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Divine Sovereignty, Scripture, and Open Theism: An Evaluation

Stephen J. Wellum

Associate Professor of Christian Theology

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Louisville, Kentucky

Presentation at the Evangelical Theological Society

National Meeting, Colorado Springs, CO

November 14-16, 2001

When one thinks of the topics that create friction among Christians, the subject of divine

sovereignty is probably high on the list. We all have experienced heated discussions over the
nature of divine sovereignty, especially as it relates to the issues of divine election and salvation.
Many Christian people, even seminary students, have expressed to me time and again that they
wish the subject would somehow disappear. But that is hardly likely since the subject of divine
sovereignty is so foundational to one's entire theology and praxis.

In fact, within evangelical theology today, the perennial polemics over divine

sovereignty-human freedom are heating up more than ever given the rise of the view entitled
`open theism.' At the heart of the `open view' proposal is a reformulation of the doctrine of
divine sovereignty and omniscience that has massive implications for how we think of God and
his relation to the world.

That is why, given the recent trends, it seems unlikely that discussion

over the sovereignty-freedom relationship or foreknowledge-freedom tension will fade into the
background. Instead, the subject, because it is so critical, must be revisited once again with a
renewed sense of vigor and determination as we seek to test our proposals, whether new or old,
against the standard of God's Word.

The goal of this paper is to do just that, but not in the typical way of evaluating this issue.

Often our discussions of divine sovereignty, omniscience-human freedom merely collapse into
the age-old Calvinist and Arminian debates over divine election, free will, and the nature of
human depravity. No doubt these debates are important and they must be handled with care and
faithfulness to the biblical text. However, what is sometimes lost in these discussions is the fact
that one's view of God and his relation to the world has massive implications for one's whole

The literature on "open theism" is growing by the month. For some helpful statements of the view see Clark

Pinnock, et al. The Openness of God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994); David Basinger, The Case for Free
Will Theism (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996); John Sanders, The God Who Risks (Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press, 1998); Gregory A. Boyd, God of the Possible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000); Clark Pinnock, Most
Moved Mover (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2001). For a sympathetic, yet critical summary of open theism see
Terrance Tiessen, Providence and Prayer (Dowers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 71-118. For various critiques
of open theism see Bruce A. Ware, God's Lesser Glory (Wheaton: Crossway, 2000); John M. Frame, No Other God
(Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, 2001).