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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Then God said to Abraham, "{Do not be displeased} on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. {Listen to everything that Sarah said to you}, for through Isaac [your] offspring will be named.
But for the sake of this I have caused you to stand--for the sake of showing you my strength and in order to proclaim my name in all the earth.
And he said, "I myself will cause all my goodness to pass over before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious [to] whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion [to] whom I will show compassion."
{Yet} to your ancestors Yahweh was very attached, [so as to] love them, and [so] he chose their offspring after them, [namely] you, from all the peoples, as it is {today}.
{When the Most High apportioned} [the] nations, at his dividing [up] of the sons of humankind, he fixed the boundaries of [the] peoples, according to the number of the children of Israel.
For it was Yahweh that {hardened their hearts}, to meet Israel in war in order to utterly destroy them without mercy, that they would destroy them just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] Yahweh, the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
Blessed [is one whom] you choose and bring near, [that] he may abide in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
but chose the tribe of Judah, {Mount Zion} that he loved.
For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his special possession.
Listen to me in silence, coastlands, and let nations renew [their] strength. Let them approach, then let them speak; let us draw near together for judgment. Who has roused salvation from the east, summoned him to his foot, gives nations {in his presence}, and subjugates kings? He makes [them] like the dust [with] his sword, like scattered stubble [with] his bow. read more. He pursues them [and] passes on [in] peace; he does not enter [the] path with his feet. Who has accomplished and done [this], calling the generations from [the] {beginning}? I, Yahweh, [am] first; and I [am] the one with [the] last. [The] coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near, and they have come. Each one helps his neighbor; he says to his brother, "Take courage!" And [the] artisan encourages [the] {goldsmith}, [the] one who makes smooth with [the] hammer [encourages the] one who strikes [the] anvil, saying of the soldering, "It [is] good!" And they strengthen it with nails [so] it cannot be knocked over. But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you, the {offspring} of Abraham my {friend}, you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth and called from its remotest parts and told, "You [are] my servant; I have chosen you and I have not rejected you." You must not fear, for I [am] with you; you must not be afraid, for I [am] your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out from [the] womb I consecrated you; I appointed you [as] a prophet to the nations."
And if the Lord had not shortened the days, {no human being would be saved}. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has shortened the days.
For the Son of Man is going according to what has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!"
Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never throw out,
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
just as you have given him authority over all flesh, in order that he would give eternal life to them--everyone whom you have given him.
"I have revealed your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me, and they have kept your word.
I am asking on behalf of them. I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you have given me, because they are yours,
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your presence.'
But [the things] which God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, [that] his Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled in this way.
to do all that your hand and plan had predestined to take place.
to do all that your hand and plan had predestined to take place.
And [when] the Gentiles heard [this], they began to rejoice and to glorify the word of the Lord. And all those who were designated for eternal life believed.
And he made from one [man] every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining [their] fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation,
because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers. And [those] whom he predestined, these [he] also called, and [those] whom he called, these [he] also justified, and [those] whom he justified, these [he] also glorified.
for [although they] had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain,
Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.
Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that [is] for {honorable use} and [one] that [is] for {ordinary use}?
So in this way also at the present time, there is a remnant {selected by grace}.
having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will,
according to the purpose of the ages which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness.
in the hope of eternal life which God, who does not lie, promised before eternal ages,
holding fast to the faithful message according to the teaching, in order that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to reprove those who speak against [it].
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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this man, delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed [by] nailing to [a cross] through the hand of lawless men.
to do all that your hand and plan had predestined to take place.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person {does not belong to him}.
And we know that all [things] work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to [his] purpose, because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers. read more. And [those] whom he predestined, these [he] also called, and [those] whom he called, these [he] also justified, and [those] whom he justified, these [he] also glorified.
who gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
But when the one who set me apart from my mother's womb and called [me] by his grace was pleased
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, [that] we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, read more. to the praise of the glory of his grace that he bestowed on us in the beloved,
in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will, [that] we who hoped beforehand in Christ should be for the praise of his glory,
who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
according to the purpose of the ages which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
But we ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers [dearly] loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you [as] first fruits for salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth,
But we ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers [dearly] loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you [as] first fruits for salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth,
who saved us and called [us] with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus {before time began},
who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has been revealed in these last times for you
And all those who live on the earth will worship him, {everyone whose name is not written} from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is going to come up from the abyss, and he is going to destruction. And those who live on the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished [when they] see the beast that was, and is not, and will be present.
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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Abraham will surely become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed on account of him. For I have chosen him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him."
So now, you yourselves did not send me here, but God put me here as father to Pharaoh and as master of all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt.
As for you, you planned evil against me, [but] God planned it for good, in order to do this--to keep many people alive--as [it is] today.
So I said to you, "You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it--a land flowing with milk and honey"; I [am] Yahweh your God, who {has set you apart} from the nations.
And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, [am] holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.
