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

How do you respond to Genesis 15:13–15?

The Lord tells Abraham that his offspring “shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves here, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

This passage may constitute a conditional prophecy which could have been modified had circumstances called for it. Many if not most prophecies in the Bible are conditional (cf. Jer. 18:7–10). They are not mere previews of an unalterable future. They rather reveal God’s present intentions, assuming things don’t change.

On the other hand, the passage may indeed constitute an unconditional prophecy. In this case the passage reveals a now-unalterable feature of God’s providential plan. The sovereign Lord of history who is ultimately in control of the movement of the nations (Acts 17:24–28) deemed it wise to ensure that his future people would be in captivity for four centuries. It is important to note, however, that the Lord would not need to control and/or foreknow every other detail about human history to accomplish this. The Lord of history who grants whatever degree of freedom he wishes to grant to his human subjects can control and foreknow aspects of the future and guide history toward his desired goal without micro-controlling and foreknowing every detail along the way.

Some have trouble conceiving of how God could settle some things about the future without settling all things about the future. But if we reflect on the matter a bit we will see that we ourselves live with the assumption that some things about the future are settled and some things not. We assume control over certain aspects of our future without feeling the need or desire to control all aspects of our future.

For example, a person may resolve that she is going to be a teacher. This much has become certain to her, but surrounding this now-unalterable destiny there is a myriad of contingencies that remain uncertain. Exactly what kind of teacher will she become? Exactly how long will it take to complete the training? Exactly where will she eventually work? These and a million other questions about her future may be left open without calling into question the certainty that she will be a teacher.

The fact of the matter is that every particular thing we determine about the distant or immediate future is a determination made within the context of many indeterminate variables. Why is it, then, that many feel the need to assume that if God predetermines and/or foreknows some things about the future he must predetermine and/or foreknow all things about the future? This all-or-nothing conclusion is not consistent with the biblical account or our experiences.

Related Reading

How do you respond to John 21:18–19?

Jesus says to Peter, “‘[W]hen you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to…

Topics:

What is the significance of Judges 10:13–16?

The Israelites cry out to God because of their oppression from foreign rulers. The Lord refuses to deliver them because they have abandoned him (vs. 13–14). The Israelites repented, put away their foreign gods and worshipped the Lord. The Lord “also could no longer bear to see Israel suffer” (vs. 16). Hence the Lord changed…

Topics:

Lighten Up: The Problem of Suffering

The book of Job according to the Peanuts.

Neo-Molinism and the Infinite Intelligence of God

Classical Molinism holds that, since God is omniscient and knows all truths, he knows not only what every agent will do in the future, but also what every agent would have done in every other “possible world.” In this essay I argue that classical Molinism overlooked a whole category of truths that an omniscient God…

Open Theism Timeline

Open Theism Timeline by Tom Lukashow An argument that is frequently raised against the open view is that it is a recent innovation.  Paul Eddy had discovered Calcidius, a fifth century advocate, and I and others knew of L.D. McCabe and Billy Hibbard, two 19th century advocates. But that was about it – until I…

Topics:

How do you respond to 1 Samuel 2:25?

Eli’s sons “would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.” Compatibilists sometimes cite this text as an example of how God determines events for which humans are morally responsible. Eli’s sons were evil in not listening to their father, yet it was the…