Predestination and
Will
A.O.G. Bible Study
Foreknowledge and predestination are taught in scripture. The meaning that
we pour into these words is important. God has a plan and he is calling out
a people for his namesake (see: Does God Elect Everyone?[1]).
God has predestined a people to be holy (or set apart). The word
προγινώσκω
means to know
before hand or to chose before hand. The word προορίζω means to decide
beforehand. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the
image of His Son (
Foreknowledge is not looking into a future that does not yet exist. It is
not God seeing a person that has not yet been created. God does not have a
movie of our future lives that he can
play on a big screen in heaven. There is no fast forward button
that displays our lives at any speed or timestamp. These ideas (e.g. time is
created, God sees a non-existent future, God knows your future thoughts and
decisions) come from Greek paganism not scripture.
God decided long ago to save men by grace through faith in his son, Jesus.
"Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in
Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel (2
Ti 1:9-10)."
God is love (1
Jn 4:16). He creates each person with care in his mother's womb (Ps
139:13-15). Man is created to respond to a God who loves him (Eph
1:5). There is an inheritance waiting for him when he responds to his
maker (Eph
1:11,
2:10).
God is sovereign (Ro
11:33). Some individuals will be saved and some will not (Mt.
24:22,
31;
Mk 13:20,
27;
Ro 8:33,
9:11,
11:5-7,
28;
Eph 1:11;
Col 3:12;
1 Thess 1:4;
1 Ti 5:21;
2 Ti 2:10;
Tit 1:1;
1 Pe 1:1-2,
2:9;
2 Pe 1:10) but the invitation to be saved goes out to all men (Mt
22:10).
God loves all that he created (Ge
1:21,
1 Ti 4:4,
Jas 1:17). If an individual will live in God's love, he will live in him
(1
Jn 4:16). We can trust that God has only good intentions for each person
he created (1
Pe 4:19).
Men are sinners (Ro
3:23). God could rightfully sent people to hell (Ro
6:23) but he has provided a way for salvation through his son, Jesus (Jn
14:6). When one trusts in Jesus' work on the cross, he is saved from
hell and damnation (Jn
3:16;
Ro 10:9-10). God does not turn away anyone away who will trust in him (Deut
4:29). When a man trusts in the Lord, God draws him near (Jn
6:44, 12:32). His gospel has the power to save anyone (Ro
1:16, Jn 3:16).
Believing that God created people without an opportunity to be saved is to
misunderstand his nature and character. If God is unjust, then God is not
good; but, scripture tells us that God is good and just (Ps
143:10,
Deut 32:4,
Re 15:3).
How are predestination
and election connected with foreknowledge?
God knows everything that there is
to know. He does no know the number of hairs on the boogie man's head
because the boogie man does not exist.[2]
He has a plan and being well-informed, God has a good idea about how men
will respond to him. When people make choices, their choices are real (Ge
22:12). God asks men to trust him.
In
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said
to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go
to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of
his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the
burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I
will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son;
and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went
together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt
offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an
altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and
laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and
took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham,
Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for
now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your
only son, from Me.”
Abraham was tested and his faith was found to be true. He trusted God.
Men are able to move the heart of God. God is a person. He is able to be
persuaded. He responds when men repent.
God had planned to destroy Nineveh but read from Jonah 3:5-10 what happens:
So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the
king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be
proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and
his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them
eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and
cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the
violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and
turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God
relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He
did not do it.
Because the Ninevites repented, God relented (or changed his mind) about
destroying them.
God's foreknowledge about the future is an estimation of how men might
respond in a given situation. God tested Abraham and he warned the Ninevites.
Their responses were real choices and they mattered. Had they responded
differently, history would read differently.
God has predestined men to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in
accordance with his pleasure and will (Eph
1:5). He wants men to be saved (2
Pe 3:9). Whether they becomes saved is their choice. A proper
response to God's call matters (Jn
3:8).
