...and I'll add to that. How? Does He see the future because He only exists in the present?
Be careful with your response, because it could come back "hyper".
What is at stack here...is how you and webdog view foreknown. You have changed the meaning...and your meaning does not hold water.
"foreknow"...has time placed in it.
You want to say God does not work in time...and thereby say election happen as God saw who would believe.
This is wrong and again, will not hold water.
Therefore...we show the holes.
:)
Of course He knows. How does He know it? I'm not sure, since I'm not God and Scripture doesn't tell us how God relates to or experiences time. The point is, the Eternal Now/Omnitemporal theory and any other competing theories are mere speculation. It's all philosophy, not Biblical doctrine. And we should be careful not to base other Biblical doctrines (e.g., election and foreknowledge) on mere philosophical matters.
Of course, that's the English translation of Yahweh, the reverential Hebrew name for God.
I'm curious if there is any evidence that the Hebrews interpreted this to mean that the past and future exists in the same manner as the present.
James;
We have not changed the definition of Foreknow. He has to foreknow whether you believe or not for the rest of His plan to works, such as He foreknew you believed before He called, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, (Christ like), he justified (Jesus's blood), He glorified which He already see us being glorified but we are confined by time. It takes place when you "believe" but God sees it all at once.
It's quite possible that God's name for himself, Yahweh, does not attempt to convey time categories, but something else.
For instance, it might convey that he is the same yesterday, today and forever, not that yesterday and tomorrow exist in the same manner as today.
Why so combative? There is a difference between knowing the future and existing in the future, which entails that the future exist in some other dimension. All orthodox believers hold that God knows the future, and I've never denied such. The question is: Does God exist in something (the future) that doesn't even exist? Again, this is all philosophical musings.