The Eternal Plan of God - WCF 3.1-3.2

3.1 God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,.. (Eph. 1:11)

3.2 Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions; yet has He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions. 

11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” (Rom. 9:11-13)

 

Resources:

The Eternal Decrees of God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Decrees of God by Francis Turretin

The Divine Decrees and Predestination by Louis Berkhof

The Divine Decrees by W. G. T. Shedd

The Decrees of God by William Cunningham

Of the Decrees of God by Hugh Binning

The Decrees of God by A. W. Pink

The Decrees of God by William Ames

WCF Chapter 3: Of God’s Eternal Decree by William Boekestein

Of God's Eternal Decrees by David Dickson

The Decrees of God by Charles Hodge

The Decree of God by Derek Thomas

What are the Decrees of God? by James Fisher

Did God Ordain Sin? by J. Gresham Machen

Calvin on God’s Permissive Will by Phil Gons

Does Divine Determinism Make God the Author of Sin? by James Anderson

The Doctrine of Divine Foreordination by N..L. Rice

 

Multimedia:

WCF Chapter 3 (MP3) by William Still

Of God’s Eternal Decree (Ch.3, Sec.1) by Greg Bahnsen

Of God’s Eternal Decree (Ch.3, Sec.1) by Greg Bahnsen

 

 

 

 

 

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