📖 Biblical Definition
Divine foreknowledge in Scripture refers to God's eternal, comprehensive knowledge of all things — past, present, and future — rooted not in passive foresight but in His sovereign decree. The Greek proginosko carries the sense of knowing beforehand in a relational, covenantal way — to "foreknow" is to "fore-love" or "fore-choose." Paul writes, "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined" (Romans 8:29). Peter addresses believers as those chosen "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Peter 1:1-2). God's foreknowledge is not Him looking down the corridor of time to see what humans will choose — it is the expression of His eternal purpose whereby He knows His people because He has set His love upon them before the foundation of the world.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Prescience; knowledge of events before they take place.
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FOREKNOWL'EDGE, n. Knowledge of a thing before it happens; prescience. Applied to God, foreknowledge denotes His eternal, perfect awareness of all events and actions before they come to pass.
📖 Key Scripture
• Romans 8:29 — "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."
• 1 Peter 1:1-2 — "According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ."
• Acts 2:23 — "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."
• Isaiah 46:10 — "Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand.'"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Foreknowledge is reduced to passive foresight to preserve human autonomy.
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Arminian and Open Theist traditions redefine foreknowledge as God merely looking ahead to see what free creatures will choose, then basing His election on that foreseen faith. This strips foreknowledge of its biblical, covenantal meaning and makes God's eternal purposes contingent upon human decisions. Open Theism goes further, denying that God knows the future exhaustively at all — claiming He takes risks and learns as history unfolds. Both positions diminish God's sovereignty and reduce Him from the Lord who declares the end from the beginning to a spectator reacting to human choices. Biblical foreknowledge is not God peering into the future; it is God ordaining the future and knowing His people with an eternal, electing love.
Usage
• "God's foreknowledge is not passive foresight — it is the active, covenantal knowing of His elect before the foundation of the world."
• "When Peter says believers are chosen according to foreknowledge, he means God set His love upon them in eternity past — not that He observed their future decision."