Predestination
Predestination is a religious idea, under which the relationship between the beginning of things and the destiny of things is discussed. Its religious nature distinguishes it from other ideas concerning determinism and free will, and related concepts. In particular, predestination concerns God's decision to create and to govern Creation, and the extent to which God's decisions determine ahead of time what the destiny of groups and individuals will be.
Contrasted with other kinds of determinism
In Chinese Buddhism, predestination is a translation of yuanfen, which does not necessarily imply the existence or involvement of a deity. Predestination in this sense takes on a very literal meaning: pre- (before) and destiny, in a straightforward way indicating that some events seem bound to happen.
Predestination may sometimes be used to refer to other, materialistic, spiritualist, non-theistic or polytheistic ideas of determinism, destiny, fate, doom, or karma. Such beliefs or philosophical systems may hold that any outcome is finally determined by the complex interaction of multiple, possibly immanent, possibly impersonal, possibly equal forces: rather than the issue of the Creator's conscious choice.
For example, some may speak of predestination from a purely physical perspective, such as in a discussion of time travel. In this case, rather than referring to the afterlife, predestination refers to any events that will occur in the future. In a predestined universe the future is immutable and only one set of events can possibly occur; in a non-predestined universe, the future is mutable.
Finally, antithetical to determinism of any kind, are theories of the cosmos which assert that any outcome is ultimately unpredictable, the ludibrium of luck, chance, or chaos.
All conceptions of an ordered or rational cosmos have determinist implications, as a logical consequence of the idea of predictability; but predestination usually refers to a specifically religious type of determinism, especially as found in the various monotheistic systems of Christianity, wherever omniscience is attributed to God, but it also appears in Islam.
Distinguished from preordination
Predestination, in the sense of preordination or foreordination, is concerned not only with the afterlife, but also with the roles and limitations that are assigned to things and people in life as well (temporal preordination). In Christian theology, usually all issues of preordination correspond directly with the issues of divine providence, with emphasis on God's particular determination of events: especially those events which arise from the choices made by men and angels. Predestination includes all of the issues of preordination, and in addition is concerned with the ultimate outcome, the final destiny of men and of angels. So, in Christianity, the terms are roughly synonymous and may be used interchangeably. These or related issues may be discussed in monotheistic religions besides Christianity.
In Christianity, ideas of preordination are strong or weak in parallel with ideas of predestination; the two live or die together. This is not the case in some other religions, which make a strong difference between earthly and eternal destinies. However, in Christianity, although the two are formally distinguished, the principles are the same which explain the relationship of God's determining will and man's free choices, whether speaking of the earthly fortunes and roles to which God has preordained men, or the final status to which they are predestined.
On the other hand, in that ultimate reference there may be a complete reversal of the status of people or groups expected. Thus, for example the Christian sayings, "The meek shall inherit the earth" and "many who are first shall be last and the last, first", imply that there is no predictable continuity between present and final status. The final state (to which men are predestined) may be a reversal of the present injustices under which the righteous suffer (which are preordained), and yet God has as much to do with one as with the other (if the particular belief system allows that God has anything to do with either of them).
Furthermore, predestination typically refers to God's will for salvation and not His will for damnation. Predestination to damnation is, rather, called reprobation.
Predestination and omniscience
Discussion of predestination usually involves consideration of whether God is omniscient, or eternal or atemporal (out of the flow of time in our universe). In terms of these ideas, God may see the past, present and future, so that God effectively knows the future. If God in some sense knows ahead of time what will happen, then events in the universe are effectively predetermined from God's point of view. This is not predestination in itself (although it does involve determinism). Predestination implies that God has something to do with determining ahead of time, what the destiny of creatures will be.
Judaism may accept the possibility that God is atemporal; some forms of Jewish theology teach this virtually as a principle of faith, while other forms of Judaism do not. Jews may use the term omniscience, or preordination as a corollary of omniscience, but normally reject the idea of predestination outright, as a completely foreign idea that has no place in their religion.
