Nature of Omniscience and Omnipotence

[gr8grace]

God’s omniscience is totally compatible with all of His perfect and absolute attributes. God’s knowledge cannot be more or less than it is. Being absolute, it can never be greater knowledge. God’s knowledge is an absolute pinnacle of all that can be known. God’s knowledge cannot be more or less than it is. His knowledge of Himself cannot be more or less than it is today, in eternity past, or in eternity future. Everything that is knowable in history about any creature was always inside the mind of God and never outside the mind of God.

God is immutable. He cannot ever change because He is perfect and absolute as in 1 Corinthians 2:16. Therefore, His knowledge of Himself and of His creation cannot change. Therefore, His knowledge is as unalterable as He is. This means that God cannot change or be inaccurate in His knowledge.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Because He is immutable, God has never changed and God’s knowledge has never changed God! God is aware of all the changes in creatures. God’s knowledge is never complicated by ignorance, absurdities, or emotional reaction.

God is eternal. God has always existed. This means that His knowledge is also eternal and thus not related to the passing of time. 1 Peter 1: 23-25 states that God’s word endured for eternity. God’s knowledge of Himself precedes both time and is not limited to space. Therefore, His knowledge of Himself is not subject to time and space. God will not know more about Himself as time passes.

For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:23-25)

God is infinite. Therefore, God’s knowledge is without boundary or limitation in the universe. God exists beyond the created universe as well everywhere simultaneously within the universe. Therefore, God’s knowledge is infinite and perfect and not limited to the universe which He created.

God is sovereign. Therefore, His knowledge is superior to all other knowledge of created beings. God is in absolute control of everything at all times – except for the free will of mankind. God never had to learn anything. There never was a time when He did not know all that can be known.

God is absolute truth. He cannot lie or deceive about what He knows. If He deceived anyone about anything, He would cease to be perfect and absolute truth.

God’s knowledge precedes both time and His creation of the universe. In the eternal and immeasurable past, God had total, absolute, and complete knowledge about everything that would ever be.

The omniscience of God knows all that would have been involved in every situation where a person’s decisions and actions might have been different from what they actually were. This means that God’s omniscience and foreknowledge are related to the His divine decrees.

 

[Aloysium]

i've been thinking and reading up about omniscience lately, and came across this old thread
thought i'd add a summary of how i understand Divine Knowledge

God exists within eternity and through Him, through His love emerges creation
alto' He is not His creation, He is everywhere within it, while also being outside of it

He knows Himself thoroughly

He knows all about His creation, as all time is before Him
this does not deny free-will since His awareness includes what we decide in the moment
His consciousness includes all moments

Genesis 4;
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

this points to a mystery that i believe we must accept altho' we cannot fully grasp it

We see here that while in eternity, although God knows how we will decide,
He approaches us in time that we might exercise our free will to love and obey Him.
While knowing how we will decide, He also knows us and how we might decide, we are free to choose in the moment that He knows in His vision of eternity

He also knows us so well that, He knows what could have been if certain conditions were met:

Matt 11:
20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of his miracles, for that they had not done penance. 21 Woe to you, Corozain, woe to you, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.


just wanted to share