Bible Studies
Predestination, election, calling, choosing and other such similar concepts are some of the most controversial doctrines in the Bible. Controversial for those who don’t understand the majesty and grace of God. Generally predestination is a theological affirmation that takes up and extends the affirmations of election, providence, and covenant, all cases where God assumes an irrefutable position with respect to His relationship with man (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, p. 819). The concepts are debated in as much as they suggest a God who is unfair, capricious, and arbitrary, choosing or blessing certain individuals and rejecting the rest. But its use in the Bible as a whole does not support this (mistaken) notion that God plays favorites. Whereas providence emphasizes a divine ordering and regulation of the world and history toward a positive goal, predestination emphasizes a divine predetermination of human destiny in conformity with an eternal plan. God ‘foreordains’ according to his ‘design and purpose’; he ‘chooses’ and ‘elects’ according to his ‘counsel’ and ‘will’ (e.g., 2 Chron. 19:7; cf. Rom. 11:15; Prov. 16:4; Rom. 9:18, 20-24; Gen. 50:20).
For all such actions, such as predestination and election, the notion of the sovereignty of God is the key starting point. God alone is the Creator and sustainer of all that is; God is the sovereign Lord who designed the standards for life and directs all things toward their appointed destiny. Only God is wise enough, righteous enough, and loving enough to determine what shall become of his creation. God does what he wills (e.g., Ps. 115:3; Isa. 45:5-7; 46:8-11; Rom. 9:11, 15; Eph. 1:11) but in conformity with His plan for righteousness.
For many people today the notion of the sovereignty of God is difficult to accept. It is questionable, however, that the notion has been easy to accept for people of any age. Empirical realities seem to throw the idea of God’s sovereign predestination into doubt. The problem of ubiquitous evil appears to be its greatest rival. The Bible does not pretend that the concept of predestination resolves all paradoxes or detoxifies the bitterness of disappointments, contradictions, and injustices in life. The affirmations of predestination belong to those ultimate dimensions of life on the extreme outer limits of what humans can perceive and talk about. Humans enter these outer limits by permission, as it were, where faith is mingled with mystery. Knowledge and assurance of predestination are vague at best; to lay claim to either is to venture the risk of faith and to invite contradiction. Yet, predestination remains in the biblical understanding of reality and human destiny (Harper’s Biblical Dictionary).
In order to understand the “powers that be” we must bring to light who God really is and the ultimate power and authority he yields. God is before all else “infinite, eternal and unlimited”. Man on the other hand is severely limited and finite. God is omnipresent in that is he is present in all places at all times. In comparison Satan the adversary is one being and can be personally present at only one place at a time. God is Omniscient that is having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight and possessed of universal or complete perception and knowledge. As Jesus said: “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30, NLT). God is also Omnipotent i.e. having virtually unlimited authority or influence. For example he gave to His Son Jesus all “power and authority” in heaven and earth because it was His to give to whom He chose.
Scripture confirms these definitions or qualities of God: “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!” (Revelation 19:6). And: “Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent [omnipresent] God?” the LORD asks” “Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the LORD asks. “Do you not know that I am everywhere?” (Jeremiah 23:23-24, NLT).
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary 11th Ed. defines predestination (and deritives thereof) as: “the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for one purpose or another”; the ordaining of events beforehand; a fixing or settling in advance; a purpose formed beforehand”. As Isaiah said: “O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness” (Isaiah 25:1). Indeed Christ was the lamb slain before “the foundations of the world” (Revelation 13:8) long before He came to earth to fulfill his preordained destiny.
At the same time God’s infinity implies his immanence. By this we mean his all-pervading presence and power within his creation (cf. Ps. 139). He does not stand apart from the world, a mere spectator of the work of his hands. He pervades everything, organic and inorganic, acting from within outwards, from the centre of every atom, and from the innermost springs of thought and life and feeling in a continuous sequence of energizing effect. God is pure spirit (John 4:24). When we say that God is infinite spirit, we pass completely out of the reach of our experience. We are limited as to time and place; as to knowledge and power. His infinity likewise means that God is transcendent over his universe. It emphasizes his distinctness as self-existing spirit, from all his creatures. He is not shut in by what we call nature, but infinitely exalted above it (Wood, D. R. W. ; Marshall, I. Howard: New Bible Dictionary. 3rd ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 1996, S. 418).
