Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. III. Of God’s Eternal Decree – 1-2.

1. What distinguishes a “person” from all other beings or things?

A person has a “will” and acts according to purpose, which distinguishes the person from other beings and impersonal things.

2. What kind of “plan” or “purpose” must of necessity belong to an “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable” personal being?

Such a “plan” or “purpose” must necessarily be infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, for it will have the attributes of the person whose “will” is at back the plan. “God is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Person. Therefore his plan or purpose must ever have been a part of his infinite, eternal, and unchangeable existence” (30).

3. Cite a Scripture text proving that all existence is controlled by God.

Ephesians 3:11 speaks of God’s eternal purpose which He purposed – “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And Ephesians 1:11 speaks of God’s controlling all things – “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”

4. Cite a Scripture text proving that the most minute details of existence are controlled by God.

Ephesians 1:11 speaks of God’s controlling all things (“all” includes even the most minute details) – “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Also, in Matthew 10:29, Christ says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”

5. Cite a text proving that seemingly accidental events are controlled by God.

The narrative in 1 Kings 22 records several seemingly accidental events which are controlled by God.

6. Cite a text proving that evil acts are predetermined by God.

In Matthew 18:7 Jesus says, “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” God has predetermined/predestined all events, even evil, but these acts are committed because men freely choose to do so.

7, Cite a text proving that evil acts are nevertheless “free.”

Acts 2:22-23 teaches that God foreordained that Christ would be delivered for death by the rulers of Israel, but it being done on account of their wicked volition – “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”

8.. Cite a text proving that “good” acts done by regenerate persons are predetermined by God, and yet also “free.”

Because “will” flows from nature, the regenerate, who have been given a new nature through regeneration, are capable of freely doing “good” acts, this being taught in Matthew 7:17a – “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.”

9. What do we mean when we say that a man is “free,” or acts “freely”?

Man is free if “not forced by any power outside himself to do that which is contrary to ‘what he wants to do'” (31).

10. Why are the unregenerate, though free, certain to do only evil?

The unregenerate are free, they have liberty, but they do not have the ability to do good because of their evil nature (due to original sin). They do not have the ability to do good because will flows from nature. As Matthew 7:18 says, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”

11. Why are the regenerate, though free, certain to please God?

They are certain to please God because they have a regenerate nature (which is a gift given to them by God), thus, they have a good will “which is in accord with the will of God” (31).

12. Can God foresee (or foreknow) before he predetermines? Vice versa? Why?. 

No and No. God’s foreknowledge and predestination are not at odds with one another. As Williamson says, God foreknows things with certainty because God guarantees the certainty. God determines all that exists. This is the case because of the impossibility of the contrary, i.e., if it were not true then God would not be the only self-existent being.