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 Deuteronomy 8:2?
Moses tells the Israelites that the Lord kept them in the desert forty years “in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.”
In the classical view, God would have of course eternally known the character the people would develop in the desert and thus there would be no point in testing anyone. Nor could Scripture be straightforward in its explanation of the purpose of this testing (viz. “to know…”).
What is more, Psalm 95:10–11 and Hebrews 3:7–10 describe God’s disappointment in the outcome of this testing. Such disappointment is difficult to reconcile with the view that God was certain of the outcome before he created the world. Indeed, if God eternally foreknew the character of these people one wonders why he nevertheless strove with them for forty years. How can an all-wise God genuinely strive to accomplish something he foreknows will fail?
Along the same lines, we must wonder why Scripture repeatedly says that God’s Spirit is “grieved” by people who resist him (e.g. Eph. 4:30) — if indeed we believe that the Spirit eternally foreknows that his work with these people will be fruitless. So far as I can see, the authenticity of God’s striving and the reality of God’s grief depend upon the uncertainty of the outcome.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Deuteronomy 8
Related Reading
How do you respond to Acts 13:48?
“When the Gentiles heard this [preaching], they were glad and praised the word of the Lord, and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.” Luke does not specify when the Gentiles who believed were “destined for eternal life.” Calvinists rightfully point out that the Gentiles’ faith followed their being “destined for…
What is the significance of Exodus 3:18–4:9?
The Lord tells Moses that the elders of Israel will heed his voice (vs. 18). Moses says, “suppose they do not believe me or listen to me…” (4:1). God performs a miracle “so that they may believe that the Lord…has appeared to you” (vs. 5). Moses remains unconvinced so the Lord performs a second miracle…
How do you respond to Joshua 11:19–20?
“There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites…all were taken to battle. For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed…” (cf. Exod. 7:3; 10:1; 14:4; Deut. 2:30) Some compatibilists argue…
How do you respond to 1 Timothy 4:1–3?
“…in the later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods…” New Testament authors considered themselves to be living “in the later times” (e.g. Acts 2:17;…
The Incarnation: More Than a Rescue Mission
A mistake people often make concerning the Incarnation is that they fail to distinguish the eternal plan of God to unite himself with humanity in Christ, on the one hand, from the atoning significance this plan acquired after the fall, on the other. Some therefore think of the Incarnation as a sort of “Plan B”…