Islam traditionally has strong views of predestination similar to some found in Christianity. In Islam, Allah both knows and ordains whatever comes to pass. Muslims believe that God is literally atemporal, eternal and omniscient at the same time.
In philosophy, the relation between foreknowledge and predestination is a central part of Newcomb's paradox.
Predestination in Christianity
The "doctrine of predestination" usually refers to Christian teaching concerning the ultimate implications of the predestination idea: the final destiny of men and of angels. As such, discussion of predestination concerns the extent to which salvation and damnation are the issue of God's decisions before time, and the extent to which these are matters decided by men and angels for themselves. The more immediate application of the doctrine of predestination concerns the extent to which people and nations are confined by God to particular roles, compared to how much they are makers of their own destiny. Predestination is mentioned in the Bible (Ephesians 1:4-6 (ESV) for example), and therefore all Christian theologies discuss it in some way.
In terms of these ultimates, with creation as the ultimate beginning, and salvation as the ultimate end, a belief system has a doctrine of predestination if it teaches:
- God's decision, assignment or declaration concerning the lot of people is conceived as occurring in some sense prior to the outcome, and
- the decision is fully predictive of the outcome, and not merely probable.
There are numerous ways to describe the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, in Christian thinking. To some extent, this spectrum has analogies in other monotheistic religions; although, in other religions the term predestination may not be used. For example, teaching on predestination may vary in terms of three considerations.
- Is God's predestinating decision based on a knowledge of His own will, or does it arise from a knowledge of whatever will happen?
- How particular is God's prior decision: is it concerned with particular persons and events, or is it limited to broad categories of people and things?
- How free is God in effecting His part in the eventual outcome?
Furthermore, the same sort of considerations apply to the freedom of man's will.
- Assuming that an individual had no choice in who, when and where to come into being: How are the choices of existence determined by what he is?
- Assuming that not all possible choices are available to him: How capable is the individual to desire all choices available, in order to choose from among them?
- How capable is an individual to put into effect what he desires?
With each additional consideration relevant to predestination, the spectrum of beliefs can be expanded to display the religious presuppositions upon which the various systems are organized. For this reason, predestination is of particular interest in discerning the principle upon which a belief system explains differences of status or condition between people, in life and in death.
Various Views on Christian Predestination
There is a resounding consistency in the early church fathers, regarding the freedom of human choices. This polemic was crucial in the Christian confrontation with Cynicism and some of the chief forms of Gnosticism, such as Manichaeism, which taught that man is by nature flawed and therefore not responsible for evil in himself or in the world. At the same time, belief in a sovereign and predestinating God was held without clear attempt to reconcile these ideas with one another. That this was an uneasy tension eventually became obvious with the confrontation between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius culminating in condemnation of Pelagianism (as interpreted by Augustine) in 417. The British monk denied predestination in order to affirm that salvation is achieved by an act of free will.
Leading to this controversy, Augustine's own early writings clearly affirmed that God's predestinating grace was granted on the basis of his foreknowledge of the human desire to pursue salvation. After 396, however, his understanding began to turn increasingly toward the necessity of God granting this grace in order for the desire for salvation to be awakened. Thus his thoughts took a more determinist direction, especially as Augustine wrestled with the implications of the writings of the Apostle Paul.
His solution was not to deny that man has freedom to choose, but to assert that on account of Original Sin, human free choice is enslaved to sin (liberum arbitrium captivatum). The individual does not lack knowledge of what God's will is and knows it to be good, but is deprived of the ability to desire to do God's will, and subsequently freely chooses what is desired, which is sin. The grace of God cures this disease, which has as its main symptom the absence of any desire to be cured, setting the person free to choose God's will (liberum arbitrium liberatum). God's grace acts first on the human heart, to awaken the desire to do His will, and cooperates with the individual in a process of granting prayers for the greater desire and ability to choose His will and to do it, according to Augustine's later thought on the issues.
