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God’s Infinite Knowledge
What does God know, and why does
He know it? The Bible says that God’s understanding is
infinite.
"Great is our Lord and
abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite."
(Psa. 147:5)
The New American Standard Bible
translates this Hebrew word “ayin” as infinite. Infinite
means limitless or eternal. God’s knowledge has no boundaries.
The Psalmist is saying that God’s knowledge is without limits.
God knows everything knowable!
“Do you not know? Have you
not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the
ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His
understanding is inscrutable.” (Isa. 40:28)
Here the same Hebrew word “ayin”
is used, but it is translated not infinite, but “inscrutable.”
It means unfathomable. We cannot reach the depths of God’s
knowledge.
God’s knowledge, unlike ours,
does not come in a series of thoughts, one following the other.
The events in time do not parade across God’s mind to be viewed
event by event. He sees all of history at one glance. God
knows everything perfectly and He knows it all at once. He does
not grow more intelligent with time. God does not gain or lose
knowledge. He cannot grow wiser. He has perfect knowledge. He
has had perfect knowledge of everything knowable throughout
eternity.
The Latin word “omniscience” is
often used to define God’s knowledge. The word “omni” is
all, and the word “science” is knowledge. Put together it means
all-knowledge. God knows every microscopic detail of everything
knowable.
Why Does God Know Everything?
Why does God know
everything knowable? Ask these searching questions!
Is there something to be known “outside” of God’s domain? Is
there a realm outside of God’s realm? Is there any part of God’s
knowledge that comes to Him by taking in new information that He
was not conscious of before? Is there anything that God knows
that He did not create? Is there anything that He knows that He
did not determine to be?
“In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through Him, and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come into being.” (Jn.
1:1-3)
The Bible clearly teaches that
Jesus Christ created everything that is. Nothing
“came to be” apart from Him. Said another way, there is nothing
created outside of God!
Not only that, but God
continuously sustains everything that He has created.
“He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him
all things were created that are in heaven and that are on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created through
Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all
things consist.” (Col. 1:15-17)
“Consist” is the Greek word
sunistemi, or “hold together.” Jesus Christ not only created
everything but He holds everything together. I
assume this includes every atom from the smallest to the
greatest of all of His creation from the beginning to end. This
means that every atom that makes up every raindrop that falls
and every hair on our heads is created and held together by God.
Nothing exists that God did not will to exist! Nothing exists
that God has not brought into being! Nothing exists that God
does not continue to hold together. This means that God did not
create something and then allow that creation to leave his
domain! That would be a scary thought! God from the beginning
set in place a plan, and He has throughout history carried out
His plan.
“For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.
Amen.” (Rom. 11:36)
God Determines What He Knows
If all things were and
continue to be brought into being by God, and He holds all
things together, ask these questions! What can God
learn that He did not cause to be? What could God know
that He did not determine? If all things are “from Him,”
what could God observe that is outside of His being?
Absolutely nothing!
Nothing is apart from God’s
being! God brought everything into existence by willing it into
existence. And God sustains everything that has existence.
Therefore, He knows what exists
because He willed it to exist and sustains its existence.
This is the reason for God’s omniscience. It is true that God
knows every microscopic detail of everything knowable. But
God knows everything knowable because He has determined
everything that He knows. God
does not wait for anything to happen outside of His being and
then know it. Why? Because there is nothing that can
happen outside of God’s being.
“In him we live and move and
have our being.” (Acts 17: 27)
"The LORD looks from heaven; He
sees all the sons of men; From His dwelling place He looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts
of them all, He who understands all their works" (Psa.
33:13-15).
"And there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare
to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." (Heb. 4:13)
"O Lord, You have searched me
and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path
and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my
ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O
LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and
before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it."
(Psalm 139:1-6)
God's
Applied Knowledge
Speaking of the Jews the prophet
Amos says:
“You only have I
known among all the families of the earth; Therefore I
will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)
God says that out of all the
nations of the earth He knew Israel only. The Hebrew word
"known" is Yadah. The NASV translates this word “chosen.”
That seems to be a more accurate translation. “Yadah”
means to have a relationship with. Israel is the only nation
that God determined to have a relationship with. God is not
saying that Israel was the only nation that He knew anything
about among all the families of the earth? God always knew
who all the families of the earth would be because He determined
their existence. God also determined all of history from the
beginning.
“Remember the former things
of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and
there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning
And from ancient times
things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’” (Isaiah
46:9-10)
Notice that God determined the
end from the beginning and He determined a special relationship
with Israel. That is the meaning of the Hebrew word “Yadah.”
It means, “to have a personal relationship with.” God’s
knowledge of Israel is marked out by the word “only.” God
knew Israel in the sense that He chose to have an intimate
relationship with Israel!
