What is open theism and is it biblical?
Question 2004
Open theism is a theological position that has attracted academic attention over recent decades, particularly through writers such as Greg Boyd, John Sanders, and Clark Pinnock. It takes its name from the idea that the future is “open” — not yet determined — and that God, though omniscient in every other respect, does not have exhaustive foreknowledge of free human choices. The appeal of open theism is pastoral as much as theological: its proponents argue that a God who genuinely responds to prayer, who is truly affected by human decisions, and who is not the remote controller of every event is more coherent and more relatable. The question is whether this portrait of God is drawn from Scripture or projected onto it.
What Open Theism Actually Claims
Open theism holds that God knows everything that can be known, but that future free choices are not yet knowable, even by God, because they have not yet been made. God therefore does not know with certainty what any person will freely choose tomorrow. He makes highly accurate predictions based on His vast knowledge of human nature, circumstances, and patterns, and He may occasionally ensure that specific predictions come true — but His general relationship with the future is one of engagement and adjustment rather than certainty. He takes risks. He responds to what happens rather than simply unfolding what He already knew would occur.
The texts open theists typically appeal to include passages where God appears to change His mind — Genesis 6:6, where God “regrets” making humanity — where He speaks in conditional terms, and where He seems to test Abraham as if He did not already know the outcome (Genesis 22:12, “now I know that you fear God”).
Why Open Theism Fails Biblically
The problems with open theism begin with the prophetic literature. Biblical prophecy is not general prediction; it is precise, specific, detailed foretelling. Isaiah prophesied the name of Cyrus as the one who would permit Israel’s return from Babylon more than a century before Cyrus was born (Isaiah 44:28–45:1). The birth, ministry, betrayal, death, and resurrection of Jesus were foretold across centuries of prophecy. Micah named Bethlehem as the birthplace (Micah 5:2). Zechariah named thirty pieces of silver as the betrayal price (Zechariah 11:12–13). These are not probabilistic estimates — they are declarations of what would come to pass, which means God knew precisely what people would freely choose, long before they chose it.
Isaiah 46:9-10 is perhaps the most direct refutation: “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'” This is not a God making educated guesses. God’s distinguishing characteristic here — the thing that sets Him apart from the false gods of the nations — is precisely His exhaustive foreknowledge. Psalm 139:4 adds the personal dimension: “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” Not “you make a highly informed prediction” but “you know it altogether.”
What About the Passages Open Theists Use?
The texts that appear to show God changing His mind or regretting His decisions are not windows into a limitation in divine knowledge; they are anthropomorphic language, the Bible’s way of speaking about God in terms intelligible to human beings. When Scripture says God “regretted” making humanity in Genesis 6:6, it communicates something real about God’s response to human sin — His genuine moral horror at what His creatures had become. But Numbers 23:19 also states explicitly that “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.” The same God who speaks anthropomorphically of regret also declares that He does not change His mind. Both are true, and both must be held rather than forcing one into a flat literalism that contradicts the other.
Similarly, when God tests Abraham and says “now I know,” this is a relational statement about what has been demonstrated and confirmed in history, not a confession that He lacked information beforehand. God’s testing of Abraham was not an intelligence-gathering exercise.
So, now what?
Rejecting open theism is not a matter of philosophical preference — it is a matter of biblical faithfulness. A God who does not know what will happen cannot guarantee the fulfilment of His promises. If God did not know that Israel would reject the Messiah, the cross was not planned from eternity but improvised in history. If God does not know what you will choose tomorrow, His promises about your future rest on calculated probability rather than certainty. The God of Scripture knows the end from the beginning, and it is precisely that knowledge that grounds every promise He has ever made.
“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'” Isaiah 46:9-10