Augustine's formulation is neither complete nor universally accepted by Christians. In a real sense, all ideas of predestination are further developments of this same struggle to reconcile the idea of free will with the idea of predestinating grace; both of which are affirmed in Scripture and throughout Christian tradition. Especially in Western Christianity, the history of this development is traced through Augustine.
Conditional predestination
Conditional Predestination, or more commonly referred to as conditional election, is a theological stance that came from the writings and teachings of Jacobus Arminius. Jacob studied under the staunch reformed scholar Theodore Beza, whose views of election, Jacob eventually argued, could not reconcile freedom with moral responsibility.
Jacob used a philosophy called Molinism (named for the philosopher, Luis De Molina) that attempted to reconcile freedom with God's omniscience. They both saw human freedom in terms of the Libertarian philosophy: man's choice is not decided by God's choice, thus God's choice is "conditional", depending on what man chooses. Jacob saw God "looking down the corridors of time" to see the free choices of man, and choosing those who will respond in faith and love to God's love and promises, revealed in Jesus.
Arminianism (the theological system that rose from Jacob Arminius) sees the choice of Christ as an impossiblity, apart from God's grace; and the freedom to choose is given to all, because God's prevenient grace is universal (given to everyone). Therefore, God predestinates on the basis of foreknowledge of how some will respond to his universal love ("conditional"). In contrast, the Calvinist views universal grace as resistable and not sufficient for leading to salvation, and instead supposes grace that leads to salvation to be irresistible, and given to some but not to others on the basis of God's predestinating choice ("unconditional").
Temporal predestination
Temporal predestination is the view that God only determines temporal matters, and not eternal ones. This Christian view is analogous to the traditional Jewish view, which distinguishes between preordination and predestination. Temporal matters are pre-ordained by God, but eternal matters, being supra-temporal, are subject to absolute freedom of choice. J. Kenneth Grider
Sublapsarianism
Also called infralapsarianism, holds that predestination logically coincides with the preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is, God predestined sinful men for salvation. This view assumes that God determined that there would certainly be sinners, while affirming the important proposition that God cannot be the author of sin. Infralapsarians often emphasize a difference between God's decree (which is inviolable and inscrutible), and his revealed will (against which man is disobedient). Proponents also typically emphasize the grace and mercy of God toward all men, although teaching also that only some are predestined for salvation. Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin?
In common English parlance, the doctrine of predestination often has particular reference to the doctrines of Calvinism. The version of predestination espoused by John Calvin, after whom Calvinism is named, is sometime's referred to as "double predestination" because in it God predestines some people for salvation (i.e. Unconditional election) and some for condemnation (i.e. Reprobation). On the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, Calvinism is the strongest form among Christians. It teaches that God's predestinating decision is based on the knowledge of His own will rather than foreknowledge, concerning every particular person and event; and, God continually acts with entire freedom, in order to bring about his will in completeness, in an unfathomable way, not accessible to scrutiny, so that the freedom of the creature is not violated.
Calvinists who hold the sublapsarian view of predestination usually prefer to call it Infralapsarianism, perhaps with the intent of blocking the inference that they believe predestination is on the basis of foreknowledge (sublapsarian, meaning, assuming the fall into sin). The different terminology has the benefit of distinguishing the Calvinist double predestination version of infralapsarianism, from Lutheranism's view that predestination is a mystery, which forbids the unprofitable intrusion of prying minds.
Calvinists seek never to divide predestination in a mathematical way. Their doctrine is uninterested, in the abstract, in questions of "how much" either God or man is responsible for a particular destiny. Questions of "how much" will become hopelessly entangled in paradox, Calvinists teach, regardless of the view of predestination adopted. Instead, Calvinism divides the issues of predestination according to two kinds of being, knowledge, and will, distinguishing that which is divine from that which is human. Therefore, it is not so much an issue of quantity, but of distinct roles, or modes of being. God is not a creature, and the creature is not God, in knowledge, will, freedom, ability, responsibility, or anything else. So that Calvinists will often attribute salvation entirely to God; and yet they will also assert that it is man's responsibility to pursue obedience. As the archetypical illustration of this idea, Jesus Christ humanly fulfilled all that he as God eternally determined from the Father would be done, in his words and work, death on the cross, and resurrection, etc. What he did humanly is distinguishable, but not separate, from what he did divinely.
