Arminian Today

Dr. Jack Cottrell writes, “To say that God is omniscient is to say that he is infinite in his knowledge” (The Faith Once For All, p. 85). The Scriptures clearly teach that God has all-knowledge (1 Samuel 2:3; Psalm 147:5; Romans 11:33; Hebrews 4:13; 1 John 3:20). Dr. Cottrell correctly points out that God keeps track of the birds and stars (Psalm 147:4; Matthew 10:29) and He knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30). Job said that God sees all our steps (Job 34:21) and God even knows our secret, deep thoughts (1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:10; 1 John 3:20). Mark 2:8 says that Jesus knew the thoughts of the scribes.

The most amazing aspect of God’s omniscience is that God not only knows all things perfectly but He can see the future of the entire human history and, as Dr. Cottrell writes, “including the free-will decisions of human beings. His perfect knowledge of the past is not difficult to understand, since he has already observed it all and forgets nothing. But can God really know every detail of the future, including all contingent events and free-will choices? The answer is yes. Though we cannot understand how it is possible, we must affirm it is true because the Bible teaches it” (The Faith Once For All, p.85).

Isaiah 40-48 are key portions of Scripture that affirm God’s omniscience. As God Himself says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:9-10). God knows the future perfectly and He can even name Cyrus as His servant for judgement (Isaiah 44:28) despite the fact that Cyrus was not born yet. God foresaw Cyrus and even planned before his birth to use him. This means that not only did God foresee this event but He planned it and purposed it to be. God could say this not just about Cyrus but about Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) and about Saul of Tarsus (Galatians 1:15). How can these things be apart from God’s absolute omniscience.

Jesus, God manifested in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; Philippians 2:5-11), demonstrated His omniscience several times in the gospel. For instance, in John 1:48 Jesus says that He foresaw Nathanael under the fig tree. In John 18:4 Jesus foreknew what events were about to take place concerning His crucifixion. In Mark 9:30-32 Jesus prophesied His own death but what is amazing is that He was able to foresee the free-will decisions of men to kill Him (Acts 2:22-24).

Now two points need to be made about God’s omniscience as it relates to Arminianism. First, open theism rejects God’s foreknowledge because it is perceived that this rules out free will. The future must be open if free will is to be intact. Jack Cottrell writes, “If God actually knows what is going to happen before it happens, then it is certain to happen (otherwise God could be wrong), and the freedom and contingency of the future appear to be destroyed. It is true that foreknowledge means that future events are in some sense certain. But the question is, what makes them certain? The foreknowledge itself? No, foreknowledge does not make things happen or make them certain; it only means that they are certain. What makes them certain is the acts themselves as freely chosen by their subjects, as viewed by God from his perspective of eternity. Certainty is not the same as necessity” (The Faith Once For All, p. 86).

Reformation Arminianism rejects the notion that God does not foreknow all things but we equally reject the notion that God has determined all things. God does control all things and in some sense He has (and does) determine certain things but not all things. For example, reformed Arminians accept the biblical teaching that God determined beforehand Cyrus’ birth and rise to power and usage by God. We accept God’s power to control Pharaoh in the book of Exodus to demonstrate His power to Israel. We accept God’s predetermined plan of sending His Son (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8). We accept God’s determined plan of choosing Saul (Galatians 1:15) to spread the gospel (Acts 26:16-18). We must accept these things because the Bible clearly teaches them.

Finally, what are we to do with the passages that speak of God repenting. Are we to conclude, as Greg Boyd does, that God learns from His own decisions and because He does not know the future, He relents, changes His mind, or repents from His own decisions or the decisions of others. Examples of this would be Genesis 6:6 or 1 Samuel 15:11, 35. Several points could be made. First, 1 Samuel 15:29 shows that God does not lie or relent for He is not a man that He should have regret. No decision God makes it bad but is perfect and He does not relent from His decisions since He is perfect in His power and in His knowledge. Second, Dr. Cottrell points out that the Hebrew word for repent (KJV) nacham is often translated in several ways in various translations. The NIV actually does the best job of translating nacham as “was grieved” since the context of the usage of the word clearly is showing God’s grief over the events taking place such as humanity’s sinfulness in Genesis 6:6-7 or King Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:9. Cottrell goes on to point out that the word nacham does not necessarily imply a change of mind based on ignorance but rather denotes strong feelings.

