The claim of Christendom and Judaism before it has been that God knows ... everything. He knows all possibilities -- all contingencies -- but knows nothing contingently. That is, He knows all the "what ifs" but there are no questions about "what will be." He knows what was, what is, what will be. Without error. Without question. "Yeah, yeah, sure ... but why would you make such a claim?" Let's see if it's tradition or Scripture.
John wrote that "God is greater than our heart and knows all things" (1 John 3:20). That means ... all things. That's not just a whole lot of things or even most things. All things. In the book of Job we read that God is "perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16). Perfect. Thus, God knows all things and He knows them perfectly. The psalmist says, "His understanding is infinite" (Psa 147:5).
It sounds comprehensive, sure, but what about humans? How well does He know us? Can He know what we will do (as the Open Theists deny)? In Acts we read that God "knows the heart" (Acts 15:8). Pretty clear, but Psalm 139 is full of answers here. Before you speak He knows it completely (Psa 139:4). He knows your ways (Psa 139:3). He knows your thoughts (Psa 139:2). "In Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them" (Psa 139:16). All the days. All the days that were formed for me. Prior to their occurrence. Complete and total knowledge of each and every human in advance.
God's Omniscience, then, is purely biblical and it is absolute and complete. Past, present, future, our world, ourselves, everything ... perfectly. Don't let anyone argue that away. Why? First, because it is clear in Scripture, but, second, because it's important.
If God is not Omniscient (I use the capital there because there are those who argue that God is omniscient while denying that He actually knows anything perfectly.) then we have a lot to fear. He promises, but will He deliver? If He is Omniscient He will. If not, you can't be sure. He gives us eternal life, but will we get it? If He is Omniscient we will. If not, you can't be sure. Here's an interesting thought. Kant argued that the basis for morality is found in the existence of an Absolute, Perfect Judge. Part of being that Judge entails Absolute, Perfect Knowledge. If God is not Omniscient, Justice is in question. In our lives as believers we are told that if we love Christ we will obey His commands (John 14:15). Obedience is a result of loving Him, but we can have absolute confidence in obeying Him because we have absolute confidence that He knows what is best ... because He is Omniscient. Nothing happens to us that He didn't see in advance. The world intends evil for us, but if God is Omniscient, we can be supremely confident that anything that happens to us occurs because God intends good (Gen 50:20).
What is Omniscience? Simply put, "God knows." But that's a big "knows." And we, His people, can delight in that every day in multiple ways. 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
4 comments:
Add to that, if He's not omniscient, he's mutable. He can learn things, which necessarily would require Him to change.
Yes, that's true. They're all related. Knowing everything requires Omnipotence and Omnipresence. Immutability requires all of the above. It's what they call "the simplicity of God" -- that God is equally all His attributes together. (Not so simple if you ask me.)
30-50% of fertilized eggs in humans are miscarried, often without the woman knowing she was pregnant. It is noteworthy that the Father knew each of those embryos in a personal way even way back in time before He brought our human race into existence.
God knows every baby that wasn't born and every event that didn't happen but might have.
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