The Foreknowledge of God

Many Christians believe they understand the concept of predestination, of being chosen, or being one of the elect, and end up with doctrines of pre-determination to salvation which are completely unbiblical. What these people refuse to do is to acknowledge that we can never even begin to understand these concepts unless we first understand the foreknowledge of God.

1 Peter 1:2 states:

‘To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.’ 

Peter tells us that the ‘elect’ have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Therefore, if we are to have a correct understanding of election and being chosen, we must understand God’s foreknowledge, for it is according to His foreknowledge that we are chosen. Romans 8:29 also tells us that ‘those God foreknew he also predestined’, so there can be no doubt that predestination is determined by God’s foreknowledge.

To reach a biblical understanding we will need to do the following:

1. Determine what we mean by ‘foreknowledge’.

2. Examine what it means to be within time and outside of time.

3. Discuss God’s relationship to time.

4. Draw some conclusions.

1. We must begin this discussion on what we mean by ‘foreknowledge’ by understanding the word ‘know’. In John 17:3 Jesus prays, ‘now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’.

The word ‘know’ here does not mean to know about God, or know the Bible, or even know a prayer or two, rather, it means to know God in Christ as your closest friend, your Lord, your precious Savior, your first love. This Jesus says, ‘is eternal life’, to know Christ and, by virtue of knowing Him, to love Him, for no one can truly know Him and not love Him. The vast majority of theologians agree on this point.

By contrast, in Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus tells us that not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father. Jesus then tells us of people who will say that they prophesied, drove out demons and even performed miracles in His name, but He tells them, ‘I never knew you, away from me you evil doers’.

Obviously, then, in this case Jesus is not saying He didn’t know everything about these people, but that He never knew them in an intimate relationship of Lord and disciple…they were not His children. In the original Greek, the word never is a double negative, a combination of two words meaning ‘I never, no not ever, knew you’.

We can conclude at this point that the word foreknowledge in Scripture means a great deal more than God knowing the future. In terms of salvation, this word is tied to our having a personal relationship with God, even prior to our being born into this world, but more of that later. 

2. To our second point, what about time?

Some people make the grave mistake of thinking that time applies to God in a similar way to human beings. As creatures bound to time it is almost impossible for us to truly comprehend God dwelling outside of time, whilst also walking with us within time. This is a huge topic, so here I can only give a brief summary.

Firstly, the attributes of God define who He is. God is not just loving, He IS love. God is not simply holy, He is the essence of holiness, and God is not simply infinite, He is the source of infinity. God is the ‘I AM that I AM’, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Love, holiness, mercy, justice and infinity exist because these attributes of God, and many more, are the essence of who God is.

Secondly, time was created by God. ‘In beginning’ God created the heavens (universe) and the earth. In beginning His plan for salvation, a plan He had always foreknown, God created the heaven and the earth. They had a beginning, and Scripture tells us they will have an end (2 Peter 3:5-8, 10). 

3. To our third point; what is God’s relationship to time.

Firstly, God’s kingdom is an eternal place, it is outside of time. Scripture declares this in passages such as Daniel 4:3, 7:27, 2 Peter 1:11. Please, do not confuse these passages with Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God in the gospels. Jesus was speaking about the eternal kingdom, eternal life, being available to us, that when we are born again, we become citizens of heaven, aliens on this earth, and have an existential taste of being taken into this eternal kingdom when we pass from this temporal life. 

Heaven is not just some concept or metaphor, it is a real place as Jesus claimed to His disciples (John 14:2-4) and to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). The Bible also hints at where this place is, and if you are interested in this topic, please leave a comment.

Secondly, and most importantly, God being outside of time He can simultaneously be in past, present and future. Some people insist that God cannot know something until it exists. No! Human beings cannot know something until it exists, but God is not subject to such a condition, and this is the vital point I wish to make. 

Consider these verses from Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12. This passage of Scripture prophesies in detail the sacrifice of Christ to make atonement for sin, incredible details of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord.

