The Knowledge of God and the Will of Man

 

Part Three: “The Scroll of Life… from the Founding of the World”

       

This is the third and final installment in a series of online articles that I have produced in preparation for my upcoming debate with Dr. Robert Morey on the nature and extent of God’s knowledge, and whether or not the Bible teaches that mankind has “free will.”

       

In Parts One and Two I have provided my and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ understanding of these subjects primarily in the light of the Old Testament book of Isaiah and the New Testament book of Romans. Here I intend to bring the teachings of both of these and other biblical books together and discuss them in relation to an item mentioned in both the Old and in the New Testaments, “the scroll of life.”

       

The Bible

Though each of us has the ability to know what is good and what is bad (Genesis 15:27), though we can see God’s “invisible qualities … from the world’s creation onward” (Romans 1:18 -21), I do not believe that God has left us without any written revelation of his will. I have reasons for believing that the Bible contains that written revelation, one of which is the close correspondence I see between the Bible and the “things made” (Romans 1:20). I see a living, personal Being in the creation around me, and I see that same Being in the books of the Bible.

       

In the creation I see the Maker of the Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur and the Pomeranian puppy dog. In the Bible I see, Jehovah, the “God of gods” (Psalms 136:2), heavenly and the earthly rulers and judges (Psalm 8:5; 82:6; John 10:34 -35), and the God of slaves, the lowly and the poor of the earth (Exodus 1:13 -14; Psalm 82:1-4). In the creation I see purpose and design, meant for people who are “good.” In the Bible, there is purpose and design, for “good people” to “reside in the earth” (Proverbs 2:20 -21). In the creation, I see no purpose, and no design, for people who are “wicked.” In the Bible, there is no purpose, no design for “the wicked,” except that they be “cut off from the very earth” (Proverbs 2:22 ).

       

The Bible is itself a collection of books containing a history of humankind, a history of the people chosen by God and through whom a promised “Messiah” would come (Daniel 9:25 ). It also contains a history of the birth, life, and death of that Messiah, and of his resurrection. The Bible explains how this Messiah’s life, death, and resurrection provide a legal basis upon which Jehovah God can redeem mankind from our sinful desires (Genesis, the entire Pentateuch, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the New Testament books of Romans, Hebrews, and James). Our “sin” is a part of the condition that has resulted from our using the ability to decide for ourselves, and on our own, what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. Since it was God’s expressed will that we not have this ability before we were ready, if ever, then where we ‘fail to do what we know is right it is a sin’ (Genesis 2:17 ; James 4:17 ). For such sins we are in need of redemption before God, otherwise he would be a God who accepts sin, as a behavioral norm.

       

The Bible also teaches us how to live in ways that are pleasing, not only to Jehovah God, but also to our fellow man (Mark 12:29 -31). It teaches us to look after orphans and widows (James 1:27 ), to not be partial or show favoritism (James 2:9; 3:17 ), for wives to honor husbands and for husbands to honor their wives (1 Peter 3:1-7), for children to be obedient to their parents and for parents not to irritate their children (Ephesians 6:1-4). These, and many other simple yet profoundly moral teachings, are found in the Bible.

       

Therefore, if the Bible does indeed contain God’s written revelation of his will to mankind, then we can see from these teachings, together with the creation of the world around us, the personality of Jehovah God. Of course, in the Bible the best picture we have of God is his own Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:9; Hebrews 1:3), for he with humility upheld all of these and every single other law of God, perfectly (Hebrews 4:15), even with “lowliness of mind” (Matthew 23:11; Ephesians 2:4; Philippians 2:5-8). Thus, if he is to be King over all the earth, the Bible shows us what kind of King the earth will have (Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-9).  

       

The Bible is, indeed, a collection of books unlike any other in the history of the world, with a wealth of credible, historical evidence supporting the things it describes. It also has a manuscript history that is not comparable to any other work of antiquity. It is no wonder, then, that it remains the best selling book of all time.

       

       

‘Weeds Sown among Wheat’       

However, though the Bible has all of the earmarks of being a divine provision, a provision of a God who watches over the earth and those in it, it has been given to men and women who do not choose perfectly what is good and what is bad. The moment any communication from God is given to humankind it becomes subject to humanity—sinful humanity—humanity that has the ability to decide for itself what is right and what is wrong, but, again, not with the blessing from God to do so (Genesis 2:15-16; 3:3, 11, 17). Our receipt and handling of God’s revelation, either his written word or his glorious creation, is not perfect, and so both end up corrupted by human hands to some extent. Then there are actual living enemies of God, the foremost of whom the Bible calls “Satan” (Job 2:1). I do not believe such enemies have left off from trying to deceive those made in God’s image about God’s will, whether it be by corrupting his written revelation or his creation (Genesis 3:1; Job 2:2-5). In fact, as we will see, Jesus taught that Satan is very involved in corrupting his work.

