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The Omniscience of God
Key Verse -
“Before a
word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”
Study
Consider A W
Tozer’s definition of omniscience: To say God is omniscient is to
say that He possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to
learn. But it is morel it is to say that God has never learned and
cannot learn.
Do you
agree with this definition?
To say that God
knows everything is not a controversial statement and you would find
general agreement with almost all of Christianity. But are there
limits to this knowledge? Nothing escapes God’s notice and God
forgets nothing, so undoubtedly his knowledge of the past and
present is infinite and complete. But what about the future? And
what about things that could happen but will not? (see freewill
below)
Searching
The writer of
Psalm 139, David, states that God has searched him and knows his
thoughts. Does God need to search David to know his thoughts, or is
this simply a metaphor to describe something that we as humans can’t
fully grasp? If searching is required, this would imply that God
did not formerly know this about David and learned about him.
Freewill
Once again the
question of freewill must be brought up. If man has free will, does
God know what we will do at every instant? Or does God know all our
possible choices and what the result of each will be even though
only one choice will be made? These are a lot of hypothetical
situations. The traditional answer is that God knows everything –
past, present, and future. However, it is important to think about
the implications of this knowledge, especially with regard to
freewill (if in fact man has freewill at all, according to some.)
God and
man
God’s
omniscience is terrible news for the sinner but wonderful news for
the Christian. For the sinner, it means that no one can sin in
secret as God knows all that we do and we will be held accountable
for our sins.
However, for the
Christian, it means that we worship a God who knows us through and
through. As creator he put us together, but He is still actively
watching over us and is concerned about us. And as God he continues
to love us even though He knows our faults and all the times we fail
Him.
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