Reference: Predestination
Easton
This word is properly used only with reference to God's plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered "predestinate" is found only in these six passages, Ac 4:28; Ro 8:29-30; 1Co 2:7; Eph 1:5,11; and in all of them it has the same meaning. They teach that the eternal, sovereign, immutable, and unconditional decree or "determinate purpose" of God governs all events.
This doctrine of predestination or election is beset with many difficulties. It belongs to the "secret things" of God. But if we take the revealed word of God as our guide, we must accept this doctrine with all its mysteriousness, and settle all our questionings in the humble, devout acknowledgment, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight."
For the teaching of Scripture on this subject let the following passages be examined in addition to those referred to above; Ge 21:12; Ex 9:16; 33:19; De 10:15; 32:8; Jos 11:20; 1Sa 12:22; 2Ch 6:6; Ps 33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa 41:1-10; Jer 1:5; Mr 13:20; Lu 22:22; Joh 6:37; 15:16; 17:2,6,9; Ac 2:28; 3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Ro 9:11,18,21; 11:5; Eph 3:11; 1Th 1:4; 2Th 2:13; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2; 1Pe 1:2. (See Decrees of God; Election of Grace.)
Hodge has well remarked that, "rightly understood, this doctrine (1) exalts the majesty and absolute sovereignty of God, while it illustrates the riches of his free grace and his just displeasure with sin. (2.) It enforces upon us the essential truth that salvation is entirely of grace. That no one can either complain if passed over, or boast himself if saved. (3.) It brings the inquirer to absolute self-despair and the cordial embrace of the free offer of Christ. (4.) In the case of the believer who has the witness in himself, this doctrine at once deepens his humility and elevates his confidence to the full assurance of hope" (Outlines).
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And unless the Lord shortened those days, no flesh would be saved: but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
Indeed the Son of man goes, according to that which has been appointed: but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!
Everything which the Father giveth unto me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.
You did not choose me, but I chose you, and placed you in your position, that you may go forth and bear fruit, and your fruit may abide: in order that He may give you whatsoever you may ask in my name.
as thou didst give Him authority over all flesh, in order that whatsoever thou hast given unto Him, He may give unto them eternal life.
I have manifested thy name, to the men whom thou didst give me out of the world. They were thine, and thou didst give them to me; and they have kept thy word:
I pray for these: I pray not for the world; but for those whom thou hast given me, because they are thine:
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt fill me with gladness with thy countenance.
and those things which God proclaimed through the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he hath thus fulfilled.
to do so many things as thy hand and thy counsel did foreordain to come to pass.
to do so many things as thy hand and thy counsel did foreordain to come to pass.
And the Gentiles hearing, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord: and so many as had been ordained unto eternal life believed:
and of (one) man he created every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, having determined their predestinated times, and the boundaries of their habitation;
Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom He did foreknow, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them He also glorified.
for the children not having been born, neither having done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election not of works, but of him that calleth,
Then therefore he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens.
Has not the potter the right of the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
Thus then there is even at this time a remnant left according to the election of grace:
in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons unto himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
in whom we were also chosen by lot, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things within us according to the counsel of his own will;
having been rooted and grounded in him, and confirmed in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
in the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised before the eternal times,
holding that which is according to the teaching of the faithful word, in order that he may be able both to exhort with healthy teaching, and to convict the opposers.
Fausets
(See ELECTION.) Ac 2:23; 4:28, "whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done" (proorisen). God has "predestinated" believers "unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace." "He hath chosen us in Christ" out of the rest of the world, "predestinated" us to all things that secure the inheritance for us (Eph 1:4-5,11). "Predestination" refers to God's decree, embodied in God's "election" of us out of the mass; His grand end. in it being "the praise of the glory of His grace" (Eph 1:6,12,14). It is by virtue of our union to Christ, "foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1Pe 1:20), that we are "predestinated" (2Ti 1:9).
