Monday, May 29, 2006

Biblical Evidence of Divine Middle Knowledge
Divine Foreknowledge

So Divine Middle Knowledge is God's knowledge of what each possible creature would do when placed in each possible situation. This allowed him to select which possible would to create in a manner that would best meet his goals for creation.

But can this view be backed up biblically? And where is the burden of proof?

The first point to note is that the Bible never talks about how God's foreknowledge works - it simply describes it. This means that proving it directly from biblical references is not really possible - but neither is proving any other view of divine foreknowledge either (nor indeed a large part of theology). Instead, there are a few passages that seem to directly imply middle knowledge, but the main argument is that it is the best explanation for a number of other passages combined together.

However, there are two main passages that show evidence of God's middle knowledge. The first is 1 Samuel 23:6-13:

Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah. Saul Pursues David Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has handed him over to me, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” David said, “O Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

This passage is interesting. It shows that God knew that if David were to stay at Keilah, Saul would come and try to destroy the town. And if Saul were to come to the town, the townsfolk would hand David over to him.

But this didn't happen - David left Keilah so Saul did not go there, and the townsfolk did not hand David over. This cannot be explained as God's simple foreknowledge, as they events did not happen. But God knew what would happen under different circumstances.

Matthew 11:20-24 says:

Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.a If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Here Jesus declares that if miracles had been performed in certain cities which did not repent, then they would have repented. Thus Jesus is claiming knowledge of what certain individuals would have done under certain different circumstances.

Both of these passages claim God's knowledge of what would have happened had the circumstances been different, and thus neither cannot be explained by simple foreknowledge (nor by open theism for that matter). God is claiming specific knowledge of potential circumstances that did not in fact occur.

It is a specific claim of God's middle knowledge.

Posted by Dave Bryant at 9:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (2)

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Comments

At 16 May 07 10:46 AM, Jon Herr said...

I believe what the passages above refer to are God's conterfactual knowledge not middle knowledge. I think that Craig clarifies the differances between the two in his contribution in the Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views book. From what I understand it is divine counterfactual knowledge (knowledge of various events that could occur, despite what actually occurs), that provides a basis for the middle knowledge position, but other positions (namely the augustinian/ calvinistic position) affirm counterfactual knowledge and deny middle knowledge. Check out the fourviews book, especially Craig and Helm's contributions!! It will a be much greater help to you than I can be. Blessings!!


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