Question:  Hi Greg,

            In one of your radio programs you talked about the fact that God does not learn and that he does know everything.  I am not disputing what you say.  However, how does the story of Abraham’s testing square with what you are saying?  God said, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  What would be the point of testing Abraham if God already knew the outcome?

            Jim

Answer:  Dear Jim,

            The nuance you attach to what God knows is distinctly different from what I discussed in the program to which you have reference.  I spoke of God’s infinite and sovereign knowledge.  God cannot learn, for he knows all there is to know in terms of information and knowledge.

            You speak of human action.  The Bible clearly makes a distinction between what God knows, in terms of his sovereignty and wisdom and what we speak of as intellectual aptitude and what we humans decide to do.  The Bible shows us and consistently gives examples of God’s foreknowledge in determining that humans have free will and self-determination.  Therefore, he does not know whether you will have two pieces of candy, limit yourself to one, or simply decide to resist candy altogether.  That decision and choice is yours, but such a mundane issue does not implicate or limit or diminish the all-knowing God, who is beyond learning such as we experience.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht