Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Ecclesiastes 6:10 ¶ Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ecclesiastes 6:10 ¶ Whatever exists has already been named [long ago], and it is known what [a frail being] man is; for he cannot dispute with Him who is mightier than he. |
Subject: Predestination |
Bible Note: "God foreknows what will be because He has decreed what shall be. It is therefore a reversing of the order of Scripture, a putting of the cart before the horse, to affirm that God elects because He foreknows people. The truth is, He 'foreknows' because He has elected. This removes the ground or cause of election from outside the creature, and places it in God's own sovereign will. God purposed in Himself to elect a certain people, not because of anything good in them or from them, either actual or foreseen, but solely out of His own mere pleasure. As to why He chose the ones He did, we do not know, and can only say, 'Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.' The plain truth of Romans 8:29 is that God, before the foundation of the world, singled out certain sinners and appointed them unto salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13). This is clear from the concluding words of the verse: 'Predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son,' etc. God did not predestinate those whom He foreknew were 'conformed,' but, on the contrary, those whom He 'foreknew' (i.e., loved and elected) He predestinated to be conformed. Their conformity to Christ is not the cause, but the effect of God's foreknowledge and predestination." --A. W. Pink "It is true that God is not limited by time, but this is not the explanation Scripture gives for how God is able to know the future. God is able to declare the end from the beginning because He is able to say, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do My pleasure' (Isaiah 46:9-10). According to the apostle Paul, God 'works all things according to the counsel of His will' (Ephesians 1:11). Paul said all things; not some things or even most things but all things. God has decretively [by decrees] planned all that will happen, and He works in history to bring it about. God knows what will happen because He is in active control of what will happen. "The Pauline notion of divine foreknowledge is understood by many interpreters as a knowing in the Semitic sense of acknowledging, inclining toward someone, knowledge which expresses a movement of the will reaching out to personal relationship with someone. This kind of knowing is illustrated by the meaning of the Hebrew word 'yada', 'to know' in texts such as Amos 3:2; Hosea 13:5; and Jeremiah 1:5. The Hebrew verb can come close in meaning to 'elect'. The Greek verb 'ginosko' can also have the sense of acknowledging someone as in Gal. 4:9 and 1 Corinthians 8:3 in which the term is used to refer to God's 'knowledge' of human beings which is the basis for their coming to know or love God... In Romans 8:29, foreknowledge denotes the exercise of God's will to establish a special relationship with those whom God graciously elects before all time... Foreknowledge as divine choice is thus the basis of predestination to glorification with Christ." --J. M. Gundry "God's foreknowledge is like the experience of a gardener who can look out on his freshly planted field in the early spring and foreknow what sort of plants will be growing in each row of his garden even though no plants are visible. He knows that the first row will be tomatoes, the next row corn, the next row squash, and so on. And how does he know? He knows because he is the one who planted the seed in each of these rows. The gardener's foreknowledge is not passive but proactive. In fact, the gardener had this knowledge back in the dead of winter because he then planned his garden. He knew beforehand what plants would grow in which rows first because of his planning and then because of his work to bring those plans into effect. And so it is with God's foreknowledge. It is not mere passive observation but an active foreknowledge rooted in the decretive purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." --Grover Gunn "This interpretation, furthermore, is in agreement with the efficient and determining action which is so conspicuous in every other link of the chain -- it is God who predestinates, it is God who calls, it is God who justifies, and it is He who glorifies. Foresight of faith would be out of accord with the determinative action which is predicated of God in these other instances and would constitute a weakening of the total emphasis at the point where we should least expect it... It is not the foresight of difference but the foreknowledge that makes difference exist, not a foresight that recognizes the existence but the foreknowledge that determines existence. It is a sovereign distinguishing love." --John Murray |