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Well, I seemed to get by with my first post on predestination without upsetting too many people. In that post I explained why Christians should attempt to understand what the Bible says about predestination (or, rather, why we shouldn’t avoid thinking about it). I’m now going to attempt to define predestination according to how it is used in the Bible. I really think that the meaning of the word is pretty obvious, and if you do too then I guess you can come back in a couple days. But just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m going to define it before moving on.

Before I do that though, I should make a qualification. It is possible to talk about predestination in three different senses. We could talk about cosmic predestination—God’s work in determining everything that comes to pass. I’m going to avoid this sense as much as possible. We could also talk about reprobation—God’s action in predestining some to death. Though I won’t be able to avoid this entirely, it will not be my primary focus. The third way the word predestination can be used is to describe God’s work in appointing some to eternal life. In this sense predestination and election are synonyms. This third sense will be what I have in mind in what follows.

Now that we have that under control, let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about predestination. I’d like to first consider predestination as a general theme in the Bible. Out of all the people of earth, God selected the descendants of Abraham, the nation of Israel, to be a chosen people for himself. This he did for no other reason than because of his own freely given love (see, for instance, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and Deuteronomy 4:37-39). Yet this general election of Israel did not save every individual Hebrew. The history of the Old Testament shows this in abundant clarity. Among the people of Abraham, whom God elected in a general way, he more specifically elected some individuals and rejected others.

This does not, however, mean that God’s election failed. As Paul explains in Romans 9, not all physical descendants of the Patriarchs were true Israel. Rather, only ‘the children of the promise’ (Rom. 9:8), that is, those whom God specifically predestined. He goes on to illustrate this point by referencing Jacob and Esau: ‘though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call—she [Sarah] was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”’ (Rom. 9:11-13). Paul continues to explain that ‘Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened’ (Rom. 11:7). As a result, the Gentiles have been grafted into the salvation of God, by his purpose in election.

Thus we see that election is a theme that runs throughout the Bible, and has both general and specific objects. Since we are particularly concerned with the predestination of individuals, let’s now take a look at a few New Testament passages that bear on election:

• ‘All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.’ – John 6:37-39
• ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.’ – John 6:44
• ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.’ – John 15:16
• ‘And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed’ – Acts 13:48
• ‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.’ – Romans 8:29-30
• ’Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. …In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.’ – Ephesians 1:3-6; 11
• ‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’ – Ephesians 2:4-6
• ‘But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ – 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
• ‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.’ – 1 Peter 1:1-2

From these passages we can draw a number of points. God, apart from anything done by anyone, chose to grant eternal life to some people. This he did before his act of creating the world and everything that exists. His act in election was not capricious or random; rather, he chose individuals through Christ and for Christ, for the purpose of his own glory and pleasure, both of which are thoroughly good. God did not merely initiate the process of salvation in those he chose; rather, he predestined the entirety of their salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification. He did not do this generally or abstractly, but prepared specific acts for them to do. Those whom God predestined comprise a specific number of people. All of these, and none others, will certainly be saved, for this is the work for which Jesus became incarnate. Election is the work of the Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—each person contributing to the work of salvation.

Taking all this material together—both God’s election of Israel beginning in the Old Testament, and the predestination of individuals more specifically revealed in the New Testament—we can see a very clear picture of God’s predestination emerging. Calvin summarised predestination in these words:

God once established by his eternal and unchangeable plan those whom he long before determined once for all to receive into salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, he would devote to destruction. We assert that, with respect to the elect, this plan was founded upon his freely given mercy, without regard to human worth; but by his just and irreprehensible but incomprehensible judgment he has barred the door of life to those whom he has given over to damnation. (Book 3, ch. XXI, 7)

Predestination means that God has a special love for some people, and he has had this special love from all eternity. God has chosen these people, and no others, to give them eternal salvation. This eternal salvation is completely and thoroughly the work of God; he begins it and carries it through to completion, wholly apart from any effort, assistance, or even choice or willingness on the part of those whom he saves. He does this only for his own good pleasure, to his glory and praise.

This then is a reasonably brief sketch of the Bible’s teaching on predestination. This tends to raise a number of questions, and I will attempt to deal with a number of common errors and objections in forthcoming posts. Before I do that, however, I need to explore one or two background points. I’ll do that in a day or two. Until then, go ahead a plague me with an onslaught of comments. Or, if you prefer, just ask for clarification on anything I’ve said thus far that could have been said better. Cheers.

This entry was posted by Bryce on Monday, March 7th, 2005 at 6:10 pm. This entry was tagged with Predestination, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.