Open Theism
My friend Matt is the kind of guy we would all
love to have in our church. He is one of
those clean-cut, all-American, good-hearted young men... an answer to the
anonymous poem, "The Boy We Want."[1] He is a
loyal, encouraging, faithful servant that makes the ministry a joy. That
is what made it so surprising the Sunday he interrupted his pastor mid-sermon
declaring from the front pew, "You are wrong!"
What would lead a young man to blurt
out such a declaration and disrupt a church worship service? It certainly was not characteristic of his
life and he quickly apologized and sought the forgiveness of the church and his
pastor for the disturbance. But I am not
so sure his comments were out of line.
Matt had been hearing in his pastor
a growing tendency to demean the omniscience and sovereignty of God. It had been a growing cloud on the horizon
that the two of them had spoken about frankly and privately for several
months. But on the Sunday of Matt's
interjection, his pastor had finally come out and said, "God is not in
control."
Matt's pastor is only one of a
growing number of men embracing a new theism called Openness. The end result of this construct is a
redefinition of God's knowledge and, some would argue, a redefinition of God
Himself. Its effects on practical
theology are enormous and its effects on how one reads their bible even
greater. It is true that lots of systems
of thought come and go, but for reasons that will be expanded below, this is a
system that deserves our study.
The goal of this essay is to 1.
Accurately represent the Open Theism (OT throughout the rest of this paper)
position in terms easily understood.[2] 2. To
assess it. 3. To point out its benefits and/or dangers.
Part I: Introduction
What is Open Theism?
OT is a new theological system developed
systematically over the last twenty years.
Because it is "new," it has morphed along the way adding and dropping
various monikers such as Relational Theism, Freewill Theism, Simple Foreknowledge,
Presentism, Openness and some versions of Middle Knowledge.[3] Sometimes, "Openness" alone is used as a
catchword to describe this entire "theological family," allowing each sibling
to maintain its own distinctives.[4]
The main proponents of this view
have been Clark Pinnock, professor of theology at McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario; Gregory Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in
Minneapolis, Minnesota and a professor at Bethel College in the same city; and
John Sanders, professor of philosophy and religion at Huntington College,
Indiana. Other prominent personalities
that embrace the view include William Hasker, David Basinger, Richard Rice,
Lewis Smedes and Philip Yancey.[5]
As will be seen, OT is primarily a way
of understanding God. It is an
outright rejection of Classical Theism (CT throughout the rest of this paper)
and claims to be a more accurate interpretation of what the Bible has to say
regarding the nature of the Trinity and how the Trinity engages creation. It is not so much a redefinition of
particular theological compartments[6]
as it is a complete remodeling of theology proper. As may be expected, however, a reconstruction
of God has incredible corollary effects on these particular sub-doctrines.
Why Another Study?
OT switched the Playing Field
Gregory Boyd, in his best-selling work God
of the Possible, states as the second goal of his book:
"...I also believe this issue is too
important and too practically significant to be limited to academic circles... I
believe there is currently a need to present this issue in a manner that can
include as many laypeople as possible.
This book attempts to do just that."[7]
In this pronouncement, Boyd has exposed the
agenda of OT. Discontent with their
negative reception from most evangelical theological institutions[8],
Open Theists have abandoned the realm of scholarly debate and councils and are
making their case with the church as a whole.
Rather than hammering out the position and allowing for a decision in
the ring of "academic circles," Open Theists have decided to put the brunt of
their energies into getting the teachings of OT to the general populace in its
simplest and most appealing forms. [9]
This is dangerous precedent. Worse yet, it means that you and I who pastor
local churches must be conversant in the teachings of OT in order to properly
shepherd the flock under our care. Open
Theists are not waiting for you to invite them in to make a presentation of
their views. They are, instead, actively
presenting their thoughts in a myriad of popular forms all aimed at the men and
women in your pews[10].
Whether you like it or not you are
being forced to look at the issues and deal with them in a sane, balanced and,
most importantly, biblically accurate way.
As former academic resource consultant to Baker Books David Frees comments
about Boyd's work: "...although scholars
will notice quite a few logical fallacies and pick up on... poor exegesis of Old
Testament passages, the average Christian will not."[11]
We must not be bamboozled into thinking this will all go away.
OT claims orthodoxy
The proponents of OT continually encourage the
idea that their view is merely another system within the realm of orthodoxy.[12] In other words, disagreement with them
is acceptable, (like a Calvinist would disagree with an Arminian,[13])
while excommunication is not. It
seems to me that we have to come to some conclusion on this matter. Our post-modern hesitancy to say anything
is wrong may lead us to accept as orthodox what is unorthodox. On the other hand, our strong fundamentalist
history may lead us to condemn brothers in the Lord. Where are we to land? Is this even a debate about orthodoxy? We must come to some conclusions on this matter.
Where OT takes us
A third reason we need to study this issue is
because of its obvious ramifications. An Open Theist and a Classic Theist do
not think about God Himself the same way.
