Begging the pardon of all who hold Calvinism OR Arminianism dear...
There appears to be at least one other alternative to both (which are typically argued as being the only alternatives). And I only posit it for your consideration. I believe it is true but I am not going to debate and argue the point until everyone sees it this way. Okay?
I find that when it comes to such things like the will of God or foreknowledge of God or the sovereignty of God versus anything (including the will of man, knowledge of man, or sovereignty of man) it is best to
- consider the abilities of God (omniscience, omnipotence)
- sprinkled in with the love of God for his Son Jesus and for those of us who love Jesus
- that he is willing to grant humankind a limited amount of sovereignty (within his sovereignty)
- and to make salvation available to all†
†
it is available to all (1Timothy 4:10 / 1 John 2:2) but it is activated only by the individual's faith in Christ Jesus (John 3:16-18) so all are not simply universally saved but all humans have the potential to be saved... which apparently must needs be; to be able to offer to save any he had to offer to save all.
Matthew 22:14 (AV)
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Even with omniscience and omnipotence there apparently are restrictions or steps taken in the progression of God's plan. Either that or he could have wiped the slate clean in the Garden of Eden and started over (or better yet abandoned project humankind), but he did not.
Not to dance a jig about it, but even God has limitations (self-imposed mostly) with some attributed to his eternal character. He cannot lie. He cannot be faithless. Etc. If you think about it, God began limiting himself when he created anything to exist besides himself. God was no longer the only thing in existence.
To answer any who might be curious... I do believe God the Father knows beforehand who would and would not believe in Jesus Christ.
PERHAPS for purposes of dealing with temporal beings like men and angels God the Word and God the Spirit emptied themselves of this extent of foreknowledge (Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10† ).
†
Why would the Spirit need to search the mind of God (the Father) if he were as omniscient as the Father?
I say "
PERHAPS" because my conclusions in this matter may not even be close to reality. It just seems to make sense to me. And Philippians 2 speaks of Jesus emptying himself to become a man (while continuing to be God [the Word] in his Spirit).
But I believe the scriptures clearly teach that according to God's plan and abilities salvation is offered to all mankind, is attained only by those humans who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a free choice (which God went to all the trouble of history itself to provide for and protect our ability to choose), and the conclusion of each and every choice is no surprise to God who knew before the foundation of the world who would believe and who would not.
If we can't get our heads around this at points, it means there are apparently some things one must be omniscient to be able to understand.
