What Is Open Theism? And Is It Biblical?

 
A Christian Post news item from 2003 reported on a controversy within the Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) over a teaching called “Open Theism” and what Open Theism teaches is that God cannot possibly know the future but only all possible outcomes [1] which in essence denies His omniscience, and what is even more troubling is that those who hold to this teaching claim that God can change His mind and that what He has revealed in scripture can also change by His own decision [2] and that includes biblical prophecy. [3]
 
The post went on to say at the time of the controversy within the ETS over the matter that the doctrine of open-theism in and of itself was not the issue, but whether or not the doctrine was in conflict with the ETS respective statement of faith. [4]
 
But as Christians, our concern with any given teaching or doctrine should not be whether or not it conflicts with any given statement of faith, but rather whether or not it conflicts with biblical teaching, because the respective faith statements of any given denomination or organization within the body of Christ can be in some form or fashion at odds with scripture themselves.
 
Scripture frequently speaks of God’s omniscience and the passage that couldn’t make that more clearer is found in the Gospel of Matthew which states that our Father knows what things we need before we even ask Him. (Mt. 6:8)
 
In other words, God knows our very thoughts, needs, and desires before we even bring them before Him and if He knows the thoughts and intent of every heart and mind, then He also knows the future of each and every person born into this world.
 
What people often forget is that God lives outside of our time frame and therefore time in His Kingdom is not as it is here on earth because God sees both the things of the past, the present, and the future taking place at once as He exists in the past, the present and the future which is why He is called the alpha and the omega; the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:11, 22:13) As far as He is concerned, the past, the present, and the future all the present.  It is hard for us to understand that because we only live in the present.  For us, the past has already happened; it cannot be changed.  The future, aside from the general revelation that we receive from the scriptures cannot really be known by anyone except that God reveal the future to them and that comes by way of prophecy.
 
We can only live in the present and since we cannot change the past and apart from divine revelation, cannot really know the future.  We can only control what happens in the present and what we do during in the present does affect the future for better or for worse.
 
Perhaps the reason why Open Theism seems to have such an appeal is because people do not understand how an all-knowing God can possibly know the choices that each and every person will make without predestinating them to do so.  How does God know who and who will not submit themselves to His service without deciding who and will not?
 
How does He know who will place their trust in Him for their redemption and who will not, and who will be in His Kingdom and who will not?  Calvinists will often argue that all things are pre-ordained of God, including who is to be saved from damnation and who is to be eternally damned but for those who believe in a loving and merciful God, such a teaching does not reflect a God of love and mercy.  Instead, it makes God out to be cruel and unjust, for what justice, love, and mercy is there in pre-ordaining someone to either Heaven or Hell rather than allowing them to choose for themselves where they will spend eternity?  How can God possibly have a meaningful relationship with mankind if men are not allowed to freely choose whether to love and serve Him or not?
 
And if the attributes of God Almighty are limited, then how can He really be called God?  The only God that could ever be truly worthy of our worship is the God whose attributes are without limit.
 
But not only does Open Theism suggest that God may be limited in His attributes, it has also been taken so far as to claim that God is also subject to change rendering His general revelation found in scripture to be subject to change as well.  In other words, what God declared as sin in the past might be permissible today or what He once made permissible may be made sin later.
 
For example, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, transgenderism, incest, polygamy, easy divorce, lying, theft, murder (including abortion) vengeance, idolatry, and occultic practices that were deemed sinful and evil in the past might be made permissible now or in the future.
 
Even what is required for salvation may be subject to change which means either Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of the world and then was raised from the dead is not necessarily the only way to the Father or His redemptive work on the cross may be rendered insufficient for our salvation, or even if there was a time during which it was only through Him that our sins could be cleansed, there may now be other ways to salvation.
 
And if God does change his mind and invalidates any part of His Word or makes non-applicable or irrelevant any part of scripture which has been divinely inspired of Him in the first place (2 Tim. 3:16) then on what basis could that determination even be made? 
And if one part of scripture be divinely invalidated or made obsolete, could all of it then be?
And if God were to make void His Word entirely, what then would we be given for our instruction and guidance?
What then would become of the promises that He has made to us? Would they be made void as well? Would the NT Covenant that He has made with us in Christ also be made void? And if so, what covenant would then be in its place and how certain could we be of that covenant?
 
Can anyone even begin to understand the potential ramifications of this doctrine and how toxic and destructive it could be to the body of Christ; how much confusion and uncertainty it can cause concerning what we believe?
 
