The Omniscience of God
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Introduction:
Introduction:
On October 15, 1882 Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on the Omniscience of God, in the Evening Service.
On preaching from the he said:
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XLVI Comfort from Christ’s Omniscience (No. 2,669)
But the Lord Jesus Christ possessed attributes which we have not; he was omniscient, and therefore he could read Peter’s heart. It was not necessary for him to do what it might be lawful and even needful for us to do. He knew that Peter’s heart was right notwithstanding all the evil of which he had been guilty. So, instead of refusing to have fellowship with him, the Saviour first eats with him,—Christ literally bids him come to breakfast
Omniscience is from two Latin words; scientia which means “knowledge” and the prefix Omni which which means “all; hence is means “all knowing”. The omniscience of God is that attribute why which he knows all things past, present and future.
The omniscience of God is that attribute why which he knows all things past, present and future.
What is hidden from human sight is still known by God.
The omniscience of God is that attribute, like all of His other attribute; His Self-Existence, His Unity, His eternality, etc, which make Him God.
Without omniscience God will cease to be God.
The Lord God had perfect knowledge of both Himself and what He has created.
God’s knowledge is unlimited, comprehensive, and perfect in every way.
Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Omniscience
In contrast to our knowledge, which arises from the passive conformity of our minds to given truths or objects, God’s perfect knowledge follows from his active willing as the Creator of all.
Now, God’s omniscience is wrapped up in His sovereignty.
We do not believe that the Scriptures teach, as some “christian” philosophers (such as William Layne Craig), teach that God possesses what is called “middle Knowledge” or what has been called Molinism.
“Middle Knowledge” or “Molinism” sees God has acting in His omniscience, not in complete autonomy (or Sovereignty) but in the realm of both actual and possible.
The three most popular views that I see across evangelicalism as it pertains to the omniscience of God are what I call:
Active Omniscience.
That is to say that God has full understanding and knowledge of all things in cooperation with His sovereignty.
Passive Omniscience.
That is to say that God has learned learned knowledge of all things based on what He has observed; sometimes called “open Theism” or “Process Theology”.
Open Theism teaches that God is ever learning and that He is more God today then He was yesterday because He knows more and that He will be more God tomorrow than He is today because He will know more then.
And then there the “wishy washy” view of God’s Omniscience that is called “Middle Knowledge” and that is to say that God sees all the possibilities of things that could every happen and He chooses out of the possibilities which outcome He wants.
The Scriptures are very clear that God’s Knowledge originates within Himself.
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?
With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?
Isa. 40:13-14
“Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high?
“Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high?
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
“Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
“Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it?
“On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,
And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors,
And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?
“It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment.
“From the wicked their light is withheld, And the uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
“Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
“Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
“Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high?
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
God has all knowledge in Himself, not as a result of peering through a “crystal ball” but because His sovereignty has willed it to be so.
God knows all because His sovereignly decreed all.
Psalm 33:13-15
The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men;
From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth,
He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
As Solomon stood and blessed the Temple, he prayed:
1 Kings 8
then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,
The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath.
Psalm
“So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,
and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen
In addition God is conscious of and knows all that exists outside his being. Scripture nowhere even hints that anything could be unknown to him. True, the manner in which he obtains knowledge is sometimes stated in striking anthropomorphic language (Gen. 3:9ff.; 11:5; 18:21; etc.), but he nevertheless knows everything. The notion that something should be unknown to him is dismissed as absurd.
Psalm 94:
He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?
If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
So, we understand from all of these passage that the Lord knows everything.
That knows all the thoughts and the intents of our hearts.
That He knows all the minor details, even down to the hairs on our head.
Foundations of the Christian Faith: A Comprehensive & Readable Theology Chapter 13: The God Who Knows
Thomas Watson observed years ago, God’s knowledge is primary, for he is the pattern and source of all knowledge from which others merely borrow; his knowledge is pure, for it is not contaminated by either the object or its sin; his knowledge is facile, for it is without any difficulty; it is infallible; it is instantaneous; it is entirely retentive. God is perfect in his knowledge.
Now, with all of this (and there are so many other verses that we could cover) that we see where the Bible teaches the Omniscience of God, it could give you a sense of uneasiness.
Because there are some things about us that we do not want God to know.
We hide it from others and we hide it from ourselves and to think that God knows it all is unsettling.
A.W. Pink noted that the thought of Divine Omniscience “fills us with uneasiness”.
Foundations of the Christian Faith: A Comprehensive & Readable Theology The Threat of Omniscience
A. W. Tozer observes, “In the divine omniscience we see set forth against each other the terror and fascination of the Godhead. That God knows each person through and through can be a cause of shaking fear to the man that has something to hide—some unforsaken sin, some secret crime committed against man or God.”2
And while all of that may be true at one time or another, I want to draw your attention to a beautiful example in the Bible where the Lord Jesus, who is Omniscient, restores Peter a sinning brother.
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.
Some people have said that the Lord asked and restored Peter three times to equal the amount of times that he denied Him; and perhaps there is some truth to that.
What I see in this passage is Peter’s frustration is verse 17.
“Lord, you know all thing”.
In other words, “Lord, you know my heart”.
While some may quake at the fact that all is open and bear before God, we can rejoice at the omniscience of God, because there are many times that the only way that the Lord knows that we truly love Him is that He knows our hearts, because our actions sure do not show it.
Our God knows all and while it is an unsettling thing that He knows my thoughts, there are times when Him knowing my heart, He knows that I live Him”.