Supralapsarianism
Supralapsarianism is the doctrine that God's decree of predestination for salvation and reprobation logically preceeds his preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is, God decided to save, and to damn; he then determined that the fall of Man into sin would accomplish his purpose. Calvin is often counted among the supralapsarians, especially by those who hold this view. John Calvin?, Theodore Beza, Franciscus Gomarus
Modified supralapsarianism
late 16th century - early 17th century
Bible reference
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Ephesians 1:3-5
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. 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 8:28-30
but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
1 Corinthians 2:7
"For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
Acts 4:27-28
Jewish views
- see also Free will In Jewish thought
Generally speaking Judaism has no strong doctrine of predestination. The idea that God is omnipotent and omniscient didn't formally exist in Judaism during the Biblical era, but rather was a later development due to the influence of neo-Platonic and neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Many modern Jewish thinkers in the 20th century have resolved the dialectical tension by holding that God is simply not omnipotent, in the commonly used sense of that word. These thinkers are primarily not Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jewish rabbis generally affirm that God must be viewed as omnipotent, but they have varying definitions of what the word omnipotent means. Thus one finds that some Modern Orthodox theologians have views that are essentially the same as non-Orthodox theologians, but they use different terminology. See the entry on omnipotence for a discussion of how people use this word in different ways.
One noted Jewish philosopher, Hasdai Crescas, resolved this dialectical tension by taking the position that free-will doesn't exist. Hence all of a person's actions are pre-determined by the moment of their birth, and thus their judgement in the eyes of God (so to speak) is effectively pre-ordained. However in this scheme this is not a result of God's predetermining one's fate, but rather from the view that the universe is deterministic. Crescas's views were on this topic were rejected by Judaism at large. In later centuries this idea independently developed among some in the Chabad (Lubavitch) sect of Hasidic Judaism. Many individuals within Chabad take this view seriously, and hence effectively deny the existence of free will.
However, many Chabad (Lubavitch) Jews attempt to hold both views. They affirm as infallible their rebbe's teachings that God knows and controls the fate of all, yet at the same time affirm the classical Jewish belief in free-will (i.e. no such thing as determinism). The inherent contradiction between the two results in their belief that such contraditions are only "apparent", due to man's inherent lack of ability to understand greater truths. To most people outside of these Hasidic groups, this position is held to be a logical contradiciton, and is only sustained due to cognative dissonance.
All other Jews (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and secular) affirm that since free-will exists, then by definition one's fate is not preordained. It is held as a tenet of faith that whether God is omniscient or not, nothing interferes with mankind's free will. Some Jewish theologians, both during the medieval era and today, have attempted to formulate a philosophy in which free will is preserved, while also affirming that God has knowledge of what decisions people will make in the future. Whether or not these two ideas are mutually compatible, or whether there is a contradiction between the two, is still a matter of great study and interest in philosophy today.
Islamic views
In Islam, "predestination" is the usual English language rendering of a belief that Muslims call al-qada wa al-qadar in Arabic. The phrase means "the divine decree and the predestination"; al-qadar derives from a root that means to measure out.
The phrase reflects a Muslim doctrine that God has measured out and foreordained the span of every person's life, and their lot of good or ill fortune. When referring to the future, Muslims frequently qualify any predictions of what will come to pass with the phrase inshallah, Arabic for "if God wills." The phrase recognises that human knowledge of the future is limited, and that all that may or may not come to pass is under the control of God. A related phrase, mashallah, indicates acceptance of what God has ordained in terms of good or ill fortune that may befall a believer.
