The attributes of God

The Omniscience of God

An attribute of God · Psalm 139:1-6

The omniscience of God means he knows all things, all at once, perfectly. He knows the past and the future, the seen and the hidden, and the secrets of every heart. He has searched us and known us, and there is not a word on our tongue but he knows it altogether. To be fully known by God is at first a fearful thing and finally the deepest comfort a person can have.

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.Psalm 139:1-6 (KJV)

What the omniscience of God means

To be omniscient is to know everything, actual and possible, with perfect and immediate knowledge. God does not learn, reason to conclusions, or discover facts he did not know before. He knows all things eternally and at once, as we can never know anything. He knows every star and names them, every sparrow and marks its fall, every thought before it forms into words. Nothing is hidden from him; all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

His knowledge includes the future as fully as the past, for he inhabits eternity and sees the end from the beginning. And it includes the inner life, the motives and desires we hide even from ourselves. He does not merely know facts about us; he knows us, through and through, better than we know ourselves. Such knowledge, the psalmist confesses, is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. We stand before a mind whose depth we cannot fathom.

How the Bible reveals it

Psalm 139 is the great meditation on it: O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. The psalmist feels himself surrounded by a knowledge from which there is no hiding, and finds it both overwhelming and safe.

Throughout Scripture God's knowledge is on display. He told the prophets what kings would do before they were born. He saw Nathanael under the fig tree. Jesus knew the thoughts of his critics and the history of the woman at the well. He knew Peter would deny him before Peter knew his own weakness. The God of the Bible is never surprised, never caught off guard, never wondering what will happen next. He calls the things that are not as though they were, for to him the future is as certain as the past.

Common misunderstandings

Some imagine God's knowledge is cold surveillance, a watching eye that catalogs faults to use against us. But in Scripture God's intimate knowledge is bound up with his love. The same God who knows our sin knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust. He is like a shepherd who knows each sheep by name, not a spy compiling a case.

Others suppose that if God knows the future, our choices must be illusions, mere play-acting of a script. But Scripture treats his foreknowledge and our real freedom as compatible; God knowing what we will do does not force us to do it, any more than remembering what someone did forces them to have done it. And some try to hide from God, forgetting that there is no darkness where the workers of iniquity may hide, and no thought he does not already read. We cannot inform him and we cannot deceive him; we can only come honestly, since he already knows.

Why the omniscience of God is good news

To be fully known can be frightening; we spend much energy hiding, managing our image, fearing exposure. But here is the wonder of the gospel: the God who knows us completely loves us completely, in Christ. We are known to the bottom and loved to the end. There is no dreaded revelation still to come that could change his heart toward us, for he knew the worst before he set his love upon us.

This means we can stop pretending. We do not need to perform for God or hide from him; we are already seen, and still welcomed. His knowledge also means our suffering is never unseen and our faithfulness never unnoticed. He knows the tears we cry alone and the good we do in secret. And because he knows all things, he can guide us perfectly, for he knows the way that we take, and where it leads. To be known by such a God is not exposure but rest.

How the omniscience of God is seen in Jesus Christ

Jesus knew what was in man, and needed no one to tell him, for he knew all things. He read hearts, foretold his own death and resurrection in detail, and knew Judas would betray him from the beginning. Yet he loved Judas to the last, and knowing all Peter's coming failure, prayed for him and restored him. In Jesus we see that the God who knows everything is not repelled by what he knows, but comes to save.

The risen Christ said to Peter, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee, resting his whole hope on being fully known by the One he had failed. That is where the omniscience of God finally leads the believer. We come to the Savior who knows all our sin and all our love, and we entrust ourselves to him, glad at last to be seen. One day we shall know even as also we are known, and it will be joy.

A note offered humbly and for all Christians: God is one, simple, and undivided in his being, and these attributes are not parts of him but the one God seen from many sides. His holiness is loving, his love is holy, his justice is merciful, and his mercy is just. He is also greater than all our words, and no page can contain him. What we can say, we say only because he has graciously revealed it, above all in Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God.

Related: The Omnipresence of God · The Wisdom of God · Who is Jesus? · All the attributes of God