“Before the
mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from
everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Ps. 90:2 NASB).
Over the past
several months we have compared and contrasted Calvinism and Arminianism. If
you will recall: Calvinism and Arminianism are two systems of theology that
attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s
responsibility in the matter of salvation. This month we will consider a
potential danger related to the Arminian view known as open theism.
Open theism began
being taught within the past 20 years or so, and thankfully has very few
adherents. It is a liberal view that resulted from taking certain Arminian
teachings beyond what is commonly taught. One writer explained open theism in
the following way. “Open Theism is the thesis that, because God loves us and
desires that we freely choose to reciprocate His love, He has made His
knowledge of, and plans for, the future conditional upon our actions. Though
omniscient (all-knowing), God does not know what we will freely do in the
future. Though omnipotent (all-powerful), He has chosen to invite us to freely
collaborate with Him in governing and developing His creation, thereby also
allowing us the freedom to thwart His hopes for us. God desires that each of us
freely enter into a loving and dynamic personal relationship with Him, and He
has therefore left it open to us to choose for or against His will” (https://www. iep.utm.edu/o-theism/).
There are a few
things mentioned above that need careful consideration. First, let us consider
possible proof texts that open theists use to support their position of God’s
omniscience being limited. The open theists will argue, if God’s omniscience is
not limited then how does one explain passages that stated that God repented?
“And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him
at His heart” (Gen. 6:6; see also the KJV of Ex. 32:14; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35; Jon.
3:10).
Thus, the open
theists argue, why would a perfectly all-knowing God need to repent, or even
display emotions of surprise (Mark 6:6), or mourning over the death of a friend
named Lazarus that God the Son, Jesus would raise from the dead (John 11:35)?
Bruce Ware does a good job of explaining what it means when God is said to
repent. “...it indicates His real experience, in historically unfolding
relationships with people, of changed dispositions or emotions in relation to
some changed human situation. Just because God knows in advance that some event
will occur, this does not preclude God from experiencing appropriate emotions
and expressing appropriate reactions when it actually happens” (God’s Lesser
Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism, p. 91). This is very similar to
how we express emotions. For example, when a loved one has a terminal illness,
the doctors inform us that our loved one only has a very limited amount of time
left. Thus, we know that they are going to be passing from this life soon, so their
death is not a surprise to us. However, we still mourn over their passing when
it comes. God is exactly like that. He knows all that will ever take place, yet
He still displays emotions that are appropriate for each situation when it
occurs.
In the case of
when God is said to repent, it is important to note that it indicates that God
is aware that the situation has changed. And therefore, He desires to act in a
way fitting to this change.
At this point in
this lesson, it would be good to consider things about God which never change,
and things that do. God's character never changes. He is all-powerful. He is
always present everywhere. He knows everything. He is Sovereign—thus, always in
charge. He is always holy, righteous, just, loving, merciful and faithful.
These are the things that are a part of God’s unchanging nature (Mal. 3:6; Heb.
13:8).
Additionally,
God’s eternal purpose and plan do not change, despite our contingent responses
to them. “The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes
of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of
His heart through all generations”- (Ps. 33:10-11). God’s eternal purpose includes sending His
Son to die in our place, redeeming us from the curse of sin (1 Peter 1:17-21).
The salvation of those who would be found in Christ is a part of God’s
unchanging plan (Eph. 1:4-5). God’s unchanging plan included the purpose of His
church as ambassadors to our fallen world (Eph. 3:11). Similarly, it was God’s
unchanging plan that His followers would live holy lives (2 Tim. 1:9).
On the other
hand, there are over 20 passages explicitly teaching that God does change His
mind at times (Gen. 6:6-7; Ex. 32:14; Jud. 2:18; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35; 2 Sam.
24:16; 1 Chr. 21:15; Psalm 106:45; Isa. 38:1-6; Jer. 18:7-10; 26:3, 13, 19;
42:10; Joel 2:13-14; Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:4). This brings up the question: when
does God change His mind? First, God changes His mind when people appeal to
His mercy (Amos 7:1-3). And second, God changes His mind when people
intercede for others in prayer (Amos 7:4-6). This reveals to us the power
of prayer.
Open theists will
agree that prayer can change the mind of God. However, open theists minimize
God’s unlimited foreknowledge to what is knowable in the present. Thus, they
limit God’s providential hand which is already at work in the situations that
will occur in the future. On the other hand, the conservative Arminian will
recognize that from eternity past, God has known every prayer which would ever
be offered. And from eternity past, He has also known how He would respond to
those prayers.
The early church
leader, Augustine said, “Just as your memory does not force the past to have
happened, God’s foreknowledge does not force the future to happen. And just as
you remember some things that you have done but did not do everything that you
remember, God foreknows everything that He causes but does not cause everything
that He foreknows. “Let us rather confess that nothing in the future is hidden
from God’s foreknowledge, and that no sin is left unpunished by His justice,
for sin is committed by the will (free-will), not coerced by God’s
foreknowledge.”
Another issue
open theists use to support their view of God’s limited knowledge relates to
the problem of evil and suffering. Open theist Gregory Boyd stated, “Maybe God
doesn’t know everything because of all the evil in the world. Why doesn’t God
use His power to prevent 9/11 or other evils of the world? God knows everything
that is knowable, but the future is not knowable therefore God doesn’t know the
future perfectly therefore He is not always in a position to stop it.”
However, as we
have already discussed, the Bible clearly affirms God’s perfect omniscience.
Yet God does not need to eliminate evil, or even balance good and evil, right
and wrong in this life, as long as He has promised to justly deal with evil in
the next life (2 Thess. 1:5-10). Likewise, God’s perfect foreknowledge of all
events which will ever take place does not change what we are going to do,
violating our freewill. Rather, it just means that He can plan based upon what
we are going to do. In fact, nothing in God’s divine foreknowledge contradicts
the existence of human freewill.
Just as your
memory does not force the past to have happened, God’s foreknowledge does not
force the future to happen. And just as we remember some things that we have
done, we do not remember everything that happens to us. On the other hand, God
foreknows everything that He causes but does not cause everything that He
foreknows.
William Lane
Craig said, “How does the addition or deletion of the factor of God’s simply
knowing some act in advance affect the freedom of the act? [The claim that it
does] posits a constraint on human freedom which is entirely unintelligible.
Therefore, it must be false. Somewhere there is a fallacy in the argument, and
we need only examine it carefully to find the error” (Only Wise God,
pgs. 68-69).
Therefore, as we
have seen, open theism is a heresy that is a result of taking Arminianism
beyond its intent. It undermines God’s sovereignty, omnipotence, and
omniscience. However, thankfully, a careful examination reveals the beauty and
majesty of the God of the Bible.
In His
service,
Matt
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