Indeed, some would venture to say they are not even thinking about the same
God! That is because conclusions on the
nature of God's knowledge lead you to conclusions on the nature of God
Himself. What God knows (or chooses to
know) cannot be bifurcated from His entire person. What is more, we cannot ignore the fact that
altering our view of God alters our view of reality.
What did you say?
There is a certain battle of ideas taking place
in this discussion. Open Theists freely
use terms like foreknowledge, sovereignty and omniscience, but
they have redefined those terms to fit within the construct of the Open
View. At worst, this is deceptive. At best, it is confusing. In reality, it is another reason why we need
to study the issue and understand what Open Theists mean by what they say.
"What it means to me"
Finally, it is necessary to study OT because of
the constant claim that it is a biblical position. Unlike some earlier critiques, OT cannot be
brushed away with the declaration that it is "just a philosophical system" that
does not even reference the Bible. Boyd
had the courage to subtitle his work "A Biblical Introduction to the
Open View of God" (emphasis mine).
Sanders consumes rainforests "biblically defending" the Open View.[14] The same can be said for the other major
contributors to the position.[15] This requires us to look at their conclusions
and determine if such is true.
Bluntly, the assumption of this
author is that if the Open View of God is biblical, then it ought to be fully
embraced. This is perhaps the most
serious reason we need to examine it.
Whatever reason we deem most important, the end result is the same - we
need to appraise OT.[16]
Part II:
A Comprehensive Explanation of OT
Defining OT is not easy. Granting that any new idea undergoes certain
refinements, it cannot be denied that OT seems to be always changing.[17] Therefore, detailing a specific working model
of the system is almost sure to fail... it is outdated, it seems, the moment you
print the paper. That being said, this
paper will seek to interact with the most recent literature to date and draw
from a personal interview with Clark Pinnock, a significant spokesperson for
the view.
The basic argument for OT unfolds
something like this.
"Because God experiences time like
we do and because the future does not yet exist, God doesn't know what the
future holds. Although He is aware of
the various possibilities of what could happen, the free-will decisions
of God's moral creatures are unknown to Him until those decisions are made. In
other words, the events of tomorrow remain hidden from the mind of God until
tomorrow actually arrives.
As a result, God is left to decide
and to act in this world according to what He thinks is most likely to
occur. Because He is sometimes mistaken
about what He thought would happen, however, God occasionally finds Himself
regretting a decision and resorting to Plan B.
In this way, God learns from historical events as they occur and
actually changes His mind and His plans in response to them. This, say Open Theists, allows God to have a
genuine and authentic relationship with mankind."[18]
I read the above statement to Clark Pinnock and
asked if it was a fair assessment. He
responded that although what the statement said was not inaccurate, he did feel
it was unbalanced. As noted above, most
Open Theists believe that their view is not being looked at as a whole. In fact, Pinnock suggested to me that it is a
tactic of those opposed to OT ("our enemies") to harp on the knowledge issues
as a way of distracting from the position without comprehensively engaging
it. His complaint with the above
statement is that it does not address the concept of God being in real relationship
with people and as such choosing to take risks for the sake of love in those
relationships.[19]
Thus, John Sanders defines OT giving
more of this broader approach:
"... it presents an understanding
of God's nature and relationship with his creatures, which we call the openness
of God; in broad strokes, it takes the following form. God, in grace, grants
humans significant freedom to cooperate with or work against God's will for
their lives, and he enters into dynamic, give and take relationships with us.
The Christian life involves genuine interaction between God and human beings.
We respond to God's gracious initiatives and God responds to our responses . .
. and on it goes. God takes risks in this give-and-take relationship, yet he is
endlessly resourceful and competent in working toward his ultimate goals.
Sometimes God alone decides how to accomplish these goals. On other occasions,
God works with human decisions, adapting his own plans to fit the changing
situation. God does not control everything that happens. Rather, he is open to
receiving input from his creatures. In loving dialogue, God invites us to
participate with him to bring the future into being."[20]
In this model, the concept of risk comes to the
forefront. Boyd agrees:
"The view simply states that the
future is partly open to possibilities, and since God is omniscient and knows
all of reality just like it is, he knows the future as being partly open to
possibilities."[21]
Thus, God knows some things about the future -
things He is really set on accomplishing - but He chooses to not know
many things, in order to love His people by entering into a real relationship
with them... at least a relationship that appears real since it is most like our
human ones.
This is OT in a very small nutshell. Perhaps the easiest way to grasp the position
is to start at the beginning and work our way back to the conclusion. Seeing how OT has evolved may shed greater
light on what it really is.
Love
It seems that all Open Theists lift-off from
the same launching pad to arrive at their conclusions. That starting point is none other than 1 John
4:8 (or similar texts), which state: "God is love." This, it is claimed, is the "first and last
word in the biblical portrait of God."[22] Love is "the one divine activity that most
fully and vividly discloses God's inner reality... [it] is the very essence of
the divine nature. Love is what it means
to be God."[23] Pinnock adds, "God created the world out of
love and with the goal of acquiring a people who would, like a bride, freely
participate in his love..."[24]
With love as the supreme definition
of God, OT then moves to discover how this love fleshes itself out in the
world. It is true, most Open Theists are
quick to decry any link to Process Theology, a charge laid against them often
in the early stages of the debate.
