📖 Biblical Definition
"Limited omniscience" is the open-theist proposal that God knows everything that can be known — but that the future free actions of creatures cannot be known by anyone, even God, because they do not yet exist. The view is associated with Clark Pinnock, Greg Boyd, and the broader open theist movement. The Reformed church rejects it as a serious departure from classical theism and biblical revelation. Scripture insists that God "declar(es) the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done" (Isaiah 46:10; cf. Psalm 139:4, 16; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). A God who does not know the future cannot promise it; a God who cannot promise the future cannot save. Classical orthodoxy stands.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Open theism's denial of exhaustive divine foreknowledge.
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The open-theist claim that God's omniscience is limited because the future free choices of creatures are not knowable in principle; God knows what is knowable but cannot foreknow free actions. Rejected by classical and Reformed orthodoxy.
📖 Key Scripture
Isaiah 46:9-10 — "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done."
Psalm 139:4 — "For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether."
Acts 2:23 — "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Marketed as 'a more relational God' but actually delivers a smaller, less-trustworthy God.
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Limited omniscience is sold as relational warmth — God is surprised, He grows with us. The trade is reduction: a god whose promises depend on prediction is no longer the God who declares the end from the beginning. Smaller God, smaller hope.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Latin omnis + scientia — all-knowledge.
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['Latin', '—', 'omnis', 'all']
['Latin', '—', 'scientia', 'knowledge']
Usage
"Reject limited omniscience; recover the Isaiah-46 God."
"He declares the end from the beginning."