Believers are viewed by God before the world's foundation as "IN CHRIST" with whom the Father makes the covenant (Re 13:8; 17:8; Eph 3:11), "according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." In 2Th 2:13 the Greek for "chosen" (heilato) means rather "taken for Himself"; He adopted them in His eternal purpose; "in (Greek) sanctification of (i.e. by) the Spirit" (by consecration to perfect holiness in Christ once for all, next by imparting it to them ever more and more). There was no doubt or contingency with God from the first. All was foreordained. God's glory and the believer's salvation are secured unchangeably. All pride on man's part is excluded; all is of God's unmerited grace. Yet the will of man is, in the sense of preserving our reponsibility, free. God alone knows how the two harmonize, His predestination and our freedom; it is enough for us they are both distinctly revealed.
At the same time fatalism is excluded, for God who predestinated believers to salvation as the end predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son as the means. We must make as sure of the means as of the end. Not to have the Spirit of Christ is to be none of His. Yet God's predestination is not founded on the believer's character, but the believer's character results from God's predestination (2Th 2:13; Ro 8:9,28-30). God the Father gives us salvation by gratuitous election; the Son earns it by His blood-shedding; the Holy Spirit applies the Son's merits to the soul by the gospel word (Calvin): Ga 1:4,15; 1Pe 1:2; the element IN (Greek) which we are elected is "sanctification of (consecration once for all by) the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (the end aimed at by God as regards us).
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Him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, having been delivered, you having nailed up, slew through the hand of lawless men;
to do so many things as thy hand and thy counsel did foreordain to come to pass.
But ye are not in depravity, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: read more. and whom He did foreknow, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them He also glorified.
who gave Himself for our sins, in order that he might redeem us from the present evil age, according to the will of God even our Father:
When the one having separated me, from the womb of my mother, and called me through his grace, was pleased
as he elected us in himself before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in his presence. in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons unto himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, read more. unto the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved:
in whom we were also chosen by lot, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things within us according to the counsel of his own will; that we should be unto the praise of his glory, who first exercised hope in Christ:
who is the earnest of our salvation, unto the redemption of the possession, unto the praise of his glory.
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;
the one having 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 the eternal times,
foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but having been made manifest at the last of the times for the sake of you,
And all those who dwell upon the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, will worship him.
The beast which you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and go into perdition: and those dwelling upon the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished, seeing the beast, because he was, and is not, and will be.
Hastings
The English word 'predestinate' in the AV is, in the few cases in which it occurs (Ro 8:29,36; Eph 1:5,11), exchanged in the RV for 'foreordain,' a return to the usage of the older Versions. The Gr. word (proorizo) conveys the simple idea of defining or determining beforehand (thus, in addition to above, in Ac 4:29; 1Co 2:7). The change in rendering brings the word into closer relation with a number of others expressing the same, or related, meanings, as 'foreknow' (in pregnant sense, Ac 2:23; Ro 8:29; 11:2; 1Pe 1:2,20), 'determine' (Ac 17:26), 'appoint' (1Pe 2:8), 'purpose' (Eph 1:9), in the case of believers, 'choose' or 'elect' (Eph 1:4 etc.). In the OT the idea is expressed by the various words denoting to purpose, determine, choose (e.g. Isa 14:24-27; 46:10-11), with the ahundance of phrases extolling the sovereignty and immutability of God's counsel in all the spheres of His operation (see below; so in NT). The best clue to the Scripture conception will he found in tracing it as it appears in these different spheres of the Divine action.
