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This is but another way of saying that "Might is Right", a doctrine that has drenched
the earth with blood and tears. Whatever else of the teaching of Kant may be set aside,
his "categorical imperative" remains. "I ought" implies "I can".
Let us now turn to the passages which assert the foreknowledge of God.
The words proginosko and prognosis occur seven times in the N.T. as follows:
A | Acts 2: 23. The delivering up of Christ as a Sacrifice for sin.
B | Acts 26: 5. Manner of life known beforehand.
C | Rom. 8: 29. \
Rom. 11: 2.
} Elect according to foreknowledge.
I Pet. 1: 2.
/
A | I Pet. 1: 20. Christ as the Lamb of God.
B | II Pet. 3: 17. Ye know these things beforehand.
Of these seven passages, the two labeled B and B call for no comment here since
they speak of human foreknowledge, which no one asserts carries with it any
predestinating power. The two references A and A speak of Christ, and the three
under C speak of the believer and the people of Israel. It is with these last three
references that we are chiefly concerned here. We must, however, give some attention to
Acts 2: 23 because of the clear distinction there made between God's foreknowledge of
human action, and man's responsibility in spite of the fact that his action is foreknown.
"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2: 23).
A passage in some respects parallel to this is that found in Luke 22: 22:
"And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined; but woe unto that man by
whom He is betrayed!"
The "determinate counsel" of God, in Acts 2: 23, is distinguished from His
"foreknowledge" and is sharply contrasted with the "wicked" actions of men. To say that
God foreordained that man should act wickedly is to overthrow the faith. Moreover, like
all evil, it is illogical. What God ordains cannot be wicked, for it is His will, and only
that which transgresses His will can be called anomos, "lawless". The foreknowledge of
God does not deprive man of his freedom nor determine his acts beforehand.
In Rom. 8: 29 "foreknowledge" is differentiated from "predestination". Only those
are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, whom He foreknew. The
same principle is plainly taught in I Pet. 1: 2: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father."
He Who foreknew the acts of all men could predestinate each to a particular sphere,
but to imagine that all men are predestinated either to salvation or to damnation by an
arbitrary decree, does violence to the whole tenor of revealed truth. We are obliged to
await events before we know, but God is under no such limitation. He knows the end