God enables men to respond in faith because he is merciful. Men cannot take
credit for a right response because God himself enables them to respond
rightly to him (2
Ti 2:25). God gets the glory. Moses was not chosen by God because
he was the great Moses. He was chosen--as all men are chosen--because
God is good and just:
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is
not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Ro
9:15-16).
Abraham believed and God credited him with righteousness. The Ninevites
repented and God responded with graciousness towards them at that time.
Belief and repentance are important to God. Men should believe and repent of
their sins before a holy God.
God has chosen ornery men in the past who didn't always go along with his
plan. God nearly killed Moses over an issue of circumcision (Ex
4:24). He was furious that Saul allowed some of his enemies to
live (1
Sam 15:26) and he had to literally wrestle Jacob (Ge
32:24). These mishaps did not thwart God's plans and purposes. He
is able to work around uncooperative individuals.
God elected (chose) Jacob rather than Esau (
Esau was not chosen by God. It just so happens that Esau was a man filled
with pride. After Esau had lived his life we learn about God's assessment of
him. He was prideful and scripture tells us that God hates pride (Mal
1:3).
God chooses all men (
Men are predestined to obtain an inheritance through faith in Christ (Eph
1:11). Salvation is not based on something men do or will do. It
is based on God's grace. He desires men from every: tribe, tongue and nation
to be saved (Mk 16:15, Re 5:9). This was his plan before the foundation of
the world (Eph
1:4).
God knits each individual together in his mother's womb. He formed each
person's inmost being (Ps
139:13). Men are fearfully and wonderfully made by him (Ps
139:14). Those he foreknew, he
also predestined (
Not all men respond positively to the light given them. Jesus said, “But you
do not believe because you are not of My sheep (Jn
10:26).” If one is filled with rebellion and pride--if he prefers
darkness to light--he will not hear God's voice (Jn
3:19). He does not believe the Word of God (Jn
1:1); therefore, he does not belong to God. God draws men to
himself when they trust in him (Jn
6:44,
12:32). No one naturally seeks God
(Ro
3:11). Only He can open their eyes (Ac
26:18).
Men should seek God though he is not far from anyone (Ac
17:27). Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life. He
that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and
honor (Pr
21:21). God has given every person general grace and he will not
withhold his saving grace to honest seekers (Jer 29:13). Jesus said: All
that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will
by no means cast out (Jn
6:37). It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be
taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father
comes to Me (Jn
6:45). All three persons of the trinity participate in
justification. Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called,
these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Ro
8:30). We become citizens of heaven (Phil
3:20), members of a holy and royal priesthood (1
Pe 2:5,
9), family members (Eph
2:19), reborn spiritually (Jn
3:5), married (Rev
19:7), and adopted (Gal
4:5).
Men who will listen to God's voice (1
Ki 19:12), can be granted repentance (1
Pe 2:12,
2 Ti 2:25,
Mt 24:44). If one wants to belong
to God, he can belong to God. Men are responsible for the light given them (Jn
9:41). If one responds positively to the light given them, God
gives him more understanding (Heb
5:12,
Jn 16:12,
Jn 14:6).
God chooses unlovely people to be his own. Jesus was called friend of
sinners not friend of prideful elites (Mt
11:16-19). God has predetermined the relationship that he would
like to have with his creation. He would like to know each individual in a
personal way. It is his hope that men are saved but there is no guarantee
that he will receive a response in kind.
God has demonstrated
his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Ro
5:8). He has proven his love for mankind (
God has perfect
knowledge of man. He is the craftsman of our lives: "Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the
days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them (Ps 139:16)." He
thinks about us, enjoys us, and cares for us: "But the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than
many sparrows (
The name of any man
can be added to his Book of Life: "He who overcomes shall be clothed in
white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but
I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (
The world system, the
flesh, and the devil work against God's plan for men (
It is God's
desire that all men come to the knowledge of the truth (