Nicholas Long
Systematic Theology I
Dr. Bird
12-23-2020
What does it mean for God to be omniscient?
Who is God? This singular question is the most important question that will ever be
asked in human history. Who is God? When you ask this question, you will be faced by another
question, which one? Now I’m not implying that there is another God, but there are many
different religions that try to explain what they believe is a god. If you were to look at the
Christian God that we believe and know that has been revealed through scripture, you would
start to ask more questions such as, “What’s He like?” or “Where did He come from?” or even
“Can I trust Him?” In this essay I will focus on one thing, God guidance is worthy to be trusted
in because He knows everything. Now what does it mean that he is “omniscient”, or that He
“Knows everything”? I literally mean that God knows everything, from beginning to end, and
everywhere in between. Psalm 139:1-6 talks about God knowing everything we do before we
even do it. He knows what we’re thinking before we think it. In verse 4 we see that the psalmist
says, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.'' This means
that not only does God know our thoughts before they are thought of, but that He also knows our
actions before we even do them. We see that God knows our thoughts and that he knows our
feelings, but what about the future? John the revelator said in 1 John 3:20 that “ for whenever our
heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” if God knows
everything, then that clearly means He knows the past and future, right?
How does omniscience come into play with the elect? If God knows who’s going to be
saved, does that mean they are elect because he already knows them? Well omniscience means
that God knows everything, and that includes who gets saved or not. But before this topic runs
like a rabbit trail onto another subject, omniscience does not mean that God has predetermined
who does and does not become saved. We see in passages like John 3:16 that “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.” The word “world” does not mean “the elect”, but instead “whoever believes in
Him”. This means that God's foreknowledge of all things does not directly predetermine
salvation or damnation of his creation, but instead that if they will come to repent and know
Him. Some people disagree, some people such as John Piper believe that God is glorified
whether a person is elected to heaven or hell, well I happen to disagree with Piper in that
instance. Why? Because foreknowledge does not imply causation. What do I mean by this? Well
if you were to read all of the four gospels entirely without any ideas to push on the text, then you
would see three things. The first being that Jesus cried over Jerusalem two different times, once
in Luke 13:34-35, and 19:41-44. In chapter 13, we see that Jesus cries over Jerusalem because
they are stoning the prophets that God is sending towards them, and then Jesus says, “How often
would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and
you were not willing!“ meaning that He would’ve taken everyone in Jerusalem under His wing,
but none will see him unless they say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” This
notion, or idea that God has predetermined to damn his own creation is nonsense and should not
be taught. As Ezekiel 33:11 says, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.
Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’” A God that loves His
creation, mourns the death of the wicked, and yet died for all peoples repentance, it's ludicrous to
say that God will damn people for His Glory.
So now that we understand how foreknowledge works with election, one final question,
what comes first, predestination, which in its finest sense means what God has predetermined to
happen, or foreknowledge, which is the idea that God knows what's in the future? Romans 8
deals with this subject, but for not very long. Paul explains that there is no condemnation for
those in Christ, and in this passage we say that Paul places foreknowledge first, and then
predestination. As Romans 8:29-30 says, “ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to
be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also
justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” In this text we see that foreknowledge is
what God acts upon, because Paul clearly paints the picture of how God acts. Foreknowledge,
then predestination, then who He called, and those He called He justified.
In this essay I have tried to cover everything that I can think of at this moment while
writing this, which was God's omniscience, His knowledge with those he saves, and the question
does foreknowledge imply causation?
