I believe in the law of non-contradiction. Two oppositional things cannot both be true at the same time and in the same way.
I believe that this is an axiom.
There are no square circles.
The Bible is clear in regard to the doctrine of election. God chooses. God predestines.
(check out Ephesians 1:3-11)
The Bible is also clear in saying that man is not saved without faith, and faith is a choice – maybe the ultimate choice.
These two things seem to be in contradiction with one another, but the Bible teaches both clearly.
Sometimes they are presented virtually side by side! Check out Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 1:11
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will…”
that is a pretty clear passage about God choosing!
But look at verse 13:
“ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…” (ESV)
that is a pretty clear passage about us hearing and believing!
…just two verses apart. Apparently Paul did not have a problem believing in both the doctrine of election and the need for belief in salvation.
So, is there any way in which I can freely choose God and God can sovereign-ly choose me without breaking the law of non-contradiction? Can they both be true at the same time?
Each side seems to spend a great deal of time proving their view scripturally – God chooses me or I choose God and then making the assumption that
- since the Bible clearly teaches one and
- since the two concepts must be contradictory
- therefore, the other concept is false.
But I disagree with premise #2. There are ways in which both can freely choose. Here is one (please note that I am not claiming that this is right, just that it is an example of how it could be possible)
Most efforts at this integration has essentially morphed one doctrine or the other into something different.
Predestination, for example, is not merely foreknowledge. Predestination calls for God to have freely chosen in coordination with His foreknowledge, not merely in reaction to it. That is merely
God choosing those who He just happens to know will choose Him. Knowing that the roulette ball will land on RED is not the same as choosing for it to land on RED.
Similarly, the idea that man is responsible to have faith, but has no freedom or power to choose faith. That is fine for God’s sovereign choice, but is no real free choice for mankind.
Is there a way to, with integrity to both doctrines and with rationality, to integrate these two biblical concepts?
Please remember that I am not a well trained philosopher, so I am sure I will make some mistakes in this, but these are the basics of “Middle Knowledge” as I understand them:
Middle Knowledge
Next week, I will offer links to William Lane Craig, a true expert on these topics, for you to follow up with more. If you are impatient, you can google him now! Come back and click here for a deeper look at Middle Knowledge, too.
God decides to create. At this point, He has limitless options because only God can limit His own options. He is a painter with a literally blank canvas… because God can create from nothing. He is limited by only His own decisions.
God decides to limit His options. A possible example: He decides He wants some part of His 
creation to have the option of accepting or rejecting His love for them.
God no longer is choosing from limitless options (by His own choice and design). He has begun to narrow toward what He wants. No one is forcing this on Him. This is like you choosing a candy bar at the gas station. No one limits your choices but you, and this only expresses your freedom, not diminishes it.
God looks through all the possible futures of all of the possible worlds He can choose from. He is not just choosing a starting place and letting it go; He knows all of the sparrows in all of the worlds still within His guidelines. This is an extension of what is called “Middle Knowledge.” This concept explains that God not only knows what will happen, but He even knows what will NOT happen. He knows futures that don’t exist. Check this out:
1 Sam 23:10-13
Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.” Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit. (NASU)
Notice that God tells David what would happen if he stayed, but he didn’t stay! God described a future that didn’t happen.
How can anyone suggest that the Bible does not have evidence of or call out specifically that the writer – God, Himself – ‘is not concerned with the smallest details of our lives’? The below is from Luke 12, English Standard Version (one of the most recent literal translations):
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?[b] And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
There is no doubt that God is concerned with the details of life – even the life of the simple sparrow. However, I think this debate would not be on whether God is concerned with them, but whether He knows, directs, controls, etc., even the smallest details of our lives. Great passage!
Oh, I’m excited about this discussion. I’ve been intrigued by this concept ever since it was first presented to my Forge class. Looking forward to the next few posts!
It just keeps the old grey cells stretched and warmed up to think about it!
So- a question that has rattled me for awhile- God’s sovereignty. Does He, if He knows all because He created all and only limited Himself where He allowed Himself to be limited- still, does He know the future? He creates the future…right? So because He created it, He knows all of it, even the small details of our lives? Does He meddle in it, or just know it? Which leads to…do our prayers, big and small, matter? Can I influence the future He set out for me through prayer…If I pray for the outcome of a certain trivial event to be favorable, does that matter to Him? Or was it in vain for me to do that, because His level/plane of existence is way beyond that…ex: He mostly knows who His followers are and are not, and the rest that happens is based solely on the consequences of our choices and those of others?
Where I’m coming from on this: Recently, I spent a fair amount of time under the teachings of an older mentor who has done extensive biblical research, so much so that she has taught herself the Greek language and reads only the Greek bible…interprets the bible from that language and believes the contexts of future translations have been skewed sharply. She is radical, meek, loving, and I believe very honest in her attempts to disciple Christians. When studying under her, I asked about this topic, and quotes Jer 29:11. She responded, telling me God was speaking directly to the Israelites when saying that, and for me to remember that I cannot take anything out of context. After further asking her about this, and whether this means that God does not know (and/or concern Himself with) the small details of our lives, she responded with, “Tell me where in the bible does it say He does?”. I was stumped. And then felt as though my beliefs were hugely misfounded on what I hoped/wanted to believe was truth. I eventually quit studying under her but have been left confused since, wondering about several things.
I do still struggle also with the topics of predestination…How can He choose me to be one of His followers, but not those I dearly loves, such as my mom, dad and sister? Or really, not so much the how, but the why. Your post today helped to point me in the direction of more clarity. All this being said, although I may not like the answers I get when asking questions such as these, I completely want truth and nothing else…not the easy answer, or the one that could be most popularly believed based on how we want to believe things.
Thanks for sharing your writings and research with honesty, Chris! Keep it coming, please.
Paula, you might read the extensive series of articles on prayer that I wrote not too long ago wrestling with some of these very same questions! Spoiler alert – I don’t know the answer to a lot of them!
I agree with your friend on Jer 29:11 – that and many other passages have to be understood in context – and I intend (Lord willing) to teach a LOT more about that in the fall on Wednesday nights – the science (and art) is called “Hermeneutics”… It will be a great adventure of stretching for a lot of people this fall!
here is the link for the first prayer article, by the way… I hope you enjoy watching someone struggle!
Prayer part 1