Quote:
Originally Posted by Orthodoxy
Arminians say that God knew who would choose receive salvation, and then chose them on the basis of that knowledge. [Synergism]
Calvinists say that God "knew" someone in the biblical sense (i.e. loved them intimately), and then chose to regenerate their hearts without any basis in whether or not they would have chosen him. [Monergism]
There is a difference in how foreknowledge is defined.
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshol...onergism2.html
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How does the bible define foreknowledge?
Here's an interesting note
For if God knows what I will do, it must be certain that I am going to do it. If it were not certain, God could not know it; He might be mistaken (I might act differently from what He expects). But if what I will do is certain, then surely I will do it, whether or not I know what I will do. It will happen!
http://www.icstc.com/bg/will/fore.html
another
Some Calvinists have tried to use this to argue that 'foreknow' necessarily implies a relationship, in that the other Jews 'knew' Paul as a friend before he was saved. But the passage can just as easily mean that they knew all about Paul. Not really proof for the monergsitic interpretation.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (
1 Peter 1:2)
Now this provides a bit better evidence. The word is not just 'foreknow,' but 'foreknowledge' (Greek: Prognosis). A major difficulty for the Calvinist view of election according to forelove instead of foreknowledge is that the Greek word for 'knowledge' (gnosis) is not used to indicate love, friendship, or special preference. The words that make up Prognosis are 'pro,' a primary preposition that is used as a suffix to mean 'before,' and 'gnosis,' which simply means 'knowledge' (intelligence, advanced understanding, wisdom, etc.). Prognosis even survives today in the English language, carrying an identical definition. So it is then rather a futile effort to attempt to re-interpret election according to the prognosis of God into election according to the forelove of God.
http://www.indeathorlife.org/soterio...word-usage.php