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February 5, 2012 |
| Predestination | ||
Predestination in Christianity is the idea that the ultimate destiny of everyone, whether for everlasting life or everlasting death, was set before they were born. There is nothing they can do about it.
There is also an extension to the idea of predestination where every action and every decision of our lives is predestined. We will address this briefly at the end of the lesson.
In this lesson we will take a look at these two ideas about predestination and we'll learn something of the nature of God in the process.
The idea of predestination came into focus with Calvin during the reformation period.1 His view was an absolute predestination that seemed to exclude free will. Generally the church does not accept the idea of absolute predestination though some subgroups do. The remainder of the church falls somewhere between absolute predestination and foreknowledge, where God knows in advance what each person will do but hasn't destined it.
But this leads us to the problem for those who believe in absolute predestination. If all the decisions of your life are your own, then how can your destiny be predetermined? If you have free choice then you must have the freedom to choose everlasting life.
Before we get into this any deeper let's look at what the Bible says about predestination. The first verses come from Romans 8. I've given them in two different translations so you can see that there shades of differences between translations.
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.2
29 And those whom he foreknew, he also fashioned in the likeness of the image of his Son, that he would be the firstborn of many brethren. 30 And those whom he prefashioned, he called, and those whom he called, he made righteous, and those whom he made righteous, he glorified.3
The first translation above is very supportive of predestination, using the word twice. The second one does not even use the word. Other than that the verses are identical.
Both agree that God had foreknowledge of who would choose which path. But the first set is worded to say that we are predestined to be molded into the form of Christ. The meaning is that we were predestined to choose the Christian path and to continue in it.
The other translation is worded to say that we are built to be the same type as Christ. That is, it is in our nature to choose the Christian path. As you can see there isn't much difference here between the two. Both indicate that there is still a choice to be made. In the first there is allowing oneself to be conformed or molded; in the other we are built to choose. So we see that neither verse supports absolute predestination - that there is no choice involved.
The next set of verses come from Ephesians 1
In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
5 And he has constituted us as children by Yeshua The Messiah, as that is pleasing to his will, 6 that the glory of his grace may be praised, that which overflows upon us by his Beloved One.
Again one translation uses the word predestination while the other does not. In the second translation the word 'constituted' is used to indicate, as we saw in the first set of verses, that we are made in such a way that we will choose the right path.
The next set of verses comes just a little later in Ephesians 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, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
11 And we are chosen by him as he had before ordained us and willed to do all according to the counsel of his will, 12 That we would be those who first hoped in The Messiah, to the honor of his glory.
Here the other translation uses the word ordained which means appointed. To better understand this we can think of the president appointing judges. Being ordained in advance is very close to the way predestined is being used in the other set of verses.
So far we have seen that there is a predestination, ordination or whatever you want to call it. God has determined or chosen, in advance, whom he will call and who will be his. But how is this fair to those whom he does not choose. Surely a just God would treat everyone fairly. Paul discusses this in Romans 9, where he begins with the example of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Rebekah, the wife of Issac.
10 […] Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
I think the other translation says verse 11 better.
11 Before her children were to be born or would do good or evil, the choice of God was revealed beforehand that this would stand not by works, but by him who called.
From this we see that God knew them before they were born and loved one and not the other. One he chose and destined to be the father of his chosen people. It was not because of the works that they had done because they had not yet been born. It was by God's own choice.
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
This is an important point. Mercy and compassion belong to God and are his to give to whom he chooses.
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For 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." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
God has a purpose for those who will not obey him, as we saw with Pharaoh. In that case the purpose was to show God's power and name.
Now we get to another important point. We already saw that God shows mercy to whomever he chooses but why is it that the others can't or won't choose him. God will harden them. So that every man will make the choices that will reveal his destiny, those whom God has not chosen will be presented with choices knowing that they will choose wrongly. For example, a man with an adulterous heart may be presented with a little hottie to give him a choice, a choice he won't be able to make correctly.
