Predestination
Predestination... A Biblical Doctrine
Not Just a Presbyterian Doctrine
Scripture References:
Rom. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Rom. 9:11 (referring to Jacob & Esau) Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-- in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls-- she was told (referring to Rebekah), "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, # "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,# and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It (referring to election) does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. ¶ One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? ¶ What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-- prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Rom. 11:1 ¶ I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah-- how he appealed to God against Israel: "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Ephesians. 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
EPH. 1:5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
EPH. 1:11 ¶ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
EPH 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
JOHN 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
JOHN 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.
2 Thess. 2:13 ¶ But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
Matt. 22:14 ¶ "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
This concept of predestination is not a new problem Twentieth Century Americans have discovered. Mankind has wrestled with it for thousands of years.
The doctrine of predestination is wrapped tightly within the Sovereignty of God. But just what does God's sovereignty mean? Of course we all know that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and everlasting. But does he always exercise his power. God is sovereign over Satan, able to keep him from sinning. Yet He clearly does not. He is sovereign over man, able to keep him from sinning. Yet, He clearly does not. God's sovereignty means His having absolute control, but without necessarily exercising it.
What then, according to the Reformed Faith, does the biblical doctrine of predestination NOT mean? Predestination does not mean that God decided before the foundation of the world that I would use Crest™ toothpaste this morning to brush my teeth. Although He did foreknow all that we would do and say, it does not mean God predestined our every decision, however trivial or profound. Some of this is wrapped in the package of man's "free will”.
Now, just what is free will? Well, first we must define the context. Man's free will to make non moral decisions gives few of us any problem. What brand of toothpaste we choose is likely such a non moral or amoral decision. However, it is man's free will with respect to moral or Godly issues that sticks us in the mud. And it is here where the Presbyterian (also the Calvinist and not a few fine Baptists) part with many of our Christian brethren. Here is the way we see man's free will with respect to moral decisions.
When man was first created, he was sinless. At that time, he (and she) had the free will to choose between sinful and Godly acts, to obey God or rebel under his sovereignty. His free will was completely intact. In other words, he had the ability to sin as well as the ability to not sin. After man's fall, he lost the ability to please God. Nothing he does, no matter how outwardly noble, compassionate, nor good the act appears, is pleasing to God. All that we do is sinful. Outside divine election, if man exercises his free will, he will always choose to rebel against God. He will never choose God over himself. However, after God has intervened (divine election with justification by the blood of Christ), man then has the ability to once again exercise his free will to either "sin" or "not sin". This is literally the process of sanctification, guided by the Holy Spirit of God. As human beings we have an innate desire to foster and exercise our free will. But our free will is likely a bit different in God's eyes than we would like it to be. Where does the exercise of one's free will begin? It begins after the gift of faith that resulted in our salvation. In other words, in the view of the Presbyterian, free will has little to do with the salvation of mankind. However, it is very much a part of the sanctification process of the elect in Christ. We exercise our free will to sin or not to sin after God's Spirit has come into us. Before God's presence in us, we can only sin. We can do no good.
For the purpose of building a word picture that might help us understand God's grace better, let's imagine that the saving grace of God is a liquid. It is contained within a vessel of some sort. As a Christian, most of us would be in agreement that God, in His act of saving us, pours this liquid over us (the gift of salvation). As a liquid, it covers every part of our body. But how do we see this event taking place? Does God stand before us, sovereign and able to pour his saving grace over us, but waiting for our decision to say, "Do it, God" (free will according to the Arminian)? Or, is the decision God's (divine election)? Does God decide over whom He will pour the grace. Matt. 22:14 ¶ "For many are invited, but few are chosen." The Presbyterian would say God makes the decision alone without man's having taken part in the event. In fact, He did so before the creation... chose those whom He wished for His own sovereign reasons and will.
Consider another word picture to further illustrate the point. Imagine a person out a few feet in a lake hopelessly drowning. He has no ability to swim another inch. He can only flail the water in a fruitless effort to stay alive another few seconds. Standing on the bank nearby is God with a life preserver attached to a rope. The life preserver represents the gift of salvation. God is able to toss the life saving device to the person with divine precision. Does God wait for the request of the drowning man before tossing him the saving buoy (free will)? Or does He watch until the man has gone under for the third time, hopelessly gone, then reach out His hand through grace, grasp the man by the hair and pull him to safety (divine election)? Again, the Presbyterian would say the latter.
