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speratus said:
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Joe k asked:
How do the reprobate relate to the lives of the elect? This is a good question. Some like Herman Hoeksema have attempted to speak of them as a second ransom, I am not in agreement with this completely though.

God's foreknowledge controls the actions of evil men and puts a limitation on them so that they minister to the salvation of the elect.
God's "foreknowledge" originates from His eternal foreordination. Because God foreordained all things, therefore He knows all things. Secondly, foreknowledge in the Scriptures in regard to the elect is not to be misconstrued and reduced to that which semi-Pelagians/Arminians teach, i.e., foreknowledge=prescience; bare knowledge of facts. The Bible's definition of foreknowledge of the elect is "foreloved", i.e., God set His affections upon those whom He desired to save in Christ. Thirdly, the Bible nowhere teaches that foreknowledge "controls" anything. All things are "controlled", i.e., providentially determined by God's decretive will.

Thus, God decreed that some men would be saved and that the rest would be damned. He predestinated them whom He foreknew[loved] (Rom 8:29, 30) which is election. He hated those whom He determined to consign to perdition not having foreknown[loved] them which is reprobation. The logic is inescapable. Let God be true and all men liars.

In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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