Tuesday 23 March 2010

Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach (Part 3)

If Molinism were simply the overlaying of a philosophical grid on top of Scripture, then it would be a very bad idea and should not be done. Rather, Molinism is a precise philosophical system that arose out of a commitment to certain principles clearly taught in the Bible: (1) God can and has created beings with significant and genuine creaturely freedom; (2) God can and does exhaustively know what free creatures would do in every possible scenario; and (3) God can and does sovereignly and meticulously accomplish His will through His omniscience - namely that aspect of His knowledge we call middle knowledge.

The Bible teaches a high view of divine sovereignty: God has exhaustive knowledge of all things, meticulous control over all things, sovereign freedom above all things, and yet at the same time He is perfectly free from the sin and evil of this world. Scripture also declares a robust view of human freedom, choice, and agency: there are contingent events; certain contingent events are conditioned by our decisions; and God uses His counterfactual knowledge of our free decisions to accomplish His will. Molinism - and its advocacy of the concept of middle knowledge - is the one view of providence that holds to a consistent view of both biblical teachings.

- Kenneth Keathley, Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach

Links: ROSES vs TULIP (19 Mar 10), Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach (Part 1) (20 Mar 10), Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach (Part 2) (21 Mar 10)

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