The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum foreknowledge vs. election

Statement of faith of a church that supposedly believes in the doctrines of grace.



Mary, first off I apologize for never having responded to your question.

To answer, I would say that alone and by itself there is nothing wrong with the statement.

-BUT-

I wonder why was it added in the first place and although I don't know the the hearts of those who wrote the statement my suspicion is that it is to make their statement more palatable (agreeable or pleasant). So lets remove this (when He experienced God’s wrath, satisfying His holy justice as punishment for the sin of all who would believe; I John 4:10) and see what we get.


Now isn't that better? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" /> The Canon's of Dord't delt with this slippery snake (if indeed that is what it is) of Arminianism concerning the foreknowledge of God in the "FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of Divine Predestination" and the rejection of errors.


The true doctrine concerning Election and Reprobation having been explained, the Synod rejects the errors of those:

I. Who teach: That the will of God to save those who would believe and would persevere in faith and in the obedience of faith, is the whole and entire decree of election unto salvation, and that nothing else concerning this decree has been revealed in God's Word.

For these deceive the simple and plainly contradict the Scriptures, which declare that God will not only save those who will believe, but that he has also from eternity chosen certain particular persons to whom above others he in time will grant both faith in Christ and perseverance; as it written: "I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world," John 17:6."And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," Acts 13:48.And: "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love," Ephesians 1:4.




Hope you have (had) a good Thanksgiving,
William

Look at article 1 of "The Five Articles of Remonstrance" alone and by itself is a good statement and is not contrary to the holy scriptures.


-BUT-

The Remonstrance held the position that the decree to save is found in the foreknowledge of God.

William,

I too have a serious problem with how they stated things:

Giving the author(s) the benefit of the doubt, I would have to say that this is poorly worded. Why? Because it can be taken in at least two different ways; perhaps more.

1) Those believing ones for whom Christ died "are called (known as) God's chosen or elect", which would put the choosing or electing prior to the believing. This is the biblical teaching since God's election is from eternity.

2) Those believing ones for whom Christ died are (consequently, i.e., subsequent to their believing), called God's chosen or elect. This is not biblically supported and that which is believed among non-Reformed (Pelagian, semi-Pelagian and Arminian) groups.

That's my

And that was due to the fact that they redefined the word "foreknowledge" to mean simple prescience (knowledge of raw facts), which they alleged came to be known by God AFTER He peered down the annals of (pre) history and saw who it was that believed. Thus, they denied the doctrine of PREdestination and formulated their own doctrine which in essence is POSTdestination. Such a position denied the very deity of God since it impugns God's Omniscience, since there was something He did not know. It also impugns God's Omnipresence, since He had to peer into this alleged "history" (those acts of men) which He Himself did not create, He having no prior knowledge of them or their acts. And lastly, this view impugns God's Omnipotence since His decree, determination, or (pre)destining of men was not a self-determined act but one which was totally dependent upon the alleged acts of those who didn't even exist. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif" alt="" />

What a convoluted view this was.... NO WAIT!! What a convoluted view this is, since it is preached, taught and believed by the vast majority of Evangelicals today. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wow1.gif" alt="" />