It was for this reason why Don Veinot Jr. of Mid West Christian Outreach, an apologetics and discernment ministry, resigned his membership from the ETS for refusing to take a committed and resolved stand against what he saw to be a dangerous and heretical doctrine.  In his resignation letter, he stated:
 
 
 
when theological terms cease to have stable meanings, Christianity not only becomes spiritually impotent but also academically suspect.  ETS’s watering down of the meaning of “evangelical” is thus costly not only in spiritual but also in intellectual terms, and results also in ethical dilemma. [5]
 
 
 
And for anyone questioning as to whether or not God would ever change His mind regarding anything that He has revealed to us in His Word or if there would ever be a change in His character or standards, He has made it very clear in the scriptures that He does not change (Mal. 3:6) but is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8) and though generations may come and go, and even though cultures and times may change, governments may change, and leaders and rulers may come and go, God does not change and if He does not change, then neither can His written Word, nor can there be any change in the standard that He has set forth, nor in the moral laws precepts that He has decreed for our governance, nor in what He requires for the redemption of sinners and anyone insisting otherwise is in rebellion against the God who made them. 
 
We do not get to mold and shape God in accordance to our preferences but rather it is we who are to be molded and shaped in His image.  It is not to our preferred standards to which God must conform, but it is to His standards that we must conform and we do not get to decide for ourselves what parts of God’s Word to obey or not to obey.  We must commit ourselves to obeying all of it, or none of it.  For it is God who made us and not we ourselves.  It was never in our own minds in which God was conceived but it was in His mind in which we were conceived before we were ever brought into existence just as all things that He has made were conceived in His mind before they came into being for as it is written, without Him “nothing was made that was made.” (Jn. 1:1)
 
And if He is unchanging in His character and standards as the scriptures state, then we can be certain of this:
What was true in the past is true now and will be in the future.
What was deemed evil in the past is evil now and will be in the future.
What was deemed good and permissible in the past is still so today and will be in the future.
What God has decreed in the past still stands today and will continue to stand in the future.
What God has promised will be fulfilled.
What He has said will come to pass will eventually come to pass.
 
 
What He has also made certain is that though all else should pass away, the Word of God, even the written Word, will never pass away (Mk. 13:31, Lk. 21:33) until all has been fulfilled. (Mt. 5:18)
 
But there have always been those who have questioned, challenged, and have cast doubt upon the credibility, sufficiency, and trustworthiness of God’s Word and who have attempted to make it out to be more obscure and complicated than what it actually is, which is why it is so vitally important to know the Word of God well (2 Tim. 2:15) for the better we know it, the better able we will be in countering every argument against it, discredit every teaching and doctrine that opposes it, dispel every doubt cast upon it, the more ready we will be to give an answer to everyone who asks concerning the hope and faith that we have, (1 Pet. 3:15) the better equipped we will be in contending for the faith both within the body of Christ and without (Jude 3), and to pull down strong hold, cast down every imagination, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:4)
 
And when examining anything against the Word of God, in determining whether or not a certain teaching or doctrine is a false doctrine or heresy, it must be determined as to whether that teaching or doctrine casts doubt upon the authority, sufficiency, and reliability of scripture,
whether it contradicts anything within the scriptures, maligns the character of God, attacks His integrity, adds to or takes away from scripture, Makes God out to be other than He has revealed Himself to be in scripture, and leads us to disobey the instruction of scripture.
 
Any doctrine casting doubt upon the authority, reliability, relevancy, and sufficiency of scripture, contradicting scripture, adding to or diminishing from scripture, teaching us to disobey the instruction of scripture on any given matter, attacking the integrity of our Creator, misrepresenting Him in any way, or maligns His character needs to be rejected out of hand and they who insist on holding to and teaching such doctrines need to be purged from the ranks of the Church so as to preserve doctrinal purity and reliance thereon.
 
