Theological Theses · §1974 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

The common answer: foreknowledge imposes no necessity, for things are not future because foreknown

Very many theologians of the Christian schools answer this, and in my judgement rightly, that God's foreknowledge places no necessity on things. Foreknowledge is not the cause of things; rather, in a certain sense the future things themselves can be called its cause.

Things are not future because God foreknows that they will be. On the contrary, God foreknows that they will be because they really are future.

Latin

XXIII. Ad hoc Respondent plurimi Christianarum Scholarum Theologi, & recte quidem meo judicio, praescientiam Dei nullam imponere rebus necessitatem: nec enim illam esse rerum causam, sed potius res ipsas futuras illius causam certa ratione dici posse: Videlicet, quia res non ideo futurae sunt, quoniam Deus illas futuras esse praescit; Sed contra Deus illas futuras esse praescit, quia revera futurae sunt.

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