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 had shortened those days no flesh would be saved; but for the elects' sake, whom he has chosen, he has shortened the days.
for the Son of man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.
Every thing which the Father gives to me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will by no means cast out;
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should continue, that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that as to all that thou hast given him he should give them eternal life.
I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gayest me out of the world; they were thine, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine,
Thou hast made me know the ways of life, thou wilt fill me with joy with thy presence.
but what God had before declared by the mouth of all the prophets that his Anointed should suffer, he has so accomplished.
to do what thy hand and counsel before appointed to be done.
to do what thy hand and counsel before appointed to be done.
And the gentiles hearing this rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed;
and he made of one blood every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, determining their appointed times and the bounds of their habitation,
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he may be a first-born among many brothers; and whom he predestinated them he also called; and whom he called them he also justified; and whom he justified them he also glorified.
He therefore has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens.
or has not the potter a right, in respect to the clay, to make of the same mass one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?
So then also at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace;
having predestinated us in love to an adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
in whom also we have been called, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will,
according to the eternal purpose which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord,
founded and built up in him, and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
for the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie announced before eternal ages,
holding firmly the faithful word taught, that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to convince those who contradict.
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 determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have affixed to the cross, and killed by the hand of the wicked,
to do what thy hand and counsel before appointed to be done.
But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if any man has not the spirit of Christ he is not his.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [his] purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he may be a first-born among many brothers; read more. and whom he predestinated 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, that he might deliver us from the present evil life according to the will of God even our Father,
But when God who gave me being and called me by his grace,
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, having predestinated us in love to an adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, read more. to the praise of his glorious grace, which he bestowed upon us in the beloved,
in whom also we have been called, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will, that we should be for a praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ;
which is a pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.
according to the eternal purpose which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord,
But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you to salvation by purification of spirit, and belief of the truth,
But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you to salvation by purification of spirit, and belief of the truth,
who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus from eternity,
who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but made manifest in these last times for you,
And all who dwell on the earth shall worship him, [every one] whose name is not enrolled in the Lamb's book of life who was killed from the foundation of the world.
The beast which you saw was and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss, and goes 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 wonder, when they see the beast that he was and is not and 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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thy kingdom come; thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth;
Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion [1.5 mills]? and one of them cannot fall to the ground without your Father. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
this man, delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have affixed to the cross, and killed by the hand of the wicked,
Thou hast made me know the ways of life, thou wilt fill me with joy with thy presence.
to do what thy hand and counsel before appointed to be done. And now, Lord, look down upon their threatenings, and grant to thy servants with all boldness to speak thy word,
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to put no greater burden upon you except these necessary things;
and he made of one blood every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, determining their appointed times and the bounds of their habitation,
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he may be a first-born among many brothers;
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he may be a first-born among many brothers;
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he may be a first-born among many brothers;
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day; we are accounted as sheep for slaughter.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will be merciful to him to whom I may be merciful, and I will compassionate him whom I may compassionate. read more. Therefore, it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs, but of God that exercises mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this same cause I raised you up, to show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this same cause I raised you up, to show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth. He therefore has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. read more. You will say to me then, Why then does he yet find fault? for who has resisted his will? Yes indeed, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the work say to him that made it, Why did you make me thus?
Yes indeed, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the work say to him that made it, Why did you make me thus? or has not the potter a right, in respect to the clay, to make of the same mass one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?
or has not the potter a right, in respect to the clay, to make of the same mass one vessel to honor and another to dishonor? But if God wishing to show his wrath and to make known his power endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
But if God wishing to show his wrath and to make known his power endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
But if God wishing to show his wrath and to make known his power endured with much long suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he before prepared for glory,
God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Know you not what the Scripture says in Elijah, how he intercedes with God against Israel?
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how inscrutable are his judgments, and his ways can not be explored! For who knew the mind of the Lord? or who was his counsellor?
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him,
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him,
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, having predestinated us in love to an adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
having predestinated us in love to an 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 which he purposed in himself
in whom also we have been called, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will,
in whom also we have been called, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will,
in whom also we have been called, having been predestinated according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will,
And you being dead in trespasses and sins,??2 in which you formerly walked according to the life of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit which now operates in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all formerly lived in the desires of our flesh, performing the wishes of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as others; but God who is rich in mercy, on account of his great love with which he loved us,??5 even when we were dead in sins he made us alive with Christ,??y grace are you saved,
and raised us up and seated us together with Christ Jesus in the heavenly worlds, that he might show in the ages to come the transcendent riches of his grace in goodness to us by Jesus Christ. read more. For by grace are you saved through the faith; and that not of you; [it is] the gift of God;
Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, purifying it with the washing of water with the word, read more. that he might present the church to himself glorious, not having a spot or wrinkle or any thing of the kind, but that it should be holy and blameless.
founded and built up in him, and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you to salvation by purification of spirit, and belief of the truth,
Therefore, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our epistle;
PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect strangers of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
and a stone of stumbling and rock of offense, who stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to God even his Father, to him be the glory and the power forever; amen.
Thou art worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and on account of thy will they are and were created.
and they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation be to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
AND I saw, and behold, the Lamb stood on 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 like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like harpers playing on their harps. read more. And they sung a new song before the throne and before the four cherubs and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been redeemed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins; these are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from men a first fruit to God and the Lamb, and in their mouth was found no deceit; for they are blameless. And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal gospel to preach to those who dwell on 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,"