"Before I formed you in the
womb, I knew you." (Jer. 1:5)
God is not telling Jeremiah that
He knew that Jeremiah was going to be formed in the womb, so He
formed him there. Nor does God mean that He knew who Jeremiah
would be? Nor does God mean that He knew that Jeremiah was
going to choose Him so He chose Jeremiah. Before God formed
Jeremiah in the womb, God knew Jeremiah!
Genesis says that Adam knew (Yadah)
his wife Eve (Gen. 4:1) and she bore a son, and Cain knew (Yadah)
his wife and she bore a son (Gen. 4: 17). Does “Yadah”
mean that Adam knew who his wife would be, so he married her and
decided to have a child by her? Does “Yadah” mean
that Cain knew who his wife would be, so he determined to marry
her and to have a child by her? Not at all! It means
that they knew their wives in an intimate way.
God had foreordained a
relationship with Jeremiah before Jeremiah was in his mother’s
womb.
God’s Foreknowledge
“For whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He
called, these He also justified; and whom He justified,
these He also glorified." (Rom. 8:29-30)
I have heard this taught: God’s
foreknowledge is an attribute of God, but predestination is an
act. This means that God foreknew what was going to happen, but
He did not ordain it to happen. In other words, God foreknows
everything knowable by intellect (prescience).
This is the most common answer to God’s electing grace.
Many deal with God’s election of believers by saying that God
knew beforehand by omniscience what every human being was going
to choose concerning His Son. If the person had determined to
accept Christ, then God would choose that person. But if someone
decided to reject His Son, then God would determine to condemn
that person. The Creator knew what the creature had determined
to do, but the Creator had nothing whatsoever to do with causing
them to do it. This would place sovereignty in the hands of
human beings.
But this cannot be! One cannot
say that God always knew who would be lost and then say it is
not God’s will that any be lost. This would imply that
God is frustrated! It would mean that God could not help
but create someone that He always knew was going to be lost.
No one can consistently say that
God foreknew who would be lost and then preach that the Spirit
does all He can to save every person in the world.
If this is the correct definition
of God’s foreknowledge, there are some things that happen
outside of God’s being and out of His control. That is not a
comforting thought! It would mean that God, at some point, has
become a mere observer of historical events before they occur.
Some have taught that God chose to place this limitation on
Himself by a decree. But this decree is strangely missing from
the Bible.
What is the meaning of the Bible
word “foreknowledge”? The Greek words ”foreknow” and
“foreknown” both come from the root word proginosko. The
word literally means, “to know beforehand.” But God’s knowledge
is based upon His bringing all things to be and His sustaining
all things. God does not know anything by observation because He
does not have to. If we apply the correct view of God’s
knowledge to the Greek word “proginosko,” then it means
to determine a relationship beforehand. And that is precisely
what it means! Consider Peter’s use of the word.
“Knowing
that you were not redeemed with perishable things like
silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from
your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He
was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has
appeared in these last times for the sake of you." (1 Pet.
1:18-20)
Here the word "foreknown" is
applied to Jesus Christ. It cannot mean that God knew who Jesus
Christ would be or that God knew what Jesus Christ was going to
do! That would imply that God was looking down from
heaven from eternity past at Christ's identity and His work and
saying, "Oh, I know who Christ is and I see what Christ is going
to do therefore I will redeem man through His work.” How absurd!
It means that God had predetermined Christ to die for sin before
the foundation of the world. The passage could read, “For He was
‘determined to be’ before the foundation of the world.” Peter
verifies this truth in the book of Acts.
"This Man, delivered over by
the predetermined plan and foreknowledge (prognosis,
predetermined act) of God, you nailed to a cross by the
hands of godless men and put Him to death." (Acts 2:23)
Whatever "foreknow" means in 1
Peter 1:20 and Acts 2:23, it also means in 1 Peter 1:2.
Here it speaks of believers.
"Elect according to the
foreknowledge (prognosis, predetermined act) of God
the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 1:2)
Peter
is not saying that God knew that these believers were going to
choose Christ, so He chose to set His love upon them. Peter is
saying that God predetermined a relationship with these
believers. Remember, God does not know anything by observation
alone! God knows that which He has destined to be!
The Bible does not use the word
“foreknow” to insinuate that God knew about believers beforehand
but that God had determined a personal relationship with
believers beforehand. God knows because God has
determined! God foreknows because God has predetermined! The
Greek word, “proginosko” should be translated
foreordained or “to determine beforehand.”
Now we have some insight into
Christ’s words spoken to the Pharisees in Matthew 7.
“Not everyone who says to Me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many
will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy
in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your
name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness.’"(Matt. 7:21-23)
Does Christ mean that He never
knew who they were? Not hardly! Christ is equal with the Father
in every way! Just as the Father is omniscient, He is
omniscient. Christ meant that He had not determined a
relationship with this religious crowd.
Therefore, to ”foreknow” the
believer means that God foreordained a relationship with the
believer long before the believer was ever here.
“For whom He foreknew,
(determined beforehand) He also predestined to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29)
Sources
New American Standard Bible
John MacArthur
Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology
Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old
Testament |