Islam and Christianity
Although comparable in broad terms, the differences between Christian and Islamic ideas of predestination are complex. These differences are due to the distinctives of each faith's belief system. In broad terms, the doctrine of predestination refers to inevitability as a general principle, and usually more particularly refers to the exercise of God's will as it relates to the future of members of the human race, considered either as groups or as individuals, with special concern for issues of human responsibility as it relates to the sovereignty of God. Predestination always involves issues of the Creator's personality and will; and consequently, the different versions of the doctrine of predestination go hand in hand with appropriately different conceptions of the contribution any creature is able to make toward its own present condition, or future destiny.
Unification View
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon points out that the variety and complexity of the positions taken over the millenia in various religious traditions, that controversy over predestination has caused great confusion in the religious lives of many people. He focuses his attention on the Christian context, pointing out that the Bible is ambiguous on the issue. Many passages are often interpreted to mean that everything in an individual’s life, as well the rise and fall of nations, comes to pass exactly as predestined by God. For example, St. Paul wrote:
Those whom He predestined He also called; and those whom He called He also justified; and those whom He justified He also glorified. —Rom. 8:30
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. —Rom. 9:15-16
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? —Rom. 9:21
It is also written that, even while they were still in their mother’s womb, God loved Jacob and hated Esau and announced their destiny, saying, “the elder will serve the younger.”1 Thus, there are ample biblical grounds to justify the doctrine of God’s absolute and complete predestination.
Yet we can also find sufficient evidence in the Bible to refute the doctrine of absolute predestination. For example, God warned the first human ancestors not to eat of the fruit in order to prevent their Fall.2 We can deduce from this that the human Fall was not the outcome of God’s predestination, but rather the result of man’s disobedience to God’s commandment. Again we read, “the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart.”3 If the human Fall were predestined by God, there would be no reason for Him to grieve over fallen human beings, who were acting in accordance with His predestination. Moreover, it is written in the Gospel of John that whoever believes in Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life,4 implying that no one is predestined to damnation.
The doctrine that the outcome of human undertakings is determined not by God’s predestination, but instead by human effort, is supported by the well-known biblical verse, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”5
Reverend Moon adopts the position that God's Will is predestined in the sense that his goal to accomplish the purpose of creation will never change. God predetermines His Will for individual acts as well before He works toward its fulfillment, and God will adjust His will in relation to particular acts based upon the results of human actions.
Reverend Moon decisively rejects both the infra- and supra-lapsarian position. God must predestine His Will and bring about its realization in the ways of goodness, and not in the ways of evil. God is the Author of goodness. Hence, His purpose of creation is good; likewise, the purpose of the providence of restoration and His Will to accomplish its purpose are good. If evil acts such as Christ's crucifixion were the inevitable result of God’s predestination, then God could not be the Author of goodness. If God Himself had predestined such evil outcomes, He would not have expressed regret over them as He did, for example, over the depravity of fallen human beings,7 or over King Saul when he lapsed into faithlessness.8 Such verses illustrate that evil is not the result of God’s predestination, but rather the result of human beings failing to fulfill their responsibility and instead joining hands with Satan.
In Reverend Moon's view, God's will is absolute, unchanging and eternal, but it is one among many competing wills, for human beings and angels have freedom in which God will not intervene. God predestines His own will, but cannot predestine theirs. Within His will, He will predestine specific tasks and outcomes for individual lives, but this does not guarantee success, and if the person who has been chosen to accomplish His Will fails, God must continue to carry on His providence until its fulfillment, even though it may require Him to choose another person to shoulder the mission.
Biblical examples given are that Jesus succeeded Adam, Seth succeeded Able, Joshua succeeded Moses and Matthias succeeded Judas.
God also predestines the Way in Which His Will Is Fulfilled. God’s purpose of creation can be realized only when human beings complete their portion of responsibility. Its fulfillment necessarily requires the accomplishment of the human portion of responsibility.
