02.06. Divine Foreknowledge
Divine Foreknowledge His delight was with the sons of men So these verses in Romans 8:1-39 allow us a glimpse into God’s counsels, although these counsels are not the main subject of the Epistle to the Romans. What is highlighted in Romans is man’s responsibility (first as living in sin, then as alive to God in Christ Jesus). But it seems that the apostle Paul wants to lift a corner of the veil here to allow us a glimpse of God’s side of the matter. We are confronted with the eternal counsels that God has decreed independently of man’s position, and irrespective of man’s responsibility. Further on in the New Testament - in the letter to the Ephesians - we find a more detailed exposition of these eternal counsels which God carried out in and through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Foreknowledge is the first part of God’s purpose. God’s foreknowledge is an aspect of His omniscience. Man has to acquire knowledge, and he does so by means of the information which he obtains. We have knowledge only after having been informed by others or by the media. But God knows already beforehand, before events take place and people are there. God’s knowledge is not limited by time - it transcends time just as God Himself transcends time. He knows beforehand what will happen. He declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:10).
Chosen in Christ
God’s foreknowledge has an active character as well. It is not only knowledge of what is going to happen, but also knowledge that determines what is going to happen. This foreknowledge leaves its mark on the course of events. It is linked with God’s sovereign, free election. In 1 Peter 1:2 we read about the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". God has foreknown and chosen His own, to make them accepted in the Beloved:
God’s deep eternal counsel Chose us in Christ the Son Before the earth’s foundation Or time had yet begun; That we might all the nearness Of the Belovèd know, And brought to God as children Our children’s praises flow.
Therefore the Scriptures show us that God’s foreknowledge is also connected with the Saviour Himself. It is closely tied up with the Person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He was delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. He indeed was foreordained as the Lamb of God before the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20).
Here in Romans 8:1-39, foreknowledge is connected with the predestination of the saints: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). Predestination goes a bit further than election, as we shall see from the study of these two expressions in Ephesians 1:4-5.