The Doctrine of the Divine Decrees
Definition and Description: God the Father is the Author of the Divine Decree. The decree of God is His eternal, holy, wise and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, courses, conditions, successions, and relations and determining their certain futurition (i.e., that they will certainly take place).
Comprehending: Omniscience of God as the source of the divine decrees.
Determining: Sovereignty of God choosing before anything existed which things would actually become historical events.
The Divine Decrees are actually 1 decree but because of the limitations of our human brain we often use the plural, decrees, to express the many facets of God’s plan. The 1 decree was given billions of years ago in less than a second and covering everything in all of what to us is past, present, and future history (Psa. 2:7; 148:6; Dan. 9:24). All history was yet future at the time of the decrees. The decree of God is His eternal and immutable will regarding the future existence of events, which will happen in time and regarding the precise order and manner of their occurrence.
The will of God in common usage refers to what God desires of an individual or group in a particular situation. The will of God in relation to the Divine Decrees refers to the decision God made in eternity past, from His attribute of sovereignty, which established that certain things would actually come into being while other things would not. The will of God is His sovereign choice as to what will take place in time. Human beings and angels have a volition that is truly free. Many things occur as a result of angelic and human free will acting contrary to God’s desires.
God in eternity past decreed that angels and human beings would have volition and that would be allowed to make decisions contrary to the sovereign will of God and without compromising the justice of God. The divine decrees are the eternal plan by which God has rendered certain all the events of the universe, including both angelic and human history-past, present and future. God’s decree rendered all things as certain to occur; He decided that they would exist. In doing so, He did not interfere with angelic or human free will. In fact, He decreed that we would have free will. In giving us volition, He also decreed that our decisions, whatever they might be, would certainly take place-even those that are contrary to His desires.
Being omniscient, He had the good sense to know ahead of time what we would decide, and He not only decreed that those decisions would exist but He also decreed the exact manner, consistent with His integrity, in which He would handle our decisions. The decree of God is the chosen and adopted plan of all God’s works. The decree of God is His eternal purpose; according to the counsels of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. The decree of God is the sovereign choice of the divine will (His attribute of sovereignty) and mentality (His omniscience) by which all things are brought into being and controlled, made subject to His pleasure, and producing His glorification (Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:9).
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit pre-existed everything. No one was above them; no one originated them. (God has no origin.) Anything the Members of the Trinity decide to originate is decided with 2 concepts in mind. It is for Their pleasure. It is for Their glory. 2002 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries (Part 1)
28 Feb 15
Originally posted by Grampy BobbyThe Doctrine of the Divine Decrees
Definition and Description: God the Father is the Author of the Divine Decree. The decree of God is His eternal, holy, wise and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, courses, conditions, successions, and relations and determining their certain futur ...[text shortened]... eir pleasure. It is for Their glory. 2002 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries (Part 1)
The Doctrine of the Divine Decrees
The decrees of God are the sum total of God’s plan, designed in eternity past, relating to all events of all classifications, collected into 1 single all-comprehensive whole through God’s omniscience.
The omniscience of God is the key to understanding the decrees. God has 3 kinds of knowledge: (1) Self-knowledge: (a) God knows Himself-it is total, perfect and complete. (b) He is aware of His own essence and the unlimited capabilities of each Member of the Trinity. (2) Omniscience: (a) God knows all things outside of Himself. (b) He knows all things about believers and unbelievers both the actual-which He Himself foreordained, decreed, programmed into the decree-and the possible-which could have happened but did not because He did not decree it, did not make that particular decision, did not enter it into the decree. (c) His omniscience is unlimited and objective. (3) Foreknowledge: (a) Acknowledges only what is in the decrees, in the plan. (b) It is a printout of the actual facts (not mere possibilities) regarding the function of the believer. (c) The term “foreknown” is used in Scripture of believers only (and of Christ). (d) His foreknowledge is limited and objective.
The Mechanical Function of the Decree: Stage One: The omniscience of God (Psa. 33:13-15; 139:1-4; 147:4-5; Isa. 36:9-10). In His omniscience, God knows perfectly, eternally and simultaneously all that is knowable, both the actual and the possible. Such perception and knowledge is totally compatible with His essence. God would not be God unless He always knew all about everything. God is eternal; His knowledge is eternal. He is sovereign; His knowledge is superior. The link between His superior knowledge and our inferior knowledge is Bible Doctrine. The Creator’s knowledge is infinitely superior to the creature’s knowledge or intellect. Every minute detail of both angelic and human creation is completely and perfectly in His mind at all times.
The omniscience of God perceives the free as free, the necessary as necessary, together with all their causes, conditions, and relations, as one indivisible system of things, every link of which is essential to the integrity of the whole. Every cause and effect is related to another cause and effect and to another and another. In this one, all-comprehensive, inter-dependent system of cause and effect, man’s volition is the uncaused cause of human function so that the course of history is just as man thinks it, wills it, does it.