Originally, God’s purpose of creation was to be fulfilled through Adam and Eve only when they completed their given responsibility and refrained from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.16 Similarly, in the providence of restoration, God’s Will is accomplished only when the central figure responsible for a mission completes his portion of responsibility. For example, the Jewish people, as the central nation of the providence, should have believed in Jesus and followed him unconditionally in order for God to accomplish complete salvation at that time. Because they disbelieved and failed to fulfill their responsibility, the fulfillment of the Will had to be postponed until the time of the Second Advent. To what extent does God predestine the unfolding of the events in the providence? Although God’s Will to realize the purpose of the providence of restoration is absolute, God predestines the process of its accomplishment conditionally, contingent upon the five percent responsibility of the central figure, which must be completed in addition to the ninety-five percent responsibility of God. The proportion of five percent is used to indicate that the human portion of responsibility is extremely small when compared to God’s portion of responsibility. Yet for human beings, this five percent is equivalent to one hundred percent of our effort. To cite some examples: God predestined that His Will be fulfilled through Adam and Eve only when they refrained from eating the fruit and completed their responsibility. In the dispensation of restoration through Noah, God predestined that His Will be fulfilled only after Noah completed his responsibility by exerting himself with the utmost devotion in building the ark. In the providence of salvation through Jesus, God predestined that His Will be fulfilled only after fallen people completed their responsibility by believing in Jesus as the Messiah and rendering him devoted service.17 However, time and again human beings could not cope with even their small portion of responsibility. Consequently, God’s providence has been repeatedly prolonged. It is written in the Bible, “The prayer of faith will save the sick man,”18 “Your faith has made you well,”19 and “For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”20 These verses confirm that God predestines His Will to be fulfilled contingent upon human beings’ completing their portion of responsibility. We should recognize from these examples how minuscule the human portion of responsibility is in comparison to God’s toil and grace, which is His portion of responsibility. On the other hand, when we consider the fact that over and over again central figures in the providence could not cope with their responsibility, we can appreciate how extremely difficult it was for them to fulfill even this comparatively small portion.
Section 3 The Predestination of Human Beings Adam and Eve were to become the good ancestors of humanity, conditional upon fulfilling their responsibility to obey God’s commandment not to eat of the fruit. Accordingly, God did not absolutely predestine that Adam and Eve would become our good ancestors. The same holds for all fallen people: they can become the ideal people God has foreordained them to be only when they complete their responsibility. Therefore, God does not predestine in absolute terms what kind of people they actually turn out to be. To what extent does God determine the fate of an individual? The fulfillment of God’s Will through an individual absolutely requires that he complete his responsibility. Hence, even though God predestines someone for a particular mission, God’s ninety-five percent responsibility and the person’s five percent responsibility must be accomplished together before the person can complete his given mission and fulfill God’s Will. If the person does not complete his responsibility, he cannot become the person God has purposed him to be. For example, when God chose Moses, He predestined conditionally that when Moses fulfilled his responsibility, he would lead the chosen people into the blessed land of Canaan.21 However, when Moses transgressed God’s Will by striking the rock twice at Kadesh-barnea, he failed. Consequently, Moses died before reaching his final destination, and God’s intention for him to lead the people into Canaan was not realized.22 When God chose Judas Iscariot, He conditionally predestined that Judas would remain a loyal disciple of Jesus by faithfully completing his responsibility. Yet when Judas turned faithless, God’s expectation for him was not realized, and he ended up a traitor. When God raised up the Jewish people, God predestined that they would be glorified as the chosen nation when they fulfilled their responsibility to believe in and attend Jesus. However, when their leaders sent Jesus to the cross, this preordained destiny was not brought to pass, and the Jewish nation was scattered. Let us next examine God’s predestination of central figures in the providence of restoration. The purpose of God’s providence of restoration is to restore completely the fallen world to the original world which God intended. Therefore, although the times of their salvation may differ, all fallen people are predestined to be saved.23 Yet, as was the case with God’s creation, His providence of salvation—a work of re- creation—cannot be completed in an instant. It begins from one point and gradually expands to cover the whole. Therefore, in the providence of salvation, God first predestines one person to be the central figure and then calls him to a mission. What qualifications should the person possess to merit such a calling? First, the central figure must be born into the chosen people. Next, even among the chosen people, he must come from an ancestral line with many good accomplishments. Among the descendants of this outstanding lineage, he must be endowed with the requisite character. Among those with the requisite character, he must develop the necessary qualities during his early life. Finally, among those who have acquired these qualities, God selects first the individual who lives in a time and place most fitting to His need.