Christianity holds that God created all things out of nothing (ex nihilo). We believe that the world, the universe, and all that it contains were created by God. Furthermore, Christianity holds that God not only created the world but that He rules over His creation as supreme. He is God and there is no other. As monotheist, we believe that there is but one God and His name is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:14-15). We believe that Yahweh is eternal, that His nature does not change, and that He is not a man (Numbers 23:19) but is a spirit (John 4:23-24). We believe that Yahweh upholds the universe by His powerful word (Hebrews 1:3) and that God causes His sun to shine on the just and the unjust and makes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

We believe that God is completely in control of all things and that He rules over all His creation. Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Son don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31 NIV). Jesus said that God not only knows about the sparrows but that they don’t even die apart from the will of God. Christianity sees this as God’s providential care over all His creation. From the smallest amoeba to the tallest mountains to the farthest star, God controls every aspect of His creation. In time all of it will be destroyed by the power of God (2 Peter 3:5-7).

Yet when we discuss the providence of God we need to search the Scriptures to what they say about God’s sovereign reign. We will begin our study of the providence of God by looking at alternatives to providence. We will examine what many have believed about providence. Even Adolph Hitler in his book Mein Kampf believed that Providence (he always capitalised the word) had made him leader of Germany to restore her glory. Hitler believed that Providence had protected him from many attempts on his life (over 50). An examination of history would seem to say so. Hitler’s father had taken the name Hitler (his legitimate father’s name as he was illegitimate). Had his father not done so, Adolph would have been Adolph Schicklgruber. “Heil Schicklgruber” just doesn’t have the same ring. Time and time again Hitler found himself in the right place at the right time to rise to power. Hitler believed this was all an act of Providence.

As Christians, we would agree. Arminians and Calvinist would both insist that history, creation, salvation, etc. are all acts of divine and omnipotent providence. The differences that separate Arminians and Calvinists over divine providence has to do with the issue of determinism. Does God not just control all things (as we both agree) but that He is the determiner of all things? In other words, did God allow the Fall of Man (Genesis 3) or cause the Fall? How we answer reveals where we stand on providence? Did God cause Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery in order to establish Joseph in Egypt to protect God’s people (and plan of redemption) through Abraham’s seed (Genesis 50:20)? What does the Scriptures mean when it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart toward the Israelites and toward Yahweh in order to reveal God’s power to both the Egyptians and Israelites (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:14-18)? How are we to deal with God’s acts of providence when it seems that sin and lying were involved? An example of this is Judges 14:4 where Samson wanted to marry a Philistine woman that was outside of the Israelites and yet God was using Samson’s sinful desire for His own purpose. The murder of Jesus is another example of God taking men’s evil acts and turning them for good (Acts 2:22-24).

And this boils down to you and I as well. Did God cause us to believe? When we speak of God’s rule and reign in His providence, does this mean that every aspect of our lives has been planned out by God from the very acts of sin to the acts of faith?

What is not up for debate, however, is the sovereignty of God. If we deny God’s sovereignty, we deny God. If we fail to see that God is sovereign we are failing to read our Bibles. If we diminish the sovereignty of God (as in open theism for example) to the point that God stands as an outsider to His creation and who merely looks on the free will acts of men with only limited intervention then I believe we can easily lose hope that God is in control and that whatsoever comes to pass happens not because God does not know it beforehand but that He can use whatever means to bring glory to His name. We must not lose sight of the biblical fact that what God wants is to exalt and glorify His name above all others. God will not share His glory with anyone (Isaiah 48:11). And in the end God will cause all things to honour and glorify His name. Even Satan (Philippians 2:5-11)!

Coming soon I will begin writing a series of posts on the subject of Divine Providence from an Arminian understanding. I will highlight both the biblical data on the subject as well as the Arminian and Calvinist views on the issues. God’s providential care of His creation is found all through the Bible but the debate over God’s providence centers around control versus causality.