As I was contemplating some words from Augustine’s Confessions this morning… here is a stream of consciousness blurb.

If God is foreknowing only by way of acknowledging or seeing into the future what a man’s decision may be, he has in an instant, at ordaining the man’s life to pass, a lack of knowledge and sovereignty concerning the man until the moment he perceives the man’s heart in receiving the gift of sovereign grace. Foreknowledge, would then mean that God forfeits his reign over all order of space and time as regards at least one individual (I say at least because in this paradigm salvation has the potential to only be received by one human given the known depravity of sinners and the need for these sinners to choose to allow the power of God’s salvific work to come upon them). This created individual is capable of deceiving the ordination of God in pursuit of his own yet God-created will. God knows only what he perceives coming forth from a created being. This is a fallacy.

God intimately knows what is in the future as certain as he knows our present perceptions of time and space. God intimately knows all that he ordains, for he ordains it all. I must always error, therefore, on what man can know and perceive and never on what constitutes as the sovereignty of God. God’s knowing is directly linked to his compassionate work of creating. His knowing is directly linked to his compassionate work in saving. His knowing is directly corresponsive to his sanctifying. Where the Spirit is there is freedom to be eternally known by grace. Outside of God’s foreknowledge there is no affective eternality.

Time is a responsive eternal scale wholly proportional to gravity; and gravity is the striving of all created things to endure the weight of God’s glory.

Why does God create people for whom he will purpose for destruction? The first question to ask comes from the non-reformed perspective: If God foreknows all those who will be reluctant in choosing his grace, why would he not persist upon them with love that they may come to him who calls? If God will not surely bring them to salvation based on their finding a desire for him I believe this would be an evil God. But say that God is sovereign over the dispensing of faith including those whom he created unelected, non-receivers of faith. If God does not act it is because God desired not to choose those people for one of two purposes (as Paul has said). It is not a beautiful truth as we would erringly design a truth, but it is a logical truth. It is a truth that makes there to be no more puzzling. God’s purpose is not beyond our affections for him, it is completely in keeping with his loyal-righteousness. This truth makes no failure of God or failure on his part to act. It puts no work upon those who could be chosen. The very idea of “could-be-chosen” is entirely reprehensible because it comes down to God’s inability to resolve the hearts and wills of those whom he created. If I know God to be loving, then I know God to be acting. If God does not act, then he does not love. This is how I come to particular redemption, to election, to saving grace, and of course to sovereignty. God loves me and in this knowledge I find that Christ died for me. Apart from God’s saving work I would not reconcile his saving love. Apart from God’s acting I could not fathom the depths of his involvement toward me…his foreknowing, ordaining mercy and intimacy that results in binding his work in me.

 

And now back to work!