1. In its most general aspect, foreordination is coextensive with the sphere of God's universal providence, is, in fact, but another name for the eternal plan, design, purpose, counsel of God, which executes itself in providence. The election of believers, to which 'predestination' is sometimes narrowed, is hut a specific case of the 'purpose' of Him 'who worketh all things after the counsel of his will' (Eph 1:11). It is in this wider regard, accordingly, that foreordination must be studied first. It cannot be reasonably doubted that all Scripture
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let thy kingdom come: let thy will be done, as in heaven, even so upon earth:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and one of them will not fall to the ground without your Father. But the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Him by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, having been delivered, you having nailed up, slew through the hand of lawless men;
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt fill me with gladness with thy countenance.
to do so many things as thy hand and thy counsel did foreordain to come to pass. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to thy servants with all boldness to speak thy word,
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no more burden than these necessary things,
and of (one) man he created every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, having determined their predestinated times, and the boundaries of their habitation;
Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:
Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:
Because whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:
As has been written, that We are killed all day for thy sake; we are counted as sheep of the slaughter.
Then what shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? It could not be so. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I do have mercy, and I will commiserate whom I do commiserate. read more. Then it is not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but of God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very thing have I raised you up, that I may show forth my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very thing have I raised you up, that I may show forth my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Then therefore he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. read more. Then thou wilt say to me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Whether shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why did you make me thus?
O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Whether shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why did you make me thus? Has not the potter the right of the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
Has not the potter the right of the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? But if God, wishing to show forth his indignation and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of indignation having been perfected unto destruction:
But if God, wishing to show forth his indignation and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of indignation having been perfected unto destruction:
But if God, wishing to show forth his indignation and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of indignation having been perfected unto destruction: and in order that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he before prepared unto glory?
God did not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says in Elijah, how he makes intercession to God against Israel?
O the depth of the riches of the wisdom of the knowledge of God! His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past tracing out. For who has known the mind of the Lord? who became his counsellor?
as he elected us in himself before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in his presence.
as he elected us in himself before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in his presence.
as he elected us in himself before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in his presence. in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons unto himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons unto himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his own good pleasure, which he purposed in himself
in whom we were also chosen by lot, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things within us according to the counsel of his own will;
in whom we were also chosen by lot, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things within us according to the counsel of his own will;
in whom we were also chosen by lot, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things within us according to the counsel of his own will;
You, who were dead in trespasses and in your sins, in which at one time you walked about according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which is now working in the sons of disobedience; read more. among whom we all indeed at one time lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the thoughts, and we were by nature the children of wrath, like the rest also: but God, being rich in mercy, on account of his great love with which he loved us, created life in us in Christ, who were dead in trespasses, by grace you have been saved, and he has raised you up, and caused you to sit in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus: in order that he may show in coming ages the superabounding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Husbands, love your wives with divine love, as Christ also loved the church with divine love, and gave himself for her; in order that he might sanctify her, having purified her by the washing of water through the word, read more. in order that he might present to himself the glorious church, having not spot or wrinkle or any of such things; but that she might be holy and blameless.
having been rooted and grounded in him, and confirmed in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;
Then therefore, brethren, stand, and hold fast the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or by our epistle:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners of the Dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
who stumble over the word, disbelieving: unto which they indeed were appointed.
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstbegotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To the one loving us with divine love, and having washed us from our sins in His own blood, and He made us a kingdom, priests unto God even his Father; to him be glory and dominion unto the ages of the ages; amen.
saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord truly our God, to receive glory and honor and power: because thou hast created all things, and through thy will they were, and were created.
and they are crying with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, the one sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb.
And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder: and the sound which I heard was as the sound of harpers harping with their harps: read more. and they are singing a new song before the throne, and in presence of the four living creatures, and the elders. And no one was able to learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been redeemed from the earth. These are they who have not been defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he may go. They have been redeemed from men, the first fruit unto God and the Lamb. And in their mouth no lie is found: for they are blameless. And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the eternal gospel to preach to those dwelling upon the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people,
Watsons
PREDESTINATION, according to some, is a judgment, or decree of God, by which he has resolved, from all eternity, to save a certain number of persons, hence named elect. Others define it, a decree to give faith in Jesus Christ to a certain number of men, and to leave the rest to their own malice and hardness of heart. A third, more Scripturally, God's eternal purpose to save all that "truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel,"