Thread by @mannyzdad

About Predestination and Freewill. It's a long #thread y'all.

Is freewill is really a thing? After all, if God supposedly has everything planned out, and has predetermined every outcome, are my choices really mine?

Please RT this thread. It will bless you and others. Thank you.

Let's start from 1 Jn 3:20

1 John 3:20 KJV
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
See also Ps 147:5, Heb 4:13, Acts 1:24.

So, God knows all things. Let's take a brief look at 5 things God knows.

1. He knows everything that...

happens in the universe. Job 28:24, Pro. 15:3, etc.

2. He knows our thoughts, can read our minds & motives. 1 Chro. 28:9, Ps. 44:21, Jer. 17:9-10

3. God knows the future. Ps. 139:16, Isa. 41:21-24

4. God knows the what-ifs, the unltd possible scenarios in every situation...

every single entity would experience. He knows what would have happened if you'd chosen B instead of A. Matt. 11:21, Ezek. 3:4-6, Eph. 1:11

5. God cannot learn. Because He is present in the past, present and the future, there is nothing that He will ever need to learn. And in...

the same way, God cannot forget. Rom. 11:33-34, Isa. 40:13-14, Ps. 147:5

Now here's something strange. If God knows all, how do we explain Matt. 7:23?

Matthew 7:23 KJV

23 And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (emp. mine)...

How can God who knows everything say He never knew them? Are there things that exist outside the realm of God's knowledge?

Certainly NOT! What then?

Here we come to understand that the word "know" has 3 major contexts of usage in the Bible.

1. to have mental awareness or...

cognisance of something. Job 19:25
This context applies to all entities that have a mind.
2. to have sexual intercourse. Gen. 4:1, Matt. 1:25
also seen in the phrase "to have carnal KNOWLEDGE of." This context applies to all entities capable of having sex.
3. Salvation. This...

context applies ONLY to God. Only He possesses this kind of knowledge as only He can save. Jer. 1:5

Now we come to the subject of Foreknowledge. Rom. 8:28-29

Romans 8:28-29 KJV

To have foreknowledge is to have prior knowledge. As humans, we know that I will come down if I jump

up. Our human foreknowledge, however, is limited to the laws of nature and logic.

God's foreknowledge, however, is directly linked to salvation. It leads us to ask, God knew us prior to what exactly?

The Bible gives us 2 points of reference before which God knew you.

1. Before you were formed in the womb (Jer. 1:5). This means that your body is the youngest part of your being. The other parts (soul and spirit) are waaay older than your body.

2. Before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). This means that a part of you existed before...

time began. Before the architecture of the physical world was drawn up, there was you. The real you is an everlasting being, and now that you have Christ, that everlasting being has now received eternal life!

Glorayyy!!!

Okay, so God foreknew that we would be saved. This...

applies to everyone who will ever be saved.

We got born, then we got born again. God's script was playing out. What then?

All those God foreknew, He then predestined. To predestine is to determine the end from the beginning. For example, CAF has predestined that the winner of

the ongoing #AFCON2021 will be given a metallic trophy. The end has already been determined by CAF.

But man's limitation is that CAF cannot predetermine WHO will make it to the final.

God predestines those He foreknew, and then leads us all the way to that predetermined end.

Now, closely related to Predestination is the doctrine of Election. To elect is to chose, and the Bible teaches that God CHOSE us in Himself before the foundation of the world.

Election: God choosing WHO
Predestination: God predetermining WHAT those He elected would experience.

Election is the who, Predestination is the what. You and I who are saved have been elected or chosen by God to a predestined end which is salvation and ultimately total sanctification.

But then, God also orchestrates the daily affairs of our lives to lead us to that place He...

has in mind for us.

Something important to point out here. Rom. 8:28-30 suggest that there are those God didn't foreknow, predestinate, call, justify and glorify.

To choose implicitly means to reject some. If God chose us, and did not choose all, then some were not chosen.

This seems unfair. If God has chosen some already, then the scales would appear to be tipped on one side. It would appear some have an unfair advantage.

The popular "Que sera sera" comes to mind. If God has predestined some for salvation, then why should the unsaved bother?

2 Timothy 2:19 KJV

19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

This whole discussion about election and predestination and foreknowledge is...

God giving us a peek into the inner workings of His will and counsel. There is a separate working from the human side, and that is freewill.

God knows them that are His. We don't know. This is why the Gospel is to be preached to the whole world, so that WHOSOEVER believes...

will be saved. God is not willing that any man perish, and so He sends you and me to spread the Gospel far and wide. Now what happens is this. When a person hears the Gospel, they have the total volition or choice of their own to obey or not.

God doesn't force His will on man...

and so will not force anyone (Phm. 1:14). One way to look at it is like a 100m race with 8 athletes. They stand at the starting line, each with an equal opportunity to win the race.

But God stands at the finish line, say on lane 5, because He knows the end from the beginning...

and knows who will eventually win the race. The 8 athletes have no inkling what God knows. Each has an equal opportunity to win the race, and each will choose to run in order to win.

Even so it is with our freewill. God knows who will be saved because they choose to believe.

One way to state the relationship btw Predestination and Freewill is this. God knew it before you did it, but God knew it BECAUSE you did it. God's foreknowledge is chronologically prior to (happens before) your choice, but is logically prior to (because/as a result of) your...

choice.

So, while God in eternity knows what you will do before you do it, you choose in real time to do it. That's freewill.

Finally, Phil. 2:13. God works things out so we get to choose to do the things that He has purposed. Acts 4:26-28. God is able, from eternity, to cause

you to desire to do His will. You're still the one choosing, so don't get it twisted. Your freewill is fully at work. You own your emotions, your intellect, and your will, and while God is working behind the scenes, you are the one, in the realm of time, choosing to do.

Selah!

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