I affirm that God’s predetermination and foreknowledge are coextensive; therefore, God foreknows what He predetermines and predetermines what He foreknows; moreover, the distinction between predestining something to happen a certain way and predestining to allow some human freedom to affect outcomes are both within the scope of the biblical meaning of predestination and/or foreknowledge and compatible with and demonstrative of sovereignty so long as He made the decision freely, thereby being a part of His plan rather than contrary to His plan, which He did in fact do.
I disaffirm that God’s infallible foreknowledge or predetermination caused man to sin or spend eternity in hell;1 further, that foreknowledge or predetermination eliminates real free choices of man in salvation and the first sin. Further, that God’s foreknowledge of events, which makes certain their coming to pass, means that he was the efficient cause2 or in any way the direct cause of every event to come to pass or that comes to pass, although, He is the ultimate cause. Moreover, that foreknowledge is the same as causation because epistemology (study of knowledge) deals with foreknowledge and etiology (study of cause) deals with causation, and to conflate the two is a fallacious confusion of categories.3 Afortiori, the scripture ties salvation to God’s foreknowledge4 on more than one occasion (Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 1:2).
Next Topic: Double Predestination
- The Calvinist position that God elected to regenerate some and all that He regenerates will necessarily believe inescapably leaves God with determining to send some to hell who could have been spared that torment if He would have chosen for them to, since all that He elects to regenerate must believe and all that He chooses not to regenerate cannot believe. This is in contrast to the position I am espousing whereby God enables all to have a real choice of whether to believe or not, and those who go to hell are there because they rejected a real chance to not be there. [↩]
- He is the ultimate cause of all good, the direct (efficient) cause of many things, but other events (sin) happen because He created “efficient causes,” e.g., man and his ability to choose. [↩]
- I am not saying that all knowledgeable Calvinists do this, but it is a common mistake among young Calvinists, some older and many ponderers. [↩]
- Foreknowledge is not the same as predestination; the very sentence before us distinguishes the two. “His foreknowledge marks out the persons; His predestination determines His purposes and acts on their behalf.” (W. E. Vines, Commentary on Romans 8:29 [↩]
Responses to “Predestination and Foreknowledge; Without The Confusion of Calvinism”
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 am
[...] The Sovereignty of God: Without the baggage of Calvinism Predestination and Foreknowledge; Without T…Double Predestination Where Did Sin Come From? The Depravity of Man Atonement for Sin The Love of God: Calvinism does not measure up Grace World vs. Elect Faith and Regeneration Faith and Works Preaching of the Gospel I use the term “Major” Calvinist to include Five Point Calvinists regardless of other differences, .e.g. order of decrees, baptism…and refer to such in this paper simply as “Calvinists” or “Calvinism”. I use the term “minor” to include all other views which hold to one or more of the four points of Calvinism excluding limited atonement. Neither minor nor major Calvinists can be rightly classified as Arminian. The reason I am spending the time to address concerns with Calvinism and not Arminianism is because in Baptist life, questions regarding issues relating to theology are almost always related to whether one agrees or disagrees with Calvinism rather than Arminianism since Baptists, other than those like “Free Will” Baptists are not Arminian in their theology. Further, it is simply imprecise for a Calvinist to dismiss people like me by labeling us Arminian. [↩]Search my blog for Determinism, Free Will, Calvinism, Love of God, or listen to messages from 1 Peter 1:1-5, entitled Preservation of the Saints [↩]TULIP is an acronym for the five points of Calvinism 1.Total inability 2. Unconditional election 3. Limited atonement 4. Irresistible grace 5. Perseverance of the saints [↩]I was classified as a four-point Calvinist without any clarifications for many years, and have and still do respect and study countless Calvinist theologians including Calvin himself. [↩]While it is true that some “Reformational Arminians” have an understanding closer to Calvinsim regarding issues such as those mentioned as well as others than that of “popular” understandings, my beliefs are far closer to most Calvinists with regard to such [↩]An example of this is the work that is done by Calvinists in restricting terms like world, all people, all nations, everyone….in order to bolster support for limited atonement. [↩]This in no way implies that I am against “theological systems” or thinking systematically about theology, for my position is quite the contrary, and that is why my system has changed. [↩]No one verse can be read or understood apart from the complete revelation of God. Although all who maintain the inerrancy of Scripture would affirm this, our arguments surely seem to minimize it at times. An example would be Acts 2:47 that says, “The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Should we rightly conclude, from that single verse, that God is the only one who plays a part in the salvation of people and that man plays no part because that verse only speaks of God doing something? Or could we rightly conclude that no one repented or believed the gospel, because that single verse doesn’t say anyone did those things? Could we rightly conclude that no one preached the gospel to those the Lord added to the church, because that one verse says nothing about anyone preaching? The reality is that no single verse or passage explains everything, whether it is John 6:44, 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6 or… The same is true of Acts 2:47. Clearly, John did not believe that regeneration precedes faith. He wrote at the close of his gospel: “But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, italics added). [↩]This refers to the way some Calvinists use language that is inconsistent with the tenets of Calvinism in prayers, preaching, witnessing…or that tends to present Calvinism in a softer tone than it really is. This is particularly noticeable when they speak on the love of God, mercy, missions or when they pray…see blog “Faith And Regeneration” especially footnote on “new birth” in the disaffirmation. [↩]The section of theology that deals with salvation issues [↩] [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 8:44 am
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