Process Theology suggests a cause and effect relationship between God
and the world: God needs the world and therefore needs relationship with
people.[25] However, that being said, where Open Theists
go next sounds an awful lot like Process Theology, for the next step in the
puzzle has everything to do with relationship.
Relationship
The logic runs something like this: 1. God is love. 2. Love requires relationship. 3. Therefore, God is in relationship with mankind. Much is said, at this point, about the
relationship that exists within the Trinity.
This is proof that God in His love needs (without being dependent upon)
relationship.[26]
Freedom
Moral freedom, free-will or choice is the next
step. This freedom, or Openness, or
Risk, as it is called gets at the heart of the system. The opposite of love toward humankind would
be to create automatons - creatures with no real freedom and hence, no real
relationship with their Maker. God would
never do this because it would violate love.
To argue in reverse, Open Theists
teach that freedom is the meat of relationship (if I don't choose to
love you or return your love how can it properly be called relationship?) and
relationship (or the availability of it) with our Creator is the essence of
love toward us.
This threefold strand of Love,
Relationship and Freedom is not easily broken, since it forms the philosophical
premise, or at least the propositional presupposition of the entire OT model. [27]
Other Influences
Braided into this three-strand cord are two
major hermeneutical influences. OT makes
much out of what might be called a Trinitarian Theology, that is, finding the
explanation for reality within the Trinitarian economy. Reasoning proceeds like this: Since God exists as the "three-in-one," He
exists in relationship. Since He exists
in relationship, He values relationship.
And since "He is love" (above all else), this love within the Trinity
expresses itself in relationship. The
very fact God has chosen to relate to His creation as "Father" is proof
positive of His desire for relationship.
There is also heavy dependence on
what may be termed an Incarnational Theology.
The incarnation, more than any other theme, serves as a model for
openness.[28] The way the Son exhibits emotion, seems to
change His mind, chooses to act in history and is ignorant of the future all
help formulate a concept of God limiting Himself in certain respects (or,
"keeping Himself open to change") in order to exist in real relationship with
people.
Deconstruction of CT: Philosophy and Hermeneutic
A final weapon in the Open Theist's arsenal is
the dismantling of classis theism's view of God. This is attempted in two ways. The first and primary one is to demonstrate
that ancient Greek pagan philosophy has more to do with CT than the Bible; the
majority view of God has listened more to the voice of Aristotle and Plato than
Scripture. The church fathers carried
this fallacy forward and ensconced it into the creeds and confessions. This has led the various OT authors to
re-examine the Word with a fresh slate and feel free to question all they have
been taught by historical theology.
The second front in this battle is
the hermeneutical one. In order to
properly understand God, theologians need to become more "nuanced"[29]
and deal with all the biblical data, not just what fits into their neo-platonic
presuppositions. They especially need to
deal more with the narrative texts that supposedly teach the dynamic and social
character of God. These texts prove that
God has feelings, that He has intentions for humanity that sometimes do not
work out and that He acts in the world - all of which are signs of His
openness. [30]
What Do You Know?
It is from this view of God that OT moves to a
discussion of how God relates to the world.
Since God values real relationship and real relationship must be
uncoerced,[31] He has
voluntarily given mankind a free will - to love or hate Him. As Pinnock writes, "It seems that God, in
deciding to create humankind, placed higher value on freedom leading to love
than on guaranteed conformity to his will."[32]
Therefore, in order for the will of
man to remain free, God chooses to not know the future, since to know it would
be to have decreed it and to have decreed it would be to rob man of his
freedom. So, the omniscience of God must
be redefined. God knows, not everything;
only everything there is to know.[33] Since the future free decisions of men have
not taken place, it is logically inconceivable that God would know what those
decisions might be. He might have a
really good idea, based on His databank of facts of your past life and your
patterns of decision-making. He is also
a very good guesser, since He has been dealing with humankind for so long.
"...given the depth and breadth of
God's knowledge of the present situation, God forecasts what he thinks will
happen. In this regard God is the
consummate social scientist predicting what will happen. God's ability to predict the future in this
way is far more accurate than any human forecaster's, however, since God has
exhaustive access to all past and present knowledge."[34]
On the other hand, since freedom means
unpredictability, He might be wrong about future free decisions.[35] It is this potential to be incorrect that
really makes God open to men. Sometimes
He needs to change a course of action based on the unforeseen decisions of
men. Other times He has to attempt His
goal through other means or other people.
This is not a threat to God (since He is God and infinitely resourceful)
and should, in fact, lead us to a greater appreciation of His Person:
"The bottom line is that life is all
about possibilities. We are thinking,
feeling, willing, personal beings only because we, like God, are beings who can
reflect on and choose between possibilities."[36]
In this model, God remains "sovereign," even
though He has chosen to allow for genuine relationship by not "micro-managing
creation."[37] Still, in order to accomplish His purposes,
there are some things which God does decree and which He will accomplish even
though the "doing" might or will violate man's free will.[38] The cross is sometimes kept in this category[39]
and in some respects so is eschatology, although
not much has been written on this topic.
