A podcast listener named Scott in Abilene, Texas writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, I've heard people use Jeremiah 19 verses 4-5 as a refutation of the absolute sovereignty of God over evil, particularly the line, 'Nor did it come into my mind.'" "I fully believe and trust in God's supreme sovereignty, but I must admit that this took me back." How does such a text fit within the doctrine of the sovereignty of God?

Can a sovereign God ever be surprised? Wow. This takes me back 15 years, maybe 20, when I was in the thick of the battle over open theism. That's a pretty sophisticated argument from Jeremiah 19, and it might be helpful for me to sketch the battle lines here, because the force of that argument against the sovereignty of God won't be felt without some sense of what open theism is.

So let me give you a little sketch. Open theism is a view, I think it's a wrong view, is a view that the future is open-ended even to God. That is, God does not know, not only doesn't control all details of the future, but he doesn't know them either, especially the acts of morally free agents like humans.

This view is seen by its proponents as the only consistent view of Arminian theology. Remember, historically, Arminianism has taught that God does not decisively control the future moral acts of people, like whether they believe on Jesus or not. People really do have ultimate self-determination. But God does, this is what Arminianism says, God does exhaustively know.

Know. He doesn't control it, but he knows the future moral acts of people. Now open theism says that can't be, because if God is infallible and knows what we are going to choose before we choose it, then the choice must happen or God would make a mistake. And so God's foreknowledge of an act makes the act certain or necessary.

And theism solves that problem by saying God doesn't know the future of our morally responsible acts. And they find arguments, besides that philosophical one, in the Bible in places like Jeremiah 19, 4, and 5. So let me tell you how I, back in those days, responded to those arguments.

Here's what the text says. "The people of Israel have forsaken me and have filled this place with blood, the blood of innocence, that is, they have sacrificed children to false gods, and have built high places to Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or declare, nor did it come into my mind." Okay, now that's the text.

And what's been stumbled over is, "It didn't come into my mind." What does that mean? The argument of open theism is that God did not see it coming, or as the questioner asked, they were surprised. It didn't even come into God's mind that this would happen. But is that what it says, let alone means?

Is that what Jeremiah wants us to understand, or what God meant for us to understand? And I doubt it. Very seriously, not only would that contradict his own, Jeremiah's own view of God's sovereignty expressed elsewhere in the book, like 32, 40, and 10, 23, and not only would it contradict the truth of God's foreknowledge taught all over the prophets like Isaiah 48, but more immediately, that's not what the text says.

And it's not a necessary or obvious meaning either. Look at it more carefully. What precisely did not come to God's mind? It says, "I did not command or declare this slaughter of your children, nor did it," what's the "it," "come into my mind." What if I translate it like this, "Nor did it come into my mind to command or declare such a thing." I think that's what he means.

It's just a natural way to read it. Instead of saying, "Oh, it never occurred to me that such a thing might happen by my sinful people," rather he's saying, "What never came into my mind is that I would command you to do such a thing or declare to you to do such a thing." And that's no contradiction of his sovereignty or his foreknowledge at all.

So I don't think this text is a problem for a full view of God's foreknowledge or a full view of God's sovereignty. And let me close like this. If you start to think around by talking to open theists that denying the foreknowledge of God, which they do, is a small thing and you can still be a Christian and be an Orthodox believer while disbelieving that God and Christ foreknow the future acts of morally responsible agents, consider this text.

John 13, 19. Jesus says about the future morally responsible act of Judas' betrayal. He says, "I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am." Now, it's usually translated, "That I am he." There's no "he" in the Greek.

That you may believe that I am. What does that mean? Well, you know what that means. That "I am" language is taken from Exodus 3 where God says, "I am who I am." And what Jesus is saying here is, "I'm telling you about a future act that is going to be performed by Judas so that you may believe that I am, that I am God, that I am divine." Which means this, implies this, beware of surrendering the foreknowledge of God because in doing so you are surrendering the Godness of God.

And that is, you are surrendering God. Yes, very good. Thank you, Pastor John. And I can imagine some listeners to this episode who are now asking the question, "Well then, do I have free will in choosing Jesus?" As Pastor John once put it, "When you get to heaven, if God asks you, 'What is the deepest, decisive reason you believed on my Son?' What will your answer be?

Will you say, 'The decisive reason for my choice was your grace,' or will you say, 'The decisive reason for my choice was me?'" That is a key question. And it's one that we addressed back in episode number 307. Be sure to check out that episode in the Ask Pastor John archive, most easily found in the app for the iPhone and Android.

So what does it mean in Romans 8:16 that the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God? We'll ask that of John Piper tomorrow. My name is Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. 1 The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America.

The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America. The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America. 2 The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America. The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America.

The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America. The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America. The Spirit Bears Witness to the Faults of the Church in the United States of America.