The Problem with the Arminian View of Foreknowledge

It occurs to me that there is a problem with the Arminian view of God's foreknowledge.

Typically, Arminians believe that God only has simple foreknowledge of what will occur in time. He foresees what will happen and that is all. He then lets it all "play out" so to speak in time. If this is so, then God's foreknowledge is more-or-less useless to him; he knows what will occur, but he is unable to change what will occur. If God has simple foreknowledge of all that will happen in time, then God is unable to change what will occur, for his own actions must also form part of his foreknowledge. Nothing can be different from it is in this world, because God has foreseen and foreknown what will happen.

As I understand it, this does not even leave God with the option of not creating a particular person or allowing a particular course of events to take place, so that the future can be changed, for if God foreknows something, and God cannot change, then what God foreknows cannot be changed either, not even by him.

The God of Arminianism therefore appears to be trapped by his own foreknowledge. This does not seem to me to be in accord with the Scriptures regarding God's sovereignty and ability to bring all his purposes to fulfillment.

This is in sharp contrast with Calvinism where God ordains the future and so could have ordained anything he wanted, and it is also in contrast with Molinism where God foreknows a range of possible worlds and chooses to actualise one of them. It is also in contrast even with Open Theism where God knows possible worlds, but not which one will be realised until free choices are made. Instead, in the simple foreknowledge view, God simply knows what will occur and there appears to be no way for this to be changed, even though God may hate what is going to occur.

In any event, Arminians must face exactly the same criticisms they level at Calvinists. It is common for Arminians to say to Calvinists things like: if your God chooses to allow sin to occur, he is the author of sin. But if God foreknows that sin will occur and does not stop it, he is also morally culpable by any normal reckoning. And if God cannot stop it, then he is not sovereign at all. But according to simple foreknowledge God logically cannot stop evil from occurring or his foreknowledge would be different, which is impossible given the classical view that God's omniscience is immutable.

Christian Standard Bible Anglicised Edition

When the Christian Standard Bible came out in 2017 I thought it was one of the best English translations to come out in a while. It ticked pretty much every box for me in what I look for in an English translation, except that back then in was not available in a British English or anglicised edition. This is important to me as a reader as the American spelling of many important biblical words are jarring, especially Saviour and other "our" words.

 I actually wrote to Holman (the publisher) to ask if there were any plans to bring out a British English edition. Initially, there were no plans, but I was delighted when the CSB Anglicised edition came out about a year ago in summer 2024.

I really do think the CSB is an exceptionally readable and accurate translation that does not consider itself bound by Bible translation tradition. A good example would be John 3:16, which is traditionally rendered something like: "For God so loved the world that he have his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

 The CSB reads: " For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

I would highlight three improvements in translation in this rendering.

1.  The Greek word Houtos normally refers to the manner in which something is done, not the degree to which something is done. Although "so" can used in either sense, the natural understanding in English of "For God so loved the world" would be that John was referring to the degree of God's love rather than the manner of God's love (which is what the Greek word means). Therefore the CSB's "For God loved the world in this way" is more accurate to the Greek.

 2.  Most scholars now recognise that monogenes does not refer to someone being only begotten, but to them being unique (literally one-of-a-kind). The CSB's "one and only" is therefore preferable to the traditional "only begotten".

3. The Greek literally refers to "every believing one" in the second half of the verse. There is no generic "whoever" in the Greek. The CSB's "everyone who believes" is much more accurate than "whoever believes".

This is just one verse, though a very famous verse. I'm sure similar points could be made throughout the CSB.

 I use the Bible Gateway website for much of my Bible study and I was delighted to see that the Christian Standard Bible Anglicised edition is now an option on the site. I haven't checked the app but I'm sure it will also be on there.

Having the CSB in British English is a great move by Holman and I now plan to use the CSB as my main Bible from now on.

On the translation spectrum, the CSB is somewhat more literal than the NIV and more natural than the ESV, which I think is an ideal balance. The footnotes in the CSB with alternative, sometimes more literal translations, are also excellent in this version.