The end result then is that humanity[40]
enters into a partnership with God to create the future. This future is as unknown to God as it is to
us, except that when God feels "things are just right" He will "close the
curtain" and usher in the age to come.[41]
Part III:
Evaluating the System
To evaluate OT in its entirety is well beyond
the scope and setting of this paper and that is frustrating. I will attempt to appraise a few crucial
points, but an entire book would need to be written to adequately treat each
section.[42] This means that certain gaping holes will be
left and my only hope is that we can cover some of them together in our
discussion period.
Is Love the Divine Essence?
By positing love as the "very essence" of who
and what God is, OT breaks with most orthodox theologies that look at God in a
complex or amalgamated fashion. While no
one is suggesting that love is inconsequential, there is indeed a valid
question to be asked of any system that esteems one attribute of the Godhead
over and (in a very real sense) against the others.
For instance, Peter wrote that God
is "holy." How is this any less a
description of the divine essence than "love?"
Why is love more important than holiness? What in the text suggests that it is so? The same book that declares this love of God
also proclaims, "God is light" (1 John 4:16; 1:5).[43] Why isn't this the final word on His
being? Open Theists never answer these
questions, but expect us to accept their proposition at face value.
There is always a danger of
compartmentalizing God and thinking of Him only as He appears in His various
attributes.[44] An overemphasis on the sovereignty of God has
led many good people to morbid and depressing lives. A focus on the mercy of God has led others to
antinomianism. One wonders if Open Theists
are somehow hanging on to the overemphasis of the 1960's... the love of God?
When God's love is cast in stone as
His premier attribute, then all other attributes and all the decisions that God
makes must flow out of love. Perhaps
this is why there has been little or no discussion of God's punishment and
wrath by Open Theists, other than to say that they cannot conceive of a God who
would punish for eternity.[45] Yet, the orthodox tradition has been to
examine God's attributes individually as a means of gaining a crisper
definition to then inject into the overall picture of God. Open Theists suggest that CT has been overrun
by neo-platonic thought, but isn't one of the deplorable hangovers of Plato the
creation of false dichotomies? OT has
partitioned love from the rest of God where there is no textual warrant and has
fallen into the trap they accuse others of squirming in.
As a result, God becomes a victim of
His own love. He is forced to give
mankind a level of freedom that can hurt Him (hence, "the God who risks") and
He cannot perfectly know the future since to know it would be to decree it and
to decree it would be to rob mankind of all freedom. This would spell the end of love and the end
of God.
This is what leads OT into the
waters of God's knowledge. It is not
just that a few fringe theologians sat around one day and said, "What can we
write about to make ourselves really disliked?"
No, the OT redefinition of God's knowledge is a result of the
love-relationship-freedom paradigm.
Relationship and Freedom
Secondly, it must be asked, "Are absolute
sovereignty and genuine relationship mutually exclusive?" That is to say, does it logically follow that
the moment God removes human freedom He ceases to be able to authentically
engage me as a person?
OT argues that absolute sovereignty
destroys real relationship since real relationship is predicated on free
will. If I am not free to take on the
relationship or to reject it then I can have no relationship.[46] The question is, how can a sovereign God really
relate to me as a person, if my personhood, by definition, requires absolute
freedom. How do human responsibility and
divine sovereignty co-exist? This is not
a new question and has been answered effectively elsewhere.[47]
It is worth noting here, however, that the very
sin OT charges against CT, that of opting out of difficult theological
conclusions by resorting to "tension," "paradox," "compatibilism" or
"antinomy," is the very sin they feel free to commit at will. With a wave of the hand, the antinomy
of Jim Packer's Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, and the compatibilism
of Carson and Piper are sent packing.
However, the same kind of solution is allowed with the tricky points of
OT. Boyd requires antinomy in his
conclusion that God is altogether wise, even though at times mistaken.[48] Pinnock does the same thing, noting a
"paradox" between the strength and vulnerability of God.[49] More will be said on this logical fallacy
later on, but the point to observe here is that both sides of the debate use
the same device.
The complaint against OT is that it
does not interact with the genuine solutions offered by Calvinists to the real
problem of understanding the relationship between human responsibility and
divine sovereignty. Rather, OT rejects the
Calvinistic solution to this problem on the grounds that its acceptance is
"logically untenable" and leads to "a crisis of faith."[50] Now, these are the kind of useless answers
that could be hurled right back at OT.
They add nothing to the advancement toward the Truth.
It would be of far more interest to
hear how OT thinkers would interact with the biblical notion of "the liberty or
contingency of second causes" especially as it is taught in our Baptist
confession.