Section 4 Elucidation of Biblical Verses Which Support the Doctrine of Absolute Predestination So far, we have analyzed the various issues concerning predestination. Next, we shall look again at those biblical verses which seem to suggest that the outcome of every undertaking is determined by God’s absolute predestination and elucidate their meaning. Let us begin with the following verse:
For those whom He foreknew He also predestined . . . those whom He predestined He also called; and those whom He called He also justified; and those whom He justified He also glorified. —Rom. 8:29-30
God, being omniscient, foreknows who has the qualifications necessary to become a central figure in the providence of restoration. God predestines those whom He foreknows; then He calls upon him to fulfill the purpose of the providence. Calling the person is God’s responsibility, but that alone does not entitle the person to be justified before God and given glory. Only when the person completes his responsibility after being called by God is he justified and then glorified. God’s predestination concerning an individual’s glorification is thus contingent upon the completion of his portion of responsibility. Because the biblical verse does not mention the human portion of responsibility, people may misinterpret it to mean that all affairs are determined solely by God’s absolute predestination. It is written,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. —Rom. 9:15-16
As was explained above, only God foreknows and chooses who is most suitable to fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration. It is God’s right to choose a person and have mercy or compassion on him; this depends not at all upon human will or human effort. This verse was written to emphasize the power and grace of God. Paul also wrote,
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? —Rom. 9:21
It has been explained that God gave human beings a portion of responsibility as the condition based on which He could love them more than any other being in creation. God’s intention in giving this condition was to make them worthy to be the lords of creation by having them take after His creative nature. Yet human beings themselves violated this condition and fell. They have become like refuse, fit to be discarded. In such a state, fallen people have no cause to complain, no matter how God may treat them. This is what this verse teaches us. It is written that God loved Jacob and hated Esau even when they were still inside their mother’s womb and had not done anything good or evil. God favored one and disfavored the other and told Rebecca that “the elder will serve the younger.”24 What was the reason for this favoritism? God favored one over the other in order to set up a certain course in the providence of restoration. Although further details will be discussed below,25 God gave Isaac twin sons, Esau and Jacob, with the intention of having them stand in the positions of Cain and Abel. They were to make the conditions of indemnity necessary for accomplishing His Will to recover the birthright of the elder brother, which was lost when Cain killed Abel in Adam’s family. God intended to realize this Will by having Jacob (in the position of Abel) win over his elder brother Esau (in the position of Cain). Since Esau was in the position of Cain, he was “hated” by God. Since Jacob was in the position of Abel, he could receive God’s love. Nevertheless, whether God would in the end favor or disfavor them depended on whether or not they completed their given portions of responsibility. In fact, because Esau obediently submitted to Jacob, he was able to rise above his previous condition of being hated by God and receive the blessing of God’s love equal to Jacob’s. Conversely, even though Jacob was initially in the position to receive God’s favor, he would have ceased to receive it had he failed in his responsibility. People such as John Calvin have propounded the doctrine of absolute and complete predestination, which is widely believed even in our present day. They have held to such a doctrine because they wrongly believed that the accomplishment of God’s Will depends solely on the power and work of God. They were ignorant of the true relationship between God’s portion of responsibility and the human portion of responsibility in the fulfillment of the purpose of the providence of restoration.
External Links
- Determinism in Theology: PREDESTINATION
- Occurrences of predestination in the Bible text (ESV)
- Theopedia: Predestination (conservative Calvinist perspective)
cs:Predestinace de:Prädestination fr:Prédestination nl:Predestinatie ja:予定説 pl:Predestynacja pt:Predestinação
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