       

A notable example of how God has permitted his written revelation to be corrupted involves the use of God’s own name, which is used nearly seven thousand (7,000) times in the Old Testament in the forms, translated in English, “Jehovah” and “Jah.” Yet, most modern translations of the Hebrew text use words such as “Lord” or “God,” instead of a translation of God’s name (compare modern translations of Exodus 17:16; Psalm 68:4; 104:35; Isaiah 26:4). Indeed, even in the few New Testament passages where the divine name has been preserved, it is hidden in an expression rather than seen in the translation of most Bibles (Revelation 19:1-6 [where the Greek text has allelouia, which is a combination of allelou and ia, transliterations of the Hebrew words hallelu (“praise you”) and Yah (the divine name, “Jah”), from which comes the expression “Hallelujah”]). (See Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics [Murrieta, CA: Elihu Books, 2007], Chapter 1, for more on this and other issues related to the use and pronunciation of “Jah Jehovah’s” name.) At every turn the praise of  “Jah” is stifled, except in translations such as the NWT.

       

But even what is uncorrupted textually is often “twisted” into teachings and traditions of men that ‘invalidate the word of God’ (Matthew 15:6; Acts 20:30 ). These teachings are often “sown” among that which is true and good, causing confusion and doubt among the world. Jesus taught:

       

Matthew 13:24-30 (NWT)

       

Another illustration [Jesus] set before them, saying: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also. So the slaves of the householder came up and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow fine seed in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, YOU uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.

       

This illustration in particular caught the attention of Jesus’ early followers. So much so that after the crowds left “his disciples came to him and said: ‘Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field’” (Matthew 13:36 ). And so Jesus did explain it:

       

Matthew 13:37-39 (NWT)

       

In response he said: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things.

       

We must be careful, therefore, for the Devil has been and undoubtedly continues to be very active in sowing seed and making sure his “weeds” grow together with “the fine seed.” Jesus lets the Devil’s “weeds” grow in order to preserve also “the fine seed.” So it should not surprise or stumble anyone to find God’s revelations to humankind, or the entire “field” of the “world,” mixed with both the things of God and Christ, and the things of Satan, the Devil.

       

When it comes to the teachings of God’s word, I contend that the “Reformed” view of God’s knowledge and the “free will” of mankind, as represented by Dr. Robert Morey and other Doctors and scholars of the world, does not belong to the “field” of teachings ‘sown’ by Jesus Christ in association with his “kingdom.” “Reformed” theology is false, not just in one aspect, but nearly the entire system is filled with “weeds.” It does not honor Jehovah’s name. It does not teach the biblical Jesus Christ. It has not kept free from the world. And it does not teach the truth about the knowledge of God or the will of man, and in so doing it undermines the basis for judgment for each individual made clear in the Bible itself: the choices we make based on our desires or intentions.

       

In the Bible we read of Adam’s and Eve’s sinful choices against the will of God. We also learn how God allowed for the continuation of the present system of things, but how he put into motion a means of reconciliation (Genesis 3:15 -17). The Bible also shows that Jehovah has been continuously answering the challenges of Satan respecting each one of us, and toward God himself (Job 1:6-2:10; 1 Peter 5:8). Like Job, we have since been subject to tests with or without our knowing it (2 Corinthians 2:11; 11:14-15; Revelation 12:9), for since Adam’s and Eve’s sins we, too, their children, have the same ability to choose good from bad, right from wrong (compare Isaiah 7:16).

       

Not even one of us can earn a righteous standing before God by what we do. But Jehovah God will give it to us as a result of his good pleasure and in the light of the choices we make, in particular our decision to choose him by showing him our love and by putting faith in his Son (John 3:16; Acts 10:43; James 2:5). It is our choices that determine whether or not our names are written in or wiped out from “the Lamb’s scroll of life” (Revelation 21:27 ). It is our “free will” that is a critical part of this process, and “Reformed” theology fails to teach this correctly.        

       

God’s Knowledge and Purpose, and the “Free Will” of Others       

The most notable examples in the Bible of “free will” are Adam and Eve. To understand how their decisions played a part in God’s purpose, and how Jehovah is glorified by allowing others to make their own decisions, we must unfold the original purpose of God as it is revealed in the Bible. Doing so will help us see for ourselves how our “free will” can be exercised under the sovereignty of Jehovah God. We can do this quickly and simply, so that everyone can see it.