"God has decreed in himself, from
all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and
unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God
neither the author of sin nor does he have fellowship with any therein; nor
is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or
contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which
appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in
accomplishing his decree."[51]
The phrase "liberty of second causes" means
that a man acts without "external coercion" and never does what he does not will
to do. Yet, the Lord has predestined all
he does. Thus, while God is in no way
responsible for the evil actions of a man, He has at the same time decreed
them. As Sam Waldron explains,
"...it is certainly true that God is
not actively involved in bringing about man's sin in the same way that he is
involved in bringing to pass righteousness and salvation. In this sense, we may speak of divine permission
of certain acts. On the other hand, we
may never speak of bare or unwilling or forced permission with reference to
God. God only permits in history what he
has already decreed before history should certainly come to pass... nothing
conditions God's decree."[52]
The plain truth of texts such as Genesis 50:20
are never dealt with adequately by Open Theists, thus the plain truth of God's
eternal decree is never answered. What
passages like this clearly teach us is that God can exist in a
relationship with humans even though He has predetermined everything in that
human's life, including sin.
Trinitarian and Incarnational Theologies
Examining the Trinity is never a bad idea and
it is true that much can be gleaned from the relational dynamics within the
Godhead. I would suggest though, that understanding
the Trinity is not that easy. It is
naïve of Open Theists to say that God exists in relationship with Himself, therefore
He must want to exist in relationship with mankind. It is even more naïve to suggest that He
wants to exist in the same kind of relationship with mankind that He
enjoys with Himself.
Such thinking does not fully take into account
the transcendence of the Almighty and the simple fact that God is not a man -
He is the Creator. As such He is
entirely different from His creation, even though humanity was created in His
own image and likeness.
This error is carried even further
with OT's Incarnational Theology. Rice
and others have foolishly looked at the Incarnation as a comprehensive
explanation of God, not taking into account His pre-existence or His Return. He
goes as far as to say that. "...God revealed Himself in Jesus as nowhere else...
Jesus defines the reality of God."[53] What is more, he suggests that since God
chose humanity to make Himself known, therefore "...the distinctive features of
human experience [must be] most reminiscent of the divine reality."
The next stage in this line of
reasoning is to make the actions and experiences of Jesus' earthly ministry
normative for God. Thus, since Jesus did
not exercise coercive power over humans in the gospels, the Godhead never does.[54] This is the proof, you see, that God values
relationship and only woos and warns, never effectually calls or punishes.
In other words, Rice is claiming
that God became man and not an apple because man was most like Him. This is the cracked foundation of OT. Although Open Theists would deny it, the fact
is they have exalted humanity to the position of a new and final hermeneutic.[55] God can only be explained as He fits into my
human experience. I relate with people -
therefore God relates to people. My life
is full of surprises - therefore God's life is full of surprises. Granted that OT still treats God as a
different being than man, it cannot be denied that He is much closer to the
exalted man-God of Mormonism than the YHWH of the Bible.[56]
Bruce Ware poignantly comments:
"And what's wrong with this? Only that the incarnation marks a historical
time when Jesus, the eternal Son of God, veiled His glory (see John 17:5) along
with many privileges and prerogatives of deity (see Phil 2:5-8) in order to
take on the finitude, weaknesses, and limitations of human servanthood. Incarnation marks, in one sense, a limitation
of full divine expression... while it also expresses, in another sense, God's
nature gloriously manifest (John 1:14, 18).
Therefore, theology proper dare not be incarnational lest we conceive
of God wrongly as being subject to experiencing those aspects of human weakness
and limitations which Jesus underwent for the purpose of his mission."[57]
The simple fact that Jesus will look a tad
different in His glorious Return is enough to show that the Incarnation is an
inappropriate sample for determining theology proper.
Is CT Flawed? History, Philosophy and Hermeneutic
One of the primary arguments for the demise of
CT is that its leans far more on Greek philosophy than the God of the
Bible. Is this true? I am not an historical theologian - and
neither (apparently) are any of the OT authors. Therefore, I will not attempt
to refute their premise, especially since it has been done effectively done in
other places. For instance, Alister
McGrath comments:
"Why should we trust clarion calls
to modify the evangelical tradition if the critics are not familiar with
it? It is in John Sanders's chapter on
"Historical Considerations" that the problem is made most evident.
There he surveys how the "Greek metaphysical system 'boxed up' the God
described in the Bible." Yet the survey Sanders presents is derivative,
based on secondary literature. And when we come to Luther, the results become
uncomfortably clear. Sanders's entire discussion of Luther is based on one
reference to Paul Althaus's Theology of Martin Luther (1963), one
reference to a general work on the theology of providence, and a single quote
from the 1525 work The Bondage of the Will. The fact that this polemical
1525 work is thought by some Luther scholars to be out of line with Luther's
constructive works is not mentioned; in fact, in this work Luther explicitly
contradicts Sanders's statement that, for Luther, "there is no God beyond
the God revealed in Jesus." What about the theology of the deus
absconditus in The Bondage of the Will, then? There is a total
silence on Luther's massive contribution to a theology of the suffering God.
