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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Had not the Lord cut short those days, not a soul would be saved alive; but he has cut them short for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen.
The Son of man moves to his end indeed as it has been decreed, but woe to the man by whom he is betrayed!"
All those will come to me who are the Father's gift to me, and never will I reject one of them;
are placed in the middle of verse 13:31] "I am the real Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser;
You have not chosen me, it is I who have chosen you, appointing you to go and bear fruit ??fruit that lasts, so that the Father may grant you whatever you ask in my name.
since thou hast granted him power over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given to him.
I have made thy Name known to the men whom thou hast given to me from the world (thine they were, and thou gavest them to me), and they have held to thy word.
I pray for them ??not for the world but for those whom thou hast given me do I pray; for they are thine
Thou hast made known to me the paths of life, thou wilt fill me with delight in thy presence.
mustering to carry out what thy hand had traced, thy purpose had decreed.
mustering to carry out what thy hand had traced, thy purpose had decreed.
When the Gentiles heard this they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord and believed, that is, all who had been ordained to eternal life;
All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes,
For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood. Then he calls those whom he has thus decreed; then he justifies those whom he has called; then he glorifies those whom he has justified.
and though the children were still unborn and had done nothing either good or bad (to confirm the divine purpose in election which depends upon the call of God, not on anything man does),
Thus God has mercy on anyone just as he pleases, and he makes anyone stubborn just as he pleases.
What! has the potter no right over the clay? Has he no right to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for a menial?
Well, at the present day there is also a remnant, selected by grace.
destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will,
in terms of the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
fixed and founded in him, confirmed in the faith as you have been taught it, and overflowing with thankfulness to God.
serving in hope of the life eternal which God, who never lies, promised ages ago ??3 he gave effect to his word in due time by a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Saviour: ??4 to Titus my lawful son in a faith we hold in common; grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
he must hold by the sure truths of doctrine so as to be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and refute objections raised by any.]
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 Jesus, betrayed in the predestined course of God's deliberate purpose, you got wicked men to nail to the cross and murder;
mustering to carry out what thy hand had traced, thy purpose had decreed.
But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.
We know also that those who love God, those who have been called in terms of his purpose, have his aid and interest in everything. For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood. read more. Then he calls those whom he has thus decreed; then he justifies those whom he has called; then he glorifies those whom he has justified.
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil world ??by the will of our God and Father,
But the God who had set me apart from my very birth called me by his grace,
He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight, destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will, read more. redounding to the praise of his glorious grace bestowed on us in the Beloved,
to make us redound to the praise of his glory by being the first to put our hope in Christ.
which is the pledge and instalment of our common heritage, that we may obtain our divine possession and so redound to the praise of his glory.
in terms of the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;
Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;
who has saved us and called us to a life of consecration ??not for anything we have done but because he chose to do it himself, by the grace which he gave us ages ago in Christ Jesus
He was predestined before the foundation of the world and has appeared at the end of the ages for your sake;
and all the dwellers on earth will be his worshippers, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life.
The Beast you have seen was, is not, but is to rise from the abyss ??yet to perdition he shall go ??and the dwellers on earth will wonder (all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of Life), when they see that the Beast was, is not, but is coming.
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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thy Reign begin, thy will be done on earth as in heaven!
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unless your Father wills it. The very hairs on your head are all numbered;
this Jesus, betrayed in the predestined course of God's deliberate purpose, you got wicked men to nail to the cross and murder;
Thou hast made known to me the paths of life, thou wilt fill me with delight in thy presence.
mustering to carry out what thy hand had traced, thy purpose had decreed. So now, O Lord, consider the threats of these men, and grant that thy servants may be perfectly fearless in speaking thy word,
The holy Spirit and we have decided not to impose any extra burden on you, apart from these essential requirements:
All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes,
For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.
For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.
For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.
(Because, as it is written, For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.)
Then are we to infer that there is injustice in God? Never! God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I choose to have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I choose to have compassion. read more. You see, it is not a question of human will or effort but of the divine mercy. Why, scripture says to Pharaoh, It was for this that I raised you up, to display my power in you, and to spread news of my name over all the earth.
Why, scripture says to Pharaoh, It was for this that I raised you up, to display my power in you, and to spread news of my name over all the earth. Thus God has mercy on anyone just as he pleases, and he makes anyone stubborn just as he pleases. read more. "Then," you will retort, "why does he go on finding fault? Who can oppose his will?" But who are you, my man, to speak back to God? Is something a man has moulded to ask him who has moulded it, "Why did you make me like this?"
But who are you, my man, to speak back to God? Is something a man has moulded to ask him who has moulded it, "Why did you make me like this?" What! has the potter no right over the clay? Has he no right to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for a menial?
What! has the potter no right over the clay? Has he no right to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for a menial? What if God, though desirous to display his anger and show his might, has tolerated most patiently the objects of his anger, ripe and ready to be destroyed?
What if God, though desirous to display his anger and show his might, has tolerated most patiently the objects of his anger, ripe and ready to be destroyed?
What if God, though desirous to display his anger and show his might, has tolerated most patiently the objects of his anger, ripe and ready to be destroyed? What if he means to show the wealth that lies in his glory for the objects of his mercy, whom he has made ready beforehand to receive glory ??24 that is, for us whom he has called from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews?
God has not repudiated his People, his predestined People! Surely you know what scripture says in the passage called 'Elijah'? You know how he pleads with God against Israel:
What a fathomless wealth lies in the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable his judgments! How mysterious his methods! Who ever understood the thoughts of the Lord? Who has ever been his counsellor?
He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight,
He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight,
He chose us in him ere the world was founded, to be consecrated and unblemished in his sight, destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will,
destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will,
He has granted us complete insight and understanding of the open secret of his will, showing us how it was the purpose of his design
And as with us so with you. You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you moved as you followed the course of this world, under the sway of the prince of the air ??the spirit which is at present active within those sons of disobedience read more. among whom all of us lived, we as well as you, when we obeyed the passions of our flesh, carrying out the dictates of the flesh and its impulses, when we were objects of God's anger by nature, like the rest of men. But, dead in trespasses as we were, God was so rich in mercy that for his great love to us he made us live together with Christ (it is by grace you have been saved); together with Christ he raised and seated us within the heavenly sphere in Christ Jesus, to display throughout ages to come his surpassing wealth of grace and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to consecrate her by cleansing her in the bath of baptism as she utters her confession, read more. in order to have the church as his very own, standing before him in all her glory, with never a spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but consecrated and unblemished.
fixed and founded in him, confirmed in the faith as you have been taught it, and overflowing with thankfulness to God.
Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;
Well then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the rules which you have learned from us orally or by letter.
Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
a stone over which men stumble and a rock of offence; they stumble over it in their disobedience to God's word. Such is their appointed doom.
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince over the kings of earth; to him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins by shedding his blood ??6 he has made us a realm of priests for his God and Father, ??to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever: Amen.
"Thou deservest, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for it was thou who didst create all things: they existed and were created by thy will."
and they cried with a loud voice, "Saved by our God who is seated on the throne, and by the Lamb!"
Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on mount Sion, and along with him a hundred and forty-four thousand bearing his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads! And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waves and the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps; read more. they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living Creatures and the Presbyters, and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from earth. They have not been defiled by intercourse with women ??they are celibates; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among men, as the first to be reaped for God and the Lamb. And on their lips no lie was ever detected; they are stainless. Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven with an eternal gospel for the inhabitants of the earth, for 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,"