Manifold confusion has simmered in the Christian community for centuries concerning the topic of predestination for individuals. The concepts of God’s sovereignty and God’s omniscience are intertwined in the theory of Predestination.
The theory of predestination goes beyond God just knowing in advance all that will happen; it alleges God has decided in advance which individuals will be given salvation and which ones will be pushed aside. This confusion has resurfaced many times with the theory that Fate Controls Our Lives. This has spawned such phrases as "que sera, sera", what will be, will be. An extension of this belief is the "once saved, always saved" belief. At the core of this theory is the tension between human free will and God’s sovereign choices. However, the teaching that each individual’s destiny regarding salvation is predestined fails as a valid interpretation of scripture. This false teaching is an exceptionally powerful de-motivator for those who believe in the workings of Jehovah God. Predestination theory is based on seven scriptures taken out of their specific context. The word “foreknowledge,” appears first and is followed by five, forced into six, more descriptive pictures: Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28, Romans 8:29; 30, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:5, and Ephesians 1:11. The Predestination theory concludes that regardless of the positive or negative actions executed by individual humans, the spiritual result of those lives has been decided in advance. With this conclusion, there is no reason to endure the hardships life brings (John 16:33), and any attempts to help others may be for naught.
In the specific context, these seven statements arise in the midst of confusion about the Gentiles becoming a part of, even grafted into (Romans 11:17) God’s Israel, the εκκλσία, a called out into a kingdom people: church. Although Isaiah had indicated that Gentile inclusion was God’s will (Isaiah 42:6), the Jews wanted to remain God’s exclusive chosen people, with the history and genealogy to prove it. Once the Gentiles understood the gift and love extended toward them to replace the other false gods, many quickly accepted Jesus and entered the new kingdom. To promote unity, both Jews and Gentiles needed reassurance that this change was not a new or false teaching. Fundamentally, Paul made these specific statements to testify that this inclusion of Gentiles was not something new, but had been God’s plan since the world began. Whether human actions were foreknown or fore-dictated became a pivot point in this discussion because of understanding who were God’s accepted people.
Jews depended heavily on things spoken long ago by their prophets. This collection of perspectives and debate about predestination, group or individual, can be distilled into a single concern: responsibility - who is responsible for all activities that take place.
Generally, we accept that God has made humans with the ability to make personal decisions concerning their lives. The Old Testament reveals the failings of people was due to their own poor decisions many times about not following God’s directives. This was the case whether the people under focus were considered gifted or not, e.g. King David. Even though Jesus was predicted to be the savior of the world, He struggled with His own final choice in the garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion (Luke 2:39-46). Most aspects of physical life are the responsibility of the individual person, and there are severe physical and or spiritual consequences which accompany some decisions. Humans must accept that they personally control how much interaction God can have with them. It is critical to note that Jesus’ offer to help those around Him at Capernaum depended not on His own will, but their belief in Him (e.g. their permission). In order to honor God’s eternal characteristics, He was limited, “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief,” Mark 6:5-6 (ESV). This is a key revelation, because motivated by the Holy Spirit, Mark writes that he “could do no”, or ‘did not have the power or ability to carry out’ what He wanted to do. Jesus was constrained by the responsibility to uphold God’s eternal character: people have personal free choice relative to God.
For some, this is a very sensitive topic which bolsters the whole structure of their worldview; for others, the idea of predestination is merely an intriguing mental exercise. Unfortunately, the broad range of philosophies and passions associated with the topic of predestination has caused many Christians to conclude that humans, even with the indwelling Holy Spirit, are incapable of fully comprehending this topic.
We use words to create mind pictures or concepts of any topic. The concept of predestination began to be described around 1350–1400 AD; it is from Middle English, Anglo-French, or Latin; Anglo-French predestiner, from Latin praedestinare, from prae- + destinare, to determine. The root of this word-picture is one of preknowledge or predecision; the mental picture is one of something whose occurrence is revealed prior to the time of the event. Since God knows everything before and after the time on which we focus, and has the power to act in many ways, one’s investigation can become very challenging.
