doctrine of God – Grace Evangelical Society

Foreknowledge Without Foreordination (1 Sam 23:10-13)

August 19, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of God, foreknowledge, middle knowledge, predestination, simple foreknowledge, theology

God is omniscient. That is, God knows everything that could be, would be, has been, is, and will be. But how does God know the future? Upon what does His knowledge depend? Some people (e.g., Calvinists) claim that God’s foreknowledge depends upon His foreordination. For example, Lewis Sperry Chafer said, “Nothing could be foreknown as

The Doctrine of God: Essence and Existence

June 15, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of God, existence of God, theology proper

Are you ready to learn a basic theological distinction? What is the difference between Jesus, the Easter Bunny, and a square circle? One way to think of the difference is between what older theologians called essence and existence. Essence is what something is. What is its nature? What do we know about it? If you

God Is Omnipresent

August 23, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of God, omnipresence, systematic theology

The ancients thought their gods were limited to certain places. A god was in this tree or city, or only had power over that mountain or river. Outside of his or her particular domain, the god was powerless. By contrast, in Biblical thought, God is omnipresent. That means that, unlike creatures (or pagan gods and