I give the advice that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba should be completely gathered to you, as the sand which [is] on the seashore for abundance, with {you personally} going into the battle. Then we will come to him in one of the places where he may be found, and we shall come upon him as the dew falls on the ground. He and all the men who are with him will not survive, [not] even one!
Then he said, "Naked I came out from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. Yahweh gives, and Yahweh takes. Let Yahweh's name be blessed."
Be still, and know that I [am] God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth. Yahweh of Hosts [is] with us; the God of Jacob [is] our [high] stronghold.
But our God [is] in the heavens; all that he desires, he does.
All that Yahweh desires, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all [the] depths.
The {mind} of a person will plan his ways, and Yahweh will direct his steps.
The lot will be cast into the lap, but all of its decisions are from Yahweh.
Streams of water [are] the heart of a king in the hand of Yahweh; {wherever} he will desire, he will turn.
Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, "{Surely} just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, it shall stand:
Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, "{Surely} just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, it shall stand: to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him down on my mountains; and he shall remove his yoke from them, and he shall remove his burden from his shoulders." read more. This [is] the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth; and this [is] the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations. For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate [it]? And his hand [is] stretched out, and who will turn it back?
For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate [it]? And his hand [is] stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Have you not heard from {a long time ago}? I have made it from days of primeval time, and I formed it. Now I have brought it [about], and it is for fortified cities to collapse into heaps of destroyed stones.
But now thus says Yahweh, he who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: "You must not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called [you] by your name; {you are mine}.
everyone who is called by my name, and whom I created for my glory, whom I formed, indeed whom I made."
form light and create darkness; make peace and create evil; I [am] Yahweh; do all these [things].
who from [the] beginning declares [the] end, and from before, [things] that have not been done, who says, 'My plan shall stand,' and, 'I will accomplish all my wishes,' who calls a bird of prey from [the] east, the man of his plan from a country from afar. Indeed I have spoken; indeed I will bring it [to being]. I have formed [it]; indeed I will do it.
And all the dwellers of the earth are regarded as nothing, and he does {according to} his desire in the host of heaven and [among] the dwellers of earth, and there is not [one] who can hold back his hand, or {ask him}, 'What are you doing?'
Or is a horn blown in a city and people are not afraid? Or does a disaster occur in the city and Yahweh has not done [it]?
May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And one of them will not fall to the ground {without the knowledge and consent} of your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all numbered!
this man, delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed [by] nailing to [a cross] through the hand of lawless men.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your presence.'
to do all that your hand and plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, concern yourself with their threats and grant your slaves to speak your message with all boldness,
For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us to place on you no greater burden except these necessary things:
And he made from one [man] every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining [their] fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation,
because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers.
because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers.
because [those] whom he foreknew, he also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brothers.
Just as it is written, "On account of you we are being put to death the whole day [long]; we are considered as sheep for slaughter."
What then shall we say? [There is] no injustice with God, [is there]? May it never be! For to Moses he says, "I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion." read more. Consequently therefore, {it does not depend on the} one who wills or on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very [reason] I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very [reason] I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes. read more. Therefore you will say to me, "Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded [it], "Why did you make me like this"?
On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded [it], "Why did you make me like this"? Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that [is] for {honorable use} and [one] that [is] for {ordinary use}?
Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that [is] for {honorable use} and [one] that [is] for {ordinary use}? And [what] if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
And [what] if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
And [what] if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And [he did so] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory,
God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew! Or do you not know, in [the passage about] Elijah, what the scripture says--how he appeals to God against Israel?
Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable [are] his judgments and [how] incomprehensible [are] his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, [that] we should be holy and blameless before him in love,
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, [that] we should be holy and blameless before him in love,
just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, [that] we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in him,
in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will,
in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will,
in whom also we were chosen, having been predestined according to the purpose of the One who works all [things] according to the counsel of his will,
And you, {although you were dead} in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience, read more. among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and we were children of wrath by nature, as also the rest of [them] were. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love [with] which he loved us, and we being dead in trespasses, he made [us] alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), and raised [us] together and seated [us] together in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus, in order that he might show in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this [is] not from yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her; in order that he might sanctify her by cleansing [her] with the washing of water by the word; read more. in order that he might present to himself the church glorious, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such [thing], but that she may be holy and blameless.
firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness.
But we ought to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers [dearly] loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you [as] first fruits for salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth,
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions which you were taught, whether by [spoken] word or by letter from us.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense," who stumble [because they] disobey the word to which also they were consigned.
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father--to him [be] the glory and the power {forever and ever}. Amen.
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all [things], and because of your will they existed and were created."
And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
And I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the sound that I heard [was] like harpists playing on their harps. read more. And they were singing [something] like a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one was able to learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who had been bought from the earth. These are those who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These [are] the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were bought from humanity [as] first fruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth a lie was not found; they are blameless. And I saw another angel flying {directly overhead}, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who reside on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and 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,"