Predestination is directly used in the Bible in the following scriptures: “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…” (Eph 1:5). “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 29-30). “…we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;” (1 Co 2:7). Thus God predestined us to adoption as His Sons, to be conformed to the image of Christ (to be like Him) and He predestined the mystery of His wisdom to our glory before the ages were. God planned and predestined our salvation before he began constructing our habitation, before the beginning specified in Genesis 1:1. This answers the ultimate scientific question: What came before the big bang?
Election is a technical theological term in the Bible, the subject being election by God who chooses on the basis of his sovereign will to advance His plan for His creation. In the OT, God elects a people (Israel), its king (David), and the city of Jerusalem. His free choice is not based on the previous accomplishment or on the natural superiority of those he chooses; yet, the chosen are under obligation to live by God’s will and to be his servants (e.g., Deut. 7:6-11; 1 Chron. 16:9-13; Jer. 33:19-26; Amos 3:2). In the NT, election is focused on Jesus Christ as the elect one (often with references to the OT) through whom God ultimately accomplishes his purpose (e.g., Matt. 12:18; Luke 9:35; 23:35; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6). Through faith and discipleship, his followers are called ‘elect’ (e.g., Mark 13:20-27; Matt. 22:14; Titus 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:2; 2:9-10). Although this elect group is made up of people from all nations, Paul also expects that God’s election of Israel will be fulfilled in the end (Rom. 11:2, 28) (Harpers Bible Dictionary).
God moves on behalf of the elect (also translated chosen ones). It is the elect who will not be deceived. Matthew says: “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short… “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (other Bible versions say the “very elect”) (Mt 24:22, 24). Only the elect will have that true revelation from the Lord. The safety of the elect in the midst of this danger, which is taken for granted in that parenthesis, If it were possible, plainly implying that it is not possible, for they are kept by the power of God, that the purpose of God, according to the election, may stand. It is possible for those that have been enlightened to fall away (Heb. 6:4, 5, 6), but not for those that were elected. If God’s chosen ones should be deceived, God’s choice would be defeated, which is not to be imagined, for whom he did predestinate, he called, justified, and glorified, Rom. 8:30. They were given to Christ; and of all that were given to him, he will lose none. (Jn. 10:28).
Although less directly associated, providence and covenant are related to predestination and election. Providence is one of the most commonly held and most vigorously debated beliefs in both ancient and modern times: that there is a benevolent and purposeful ordering of all events of history. Providence has been understood as nothing happens by chance; though not always perceptible to human understanding, there is a divine or cosmic plan to the universe, a reason for everything. The ancient understanding of Providence was that the universe continued on its way without intervention by God. One philosophical version of this concept is ‘determinism’ or (its negative expression) ‘fatalism’: everything is determined by a higher power, destiny is a matter of fate; one can do nothing to shape one’s own destiny, what will be will be. Such a view results in human resignation (quietism/do-nothing-ism). Note that the founding Fathers of the United States held Providence as their understanding of God. They practiced deism which exalted Providence as their God. The Freemasons likewise.
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A covenant (Heb. Berth) is a formal agreement or treaty between two parties with each assuming some obligation. In the Hebrew Bible, a covenant might be a pact of mutuality concerning individuals and/or deities. Our destiny is the result of the covenant between God and Abraham. (Genesis 9). The covenant between Israel and God at Sinai (Exodus 19-20). Also covenants are made between individuals such as Laban and Jacob (Gen. 31:44-54) or David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 18:3; 23:18); states or other political units, such as Abraham and the Amorites (Gen. 14:13), Abraham and Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen. 21:22-32), Abner and David (2 Sam. 3:12-13, 21), David and the people (2 Sam. 5:3), Solomon and Hiram (1 Kings 5:12), and Asa and Ben-hadad (1 Kings 15:18-19); husband and wife (cf. Mal. 2:14; Ezek. 16:8). A covenant made in ancient times was not so easily broken as today especially a covenant with God. The notable exception is the Sinai covenant between God and the Israelites where Israel suffered great judgment by not following God’s precepts in their covenant with Him.
Among the NT writers, the apostle Paul takes an unparalleled step of boldness when pondering the promise connected with God’s predestined plan for salvation for Israel. In the face of unbelief among his contemporaries in Israel (regarding Jesus) he maintains (Rom. 9-11) that God will not allow his plan to be thwarted by such unbelief. Paul does not come to this conclusion by reasoned deduction, as though he were privy to special disclosures from on high; he does not figure out, as it were, what God is up to through generations. Rather, he links predestination to God’s covenant promise to Israel and affirms that God does not break his promises. He wills and is able to keep his promises of old. This is a crucial moment in Paul’s thought, because for him the gospel is also by nature promise. If God changes his mind and goes back on former promises, what guarantee is there that he will not also do so as regards the gospel promise? Of course, Paul does not ‘know’ that he will not, but his fundamental theological understanding is that God maintains fidelity as Promiser. And what Paul claims for God’s promise to Israel he claims for the whole human race, because this covenant promise (to Abraham) was to be a blessing for all the families of earth.