Time does not limit God’s knowledge. To Him, the future is as understandable as the past. The omniscience of God knows the alternatives to history-the possible as the past. God knows what would have been involved in every case where a man’s decision might have been different from what it was. Omniscience is one of the 3 categories of divine knowledge. Omniscience knows every thought, decision, and act in human history, how they all relate to each other, and how they relate to all the possible alternatives.
The foreknowledge of God makes nothing certain but merely acknowledges what is certain. It knows what is already in the decrees regarding believers only. For believers, there are at least 3 categories of printouts from the decree: (1) Foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29) (2) Election (Rom. 8:30; Eph. 1:4) (3) Predestination (sometimes called foreordination) (Rom. 8:30; Eph. 1:5, 11).
Foreknowledge means that nothing can be certain until it is first decreed; only then can what will happen be foreknown. God knows all actual events as certainly future because He has decreed them to be certainly future. God’s decrees relate equally to all future events of every kind-to the free actions of moral agents as well as to the actions of necessary agents; to the sinful, human-good, and evil as well as to the morally correct, divine-good, and honorable. 2002 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries (Part 2)
http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/doctrines/theology_proper/divine_decrees.pdf)
01 Mar 15
Originally posted by Grampy BobbyThe Doctrine of the Divine Decrees
The decrees of God are the sum total of God’s plan, designed in eternity past, relating to all events of all classifications, collected into 1 single all-comprehensive whole through God’s omniscience.
The omniscience of God is the key to understanding the decrees. God has 3 kinds of knowledge: (1) Self ...[text shortened]... t 2) http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/doctrines/theology_proper/divine_decrees.pdf)
The Doctrine of the Divine Decrees
The decrees alone establish certainty. For the believer, “foreordination” and “predestination” are synonymous with the decrees. Foreordination is an act of the infinitely intelligent and wise God in determining the certain futurition of events in the life of the believer.
Stage Two: The Decree Itself. The omniscience of God fed into the decree only facts. This was accomplished in eternity past-simultaneously, not in stages. The decrees have become the complete and consummated right of the sovereignty of God determining the certain futurition of all things in human history. Whether you realize it or not, God has rights. No decree can become complete without the sovereignty of God. Because He knows the end from the beginning, God wills certain things to happen. “Certain futurition of events” means events, which are future from eternity past, thus all events throughout all time. God is smarter than we are. No event is directly effected or caused by the decree. The decree merely establishes what will be caused, but the decree itself is not the cause.
The fact that a thought or action on your part is in the decree does not mean that the decree caused you to think or do it. The cause is your free will. Your thoughts are in the decree because, billions and billions of years ago, God had the wisdom to know what you would think and to not omit from His planning the fact that you would think it. But the decree itself provides in every case that the events shall be affected by causes acting a manner consistent with the nature of the event in question. Example: The cause of some events is the free will of man.
In the case of every freewill act of a moral agent, the decree itself provides at the same time the following: (1) The agent shall be a free agent: The decree establishes volition. (2) His ancestors and all those involved with the act in question shall be what they are. (3) All present conditions of the act shall be what they are. (4) The act shall be perfectly spontaneous and free on the part of the agent. (5) The act shall be certainly future: The act will definitely take place, at a certain time, after the decree is given.
The decree vested solely with the will of God what His creation should be. Because God cannot contradict His own nature, the essence and attributes of God willed the highest and best for mankind.
“Predestination,” “foreordination,” and “predetermination” are synonyms and refer to the decree. These terms describe the act of the infinite, eternal omniscience of God, which determined that all events in life related to the believer would take place.
Foreknowledge is not the same as omniscience but is more limited in scope. Omniscience knows both actual and the possible; foreknowledge includes the actual only.
Being omniscient, God knows all that would have been involved had He adopted any one of an infinite number of plans of action. He also knows the consequences had man chosen a different course of action within the realm of his own volition. Foreknowledge refers only to those things, which God did decree or adopt as the plan of God-those things related to the believer only.
Only the decree establishes certainty or reality; only reality can be foreknown; nothing can be foreknown until first decreed. God’s decrees never originate from His foreknowledge. Although all three exist simultaneously in the mind of God, omniscience, the decree, and foreknowledge must be separated into a logical sequence for us to understand them. (1) Omniscience (2) Decree: Based on omniscience (3) Foreknowledge: Based on the decree.
Election is the plan of God for believers only. All the elect are believers, but not all believers are elect. Election means, “chosen, selected, set apart for privilege.” There are 3 elections to privilege: (1) Christ (2) Israel (3) Church. 2002 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries (Part 3)
http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/doctrines/theology_proper/divine_decrees.pdf)