And according to what is already revealed about Open Theism, the teaching attacks the integrity of God and His character by suggesting that He is subject to change and it attacks the trustworthiness of the scriptures that reveal to us our origins, history, the character and attributes of God, the fate and future of mankind, and which give instruction as to how we are to approach and reverence our Maker, tell us what is good and pleasing in His sight, as well as what is evil and displeasing in His eyes, the rewards and benefits in doing that which is good and right in the eyes of God, the consequences of doing that which is evil in His sight, and how we may be redeemed and forgiven if we discover ourselves sinning and falling short of the standard that God has set forth for us, by also suggesting that the revelation contained in the scriptures may also be subject to change as to their applicability and relevancy which is why Open Theism must be declared by all who profess to hold to a biblical world view a false doctrine and a heresy for in casting uncertainty about what the Bible has revealed to us about the character and attributes of God, it also in turn casts uncertainty as to the applicability and relevancy of the scriptures by which the character and attributes of God are revealed to us and as a consequence, uncertainty may also be cast upon the Gospel message of salvation itself for it is by the divinely inspired scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16) that the Gospel message of salvation is delivered and in casting uncertainty upon the applicability and relevancy of any of the scriptures, uncertainty is then eventually cast upon the applicability and relevancy of the New Covenant established in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior and therefore diminishes the significance of His death upon the cross for our sins and His resurrection and why He even came into this world in the first place because if we cannot be certain as to whether or not the New Covenant established under Christ remains relevant and applicable to us today, then to what covenant are we supposed to presently rely on?
 
This potentially places the salvation of souls at stake because we have all, in some form or fashion, sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and when we sin, a penalty is required and because we have all sinned, a penalty is required of all us and it is not a penalty that we can escape by way of our own merit because sin goes far beyond just an act or even the words we speak, but resides within all of us which is why it is written that we are not defiled by that which is from without but by that which is from within (Mt. 15:11, 17-20) and due to our inward defilement, our own goodness will always fall short of what God requires of all of us which is moral perfection, for in the beginning, when God created the Heavens and the earth, He made all things to be in a state of perfection including man and when the first man Adam and the first woman Eve who was Adam’s wife were created, there was a fruit from a certain tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from which they were told not to eat from having been warned that in the day that they ate that fruit, they would surely die (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3) but rather than heed the warning given to them, they ate of that forbidden fruit and it was at that moment that they ate of that fruit that sin entered into them inwardly corrupting them and as a consequence, the sentence of death was pronounced upon them as they were warned (Gen. 3:19) and eventually, they did die but that sentence of death did not stop with them.  the sin which entered into them and brought about their eventual deaths, was also passed down to all of mankind for all of us are descendants of that first man and that first woman and because we are their descendants, we have also inherited the sin that entered into them (Rom. 5:12) and because of that sin which we have inherited, we all sin in some form or fashion and as a consequence we all die for as it is written, the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) but even the consequences of the transgression committed by Adam and Eve from whom we have inherited our inwardly corrupt nature does not even stop with man, but because of sin, a curse has come upon all of creation as well which has caused it to groan and travail in pain to this very day (Rom. 8:19-22) which is why we live in a world filled with death, evil, and suffering but even worse than the sentence of bodily death and the curse upon creation, sin has placed a separation between us and our Creator and those who die in that sin will be separated from God for all eternity in the darkness and fiery torment of Hell from which there is no relief but is an ongoing unrelenting torment because God cannot allow into His Kingdom that which is in sin lest the Kingdom of Heaven be defiled by sin just as the earth has been because sin affects more than we can possibly comprehend but God in His love and mercy is not willing that any perish in their sin but that all come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9) and therefore has done for us what we could never do for ourselves in that He, in His graciousness has purchased redemption on our behalf in Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son, (Jn. 3:16) who came to us in the flesh, (Jn. 1:14) and being without any sin (2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15) was made that perfect sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27) that was needed to take away the sins of the world and because of His perfect goodness, He was able to offer Himself up on our behalf to satisfy the demanded penalty for all sin and granting mercy and grace through the shedding of His blood on the cross and after having died, rose again from the dead three days later that we might be justified in Him (Rom. 4:25) if we will but call upon His name so that we might be saved from what would otherwise be a terrifying everlasting punishment if we will but call upon His name (Rom. 10:9, 13) and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9) for it is by calling upon His name in sincere repentance that salvation is granted and our souls made clean from sin thereby liberating us from the threat of eternal damnation and with that cleansing comes a new spiritual transformation (2 Cor. 5:17) that causes us to no longer desire to follow after selfish and worldly pursuits but after those things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
to no longer take pleasure in those things that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the Lord, but in that which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer desire to walk in the lies of this present world, but only in the truth that comes from Christ Almighty, (Jn. 14:6) no longer placing our hopes in the things of this present world, but looking forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer rely on worldly resources, men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and wisdom for our needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our needs, (Mt. 6:33) recognizing that the resources of this world and even the people He brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which God meets our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God,
to no longer fear what men can do to us, but rather fearing the God before whom we will have to one day give an account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer look to corruptible institutions within our society for direction and order in our lives but to God who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to be applied to our lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered life, and who, by His Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon repentance, establishes in our lives a course and direction in our lives to pursue for His glory,
to no longer seek our own glory but the glory of God,
to no longer rally behind corruptible men, but instead behind the incorruptible God in Heaven bearing in mind that those men and women God raises up for our edification are but instruments and servants of His for that respective purpose to which He has called them,
to no longer seek to align ourselves with the things of darkness but only with the things of the light,
to no longer trust in the wisdom of the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that comes from above, (Jas. 1:5) nor depend on corruptible earthly authorities to swiftly administer justice, but only in the power of God to deliver us from evil.
 