God’s covenant with Abraham was never broken and remains the basis of Christian faith. The Abrahamic covenants are basically: “NOW the LORD said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
“And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it” (Genesis 15:5-7).
“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite” (Genesis 15:18-21).
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In order to understand predestination as it applies to God and this current creation we must realize that from the inception of creation God has had a plan. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth in accordance with that plan (Genesis 1). He began with nothing and from nothing He created all that we can see and that we cannot. Hebrews 11:3 says: “By faith we understand that the worlds [ages] were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible”. Only God the Father can create from nothing by a Word but He may use vessels with which to move through (Jesus, the prophets, the priests, His Body of Christ).
He created those things, not in the abstract, but with a predetermined plan. This plan preceded creation. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (Revelation 13”8). His plans were formed before creation, even the slaying of the Lamb Jesus Christ. His plans were formed before us and without our input.
Thus God set about to create His physical Kingdom where nothing material had existed before. He created the earth, the cosmos, the plants, animals and all the things necessary to provide a suitable environment for man, the crowning achievement of His creation. He created man (from the earth) and then woman from the man. He set them in the physical Paradise on earth which resembled heaven in that in that it was perfect in every respect. Adam and Eve were babies in this new creation but God planned to multiply them to fill His creation. When God had completed all His work of creation He had called the creation and man “good”. “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
However God did not want a "robotic” creation where man would just carry out His predetermined plan with no say in the matter. He wanted man to have a choice in the matter. He wanted a creation of mankind who would “choose” to be part of God’s plan. Psalm 110:3 describes what God wanted: “Your people will volunteer freely [be freewill offerings] in the day of Your power;”. So God gave man a free-will where He was not required to fulfill God’s plan of destiny but could choose to do so.
He gave the first two humans that choice. They could either obey God or not. His plan was not affected either way by their choice – it was predestined. By choosing to disobey God the first man/woman made the way harder than it would have otherwise. God forgave them for their sin but did not relieve them of the consequences of their actions. Creation was subjected to futility (Romans 8:20) anyway. So it is with predestination. God’s plan moves on to fulfillment despite the actions of mankind.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). For God there is always a way because His will is predetermined. However His choice of participants only includes those who “love God” and are “called to His purpose.
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Matthew 22:14 says: “Many are called but few are chosen”. What separates the chosen? The chosen “choose to be chosen”. We choose whether or not we shall be offended: we choose whether or not we shall suffer with Him and press on into His Kingdom. There will be those chosen and together they will fulfill God’s predestined plan. Those who are called but not chosen suffer the fate of the wicked: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS’ (Matthew 7:21-23). And God’s plan will continue on with or without them.
God in His condemnation of the serpent, man and woman after the original sin left open a door of hope for all people who are willing. The Lord said to the serpent (Satan): “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise [crush] you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15). The seed of the woman is of course Jesus Christ who, by His death and resurrection, would crush Satan on the head, although Satan would bruise His heel in the struggle. Once that occurred, the provision for God’s perfect Kingdom would become a reality again and a potential for any and all to reach into.
Now, as far as individual predestination and choosing, consider the following. Christ’s ultimate sacrifice opened up redemption for all of mankind including every man and woman on the planet. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only [unique, one of a kind] begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”. Our predestination, according to the scripture, is up to us individually. Bluntly, we can choose God’s free gift of eternal life and salvation by believing on Christ or we can refuse the gift and perish. God is not a respecter of persons where He would favor one over another with respect to His free gift of life in Christ (Romans 2:11; Colossians 3:25; Ephesians 6:9; 2 Chronicles 19:7). Any and all can partake.
So as to our freewill and predestination is concerned if man wishes to use his freewill to accept God’s provision then he enters into God’s predestination for a place in His eternal Kingdom. That becomes your predestined, predetermined destiny. So it can then be said: “He PREDESTINED US to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,” (Ephesians 1:5). “For those whom He foreknew, He also PREDESTINED TO BECOME CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30).
Really the one and only thing believers need to know is that they are predestined to receive each and every promise God has promised us from before creation.
©Kenneth B. Alexander, JD
Scriptures: The New American Standard Bible, 1986 ed. Unless otherwise indicated
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