We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

How do you respond to Galatians 3:8?

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’”

God has never wanted “any to perish”: he’s always desired “all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4). God’s goal has always been to reach the entire world with his love. His purpose for electing certain individuals (Abraham, Moses, Jesus) and even a certain nation (Israel) was to eventually raise up a people who would in turn reach the world. So God of course foreknew that the Gentiles would ultimately come to faith through Abraham’s seed. That was part of the reason he called Abraham in the first place. This was noteworthy to some first century Jews only because many had forgotten that the purpose of being “chosen” was to have a vocation of love that was universal in its mission.

Category:
Tags: ,
Topics:
Verse:

Related Reading

When God Discovers

Scripture consistently portrays God’s knowledge as conforming to the ways things really are, and part of the way things really are is temporally conditioned. Scripture never expresses the commonly-held sentiment that time is somewhat illusory. God “remembers” the past and anticipates the future. Insofar as he empowers humans to freely determine the future, this means…

Topics:

How Much of the Future is Settled? How Much is Open? (podcast)

Greg considers the mathematical nature of determinacy.  Episode 566 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0566.mp3

Lighten Up: Open Theism T-Shirt

T-shirt on Zazzle designed by Jin_roh.

When does salvation happen?

Question: I grew up in a strict, fundamentalist community and our whole goal in life was to get people to pray “the sinners prayer.” Once they prayed this prayer, we believed, they were “saved.” But the vast majority of these people went on living like nothing happened. I’m now questioning if this is the right…

Do you believe God is pure actuality?

The basis of the classical view of God as pure actuality (actus purus) is the Aristotelian notion that potentiality is always potential for change and that something changes only because is lacks something else. So, a perfect being who lacks nothing must be devoid of potentiality, which means it must be pure actuality. I think…

Sermon Clip: Does Romans 9 predestine you to Hell?

Did God predestine you to Hell? Can he even do that? In this short sermon clip, Greg Boyd talks about his own struggles when trying to understand Romans 9 which on the surface seems to imply that God determines who goes to heaven and hell. In the full sermon, Greg takes a deep look at…