You may have already concluded that this doctrine is indeed a mystery, not comprehensible by the human mind. I Cor. 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom,} which God predestined before the ages to our glory; But if this doctrine is seemingly a paradox, a mystery, then for what purpose would God have placed this concept of predestination in His Scripture if, in fact, it was incomprehensible?
A) Perhaps knowing that, left to my own inclination after man's fall, I would not choose Christ, then His choosing me would lend me considerable comfort.
B) Perhaps knowing left to my own inclination after man's fall, that I would not choose Christ and that in spite of this, He chose me, I would be humbled and obliged to make every effort to please Him.
C) So that perhaps I would see that this is a mystery deeper than my human understanding and hence recognize that the mind of God is indeed far, far greater than mine.
I am inclined to embrace some element of all these.
Now let's turn a corner and view this doctrine from a very different angle. For all the difficulties predestination brings to the Christian's heart when taken seriously, I would point out a few very salient and quite incredible difficulties it potentially solves. What happens to a twelve year old boy who, raised in a Christian home, blends into his culture, but never makes a clear confession to Christ for his sins, then dies suddenly in an auto accident? The age of accountability arises which, to my knowledge, is not scriptural except when provided through the doctrine of predestination. What happens to the aboriginal bushman who for two hundred generations has been culturally and geographically isolated from knowledge of the gospel story? What happens to the million and half children we (Twentieth Century America) kill each year through abortion? This doctrine gives us the peace to know that they did not miss out. God has not forgotten them in His plan. He has made a Way for those He selected (the elect).
Should you still be squirming in the discomfort of your conviction, consider with me one more scriptural precedent that demands the doctrine of predestination. This one from the old testament. Deut. 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deut. 14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
Ps. 33:10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD , the people he chose for his inheritance.
God clearly chose the nation of Israel (the Jews) from among the people of the earth not by any merit of their own, but by His own sovereign will.
If all this does not prove the point that God has the sovereign right to choose whom He may, then hold on to your faith in Christ anyway, and don't worry about how you got it. Our election is no less secure simply because we don't understand it.
Now let's consider one last nasty little concern many hold in contempt for this difficult doctrine. If God chose us before the foundation of the cosmos, hence our having had no say whatever in our election, then where does this leave our responsibility for evangelism... the Great Commission? Don't walk away yet! There is no fly in the ointment. Even though God chose us outside our free will, and predestined us to His glory of His own free and sovereign will, He also chose to use us individually to take the message to His elect by our very mouths. Rom. 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. And guess what. We have not a clue who might the elect be! We simply, by obedience to His will, must take the message to them anyway. Whose faith turns out to be real will be His call. We are not to judge in this matter.
On the journey to our destiny, regardless of whether we can agree on Who made the flight arrangements, one thing is certain. We cannot cancel the trip! Many of the world's religions have attempted to avoid this inevitable trap of sin. All of their members returned to the dust from which God brought them. This is at least one place where the atheists have not deceived themselves, albeit not much consolation considering their ultimate surprise. If God has chosen you for His own, and his Spirit can and will witness with your spirit to let you know for sure, then don't fail to exercise your free will to produce the fruit of His Spirit through the obedience of His Word. Consider obedience the very least we can do.
A. Robert Sheppard, M.D.
The Baptists' (or at least the "once saved, always saved group of non Arminian Baptists) and Presbyterians' understanding of this doctrine (predestination) is illustrated in the following example: If asked when he was saved, the Baptist would answer, "I was saved on Friday, September 12th, 1982 about two o'clock in the afternoon." The Presbyterian presented with the same question would say, "I have always been saved. I just found out about it on Friday, September 12th, 1982 about two o'clock in the afternoon."
My personal understanding of "predestination" as a Christian doctrine involves the following insights: If God truly decided specifically before creation, before Adam and Eve sinned the first time, and certainly before we each were born, that He would create certain individuals whom He would predestine to burn in hell and certain others He would offer (and they would accept) the gift of eternal life, then I do not understand the doctrine. It seems to say this in Scripture, and therefore, I do accept it. And I accept it without bitterness, without feeling God has somehow shortchanged some of us. On the contrary, should we burn in hell, we would be receiving that which we deserve as I understand Creation. My only insights from that event (creation) are from Scripture and the evidence of His presence in general revelation (nature), since I was not there when it occurred. Rather, I cannot understand with human reasoning such a seeming paradox as this. [PROVERBS 3:5 #Trust in the LORD with all your heart# and lean not on your own understanding;] However, I do not think it is necessary that I understand the doctrine for it to be true. Nor is it necessary that I understand it for God to make it be a truth. Man, in his best efforts, has often (as described over and over in Scripture) misinterpreted Scripture and fallen short of knowing the mind of God. Sometimes in spite of his most noble motivation; sometimes due to his evil inclination; sometimes due to his shallow understanding of God's ways, he (man) misinterprets the Scripture. Clearly, some of God's ways are not understandable by man. This may well be one of those.