       

We start at the point of man’s creation:

       

Genesis 1:26-31 (NWT)

       

And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.” And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. Further, God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so. After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good.

       

What you read above was the beginning of Jehovah’s will for mankind dwelling upon the earth. You do not need Doctors, you do not need lawyers, and you do not need priests, pastors, or even elders of any kind to tell you what the account says, so long as it is translated in your own language and you can read it. This is true also for the next critical part of this history:

       

Genesis 2:15-17 (NWT)

       

And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of E´den to cultivate it and to take care of it. And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: “From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

       

Again, clear, simple, easy for all humankind to understand without any additional comment, as is also true of the further unfolding of God’s will:

       

Genesis 2:18-25 (NWT)

       

And Jehovah God went on to say: “It is not good for the man to continue by himself. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” Now Jehovah God was forming from the ground every wild beast of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call it, each living soul, that was its name. So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him. Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and to bring her to the man. Then the man said:

       

“This is at last bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman, Because from man this one was taken.”

       

That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh. And both of them continued to be naked, the man and his wife, and yet they did not become ashamed.

       

There we have it: Jehovah’s will for humankind, man and woman, to live together and to have in subjection the creatures of the earth, to cultivate it, and to eat from it. The only command laid upon them was this: do not eat from one tree, “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” Why? Because if they did, they would die (Genesis 2:17 ). Why would they die? Because Jehovah did not make them to decide for themselves what was good and what was bad. They had to first listen to him, and in so doing they would know what was good, and what was bad. 

       

Jehovah could have made it so that Adam and Eve could not gain access to this tree, just as he made it so they could not eat from the “tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24). But he did not. He let his command stand and he left it to Adam and to Eve to listen to him. Jehovah certainly knew it was possible for them to disobey him. But he also knew that they had no reason to disobey him, and on this basis he trusted that they would listen.

       

Then the will, not only of man, but of woman and of angels, decided what would happen next. What happened next was this: Satan chose to deceive Eve, and Adam chose to listen to the voice of his wife, instead of listening to the voice of his God. The result was disobedience because Eve chose to believe Satan, without reason, and Adam chose to listen to Eve, without reason. The result was Adam and Eve were allowed to know good from bad with respect to all that surrounded them, not merely with respect to “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” Jehovah had to tell them it was wrong to eat from it. He did not have to tell them it was wrong to be naked (Genesis 3:7). They decided that on their own.

       

Thus, humankind had now not only the ability to make choices, which free will they had from their creation (proven by their choice to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad), but also an awareness of and the ability to decide what was good and what was bad without having to be told which was which, by Jehovah God. However, since in order to gain this awareness they first had to disobey God (the trap laid by Satan), once they took it respecting that which they did not know they were condemned by that which they did know, by the doing the one thing that God had told them not to do. 

       

Jehovah’s Witnesses, including myself, believe that it was not God’s will for Satan to deceive Eve, or for Eve to be deceived, or for Adam to disobey God and take and eat the fruit brought to him by Eve. Jehovah’s Witnesses, myself included, believe that had Adam obeyed the voice of Jehovah God then the earth today would be a much different place. We believe that had Adam remained faithful, Jesus Christ never would have had to die, and that today the earth would be “filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea” (Isaiah 11:9). “Reformed” theology does not teach this. “Reformed” theology teaches that it was God’s purpose “from all eternity” to have Christ suffer and die for us, as we will see below.

       

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Reformed theologians do not believe what they do without reasons. Yet, each claim to get their reasons from the Bible. The only way to know who has the best reasons for believing what they do is for each party to present their best reasons and then everyone to evaluate them critically, comparing what is claimed with what is written, and how what is written can be understood grammatically and historically. That is what I intend to do on the subjects of God’s knowledge and man’s free will, beginning with Dr. Morey, and then with anyone else who challenges the biblical teaching regarding God’s knowledge and the significance of mankind’s free will. 

       

As I made clear in Parts One and Two, by “free will” I mean that men and women have the ability to make choices; we can decide what to do on our own, though there are many factors in this life that can and do influence the decisions we make. Jehovah God himself can, and in my opinion does often influence the affairs of men and women in order to bring about his will. This was seen clearly from the study of the Bible books of Isaiah and Romans, in Parts One and Two. I believe that the Bible teaches clearly that mankind has the limitations of sin imposed upon us as an inheritance from Adam (Romans 5:12 ). But while we are all at times “a slave of sin” (John 8:34 ), and thus subject to “hurtful desires” (Colossians 3:5) which themselves produce sin (James 1:14 -15), each of us can still choose the “way out” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ), which God makes available to us. We simply must not “turn in the opposite direction” when he ‘opens our ears’ (Isaiah 50:5).