Yet this theology has had a massive impact on modern Protestant reflection, as
shown by the writings of Jurgen Moltmann and Eberhard Jungel, to name but two
obvious examples. Where are the references to the
I found myself outraged by this lack
of scholarly familiarity with Luther and his background. However, noting the
strong Arminianism of some of the contributors to the volume, I decided to
explore whether the theology of a suffering God found in the hymns of the noted
Arminian Charles Wesley had been presented... I found that Wesley is not even
mentioned in this chapter.
The book asks us to reject a
classical evangelical understanding in favor of something else. But why should
we abandon this tradition when, in fact, it has clearly not been fairly and
thoroughly presented in this book?"[58]
Secondly, CT is supposed to be flawed because
of its dependence on Greek philosophy.
Is this the case? Actually, it is
OT that is based far more on philosophy than CT. The OT philosophical assumption that determination
erases relationship is never proven!
It is a fleshly conjecture that supposedly gives the right for Open
Theists to come up with a more "logically tenable" solution. Still, this point alone is the petrol that
fuels the OT engine and it leads these men to approach the text with an agenda,
not a clean slate. Thus, rather than
dealing with the text in an honest fashion they approach it with a goal of
proving their assumption that God really must be open and relational (according
to their definition of "relational").
The response to this accusation is
always the same, "Well, you Calvinists just leave off at mystery. You say there are some things we should not
even ask! That is intellectual
suicide!" But, as a Calvinist, I would
say this is exactly what the Bible teaches.
It doesn't even mean I have to like it or that I find it intellectually
fulfilling! But where does it say that
God owes me the stimulation and satisfaction of my mind. He tells me to love Him with my mind and at
some level that has to mean subjecting my mind to His revealed Truth. The accusation that Calvinism ends in mystery
because it is a logical, man-made system is a smoke screen. No matter how much Boyd and others mutilate
the text, Paul meant what he said when he wrote to the Romans concerning
individual (not corporate) election, "...who are you, O man, who answers back to
God?"
It appears that Open Theists find
their freedom to question "everything" more from the post-modern ethos of
relative truth than a desire for biblical accuracy. Pinnock says he does not "reject this as a
possibility" but one has to wonder if he and the others have honestly examined
the likelihood.[59]
A final facet of this supposed toppling of CT
is the more "nuanced" hermeneutic of OT to the Bible and the narrative texts in
particular. Again, OT fails to make a
case. It is telling, in my mind, that no
Open Theist has addressed the phrase of Ephesians 1:11 "who works all things
after the counsel of His will."[60] Now, here is a propositional text that
addresses the heart of the issue of God's knowledge and God's providence head
on. Good biblical theology on these
issues would entail interpreting the text and showing its relation to the
system. OT blatantly avoids texts like
these, however, and draws its system from the narrative passages.[61]
Abraham's attempted pedocide, Moses'
"calming down" of an angry Jehovah, Hezekiah's extended life,[62]
the Lord's "regret" in making man at the time of the Flood, His "wondering"
aloud about the future,[63]
the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane - all of these narrative passages are examined
and held up as proof that God really is in relationship with us and as such is
open to and conditioned by our responses to Him.
Again, as delightful as it would be
to show the shoddy exegesis of these passages, space does not permit. However, it is important to note that an
appeal to narrative passages can prove almost anything you want - especially
when you appeal only to certain verses and statements within those passages and
do not consider the parallels.[64]
To be sure, narrative does teach. But the art of narrative interpretation is
not some navel-gazing, "here is what it means to me," but a careful biblical
theology that holds up propositional truth as an interpretive tool of the
story. In fact, without going too far
into this discussion, it might be good to say, we have no right to state what
the story means unless the narrative itself, or some other correlative
passage explicitly states what it means.
A quick read of some of the Fathers on the parables of Jesus will show
how rapidly the expositor can fall into error when this principle is neglected.[65]
Thus, if the above is true, that is,
a) love alone is not the definition of God, b) freedom and sovereignty can
co-exist, c) relationship is real even when God is sovereign, d) OT is
historically inventive and CT is not built primarily on the bedrock of Greek
philosophy, e) OT is built off of philosophy and, f) OT is guilty of an
over-concentration on narrative passages, then the conclusions of OT are wrong
that, a) God does not know the future (unless it is something He has decreed)
and, b) He is not sovereign over the minutiae of life. OT has failed to make their case. God is sovereign, all-powerful, eternal,
incorporeal, omniscient and not like us.
Closing the Door on Openness
The sheer mass of material pouring out of the
OT camp means there are many other features and details that must be ignored in
this paper. The reader might be
disappointed that some of these issues have not been tackled directly, but I
have attempted to include as many footnotes and a bibliography to let you read
what others smarter than me have already written.
The OT Hermeneutic
There remains one area of concern that no one
has addressed thus far, though, and I think it bears at least passing
mention. It must not be forgotten that
the authors of OT are not coming to the text of the Bible in the same manner
most of us are. Pinnock, for example,
openly refutes inerrancy,[66]
has embraced inclusivism,[67]
has defended annihilationism,[68]
applauds feminist, catholic, charismatic scholars and only attempts to remain
in the evangelical camp because it "is a contemporary revival of warm,
missionary, biblical faith which God is still using more than the old-line
main-line side-line."[69] In other words, it is the best out of a
pretty lousy selection.
