Is There Biblical Support for Molinism?

Dr. Craig answers a question about resolving the tension between divine providence and human free will and if Molinism's task in doing so is biblically supported.

INTERVIEWER: Would you say there's biblical support for the Molinist resolution to this tension?

DR. CRAIG: I think that you can give biblical justification for thinking that God has knowledge of subjunctive conditionals. All through Scripture you have these sorts of subjunctive conditionals about how people would act if something were the case. For example, Jesus says to Pilate “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be delivered to the Jews.” Well, that's a subjunctive conditional that's in inspired Scripture. And then there are stories in Scripture that seem to display this kind of hypothetical knowledge. For example, in 1 Samuel you have the story of David fleeing from Saul and he's holed up in a city called Keilah, and there is a soothsayer in the city who has a divining device called an ephod which could apparently only give “yes” or “no” answers. David asks the ephod, “If I stay in Keilah, will Saul come down and attack?” And the ephod says, “Yes.” And he says then, “If Saul attacks, will the men give me over to Saul?” And the ephod says, “Yes, they will,” whereupon David flees the city so that Saul doesn't come down and the men of Keilah don't deliver David over. It's clear that what the ephod was giving David was knowledge of these subjunctive conditionals. “If you were to remain in Keilah then Saul would come down; if he were to come down then the men of Keilah would deliver you over to him.” So we have good grounds in Scripture for thinking that God has knowledge of these hypothetical subjunctive conditionals. But that's not enough for middle knowledge because to be middle knowledge God has to have this knowledge logically prior to the divine creative decree to his choice of a world. And Scripture, of course (not being a philosophy book), doesn't speculate on that sort of thing. So while it can give us justification for thinking God has knowledge of subjunctive conditionals, I don't think scripturally there's any prooftext that would show that he has this knowledge logically prior to the divine decree of a certain world.

INTERVIEWER: You know, this kind of reminds me of something we see in the Gospels. I forget exactly what the quote is, but it seems like Jesus said something along the lines of “If Sodom and Gomorrah had been alive at the time of his preaching they would have repented.” Would that be a subjunctive conditional?

DR. CRAIG: That was one of the favorite prooftexts of Molina and his followers – the claim that if Jesus' miracles had been done in Bethsaida and Chorazin they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.