Molinism
A view held among orthodox Christians
The view that God knows not only what will happen but what every free creature would do in any circumstance, and uses this "middle knowledge" to accomplish His purposes.
Also called: Molinist, middle knowledge
What it means
Molinism takes its name from Luis de Molina, a sixteenth-century Jesuit theologian. It holds that God's knowledge has three logical moments. He knows everything that could happen. He knows what free creatures would freely do in any possible situation, which Molina called "middle knowledge." And, having chosen which world to create, He knows everything that will happen.
By choosing to create a world in which people would freely do what He intends, God sovereignly ordains all that comes to pass while people remain free in the sense of not being determined. Holders see this as a way to affirm both God's complete control and genuine human freedom. They appeal to passages where God reveals what would have happened in other circumstances, such as Keilah or Tyre and Sidon.
Molinism is held by some Protestant philosophers and evangelicals, often with Arminian-leaning views of salvation. Reformed theologians have generally rejected it, arguing that what a creature would do is known by God because He decrees it, and that Scripture grounds election in God's purpose rather than in what He foresaw creatures would freely choose.
In Scripture
God tells David what the men of Keilah would do if he stayed.
Jesus says Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had seen His miracles.
Christ was handed over by God's set plan and foreknowledge, yet by lawless men.
Those who crucified Jesus did what God's hand and plan had determined beforehand.
God works all things according to the counsel of His will.
History
Developed by Luis de Molina (1535-1600) and revived in modern analytic philosophy of religion.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 3.2
On this site: Sovereignty & human responsibility
Related terms
ArminianismA view held among orthodox Christians
The view that God, by grace, enables every person to respond to the gospel, and elects to salvation those He foresees will freely believe.
CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians
The teaching that salvation is wholly God's work, from His choosing of sinners before creation to His keeping them to the end.
Unconditional electionA view held among orthodox Christians
Before creation God chose particular people to save, out of His free grace and not because of any faith or goodness He foresaw in them.