Obviously, to arrive at the
theological position he has, (assuming that he is fairly normative for the OT
movement) means that at its primary level, OT is really a question of
hermeneutics. All the authors defend themselves
as being biblical, but that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.
Don Carson, in his book, Exegetical
Fallacies, lists a number of ways in which bible students (himself
included) can foul up hermeneutically.[70] I counted 7 blatant infractions.
- Simplistic
appeal to authority. As noted above, OT is
prone to make sweeping claims about historical theology and the church
fathers. These appeals should never
be made without first giving careful study to the subject. Just because you say a particular father
said something does not mean he did - and OT authors are guilty of
depending on isolated statements and poor second-source works to build
their case.
- Straw-manning. This is perhaps the greatest offense of
OT. The God of CT is caricatured to
the point of unrecognizability.
Pinnock writes, for example, of the CT God that He is "an aloof
monarch, removed from the contingencies of the world, unchangeable in
every aspect of being, as an all-determining and irresistible power, aware
of everything that will ever happen and never taking risks."[71] Added to statements like this are the
plentitude of off-hand misrepresentations like, "a solitary potentate,"
"an abstraction," "the enemy of human freedom," using the "coercive power
of a puppeteer," managing creation with His "monopoly power," a
"know-it-all" sitting in heaven "inert and immobile," and somewhat "bored"
since He cannot ever "experience surprise and delight."[72] Do Open Theists really expect us to
believe that this is a fair treatment of the CT position? No Classical Theist I know would use
these terms to describe his God, these are the fabrications of an opponent
who is trying to take the focus off the failings of his own position and
make it appear stronger next to the easily toppled straw-man of CT he has
erected. This is shameful.
- Appeal
to Selective Evidence. Carson writes: "As a
general rule, the more complex and/or emotional the issue, the greater the
tendency to select only part of the evidence, prematurely construct a
grid, and so filter the rest of the evidence through the grid that it is
robbed of any substance."[73] The examples of this offense in OT are
numerous but I shall give one glaring illustration. Consider the OT hypothesis that God did
not know how Abraham would respond to the command to kill Isaac. Boyd makes much out of this apparent
lack of knowledge and even says it teaches that "it was because Abraham
did what he did that the Lord now knew he was a faithful covenant
partner" (Gen 22:12).[74] Bruce Ware, interacting with Boyd on
this issue points out how Boyd has not considered the related texts to
this passage, especially Hebrews 11:19, which says, "He (Abraham)
considered that God is able to raise men (Isaac) even from the dead; from
which he also received him back as a type." Expositing this verse, Ware concludes,
"it demonstrates without any doubt that Abraham had a God-fearing heart
leading up to his sacrifice of Isaac.
Since God knows this (all Open Theists acknowledge He has perfect
knowledge of the past and present), it is absolutely wrong to interpret
Gen 22:12 as saying that only when Abraham lifted the knife did God
'learn' that Abraham feared God."[75] It is easy to make the Bible say what we
want it to say when we only appeal to certain texts and certain parts of
certain texts.[76]
- Cavalier
Dismissal. It has already been noted that OT
routinely dismisses the Calvinistic grid of understanding divine
sovereignty and human responsibility with not so much as a wave of the
arm. Rather than interact with the
inner workings of this grid, OT authors simply pronounce it
unworkable. The onus of
responsibility is on them to defend that remark before going any further.
- Falsely
Qualify Extreme Statements. Perhaps Boyd commits this
fallacy more than any other. He is
often quick to add little remarks to the end of long paragraphs that say
something like, "but God still could know everything in the future if He
wanted to." This is like trying to
play tennis with a mango. These
grandiose statements about God taking the risk of not knowing what tomorrow
holds are always softened at the last minute so as to make them appear
less offensive, presumably to neuter the rebuttal. At least Pinnock and Sanders have no
such fear of offending!
- Exaggerations. One of the premier duties of a good
salesman is to make whatever he is selling sound better than it probably
is. OT authors fall into this trap
often. For example, Richard Rice
speaks of the "numerous examples" of repentance texts in the Bible as if
every other page had God repenting.[77] He then goes on to list almost all of
them, but leaves the reader feeling that there must be many more out there
just waiting to be pounced on.
- Emotive
Appeal. Although very similar to the
first fallacy examined in this list, the appeal to emotion does not have
to include a straw man of the enemy's position. John Sanders begins his work with a
description of his brother's sudden, accidental death and uses this
tragedy as proof that God, who is so good and loving, cannot be in control
of everything.[78] Boyd gives a lengthy description of an
abandoned wife and concludes, "I don't know how one could effectively
minister to a person in [her] condition" unless one believed it was all
outside of God's plan.[79] Pinnock writes, "I love to think that
God is like the partner in a dance.
