How do open theists respond to 1 John 3:20?
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The simple answer is that 'all things' or 'everything' is scoped.
If I am ordering a burger, and the person asks what I want on the burger, and I say "everything," it will generally be understood that I want all the options on the menu, not every thing in the universe.
This pattern is also seen in the Bible, where 'all' is used to refer to things in context. For example, Acts 2:5
"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven."
Were there Jews in Jerusalem from the Iroquois nations? No. The claim 'every nation' is scoped by a relevant context.
In the immediate context of 1 John 3:20, He knows all things relevant to the heart, and more generally, all things that are knowable.
As far as this passage in particular, the claim doesn't seem to require God knows everything that will happen in the future. Rather, it's that He can read our hearts present-tense (or at some point in the future, when it would then be present-tense). Hence, this passage seems compatible with an open theist understanding of free-will and God's foreknowledge.
Upvote:1
I believe an open theist would respond with these logical points:
- If God knew the future, then freewill wouldn't exist.
- God does know everything there is to be known.
- So since freewill does exist, and God knows everything, then the future must be unknowable. If everything we do is truly up to us in that given moment then the future has millions of outcomes, not one set course.
Upvote:1
1 John 3:20 KJV For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
God knows the hearts and minds of all men that ever lived, but until they have lived there is nothing to know. Of course, God knows everything there is to know when it is available to be known.
The things he has foreknowledge of and prophesies about are things he has determined to make happen in the course of guiding and directing history.
Ezekiel 12:25 KJV For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
Isaiah 14:24 KJV The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
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