Peril and Providence: Understanding God's Foreknowledge and Human Free Will

How do we talk about risk in God's plan? If God knows something will happen, does that mean He predestined it to happen? These questions touch on some of the most profound theological issues Christians face.

The way we answer these questions leads to important conclusions about God's character and our relationship with Him. Let's explore what Scripture actually says about these matters, recognizing that ancient Israelites would have thought differently than we do today after centuries of theological tradition.

Why Doesn't God Eliminate All Evil?

One of the biggest questions, especially from non-Christians, is why God doesn't simply eliminate all evil and suffering on earth. The answer sounds paradoxical: He can, but doing so would require eliminating all of His imagers—both angels and humans.

Only God is perfectly holy. For evil to be completely eliminated, earth and humanity as we know it would have to end. There is a divine chronology and plan for this development, and it could be no other way given God's decision to create time-bound humans as representatives of His rule.

Despite the darkness and evil in our world, we also experience many positive wonders. God knew the risk of Eden, yet He considered the existence of humanity preferable to our absence.

Do Humans Have Free Will?

Despite the risk of evil, we do have free will—though perhaps not as much as some theological traditions suggest. We make countless choices daily: what to wear, what to eat, how fast to drive. Without some form of free will, several problems arise:

• Without free will, we would be mindless robots with God orchestrating everything
• If all decisions are coerced, they aren't authentic decisions
• True love requires choice—forced love isn't love at all
• Any real decision must be made against alternatives that could have been chosen

There's a fundamental difference between freedom and coercion. Where would the emotional healing of forgiveness be if the person forgiving you was merely programmed or coerced to say those words? Free will is a gift, despite its risks.

What Does "Knowing Good and Evil" Really Mean?

In Genesis 3:5, the serpent tells Eve that when they eat the forbidden fruit, "your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." This phrase appears again in Genesis 3:22 when God says, "the man has become as one of us to know good and evil."

An important distinction: the text doesn't say Adam and Eve would become capable of good and evil—it says they would know it. Knowledge and capability are different things. As free-will beings, Adam and Eve were already capable of disobedience.

Interestingly, Deuteronomy 1:39 refers to children "who today have no knowledge of good or evil." This challenges some theological assumptions that we're all born knowing good and evil. The context shows that these children weren't held morally accountable for their parents' sins.

This perspective makes sense in Genesis 3 as well. Prior to knowing good and evil, Adam and Eve were innocent. They had never made a willing, conscious decision to disobey God, nor had they seen an act of disobedience. After eating from the tree, they did indeed know good and evil, just as God and the heavenly council members did.

Was the Fall Predestined?

Acknowledging both God's foreknowledge and human free will raises obvious questions: Was the Fall predestined? If it was, how was it truly disobedient? How were Adam and Eve responsible if their actions were predestined?

Predestination and foreknowledge are different concepts. Predestination means "I'm going to make it happen." Foreknowledge means "I know it's going to happen." God created humans with free will to do right or wrong. He knew they would choose wrong, but He didn't make them do it.

What Does 1 Samuel 23 Teach Us About God's Foreknowledge?

In 1 Samuel 23:1-13, we find a fascinating example that helps us understand the relationship between foreknowledge and predestination. David asks God two questions:

• Will Saul come down to Keilah?
• Will the people of Keilah surrender David to Saul?

God answers "yes" to both questions. But after hearing these answers, David leaves the city. As a result, neither of these events actually happens. Saul discovers David is gone and abandons his expedition.

This passage clearly establishes that foreknowledge does not equal predestination. God foreknew what Saul and the people of Keilah would do given a certain set of circumstances. But this foreknowledge did not mandate that these possibilities were predestined to happen.

God knows everything, including all possibilities. If David had stayed, Saul would have come and the people would have surrendered him. But David left, so these events never occurred. By definition, they could not have been predestined, since predestined events must happen.

Does God Control Everything?

When we say "God is in control" without qualification, we create theological problems. If God controls everything, then He caused every evil event in history—from personal tragedies to genocides. This makes God responsible for evil, which contradicts His nature.

There's no biblical reason to argue that God predestined the Fall or all evil events throughout history, though He foreknew them. God does not need evil as a means to accomplish anything. Evil does not flow from God; it arises from the choices made by imperfect imagers.

The common perspective that "God factored all evil acts into His grand plan" unknowingly implies that God's perfect plan needed to incorporate evil acts. But God's perfect plan does not need evil to be perfect.

When tragedy strikes and someone says, "God's ways are higher," it's not comforting—it can make our loving God seem cruel. God does not need the rape of a child or the Holocaust to accomplish His purposes.

Life Application

Understanding the relationship between God's foreknowledge and our free will has profound implications for how we live:

• Your choices matter. What you choose to do is an important part of how things will turn out. God has decreed the ultimate ends, but we participate in the means to those ends.

• Love must be chosen. God wants us to love Him, and love cannot be automatic or forced. He values our genuine response to Him over programmed obedience.

• Be careful how you speak about God. When we tell someone that God planned their tragedy, we may inadvertently portray God as evil. There's a difference between saying "God knew this would happen" and "God made this happen."

• Distinguish between "got to" and "want to." God desires our willing obedience that flows from love, not mere compliance out of obligation. One reflects relationship; the other doesn't.

Ask yourself:

• Do I truly understand the difference between God's foreknowledge and His active causation?
• How might this understanding change how I comfort others in times of tragedy?
• Am I relating to God out of love ("want to") or mere obligation ("got to")?
• How does knowing my choices matter affect how I live each day?