As we act out our steps God is always there, leaping at just the
right moments, steadying at others and keeping perfect balance with the
living reality that we are."[80] Or, "...we... understand God as a caring
parent with qualities of love and responsiveness, generosity and
sensitivity, openness and vulnerability, a person (rather than a
metaphysical principle) who experiences the world, responds to what
happens, relates to us and interacts dynamically with humans... our lives
make a difference to God - they are truly significant... we are significant
to God..."[81] Well, that is nice. Especially if you
want to win a dance contest with your best friend. But which of us would suggest that our
lives are insignificant to God?
Which of us has written that famous hymn, "Praise to the Lord, the
Metaphysical Principle?" Beyond the
fact that Pinnock has committed the error of taking words and forcing them
to mean the same thing for God that they do for humans, he has also
attempted to use emotion in the reader to win their approval. One feels bad rejecting the God of OT
simply because that God sounds like a really nice guy! This is the fallacy of emotive appeal.
Part IV: Conclusion
The Dangers of OT
The greatest danger of OT is that it redefines
who God is. The Israelites called the
golden calf YHWH, but that did not mean it was Him (Exodus 32:5). Open Theists may use the name of God, but
that does not mean they are accurately depicting Him.
Whether they choose to accept it or
not, the real motive behind OT is to make a god in the image of man.[82] The God of CT does not act like a man. He decrees things, knows things before they
happen and even chooses some people to love more than others.[83] This will not do for Sanders, Pinnock, Boyd
and crew! History is revised, philosophy
is employed and solid exegesis is exchanged for "nuanced looks at the
text." The end result is a kind of
self-gratifying theology that demeans God and exalts reason.
It seems to me that this strikes at
the heart of OT. The desire of OT is to
make the God of the Bible knowable - not to get to know the God of the
Bible! Their assumption is that if one's
common sense is dealt a blow in the reading of the Bible, this must mean that
one has read incorrectly. Now I am sure
every Open Theist would vehemently deny this and argue that their only desire
is to understand the Word. Well... bunkum.
I question their motives. I question their knowledge of God. I even question their orthodoxy. The God of OT is not the God of the Bible and
those who are influenced by it will be led away from their Maker to a deity of
their own imagination. May the Lord be
gracious to use us to intervene and preach the Truth so that none under our
charge hear the mocking words, "You thought I was just like you!" (Psalm
50:21).
The Benefits of OT
It may seem strange after the last paragraph to
list benefits of OT, however, since I fully believe that God is able to use all
things to His glory, I list three.
- OT
puts into words what a lot of people already think. It might surprise us to read some
paragraphs of Boyd's work aloud in our congregation and ask for a vote on
its accuracy. I believe this is
because OT is the logical conclusion of making a god in your own image. If you only think of God in terms of an
exalted man this is what you get.
It seems to me that this is part of the reason why the Lord takes
such great pains to ask questions of His people like, "To Whom then will
you liken Me?" (Isaiah 40:25). The
tendency is to treat and think of God as a man, albeit a really large and generally
good one ("the big guy upstairs").
But, special revelation is iconoclastic in the sense that it is
continually exploding our false conceptions (idols?) of the Lord. OT can be a help in that somebody is
finally saying what many already think.
Now, we can take what they say and, as a teaching tool show the
fallacy of it to our sheep.
- OT
ought to refine our theology and our hermeneutics. Church history has proven that the best
heresies make for the best orthodoxy!
OT asks some excellent questions of the Word and of our
Calvinism. If you are like me, you
do not enjoy studying topics like this and one of the main reasons is that
it takes a lot of brain energy! We
need prods like this, however, to get rid of some of the mush we carry
around in our theological brains.
Lord willing it will be replaced by a more biblically refined and
crisper presentation of what is true.
We can also use a good wake-up call on our approach to the
text. The constant tension of any
good interpreter is to let the text speak, while integrating what it says
into the rest of our theology. This
back and forth motion takes great care and time and all of us need to
improve at it.
- I
think the best thing about OT is that it deals a deathblow to
Arminianism. Ware makes this quite
clear in his work[84]
and so do the OT authors. OT is, in
one sense, the logical conclusion or outworking of classic
Arminianism. Free will and
sovereignty are contradictory - on this the Open Theist and
Calvinist agree![85]
That is why the Arminian side has, in my opinion, offered nothing of
substance in defense against OT.
They have had the rug pulled out from under them. It may be that the Lord has "permitted"
the sudden uprising of OT in order to demolish another pillar in the
already shaky foundation of Arminianism.
A Final Thought
Open Theists cannot tolerate the Calvinistic
view of God. The idea that God has
predetermined all of my actions seems to be a total affront to their
sensibilities - and I would agree. Such
facts are an affront to one's sensibilities.
Many of us can recall a time when we hated the thought of a sovereign
God. The question then becomes, what
will determine, what will mold, what will be the shaping influence of our model
of God? We must answer in the line of
orthodoxy that the only option is that which God has revealed to us - the Word
of God. A careful study of that living
document will prove OT fashions a God much closer to Adam than Jesus.
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(Underlined items can be web
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(Other works not listed here are
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CON
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