       

A good example of this is Joseph, a sinner, but one who resisted the power of sin and the desire of the flesh by fleeing from Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:7-9). The best example is Jesus Christ, who, like Adam, was perfect. Yet in his perfection he was subject to treatment that made him request that the “cup” of suffering pass from him, showing that he did not want to endure it. Who would? But he did not follow his own will. Instead he gave himself up entirely to the will of his Father, Jehovah (Matthew 26:39; John 8:54 ). Adam may have desired to please his wife, Eve, and thus he ate the forbidden fruit. But he should have resisted his own will, as did Jesus Christ, and given himself over to the one against whom he had no reason to sin. Adam did not. Jesus did:

       

Romans 5:17 (NWT)

       

For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of the one [person] many will be constituted righteous [emphasis added].

       

Thus, in spite of sin, because of our free will and on the basis of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, God through Christ “searches the kidneys and hearts, and [he] will give to [us] individually according to [our] deeds” (Revelation 2:23). In this, Part Three, I will defend the biblical teaching that God’s gift of life depends entirely upon him, and that it is something he gives to us because of what we do or, rather, because of our choices to obey or to disobey him. I will also explain how the “Reformed” position misunderstands this teaching to be one that makes life depend not on God, but on the individual, and how the “Reformed” view of God’s knowledge and mankind’s free will, in particular as presented by Dr. Robert Morey, is false.        

       

Again, “Reformed” Theology is False        

Reformed theologians from John Calvin to Robert Morey use the Bible in support of their view of God’s knowledge and sovereignty. I do not believe it supports their teachings on these and other important teachings, including the name and the identity of God. Therefore, in my opinion Reformed theologians and those who follow their teachings dishonor Jehovah in two ways: 1) they misrepresent the teachings of his Word and 2) they misrepresent him. Here, though, we are concerned only with the teaching of the Bible respecting the knowledge of God and the will of man, and how Reformed theology, as represented by Dr. Morey, differs from it.

       

Of course, anyone can say that another’s beliefs about God are false. But that is not enough. It has to be ‘explained and proven by references’ (Acts 17:3).

       

The best proof I can provide in support of my contention that Reformed theology, as represented by Dr. Morey, is false and that Dr. Morey is ‘disobeying the truth’ is by first presenting his claims and then evaluating those claims in the light of what I believe the Bible teaches and the reasons supporting my beliefs. Then those interested can consider Morey’s beliefs and arguments, my beliefs and arguments, and then decide for themselves whether one of us is right, or if you think we are both wrong.

       

Consider the following excerpt from my September 27, 2006 , radio discussion with Dr. Morey, which took place starting at 24:34 of the show. As with the excerpt I presented in Part Two, I am here numbering the exchange in order to make clearer the sequence of information as it was given:

       

[1]Morey:: Did God in fact know ahead of time, let’s say, that Judas would choose to betray Christ and does Scripture indicate that God’s foreknowledge was complete and he knew everything everybody would do concerning the crucifixion?

       

[2]Stafford: He knew that it would happen but “woe to the one through whom it comes.”

       

[3]Morey: So in other words …

       

[4]::Stafford: That’s Jesus’ words.

       

[5]Morey: …even though Judas’ betrayal was fully understood from all eternity, so Luke 22:22 “it had been determined.”

       

[6]Stafford: Well, I wouldn’t say that.

       

[7]Morey: Well, Luke 22:22, “he went to betray Christ as it had been determined.” At the same time…

       

[8]Stafford: But that doesn’t say “determined from all eternity.”

       

[9]Morey: Well that…yes…yes it does. Because as you take a word study of that word and you go over to Acts 2 and Acts 4, you find that the crucifixion of Christ was foreordained from the foundation of the world.

       

[10]Stafford: Well, that’s not “eternity,” that’s the “foundation of the world.”

       

[11]Morey: “Before the foundation of the world.” From all eternity.

       

[12]Stafford: Yes, “Before” Adam and Eve had children, “before the throwing down of seed” God determined after Adam rebelled that there would be…that the serpent would bruise Jesus in the heel and that, thus, foretold his betrayal at the hands of one who eventually was named “Judas.”

