What is Open Theism?
Defining Open Theology — by Thom Powell
A high percentage of the stuff I write is about, or at least relevant to, open theism.
I am an open theist, and as such, I enjoy showing others why they should be too. That’s not why I am writing this post though.
I’ve come to realize that many Christians don’t even know what open theism is… even if they themselves are one.
So, all I’m going to do today is answer the question in the title — What is open theism? I’m not gonna make an argument for open theism. If you are interested in some more in-depth explanations, you can check out my other posts here on Medium AND follow the blog on Facebook. The Facebook page is called (4thebibletellsmeso.) 😁
Ok, from here on out, I’m gonna stay on subject and maybe, maybe, maybe I’ll manage to write a short blog for the first time ever! I don’t want to write a novel. I just want to define a word. That shouldn’t be so hard… but it is.
There are four basic views of God’s sovereignty/omniscience as it relates to the future. These four views are: Calvinism, Arminianism, Molinism, and Open Theism.
BRACE FOR GROSS OVERSIMPLIFICATIONS!!!
Calvinists believe everything that ever takes place was decreed by God before the world began. Everything that takes place is his will.
Arminians believe that God knows everything that will ever happen. This isn’t because He has decreed it, but rather, because He has foreseen it.
Molinists believe that God knows both what could have happened and what definitely will happen. God knew every potential timeline that could take place before He created the world. He chose which timeline would be actualized.
{Some versions of Molinism seem to be an attempted compromise between Calvinism and Arminianism. I have met both Calvinisty and Arminianish Molinists.}
Open theists generally believe that God can know whatever He wants to know, but isn’t obligated to see a settled future. Open theists see both God and the future as ‘open,’ hence the name ‘Open Theism.’ God is open, in that, His feelings, his thoughts, and his plans are all open to change.
God is not ignorant in the open theist view. God knows that which is certain about the future to be certain. God knows that which is uncertain to be uncertain. God knows his own intentions, but those intentions are, as already stated, open. For example: God could say that He will destroy a city tomorrow. Today, He knows that He will destroy it. Tomorrow, He could change his mind. He would then know that He won’t destroy it. In short, open theism is not the idea that God is lacking some true information. Instead, open theism is the idea that God’s knowledge can change.
Let’s use an analogy to show how these ideas contrast.
Imagine a book in God’s hands. This book He is holding represents all of time. It contains everything that will ever happen. This book records the name of every human that ever lives, every song that is ever sung, and every microscopic organism currently living on your face.
To the Calvinist, God already knows every detail of the book, because He wrote it. There are no choices being made by the book’s characters, because, in reality, everything they ever do was predetermined by the real Author. God doesn’t change his book. He wrote it exactly the way He wants it.
To the Arminian, God already knows the book from beginning to end, because He’s already read it. He doesn’t intervene in the free will choices of the characters. He is also a character in the book, so He knows the characters as both a participator and as an observer. The book cannot be edited. What God has read, will certainly take place.
To the Molinist, God knew every possible book that could be written. He knows the content of every book in the library, but He has only allowed this story (the reality we know) to be published. The other books were possible, but only this version of reality has been actualized. The characters in the story have free will, but they can only do that which is recorded in the book which God chose. History can only play out the way God knows it will play out.
To the Open Theist, God has been writing the book for a while, but it isn’t finished. For some reason, He has allowed the characters free will, thus the end of the book is a moving target. God knows how He plans to end the story, but the details are often determined by the other characters. He often knows the decisions the characters will make. He knows them intimately and has been dealing with their shenanigans for thousands of years. Nevertheless, He still sometimes tests them to see what they will do. Sometimes, the characters are very stubborn. God knows where the book is going, but due to the aforementioned stubborn humans, He sometimes changes how it gets there. He often changes his mind about what the next chapter will contain, especially when his most beloved characters make a request.
As you can see, in the first three views, the future is settled. In Calvinism, the future is settled by the decree of God. In Arminianism, the future is settled in the mind of God. In Molinism, the future is ordained of God, but ‘ordained’ would mean something very different to the Calvinist. The Calvinist does not believe man has free will. The Calvinist believes that everything that comes to pass was decreed by God. The Molinist sees these same events as chosen by God from amongst a plethora of options created by the freewill choices of humans. The theory is that God saw all possible futures and then consciously allowed this one to materialize. Molinists and Calvinists agree that the future is settled, they primarily disagree on the issue of free will.
{I always have a hard time explaining Molinism, so if any Molinist reading this feels misrepresented, please leave a comment setting me straight.}
Open theism differs from all three of these views. Open theists believe that the future is unsettled. The future is ‘open.’ Many open theists are ‘presentist.’ A presentist believes that only this present moment exists. The past existed. The future will exist. The present exists. The past is settled, because it has already taken place. The present is only settled AFTER it becomes the past. Therefore, the future is presently unsettled. Though there are ways that the future can be predicted, those predictions often change.
It should be noted that not all open theists are presentist. However, many are, so you can expect to see that subject brought up in debates.
Open theists view most prophecy of scripture as God stating his intentions. Those intentions are also open to change. (Oh look, there’s that word ‘open’ again.)
Open theists point to examples of God repenting as evidence that God can change his mind. (See Exodus 32) To the open theist, this demonstrates that when God says something will happen, it isn’t a declaration of something that he has foreseen. It is typically a statement of intent. Prayer, repentance, disobedience, obedience, righteous zeal, etc. can affect God’s behavior. Man can cause God to do things. Man can cause God to feel things. Generally, open theists deny impassibility. (I have a blog on that if you wanna check it out.)
Open theists believe that God tests people for the purpose of seeing what they will do. He often does this to gain experiential knowledge of the individual’s heart. Though God knows humans very well, He doesn’t always know what they will do. That is why is why he is often seen testing people throughout scripture.
Judges 2:20–22 “And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.”
Open theists tend to describe God as a living, responsive, Person. Open theists believe that God’s emotions can be stimulated by things outside of Himself, that God watches, investigates, and interacts with his creation, and that God’s responses to prayer are both genuine and real-time. That’s why most, if not all, open theists completely reject the classical teaching of impassibility.
If I had to summarize open theism in just a couple of sentences, I would put it something like this:
“Both God and the future are open to change, thus God’s knowledge about the future is subject to change. This means that the emotions described in the God of the Bible are real. This means that prayer can influence God’s feelings and even his decisions. This means that God can and does change his mind.”
Ok, that’s gonna be it for now. I was trying to make this short, but it looks like I failed. Maybe next time…
Please feel free to reach out with any comments or questions! I really hope this was a help to you.
Again, this isn’t meant to be a defense of open theism. It is only meant to be a definition. I hope that by reading this you’ve at least been able to ascertain what open theism is.
At the bottom there are some links to other blog posts on this subject as well as some videos you may find useful.
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