Matthew 11:23 Christ states:
"And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."
Note what we underscored, and answer these questions:
On the other hand, Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked but primitive and they did not know any better compared to the Capernaum where the Jews already had the complete revelation from the Law and the Prophets. But according to Christ, although he would not create new signs and wonders for Sodom so that they would believe for the same reason we pointed out above, Christ believed that miracles of healing like he performed would have convinced them to repent and not without logical reason (omniscience was not necessary here) since Ninevah believed Jonah's message without any miracles, then repented and God himself repented from the disaster he threatened them with.
However, seeing and knowing the hearts of the Sodomites (now omniscience joins the picture), any change in their behavior would have been temporary because of the prevailing sodomite culture, the very reason God had to pull out Lot from his residence of choice. Saving Lot from corruption and the rest of the region from being infected by such culture would be the "greater good" in that case.
For both Sodom and Capernaum, quite obviously at this point, God and Christ cannot fight free will (again BY DIVINE DESIGN, the incapability is by divine design, similar to God being incapable of making a square circle because it defies definition [another word for design]). Does that make God less sovereign?
The answer to the hyper-sovereignty people is: Can God contradict himself (his design)????? Can God contradict himself just to prove that he is absolutely sovereign? As you can see by now, free will has no limits, but sovereignty does.
"And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."
Note what we underscored, and answer these questions:
- Why then didn't God do "the mighty works" in Sodom if he knew they would repent?
- Why didn't God do the "mighty works" since God is love?
Where are we going with these passage and questions?
Well, classical theologians still have a difficult time admitting that the free will that God created for man is TOTALLY UNFETTERED and completely autonomous. Instead, they qualify immediately "free will within limits" or "free will within the limits that God set". This blog is to point out that there are absolutely no divine limits nor limitations to free will. That is exactly how God shows it, illustrates it, demonstrates it in all of Scripture. Classicists believe that if we do not limit the free will of man, it makes God less omnipotent or less sovereign. These same people will have no qualms about editing God's word to suit their cherished theologies, hypocritically giving themselves "sovereignty" over the meaning of Scripture.
Among other proofs from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, here is one more where we fail to read between the lines.
To answer question #1, it is not necessarily true that God knew biblically that Sodom would repent if he did mighty works within their midst. The statement of Christ was about the past and not the future, so Christ was stating a fact in retrospect and not out of future omniscience. God cannot (by divine design) know the outcome of free will choices until it is in retrospect. The omniscience of God is, by divine design, limited by free will choices.
Now, to answer question #2, God loved Capernaum, but wickedness and the hard-heartedness of the place had hit rock bottom that even signs and wonders will not changes their hearts. Mind you signs and wonders could surprise them, amaze them even, but God's plan is never to get kingdom people by impressing them with material signs and wonders. He looks at the heart and estimates the propensity for transformation, much less, conversion. The assessment is similar to the story of the rich man and Lazarus where Abraham pointed out to the rich man that even if someone rose from the dead to warn his brothers, they would not listen.Well, classical theologians still have a difficult time admitting that the free will that God created for man is TOTALLY UNFETTERED and completely autonomous. Instead, they qualify immediately "free will within limits" or "free will within the limits that God set". This blog is to point out that there are absolutely no divine limits nor limitations to free will. That is exactly how God shows it, illustrates it, demonstrates it in all of Scripture. Classicists believe that if we do not limit the free will of man, it makes God less omnipotent or less sovereign. These same people will have no qualms about editing God's word to suit their cherished theologies, hypocritically giving themselves "sovereignty" over the meaning of Scripture.
Among other proofs from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, here is one more where we fail to read between the lines.
To answer question #1, it is not necessarily true that God knew biblically that Sodom would repent if he did mighty works within their midst. The statement of Christ was about the past and not the future, so Christ was stating a fact in retrospect and not out of future omniscience. God cannot (by divine design) know the outcome of free will choices until it is in retrospect. The omniscience of God is, by divine design, limited by free will choices.
On the other hand, Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked but primitive and they did not know any better compared to the Capernaum where the Jews already had the complete revelation from the Law and the Prophets. But according to Christ, although he would not create new signs and wonders for Sodom so that they would believe for the same reason we pointed out above, Christ believed that miracles of healing like he performed would have convinced them to repent and not without logical reason (omniscience was not necessary here) since Ninevah believed Jonah's message without any miracles, then repented and God himself repented from the disaster he threatened them with.
However, seeing and knowing the hearts of the Sodomites (now omniscience joins the picture), any change in their behavior would have been temporary because of the prevailing sodomite culture, the very reason God had to pull out Lot from his residence of choice. Saving Lot from corruption and the rest of the region from being infected by such culture would be the "greater good" in that case.
For both Sodom and Capernaum, quite obviously at this point, God and Christ cannot fight free will (again BY DIVINE DESIGN, the incapability is by divine design, similar to God being incapable of making a square circle because it defies definition [another word for design]). Does that make God less sovereign?
The answer to the hyper-sovereignty people is: Can God contradict himself (his design)????? Can God contradict himself just to prove that he is absolutely sovereign? As you can see by now, free will has no limits, but sovereignty does.
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