Election and Foreknowledge (Part 1)

The doctrine of Election is biblical. You cannot avoid it. It starts back in the Old Testament with folks like Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. It carries through the New Testament with endless references to "the chosen" or "the elect" and the like. To claim that it isn't in there at all is to approach Scripture with your eyes closed ... a rather poor approach. The question isn't "Does the Bible contain the doctrine of Election?" Yes, it does. The question instead is "What is the biblical doctrine of Election?"

The Reformed group has a fairly well-known response: God chooses whom He will save apart from the chosen one's choices or actions. It's a unilateral choice. Fine. Another group mediates the whole concept away by saying, "The chosen are not individuals, but simply a group of people, the individuals of which aren't clear." That's somewhat popular, but not very logical. It ignores the fact that 1) God is omniscient, and 2) groups are made up of individuals. But far and away the most popular answer is this: God chooses whom He will save based on His foreknowledge of who will choose Him. This answer seems to make people feel better. It allows God's choice to occur "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4) while still predicating it on ... our choice. It seems to protect God from choosing not to save some (the dreaded "double predestination" problem). And besides, there is clear biblical backing for this. Paul says, "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:29). Here it seems that "those whom He foreknew" precedes His predestining. Even more explicit, it seems, is Peter:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood (1 Peter 1:1-2).

Well, it doesn't get much clearer than that, does it? We are "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Clearly God's choosing is based on His foreknowledge. To deny this would be foolish.

It is undeniable. God chooses based on His foreknowledge. It is explicit. One of the basic rules of interpreting Scripture is always interpret the implicit from the explicit. This is explicit. People are "are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." What is problematic, however, is the conclusion that is being made regarding "foreknowledge". You see, the assumption being made isn't in regards to the existence and premise of God's foreknowledge, but what He foreknows upon which He bases His choice. The assumption is that God chooses based on His foreknowledge of our choice of Him. However, that is not explicit here. All that is explicit is that God chooses according to His foreknowledge, and it doesn't say what is foreknown or even what is meant by "foreknowledge".

Allow me a moment to illustrate the problem. Paul says, "For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:29). So, whom does God foreknow? Well, if "foreknowledge" is simply prescience -- knowing in advance -- then "those whom He foreknew" would encompass everyone. God has prior knowledge of all human beings. The inexorable logic, then, of Paul's statement would be that God, knowing everyone in advance, has predestined the same (everyone) to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now, that's a fine defense for Universalism, but we aren't buying that one. That cannot be what Paul intended. See the problem? What "foreknowledge" is and what is intended by the term in reference to being the chosen is not as clear as what you might think at first blush.

So, why would I question the conclusion that it references God's prior knowledge of our choice of Him? That's problematic for me because it contradicts Scripture. According to Rom. 9:16, "It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." If God chooses based on our choice of Him, then it does depend on human will. Here Paul is explicit: "It depends not on human will." God chooses "in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call" (Rom. 9:11). So while someone might imply that "foreknowledge" refers to "knowing in advance our choice of Him", Scripture explicitly denies it. Since we are going to interpret the implicit from the explicit, we will need to eliminate the most popular view.

What, then, is the foreknowledge according to which God chooses?