Question: How can you believe both in God’s foreknowledge and that man has the power of choice

The Berean Call Podcast

Question: How can you believe both in God’s foreknowledge and that man has the power of choice? If God knows ahead of time that Mr. A is going to do something, how can Mr. A decide for himself? Isn’t foreknowledge the same as predestination?

Response: The biblical doctrine of foreknowledge simply states that God knows everything that will happen before it happens—which, as God, He must know. Prophecy, in which God reveals His foreknowledge, is the major part of Scriptures, the great proof that God exists and that the Bible is His Word (Isaiah 42:9; 43:10; 46:9-10; 48:5, etc.). Prophecy is also the foundation of the gospel (Romans 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, etc.). Scripture never says or even implies that God knows all beforehand because He has caused it—much less that He must cause it in order to know it. The future is as plain to Him as the past.

The future is part of time, which is part of this physical universe. God is not part of the universe (which He created out of nothing), but He is separate from it. Perhaps He observes the universe from the outside including past, present, and future time, seeing it all at once. It is not necessary for us to know how God knows the future but we know He must.