I received a question not long ago related to God’s understanding and whether or not God knowing everything somehow inhibits our ability to have free will. This is one of those ideas that stir around in our minds from time to time when we try to dig into the “idea” of God, so I thought it was worth sharing the question and answer…
Hey Matthew, Do you take a molinistic approach and emphasize middle knowledge or have your own boat floating around?
That question might sound like gibberish, so let me define some terms: A “molinistic” viewpoint is the philosophical idea that, before the beginning, God knew what we were going to do and what He was going to do, and designed the arc of history around those choices. “Middle knowledge” on the other hand, is the philosophical idea that says God knows not only what we’re going to do, but possible actions we might take, so He’s ready to react to our decisions, whatever they may be.
My answer was this:
First I would caution you to avoid trying to find some group, or some idea, or some philosophy, or some kind of “box” that let’s you say “that’s the one I believe. I’m THAT.” You are a Christian. Your philosophy should be Christianity. All others, even those whose purpose is to try to rationalize or understand Christianity, are ideas of men, and thus will always fall short of the simple text of Scripture. Once you make yourself an “ist” of some kind, you’re taking with you the good and the bad, the true and the false, of those ideas.
You want to know about God’s knowledge vs man’s free will. I would say first that I believe God’s mind is unfathomable, so any attempt to explain it or come to a settled understanding of it is futile. Every possible explanation leaves multiple what-ifs and apparent contradictions that our minds can’t reconcile.
I believe God knows everything, and that “everything” means “everything.” He knows what has been, what is, and what shall be. And yet, I have free will. If I go left or right, that’s my choice, but God knows the choice, and in fact, in some cases, has planned accordingly around my choices (or all of our choices, etc). Just because God has planned around my future choices does not take away my free will to make those choices. God has a will of his own, after all.
God is also not a robot, forced to follow a set programming. He moves and acts in response to prayer, for example. I may get sick, and I may pray for healing and God answer my prayer with healing. So… what if I hadn’t prayed for healing: Would I get better? I would say no, but also, I DID pray for healing, so the “what if” hypothetical isn’t reality; it’s just a hypothetical. God knew I would pray for healing and “planned accordingly.”
God moving and acting in response to prayer is something I perceive from my limited, finite, linear perspective. God however is not limited, finite, nor bound to a linear perspective. He is not just infinite, He is timeless. He is atemporal. He is beyond time. He comes down into the temporal realm to interact with His people, but remains supreme over time itself. He can do that because He is God. HOW He does that is a mystery.
That’d be my answer to the question of God’s knowledge vs my free will, though it doesn’t get into any of the stuff that kept John Calvin up at night, but I’m also not really interested in basing my thinking in comparison or contrast to someone else, so there you go.
Are there things we don’t understand about the way God “works”? Certainly. We’re limited by what God has told us, and He tells us very little about the way He “works.” I suppose the simplest thing to say would be: “He works just fine; thanks for asking.” Even though we cannot understand everything about God, we can KNOW what we need to know, and through that knowledge, we have our salvation (John 8:32).
~Matthew
PS: Don’t forget that, at the end of the month, we will enjoy our Family Day weekend Gospel Meeting with Barry Grider. Be here on Friday evening, September 26th, at 7pm, as well as Saturday evening, September 27th, at 7pm to hear two excellent lessons from God’s Word, both in the lead-up to our big Family Day Sunday on September 28th.