This example is an oversimplification of course. Hardening like this is usually the result of a series of small steps each one a wrong choice leading in the wrong direction.
19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?"
These questions are very important but they aren't as clear as they might be. The questioner is asking: if God has made us according to his will and predestined us to reject him then how can we be blamed and found at fault for certainly none of us are able to circumvent his will. To simplify even further, the question is: how can we be at fault for fulfilling the destiny God willed for us. This question goes right to the heart of the Free Will versus Predestination argument. If we have free will how can we be predestined? In the following verses Paul will answer this question.
20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Paul's first answer to the question is really what God said through the prophet in Isaiah 55 "8 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD. 9 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" So the point is that God has a plan that is far beyond our understanding. As creator he has the right to make all kinds of people as fits his purpose.
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction? 23 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;
The other translation says it a little differently
22 But surely God was willing to show his wrath and reveal his power, bringing wrath with a multitude of patience against vessels of wrath that were perfected for destruction, 23 And his love overflowed on the vessels of compassion that were prepared by God for glory;
Paul contrasts two kinds of objects here, objects of God's wrath and objects of God's mercy or compassion. He says that God built the objects of wrath to serve God's purpose knowing that after much patience with them he would reveal his wrath and power against them, for that was their purpose. And God built the objects of mercy that God might show his love.
So, in the end, how do we resolve the Free Will versus Predestination question? Part of the reason for struggling to understand this is that we think so temporally. Time and cause and effect are so much a part of our lives. When we see a photograph it is a snapshot in time. A movie is really a series of photographs. But when God views human existence he sees it all at one time, beginning, end, and middle. For us that would be as though an entire movie was contained in a single picture.
So, for God, I think predestination is a word without meaning. God can't make a plan to create a person without at the same time knowing the destiny for that person. If God made the person a little different his destiny would be different because the person would choose differently. So God creates people while knowing their destinies, every choice that they will make. He builds these people in order that they might serve his purposes. And these people live their lives making free will choices without knowing their destinies. To them it appears they are predestined.
"The most common objection to the doctrine of predestination is that it is unfair. Why would God choose certain individuals and not others? The important thing to remember is that no one deserves to be saved. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and are all worthy of eternal punishment (Romans 6:23). As a result, God would be perfectly just in allowing all of us to spend eternity in hell. However, God chooses to save some of us. He is not being unfair to those who are not chosen, because they are receiving what they deserve. God's choosing to be gracious to some is not unfair to the others. No one deserves anything from God; therefore, no one can object if he does not receive anything from God. An illustration would be a man randomly handing out money to five people in a crowd of twenty. Would the fifteen people who did not receive money be upset? Probably so. Do they have a right to be upset? No, they do not. Why? Because the man did not owe anyone money. He simply decided to be gracious to some."4
A few points to think about
At the beginning of this lesson we mentioned an extension to the idea of predestination that says that all of our actions are predestined and all the outcomes are also predestined. In this way of thinking, if today you decided to stay in bed instead of going to work, you may think that was your decision but it was really predestined. You are just following your destiny. At this point predestination is becoming fatalism5
This idea is usually found in examples involving death. For example, if today is your day to die you will die and there is nothing you can do about it.
The church does not accept this kind of predestination or fatalism. The concept of free will choices is so strongly supported in the Bible and accountability for those choices is so fundamental to Biblical teaching that this kind of predestination is incompatible. If the decisions we make were not our own then why would he be guilty for making the wrong choices?
1. If God has already chosen who will be his, why should we
proclaim the gospel message?
We do not know whom God has chosen and called. We also do not know the future.
Therefore we cannot make any judgment about the destiny of another person, or even ourselves, for that
matter. Therefore we must treat every person as though they have been called.
2. Do people use predestination as an excuse to continue in
sin?
Yes, many people have said "I know I'm not going to Heaven so I'm going to
live the way I want to live." No one knows the eternal destiny of anyone, including yourself.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_(Calvinism)
[2] NIV 2011
[3] Aramaic NT