And it is this new inward transformation that reconciles us to our Creator (2 Cor. 5:18) from whom we had once been estranged and just as our souls are cleansed from sin and our spirits regenerated in Christ Jesus thereby liberating us from the eternal tormenting punishment that must come upon all who remain in their sins and it is this very change, if received by enough people, that potentially can bring about a change for the better in entire households in the manner of how they are run and maintained, and from there, the nature and condition of entire neighborhoods, communities, states/provinces, and entire nations, which then will have an impact and an affect upon the course of the culture and society; how education is taught, how businesses and corporations are operated, how news is reported, the quality and nature of entertainment that is produced, and finally how politics and civic governance are conducted.
 
And just as we are spiritually redeemed in Christ through the forgiveness of sins, so one day we will also experience a bodily redemption by which we will also be liberated from the death of our bodies when our present forms which were born inherently corrupt and sinful are changed into that which is incorruptible and sinless (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) and lastly, creation itself will be liberated from the curse that came upon it because of sin when it is made anew and when it is made anew, there will be no sin, no death, no decay, no evil, and no suffering of any sort, but it will be a place in which there will dwell only peace, joy, and happiness before the Lord God Almighty. (Rev. 21-22)
 
If you have not done so already and feel that you are falling short of God’s moral standards, leaving you uncertain as to where you will be spending eternity, then I urge you today reader to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Do not wait another moment for we do not know when our lives will come to an end.  They could be cut short in but a moment and why delay in coming to repentance at the risk of your life suddenly coming to an end? For if we sense the need for repentance and yet delay coming to repentance only to see our lives come to a sudden end, then we will find ourselves in a Christless eternity filled with nothing but an incomprehensible unrelenting torment in the darkness and fires of Hell which is why the moment you sense the need of repentance, that is the time to come to Christ in repentance for you may not have a later or tomorrow and it is but a simple sincere prayer of repentance away:
 
 
 
"Lord Jesus I need you.
 
 
I realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of God
and that my goodness falls short
of your standard of Moral perfection.
 
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
 
 
Amen."
 
 
Know that God is not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in Heaven is certain.
 
 
 
End notes:
 
 
 
1. “Evangelical Theological Society Issues Split Recommendation on Two Open Theists”  Christian Post, date unknown; published in 2003 according to secondary sources.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-theological-society-issues-split-recommendation-on-two-open-theists.html
 
2.  Ibid.
 
3.  Ibid.
 
4.  Ibid
 
5.  Don Veinot Jr., “Letter to David M. Howard Jr., President of ETS,” Midwest Christian Outreach, December 20, 2003
https://midwestoutreach.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ETS-Resign.pdf
 
 
 
Scripture references:
 
 
 
1.  Matthew 6:8
 
2.  Revelation 1:11, 22:13
 
3.  2 Timothy 3:16
 
4.  Malachi 3:6
 
5.  Hebrews 13:8
 
6.  John 1:1
 
7.  Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33
 
8.  Matthew 5:18
 
9.  2 Timothy 2:15
 
10.  1 Peter 3:15
 
11.  Jude 3
 
12.  2 Corinthians 10:4
 
13.  Romans 3:23
 
14.  Matthew 15:11, 17-20
 
15.  Genesis 2:16-17, 3:3
 
16.  Genesis 3:19
 
17.  Romans 5:12
 
18.  Romans 6:23
 
19.  Romans 8:19-22
 
20.  2 Peter 3:9
 
21.  John 3:16
 
22.  John 1:14
 
23.  2 Corinthians 5:21
 
24.  Hebrews 4:15
 
25.  Hebrews 7:26-27
 
26.  Romans 4:25
 
27.  Romans 10:9, 13
 
28.  Hebrews 7:26-27
 
29.  Romans 10:9, 13
 
30.  2 Corinthians 5:17
 
31.  John 14:6
 
32.  Revelation 21-22
 
33.  Matthew 6:33
 
34.  Matthew 10:28
 
35.  James 1:5
 
36.  2 Corinthians 5:18
 
37.  1 Corinthians 15:51-55
 
38.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18