       

END OF TRANSCRIPTION

       

From the above we can see that, according to Dr. Morey, Luke 22:22 , Acts 2, and Acts 4 teach that “Judas’ betrayal was fully understood from all eternity.” Therefore, we will now consider these texts and accounts, as translated by the NWT, to see if in fact they teach what Morey claims:

       

(1) Luke 22:22 (with verse 21):

       

But, look! the hand of my betrayer is with me at the table. Because the Son of man is going his way according to what is marked out; all the same, woe to that man through whom he is betrayed [underline added]!

       

The Greek for “marked out” is horismenon, and is a form of the Greek verb horizo, which can mean to “determine, appoint, fix, set” (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., edited and revised by Frederick W. Danker [Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000], page 515 [hereafter, BDAG3]). It is in this same sense that I understand NWT’s “marked out.” Therefore, we can conclude that the betrayal of Jesus was “determined” or “marked out” before it happened. But, as I told Dr. Morey ([8]Stafford), Luke 22:22 “doesn’t say ‘determined from all eternity.’”

       

Morey’s reply ([9]Morey) was, “…yes it does.” He then refers to Acts 2 and Acts 4 as the basis for interpreting Luke 22:22 as teaching that “the crucifixion of Christ was foreordained from the foundation of the world,” which, again, he believes is “from all eternity” ([5]Morey). The only passages in Acts 2 that speaks to this issue in any way similar to the way Morey discusses it are Acts 2:22-23. The only verses in Acts 4 that relate in some way to what Morey says are Acts 4:24-28. We will consider them in the order of their occurrence:

       

(2) Acts 2:22 -23:

       

[Peter says,] “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus the Naz·a·rene´, a man publicly shown by God to YOU through powerful works and portents and signs that God did through him in YOUR midst, just as YOU yourselves know, this [man], as one delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, YOU fastened to a stake by the hand of lawless men and did away with [underline added].

       

The Greek for “the determined counsel and foreknowledge” is tei horismenei boulei kai prognosei, and is represented well by the English in NWT, “the determined counsel and foreknowledge.” Though Peter does not immediately associate his assertion with an Old Testament text, as he does with the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24-28), later on he does associate what was “announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets” with the acts of the Jewish people and their rulers concerning their ‘disowning’ and ‘killing’ of the Christ (Acts 3:13-18).

       

I would also argue that “the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” concerning the suffering and killing of the Christ was “announced beforehand” by God himself, not “from all eternity,” but “before the foundation of the world.” This was after Adam and Eve sinned and before the ‘seed of the world of mankind was sown’ (see below), in Genesis 3:15 . But, again, as with Luke 22:22, Morey’s view that it was “fully understood from all eternity” is not supported by Acts 2:22-23. That leaves Acts 4:24-28:

       

(3) Acts 4:24 -28:

       

Upon hearing this they with one accord raised their voices to God and said: “Sovereign Lord, you are the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, and who through holy spirit said by the mouth of our forefather David, your servant, ‘Why did nations become tumultuous and peoples meditate upon empty things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one.’ Even so, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with [men of] nations and with peoples of Israel were in actuality gathered together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, in order to do what things your hand and counsel had foreordained to occur [underline added].

       

Once again we read that God’s “counsel had foreordained [Greek: form of pro’orizo]” the things that were to occur against his “servant,” his Son. Specifically, in this context, the things that were “to occur” involved the actions of Herod and Pilate (Mark 3:6; 8:15 ; 12:13 ; Luke 13:31 ; 23:8-12; John 19:16 ). These “things” were prophesied about, not “from all eternity,” but in Psalm 2:1-2. Of course, all such prophecies concerning the suffering of the Christ relate back to what was prophesied by Jehovah about the ‘bruising of the heel’ of the promised “seed,” the Messiah (Genesis 3:15). Had Adam and Eve not sinned, there would have been no need for any such “counsel” to have been “foreordained to occur.”

       

Morey has mis-read all three of these Bible accounts. A correct reading and interpretation of these accounts, according to their grammar and their historical context, does not support the Reformed understanding of the time from which Jesus’ betrayal was foreknown, namely, “from all eternity.”         

       

“Before the Foundation of the World”       

Morey and other Reformed theologians base a great deal of their belief about God’s knowledge and decrees on the meaning of Ephesians 1:3-4:

       

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ, just as he chose us in union with him before the founding of the world [emphasis added].

       

Consider yet another excerpt from our September 27, 2006 , radio discussion:

       

(The following does not occur immediately after the previous excerpt. It begins in minute 40. I am numbering it in sequence from the previous excerpt only for my referencing later on in this article.)