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.
What is the significance of Isaiah 5:3–7?
The Lord describes Israel as his vineyard. Referring to himself, he says that the owner of the vineyard loved his vineyard and did all he could to care for it. “[H]e expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (vs. 2). Then the Lord asks, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” Because it unexpectedly failed to yield grapes, the Lord says “I will remove its hedge and it shall be devoured” (vs. 5).
According to the classical view of foreknowledge, the Lord could not express the conviction that he “expected” the vineyard to produce grapes, because he would have known from all eternity that it would not. If we rather trust that the Lord speaks with integrity, we must conclude that he genuinely thought something would take place which did not take place. This precludes accepting the notion that God foreknew everything that was going to transpire. God can’t sincerely “expect” what he foreknows will not happen. (See Jer. 3:6–7, 19–20).
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Isaiah 5
Related Reading
What is the significance of Exodus 4:10–16?
Immediately after convincing Moses of his ability to [somehow!] convince the elders of Israel to listen to him, Moses says, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (vs. 10). The Lord reminds him that he is the Creator and is therefore bigger than any speech impediment.…
Free Will: The origin of evil
In this continuing series on free will, Greg discusses how evil can only be accounted for if we acknowledge free will. This is especially true if you believe that God is good.
What is the significance of Psalm 106:23?
“Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.” Moses (on several occasions, we have seen) persuaded God to change his mind regarding his plan to judge Israel. This inspired verse explicitly says that God “would destroy…
What’s the significance of Acts 17:26-27?
This passage is frequently cited by determinists, for Paul here states that God “marked out” the “appointed times in history and the boundaries” of nations (Ac. 17:26). This doesn’t entail omni-control on God’s part, however. It only entails that God is involved in setting temporal and geographical parameters around nations. Moreover, nothing suggests that God…
Living Into the Future
Why didn’t God create a “perfect world”? Here’s Greg’s response to that question. See more at The Work of the People.