Open theism claims God can’t know the future, but Scripture shows He does—our choices are real, yet they unfold within His unstoppable plan. Freedom and sovereignty aren’t rivals; they’re partners in God’s story.
Open theism is a system of thought that attempts to deal with the apparent conflict between two seeming truths: the free will of man and the foreknowledge of God. Open theism argues that in order for man to be truly free, God cannot know the future because if God knows the future, it has already been determined, which means that man cannot make truly free (uninfluenced) choices. But the Bible presents a different picture. Open theism ultimately fails because it tries to limit God’s knowledge based on human reasoning.
The Bible reveals that God’s knowledge is perfect (Psalm 139:1–6; Psalm 147:5) and that His plans are certain (Isaiah 46:9–10; Psalm 33:11). He is sovereign (Job 42:2; Proverbs 19:21) and omniscient (Matthew 26:34; John 2:24–25). At the same time, human freedom is real, but it operates within God’s overarching plan (Acts 2:23; Philippians 2:12–13). “Changes” in God’s plans are not because He did not know what would happen or that He was not sovereign; rather, He fits human decisions into His eternal design (Genesis 6:6; Exodus 32:9—13; 1 Samuel 15:29; Jeremiah 18:7—10). Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not opposed. God weaves our choices into His perfect plan, demonstrating that true freedom and divine control coexist.
Human decisions are real and meaningful, yet they never thwart God’s purposes, reminding us that His wisdom and authority far exceed our understanding (Isaiah 55:8–9). Open theism underestimates God’s greatness, but the Bible assures us that He fully knows all things, is never surprised, and works all things together for His glory and our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).
Open theism depends on a presupposition—man's free will. But the "free will" that open theism espouses is different from simple freedom of choice. Open theism defines free will as the genuine ability of humans to make choices that are not predetermined or fully known by God, allowing their decisions to shape the future in ways even God does not exhaustively foresee. Open theism cannot see how God can be fully sovereign yet we have the ability to make choices too.
But, God’s sovereignty is not contradictory to our freedom—He ordains and works through our choices without being constrained by them. Our decisions are truly ours while His plans and purposes remain unthwarted. For example, when you choose to forgive someone who hurt you, that act is genuinely yours, yet God can use it to bring healing and reconciliation beyond what you imagined. Similarly, when you decide to take a new job, God can guide circumstances and people around that decision to accomplish His purposes, showing that your free will and His sovereignty work together, not in opposition.
God's ways are not like ours; His thoughts are not like our thoughts—they are higher than ours, higher than the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8–9). Just because we cannot understand something does not mean it is not true. In the end, open theism fails because it attempts to figure out God's mind using man's mind. This is like trying to use a hammer to write HTML code. It's the wrong tool for the job. The best and safest way for man to come to the truth about God is by listening to what He has revealed to us about Himself in the Scriptures. And Scripture has revealed that He is both sovereign and knows all things fully and that we are responsible for our decisions. God is the all-knowing King who weaves our choices into His perfect plan, showing that true freedom and divine sovereignty are not enemies but partners in the story of redemption.