There are, however, some other possible ways to interpret the scripture suggesting this doctrine that I have not seen clearly defined by Calvin, Boetner, Spurgeon, Lewis, Sproul, Ryle, Gerstner, Lindsley, Stott, nor Palmer (Edwin Palmer's "The Five Points of Calvinism" is the most succinct, readable treatise on the subject I have seen). It could be that in saying such things as, ROMANS 8:29 "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." could mean that:
1) God "foreknew" (new ahead of time) and "predestined" (decided specifically in advance without man's input) that there would be a group of individual human beings throughout all of history that would accept the gift of salvation (eternal life), but that He did not actually select the specific individuals within the group that would accept the gift. A "foreknown" and "predestined" group, if you will, rather than "foreknown" and "predestined" individuals. God could have foreknown and predestined that there would not be a group of individuals that would accept His gift. But, clearly, He "foreknew" and "predestined" that there would be "those" (individuals or, perhaps a group of individuals) who would accept His gift and "those" who would not.
2) God could have actually "foreknown" and "predestined" that certain specific individuals would choose the gift of eternal life (and conversely, "foreknown" and predestined" other specific individuals not to choose the gift) knowing that man could not, and would not understand this seeming paradox. [I use the term "paradox" because it would seem, humanly speaking, to be unjust for God to create individual human beings and decide in advance, with man having no chance to have input, that certain of his kind would burn in hell (i.e. be responsible for their actions) and others would live in His eternal presence.] Still it could be within God's grasp to do this and yet not be acting unjustly toward created man (the "potter" and the "clay" concept). In other words, this could be a "mystery". In fact, scripture does allude to this possibility: (I Cor. 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom,} which God predestined before the ages to our glory;) . If this second case is the real truth, then I don't understand it, yet believe it is possible with God (I believe all and any thing is possible with God though it may surpass my ability to grasp it.) If this second view is true, the question that begs an answer is: For what purpose would God place this concept in Scripture if it was incomprehensible by the human mind? To comfort "those" accepting the gift? What of "those" that were chosen not to receive the gift?
I have tried with some effort to understand this doctrine. I cannot unless some shade of # 1 above is true or it (the idea of predestination) was meant from the outset to be a mystery unknowable by mankind (I Cor 2:7 above). Again, not to confuse the idea that somehow my understanding is necessary for God to make it a truth. It is not.
But in attempt to answer the question begged by the latter part of # 2, (For what purpose would God have placed this concept in Scripture if, in fact, it was incomprehensible by the human mind?), I have considered the following:
A) Perhaps knowing that, left to my own inclination, I would not choose Christ, then His choosing me would lend me considerable comfort.
B) Perhaps knowing left to my own inclination, that I would not choose Christ and that in spite of this, He chose me, I would be humbled and obliged to make every effort to please Him.
C) So that perhaps I would see that this is a mystery deeper than my human understanding and hence recognize that the mind of God is indeed greater than mine.
I am inclined to embrace some element of all these.
D) So that, in spite of my difficulty in undersanding it, only by the contrast made evident by the vast chasm between God's holiness and man's depravity, that His glory, majesty, holiness, and the intense wonder of His grace could be made evident in the created universe.
For all the difficulties this doctrine brings to the Christian's heart when taken seriously, I would point out a few very salient and quite incredible difficulties it potentially solves.
What happens to a twelve year old boy who, raised in a Christian home, blends into his culture, but never makes a clear confession to Christ for his sins, then dies suddenly in an auto accident? The age of accountability. What happens to the aboriginal bushman who for two hundred generations has been culturally and geographically isolated from knowledge of the gospel story? What happens to the million and half children we (Twentieth Century America) murder each year through abortion? This doctrine gives us the peace to know that they did not miss out. God has not forgotten them in His plan. He has made a Way for those He selected.
A. Robert Sheppard, M.D.
Scriptural Base -> Sovereignty -> Free Will (Garden/Fall/Christ/Redeemed) -> Word Pictures -> Problems Solved (age of accountability/abortion/<wbr/>aborginal people) -> Evangelism