The Meaning of Foreknowledge - a podcast by Jonathan Michael Jones

            One
of the most polarizing topics in Christian theology is that of election,
foreknowledge, and predestination. Having wrestled with this important but
difficult doctrine (the doctrine of sovereign grace) in my early twenties, I
have made several conclusions on the matter; yet, I remain open to other
perspectives. Nothing, however, has convinced me more than what Scripture says
plainly and clearly. As much justifying as I did to prove a friend wrong about
election, it proved futile except that it brought me to a place of
acknowledgement and belief in election. After approximately six months of anger
and not knowing how to handle the fact that the God whom I was taught growing
up was not the God I was seeing in the Bible, I finally rested in and trusted
the Lord that he is sovereign, I am responsible, and the two are compatible.

            One
of the primary justifications I used during that time and, to this day, hear
others use is a feeble explanation of foreknowledge. I could not deny that
predestination and foreknowledge is biblical. It is there plainly; Scripture is
also replete with the concept in both the Old the New Testament. What I did was
misrepresent foreknowledge as many do today. I tried to give a definition of it
that was not true because, in my mind (and in others’), it made sense. Part of
the problem, however, is that we often look for what makes sense to us when we
should merely trust what God has already said.

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