There are two
general views as to the meaning of the word foreknew in Romans 8:29
Arminians - understand the word foreknew
in Romans 8:29 to mean that God knew beforehand which sinners would
believe and on the basis of this knowledge He predestined them unto salvation
Calvinists - understand foreknew in Romans
The questions
raised by these two opposing interpretations are these:
Did God look down through time and see certain
individuals would believe
and thus predestine them to salvation on the basis of this foreseen faith?
or
Did God set His heart on certain individuals and
because of His love for them predestine that they should be called and given faith in Christ by
the Holy Spirit and thus be saved?
In other words,
is the individuals faith the cause or the result of Gods predestination?
Romans
8:29a -
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son . . .
The first thing
we should notice is that the text does not say
that God foreknew something
about particular individuals
(that they would do this or that), but states that God foreknew the individuals themselves.
God has always
possessed perfect knowledge of all creatures and of all events. There has never
been a time when anything past, present, or future was not fully known to Him.
Proverbs 15:3 - The
eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Psalm 147:5 - Great is our Lord . . . His understanding has no limit.
But Gods perfect knowledge of people is not what Romans 8:29-30 is talking about.
God has this kind of knowledge of everyone - but not
everyone is predestined, called, justified and glorified like those who are
foreknown in Romans 8:29-30.
When the Bible
talks about God knowing someone, it often means that He knows them in a special way, that is, He loves them.
God says of
Amos 3:2 - You only have I known of all the families of
the earth (KJV)
God
has a perfect knowledge of all families on the earth,
but He knew
God said to Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I
appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
God is not just
saying he had knowledge of Jeremiah before he was born, God is saying he had a
special regard for the prophet before He even formed him in his mothers womb.
Jesus will say to false believers on the last day:
Matthew 7:22-23 - Many will say to me on
that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell
them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Our Lord here cannot be saying, I knew nothing about you, for it is quite evident that He
knew all too much about them - their evil character and evil works; His meaning
must be, I never knew you intimately or personally, I never regarded you as objects of my favor or love.
The Bible says of
believers:
1 Corinthians 8:3 - But the man who loves God is known by God.
The Lord knows about all men but He only knows (intimately and
affectionately) those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans
8:28) -
those who are His!
Furthermore, when
we compare scripture with scripture, we see that the foreknowledge mentioned in
Romans 8:29 cannot have reference to:
Foreseen Faith
Faith cannot be
the cause of foreknowledge, because foreknowledge is before predestination and faith is the effect of predestination:
Acts 13:48b - All who were appointed for eternal life believed.
Good Works
Neither can it be
meant the foreknowledge of good works, because these are the effects of predestination:
Ephesians 2:10 - For
we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
When we
understand Paul to say in Romans
8:29, that God predestined us to glory
based on His love and His choice and not
ours, we find that this interpretation is
consistent with what is taught in the rest of Scripture concerning Gods
sovereign choice of us:
Romans
8:29a -
For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to
the likeness of His Son . . .
Ephesians 1:5 - He predestined us to be adopted as His
sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His
pleasure and will--
2 Timothy 1:9 - [God] has saved us and
called us to a holy life-- not because of anything we have done but
because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given
us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time
Note that Gods choice of us is never said to be
conditioned upon something that we do,
but rather it is conditioned upon His desire and love for us - a love which we did nothing to deserve!