it grieved Him in His heart? That would be my conclusion, based on what the Scriptures teach us about God. In the section on the Compassion of God, we will discover some other stirring emotions that God reveals to us about Himself.