THE REFORMED FAITH
Part IV
by Loraine Boettner
God's Foreknowledge
The evangelical Arminian acknowledges that God has
foreknowledge, and that He therefore is able to predict future
events. But if God foreknows any future event, then that event
is as fixed and certain as if foreordained. For foreknowledge
implies certainty, and certainly implies foreordination. The
evangelical Arminian does not deny that there is such a thing as
election to salvation, for he cannot get rid of the words "elect"
and "election," which occur some twenty-five times in the New
Testament. But he tries to destroy the force of these words by
saying that election is based on foreknowledge, that God looks
down the broad avenue of the future and sees those who will
respond to His gracious offer, and so elects them.
But in acknowledging foreknowledge, the Arminian makes
a fatal concession. Figuratively speaking, he cuts his own
throat, for the simple reason that as God foresees those who
will be saved, He also sees those who will be lost! Why, then,
does He create those who will be lost? Certainly, He is not
under any obligation to create them. There is no power outside
Himself forcing Him to do so. If He wants all men to be saved
and is earnestly trying to save all men, He could at least refrain
from creating those who, if created, certainly will
be lost.
The Arminian cannot consistently hold to the
foreknowledge of God and yet deny the doctrines of election
and predestination. The question persists: Why does God
create those who He knows will go to hell? It would be mere
foolishness for Him to wish to save or try to save those who
He knows will be lost. That would be for Him to work at
cross purposes with Himself. Even a man has better sense than
to try to do what he knows he will not do or cannot do. The
Arminian has no alternative but to deny the foreknowledge of
God - and then he has only a limited, ignorant, finite God who
in reality is not God at all in the true sense of that word. If
election is based on foreknowledge, that makes it so
meaningless that it becomes more confusing than enlightening.
For even as regards the elect, what sense is there for God to
elect those who He knows are going to elect themselves? That
would be just plain nonsense.
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