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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If the Lord had not cut those days short, nobody would have escaped, but for the sake of his own chosen people he has cut the days short.
For the Son of Man is going his way, as it has been decreed, but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!"
All that my Father gives to me will come to me, and I will never refuse anyone who comes to me,
It was not you who chose me, it is I that have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit??ruit that shall be lasting, so that the Father may grant you whatever you ask him for as my followers.
just as you have done in giving him power over all mankind, so that he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
"I have revealed your real self to the men you gave me from the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your message.
I have a request to make for them. I make no request for the world, but only for those whom you have given me, for they are yours??10 all that is mine is yours and what is yours is mine??nd they have done me honor.
You have made the ways of life known to me, And you will fill me with joy in your presence.'
it was in this way that God fulfilled what he by all the prophets foretold that his Christ must suffer.
to carry out what your hand and will had destined should happen.
to carry out what your hand and will had destined should happen.
When the heathen heard this they were delighted, and praised God's message, and all who were destined for eternal life believed,
From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands,
For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers; and those whom he has predestined he calls, and those whom he calls he makes upright, and those whom he makes upright he glorifies.
For before the children were born or had done anything either good or bad, in order to carry out God's purpose of selection, which depends not on what men do but on his calling them,
So he has mercy on anyone he pleases, and hardens the heart of anyone he pleases.
Has not the potter with his clay the right to make from the same lump one thing for exalted uses and another for menial ones?
So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy.
He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose,
fulfilling the eternal purpose which God carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You must be rooted and built up in him and made strong in faith, just as you were taught to be, overflowing with it in your gratitude.
in the hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised ages ago,
standing by the message that can be relied on, just as he was taught it, so that he may be qualified both to encourage others with wholesome teaching and to show the error of those who oppose him.
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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But you, by the fixed purpose and intention of God, handed him over to wicked men, and had him crucified.
to carry out what your hand and will had destined should happen.
But you are not physical but spiritual, if God's Spirit has really taken possession of you; for unless a man has Christ's spirit, he does not belong to Christ.
We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good. For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers; read more. and those whom he has predestined he calls, and those whom he calls he makes upright, and those whom he makes upright he glorifies.
who to save us from the present wicked world gave himself for our sins at the will of our God and Father.
And when God, who had set me apart from my birth and had called me in his mercy, saw fit
Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love. He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose, read more. so that we might praise the splendid blessing which he has given us through his beloved Son.
to win praise for his glory, by having been the first to believe in Christ.
which is the advance installment of our inheritance, so that we may get full possession of it, and praise his glory for it.
fulfilling the eternal purpose which God carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We always have to thank God for you, brothers whom the Lord so loves, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through consecration by the Spirit and through faith in the truth,
We always have to thank God for you, brothers whom the Lord so loves, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through consecration by the Spirit and through faith in the truth,
He saved us and called us to a consecrated life, not for anything we had done, but of his own accord and out of the mercy which he bestowed upon us ages ago through Christ Jesus,
who was predestined for this before the foundation of the world, but was revealed only at the end of the ages,
All the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not from the foundation of the world been written in the slain Lamb's book of life, will worship it.
The animal that you saw was, and is no more; it is going to come up out of the abyss, but it is to go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth, whose names from the foundation of the world have not been written in the book of life, will be amazed when they see that the animal was, and is no more, and yet is to come.
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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Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!
Do not sparrows sell two for a cent? And yet not one of them can fall to the ground against your Father's will! But the very hairs on your heads are all counted.
But you, by the fixed purpose and intention of God, handed him over to wicked men, and had him crucified.
You have made the ways of life known to me, And you will fill me with joy in your presence.'
to carry out what your hand and will had destined should happen. And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and give your slaves the power to utter your message fearlessly,
For the holy Spirit and we have decided not to lay upon you any burden but this indispensable one,
From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind, and made them live all over the face of the earth, fixing their appointed times and the limits of their lands,
For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;
For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;
For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;
As the Scripture says, "For your sake we are being put to death all day long, We are treated like sheep to be slaughtered."
What do we conclude? That God is guilty of injustice? By no means. He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on the man on whom I choose to have mercy, and take pity on the man on whom I choose to take pity." read more. So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on the mercy of God. The Scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you to your position for the very purpose of displaying my power in dealing with you, and making my name known all over the world."
The Scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you to your position for the very purpose of displaying my power in dealing with you, and making my name known all over the world." So he has mercy on anyone he pleases, and hardens the heart of anyone he pleases. read more. "Why, then," you will ask, "does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" On the contrary, who are you, my friend, to answer back to God? Can something a man shapes say to the man who shaped it, "Why did you make me like this?"
On the contrary, who are you, my friend, to answer back to God? Can something a man shapes say to the man who shaped it, "Why did you make me like this?" Has not the potter with his clay the right to make from the same lump one thing for exalted uses and another for menial ones?
Has not the potter with his clay the right to make from the same lump one thing for exalted uses and another for menial ones? Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction,
Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction,
Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction, so as to show all the wealth of his glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he has prepared from the beginning to share his glory,
God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel?
How inexhaustible God's resources, wisdom, and knowledge are! How unfathomable his decisions are, and how untraceable his ways! "Who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, or advised him?
Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love.
Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love.
Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love. He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose,
He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose,
He has given us perfect insight into his secret purpose and understanding of it, in following out the design he planned to carry out in Christ,
You also were dead because of the offenses and sins in the midst of which you once lived under the control of the present age of the world, and the master-spirit of the air, who is still at work among the disobedient. read more. We all lived among them once, indulging our physical cravings and obeying the impulses of our lower nature and its thoughts, and by nature we were doomed to God's wrath like other men. But God is so rich in mercy that because of the great love he had for us, he made us, dead as we were through our offenses, live again with the Christ. It is by his mercy that you have been saved. And he raised us with Christ, and through our union with Christ Jesus made us sit down with him in heaven, to show the incomparable wealth of his mercy throughout the ages to come by his goodness to us through Christ Jesus. For it is by his mercy that you have been saved through faith. It is not by your own action, it is the gift of God.
You who are husbands must love your wives, just as Christ loves the church and gave himself for her, to consecrate her, after cleansing her with the bath in water through her confession of him, read more. in order to bring the church to himself in all her beauty, without a flaw or a wrinkle or anything of the kind, but to be consecrated and faultless.
You must be rooted and built up in him and made strong in faith, just as you were taught to be, overflowing with it in your gratitude.
We always have to thank God for you, brothers whom the Lord so loves, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through consecration by the Spirit and through faith in the truth,
So stand firm, brothers, and hold fast to the instructions you have received from us, whether by letter or by word of mouth.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are scattered as foreigners over Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
and "A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip them up." They stumble over the message because they will not obey it; that is their destiny.
and from Jesus Christ the trustworthy witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the sovereign of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has released us from our sins by his blood he has made us a kingdom of priests for his God and Father??o him be glory and power forever. Amen.
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things; by your will they existed and were created."
and they cried in a loud voice, "Our deliverance is the work of our God who is seated on the throne, and of the Lamb!"
Then in my vision I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of great waters, and loud peals of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. read more. They were singing a new song before the throne and the four animals and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been ransomed from the earth. They are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women; they are celibates. It is they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed from among men as the first-fruits for God and the Lamb, and they have never been known to utter a lie; they are irreproachable. Then I saw another angel flying in midair, with eternal good news to announce to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, 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,"