For this investigation, the word “foreknowledge,” appears first and is followed by five more descriptive pictures: Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28, Romans 8:29/30, I Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:5 and Ephesians 1:11. Those interested should explore what is stated to be known or determined by their occurrence in these verses. First, Luke finds in Acts 2:23, that God’s plan for redeeming His people, via Jesus’ sacrifice, was a predetermined plan. This is expressed by ὡρισμένῃ (plan, or determination) that is known beforehand, προγνώσει, (foreknowledge). This easily blends into the concepts of one definition for prophecy, or prediction. Based on God’s first judgement of Satan, (Genesis 3:15), Jesus fulfilled at least 44 predicted actions that are called prophecies. All these activities were known by God before they occurred, written by preachers or prophets, and willingly carried out by Jesus. Jesus spent much time in prayer, learned, and knew to complete those predictions of His own free will. When God finds a willing servant, albeit God himself, He can accomplish many amazing things.
But what about "predestinate”? The concept does not occur in the best translations of the Old Testament; the Hebrews had a slightly different word picture for this concept, prophecy. The proper word “predestine” is used in only four verses in the New Testament; derived words appear in two other verses, yielding a total of six occurrences in 5 proper verses.
This mental picture was described by the word "predestinate,” a derivation from the Greek word "προορίζω." From this word,
In Acts 4:28, Luke goes into great detail discussing the timelessness of Christ’s sacrifice, but for our investigation, it is sufficient to note that nearly every Christian agrees that the death of Christ for our sins was determined long before His birth. Even though He fully accepted it, Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was predetermined by the counsel of God. This evidence is consistent with teachings found in other locations in the Scriptures. The crucifixion accounts contain statements like "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying," (Matthew 21:4) and Revelation 13:8 states that Christ was, "slain from the foundation of the world." This means Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God; He was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
The next sequential references in the New Testament occur in Romans 8:28-29. Romans was a letter written to introduce Paul and his work to the Christians, before those who challenged him could taint his message. Paul begins this thought with, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”- Romans 8:28 (ESV). Please note that the subject of this verse are the people who are "the called according to God’s purpose." It is implied that the hearers, both Jew and Gentile, understand what is meant by ‘called’, [or perhaps better] ‘invited’ according to "God’s purpose," which is salvation in Jesus’ name. The Greek verbs in this section are, for the most part plural, meaning he is speaking to groups of people, Jews and Gentiles, [probably in in multiple locations as the contents of the letters were disseminated], not individuals. If we understand the subject as plural and groups, the Aramaic version reveals the decision to include Gentiles before the Christ event, “But we know that he helps those who love God in everything for good, those whom he preordained to be called” - Romans 8:28 (Aramaic in plain English). Jesus referenced this in His teachings, also. {Jesus says] ”And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John 10:16 (ESV).
English translations struggle with translating Romans 8:28-30, because they depart from the Greek and split the phrase apart. In most English translations, verses 29 and 30 start completely new sentences. However, this is not the case in the Greek, and would not have been what the first listeners heard. Robert Young provided the most accurate translation of these verses, “And we have known that to those loving God all things do work together for good, to those who are called according to purpose; 29because whom He did foreknow, He also did fore-appoint, conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be first-born among many brethren; 30and whom He did fore-appoint, these also He did call; and whom He did call, these also He declared righteous; and whom He declared righteous, these also He did glorify.” – Romans 8:28-30 (Young’s Literal Translation, 1898).
The section of this verse we now view as verse 29 starts with the Greek conjunction "hoti", which is translated as "for." Instead of starting a new sentence or thought, this conjunction "hoti" is really more pointed and means "because" or "so that." In plain language, when "hoti" is translated as "because" or as "so that", then it becomes apparent that verse 29 is in fact a continuation of the sentence that started in verse 28. "Hoti" is a conjunction which joins what follows to that which went before. Verse 29 should be considered an explanation of the thought started in Verse 28.