But there are two views of time expressed in these verses. Firstly, God knowing the future and prophesying what is going to happen within a timeline, expressed in the word ‘will’. My servant ‘will act wisely’, he ‘will be raised up and highly exalted’ (v 13), he will sprinkle many nations and kings will shut their mouths because of him’ (v 15). The words ‘will act, will be raised up, will sprinkle’ etc, point us to the future, and in this case, approximately 700 years from when the prophecy is given.

However, the text changes tenses and speaks, not of what will happen in the future, but what has already taken place. The ‘he will’ becomes ‘he was’ in many verses in chapter 53. He ‘was despised and rejected of men’ (v3) ‘he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed’, ‘he had no beauty, he grew up’. Why is Isaiah writing in the past tense as if these events have already occurred? Surely, if he were to be consistent he should have written he will be despised, he will be crushed, he will grow up, etc.

Some Jewish scholars, who reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah, claim that Isaiah’s use of the past tense proves that these events have already taken place; therefore, they cannot refer to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Several liberal theologians take a similar position. I disagree because Scripture tells me also, in Revelation 13:8 that ‘the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world’.

My argument is simply this: If these profound verses of Scripture are merely indicating God’s knowledge of the future then there is no reason to speak in the past tense. However, if God being outside of time can experience the future as a present reality for Him, then for Him these events have already taken place. I may be wrong in my conclusions, as, like you I am a mere creature bound in time and have never experienced timelessness. However, from what we have studied about God knowing us personally, and the fact that God exists outside of time, I may at least be scratching the surface of a profound truth.

Some will insist that God cannot know something or someone until He creates it or them. Consider the following verse: 

‘The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’. (Jeremiah 1:4-5)’ 

In this verse the Lord states that He knew Jeremiah even before He formed him in the womb. As stated at the beginning of this video, this ‘knowing’ is not simply knowing of Jeremiah’s existence, but of knowing him personally. It is by virtue of that relationship that God set Jeremiah apart and appointed him as a prophet.

So let me ask you. If you are someone who knows and loves the Lord, how long has God known you? Is it possible, and even probable, that He knew you even before He created the world, not just about you and decisions you would make, but actually knew you in the future that you and I have not yet experienced?

If the answer is yes, then we may have a far greater insight into why God created the world knowing the evil and suffering that would occur. If the entire goal of creation was to bring us into an eternal loving relationship with God as He has with Himself as persons in the trinity, and, being outside of time He could already know and experience our love and adoration, then creating the world was the only way that He could make that possibility a reality.

There is a great deal more we could discuss regarding this topic but let me offer some brief conclusions. 

Some theologians teach that God has pre-determined people to either heaven or hell without any regard to foreknowledge, love or purpose. This turns salvation into a kind of divine lottery, and if you were one of the few than won the lottery, you are the chosen, you are the elect.

I call this ‘sola lucktora’ – by luck alone, and reject this idea vehemently as I believe it defames the character of God revealed in Christ, in the extreme. Scripture states categorically that we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God in 1 Peter 1:2, and prior to the same claim in Romans 8:29 we read,

‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ (Romans 8:28-29)

Paul connects those who love God, with God’s purpose, God’s foreknowledge, and predestination. In my opinion, predestination and election are God’s business, for only God dwells outside of time. You and I may have only known Christ for a few years or decades from our perspective within time, but He may have known us outside of time, forever, and this is what is meant by being chosen and predestined.

I understand that I have only scratched the surface of this profound topic. We haven’t even begun to speak about how God knows the future outside of time and yet walks with us within time bringing us into that future. These topics are discussed more thoroughly in my Practical Systematic Theology: Reclaiming the Doctrine of the Early Church. In chapter 12 I discuss the issues of free will and quote how the earliest Christian theologians understood difficult passages such as the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.

I pray this short article has been an encouragement.

Steve Copland