7
Sanders concludes, "If Moses and Hezekiah had not prayed to God about these matters, biblical
history would have been different."
14
Or as Boyd says,
The open view [alone] is able to declare, without qualification or inconsistency, that
some of the future genuinely depends on prayer.
15
But the question must be asked. Does biblical teaching on prayer support the
claims of the open view that it best accounts for the genuineness and efficacy of petitionary
prayer? And specifically, is it necessary to have a non-exhaustive view of divine foreknowledge
in order to sustain a robust life of prayer on the part of Christian disciples? It is the burden of
this paper to answer these questions negatively. In fact, I will argue that Jesus specifically
appeals to an exhaustive view of divine foreknowledge to support and sustain a bold and
confident practice of petitionary prayer on the part of his disciples. The biblical support for this
thesis that I will appeal to in this paper comes in Matthew 6.
The Teaching of Matthew 6 on Divine Foreknowledge and Petitionary Prayer
Two times in Matthew 6, Jesus refers to the knowledge of God the Father in his
14
Sanders, The God Who Risks, 271. Pinnock concurs and argues on the basis of Jas 4:2
and Matt 7:7 that "It appears that God's actions can be conditioned by our praying and that
our not praying may thwart God's will." (Most Moved Mover, 172).
15
Boyd, God of the Possible, 95 (emphasis original). For a comprehensive and helpful
description of the open view of petitionary prayer see Terrance Tiessen, Providence and
Prayer: How Does God Work in the World? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000),
71-118.