In essence, we could also describe this word picture as, before all these events occurred, God knew there would be a group of people who loved him and accepted Jesus and His work. Those who accepted Jesus voluntarily became His servants. Those who accepted Jesus were justified, declared pure, and started a journey of sanctification, which will end in glory. This unique individual journey of a group of people will be a struggle, but all things that happen, even suffering, will work out to offer praise to God. Whether Jew or Gentile, whether male or female, whether acceptance is early or late in Chronos time, all spiritual things will work out to glorify God.
This Greek verb "proorizo" is the sole foundation for all the theories about "predestination." This word (from horos, ‘boundary’) means ‘to limit’ and then figuratively ‘to fix’, ‘to appoint’. The mental picture should be God defined his sheep fold, His boundaries, long ago to include Gentiles as well as Jews, but it is not focused specifically on each individual person, because all who accept Jesus are equal in God’s sight.
Romans 8:29-30, have the same context and subject matter and can be examined together. The predestination referred to in these verses is the predestination of a group of people: the ekklesia, called out into a kingdom people, church. Christians are on a spiritual journey and will be sanctified [The Father sanctifies (1 Corinthians 1:30) by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) and in the name of Christ (1 Corinthians. 6:11 )], or conformed into the image of Christ. Once again, this doctrine is taught throughout the Scriptures, for "we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is," (1 John 3:2). We also see in 1 Corinthians 15 that all Christians will one day be changed from corruptible to incorruptible. Nearly all Christians agree that we will one day be freed from our bodies of sin and death and be fully conformed to the image of Christ.
Next, 1 Corinthians 2:7 tells us that before God had even formed the world, He determined to make His wisdom available to His children. It is encouraging to know that every Christian who seeks wisdom can find it, (Proverbs 8) and that if we find ourselves lacking in wisdom, we need only to "ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally." – James 1:5 (ESV). Once again, this is a point of doctrine on which nearly every Christian agrees. We all agree that we can utilize our free will and decide to turn towards God for wisdom and direction in our lives.
Further, Ephesians 1:5 provides another biblical doctrine that is commonly accepted among Christians. There we read that God has predetermined that all Christians are to be not just His servants, but rather His beloved children, and they were expected to react by belief and faith to accept Him. This doctrine is repeated many places in the Scriptures, however, one of the clearest presentations was left by John. This apostle states that "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" John 1:11-12 (ESV). This adoption into the family of God is not something that we have to ask for in addition to our salvation from death and hell, nor is it an additional request that we must make. It is but one of the many gifts that God has predetermined to give to everyone that calls upon Him to be saved. " See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." - 1 John 3:1 (ESV). Ephesians 1:11-12 simply tells us that God preordained that those who first trusted in Christ "should be to the praise of his glory." Stated differently, God preordained that in the original Christians " But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life." - 1 Timothy 1:16 (ESV). Christians are commanded to follow this pattern that God revealed for us in the lives of the first Christians in that we are to " And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him," (2 Peter 3:15). We are also told that the church of Thessalonica followed this pattern of suffering for the glory of God in that we read, " For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last! " - 1 Thessalonians. 2:14-20 (ESV). The first Christians understood that God's glory would be revealed in their suffering, weakness and infirmity, and we also teach the value of personal sacrifice in pointing others to Christ.
These five or six verses fully exhaust the occurrences of the word "predestination" in the Bible. There are many additional verses that are used to support one or the other of the dozens of claims that Christians make regarding this topic, but these passages are the only ones in the Bible that specifically mention predestination, and they are remarkably simple passages to understand. All we have to do is ignore philosophies of men and let the passages speak for themselves. When we examine scripture, we must remember that most teachings are pointed toward a group of believers. It is quite a different statement to say that a group of people is foreordained, foreknown, or predestined to do a particular thing, than to say an individual will do this out of their own God given free will.
We must realize scripture instructs us that God does not make decisions for us. Those who accept Jesus have the Holy Spirit living within them, and He will cause us to remember various things, but the final decision is ours and we are responsible for our thoughts and actions. The real predestination depicts God’s planned actions with a group of people who decide they will be loyal to Him and accept Christ as Messiah.
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