In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).

God works all things according to the counsel of His will. God is His own counselor in all things. All things. That is a heavy—and biblical—statement from the Westminster Larger Catechism. As the catechism begins to unfold two great doctrines, the question is asked concerning how these doctrines are executed in God’s plan. The doctrines of creation and providence are next unfolded in theological instruction of the catechism. Creation (WLC 15–18) and providence (WLC 18–20) are the work of God in this life, starting with the creation of all things out of nothing, and then providence—both in preserving and governing all His creatures and their actions. But how?

How does God execute His decrees concerning the creation and His preserving and governing of all things? The Larger Catechism goes here next. Question 14 asks, “How doth God execute his decrees?” The answer given is: “God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will.” Notice the how.

Infallible Foreknowledge

A. A. Hodge said, “Foreknowledge is an act of the infinite intelligence of God, knowing from all eternity, without change, the certain futurition of all events of every class whatsoever that ever will come to pass.”

God’s foreknowledge is connected to more than just knowledge before something occurs—this is not a term related to predictive prophecy, for example. For God to foreknow, He does more than merely know the outcome of volitional individuals, laws of nature, or causes and effects; God is a God of directive love. Beforehand love.

His purpose is that He would be glorified, that the Son would be exalted, and that the elect would be brought into the fold of the church while growing in holiness. The Apostle Paul tells us that all things work for good for those who are called according to this great purpose (Rom. 8:28). This working out in creation and providence requires infallible foreknowledge.

The adjective infallible that is attached to foreknowledge teaches us that this foreknowing of God as He executes His decrees is “exempt from error in judgment, knowledge, or opinion.” His fore-loving is perfect. His foreknowing is without error in judgment. Our God unfolds history perfectly according to His will.

Free and Immutable Counsel

How does God do this? How does He unfold history with such perfection and purity of loving knowledge? This is an important question that has been asked time and time again in the history of the church. The apostle Paul was asked this question. He said, “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” (Rom. 11:34). Job asked earlier, “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high?” (Job 21:22). Isaiah asked the same question: “Who has been God’s counselor?” (Isa. 40:13).

The answer, of course, is no one. No one has served as God’s counselor in explaining the best way for creation and providence to unfold in history.

God is His own counselor—He is free from outside influence. He is His own counselor, and His counsel is immutable, unable to be changed. We serve a God that changes not, therefore we are not consumed (Mal. 3:6).

God’s execution of His decrees relates to how history unfolds—in creation and in providence. The perfection of His care requires God to have foreknowledge that is unable to fail, as well as freedom and infallibility in His sovereign determinations. For God is free and “other than” in the execution of His plan.

As the Larger Catechism continues to unfold its biblical truth, the reader must get this question correct, for so much theological error begins here. Many Christians and denominations have fallen at this point. A.W. Pink, in his famous The Sovereignty of God, noted, “The popular idea of divine foreknowledge is altogether inadequate. God not only knew the end from the beginning, but also He planned, fixed, predestinated everything from the beginning. And, as cause stands to effect, so God’s purpose is the ground of His prescience. If then the reader is a real Christian, he is so because God chose him in Christ before the foundation of the world; and chose not because He foresaw you would believe, but simply because it pleased Him to choose; chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief. This being so, all glory and praise belongs alone to Him. You have no ground for taking any credit to yourself. You have ‘believed through grace’ (Acts 18:27), and that, because your very election was of grace.” Let the reader know God’s foreknowing.