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 have been saved; but, for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
because the Son of Man, indeed, is going according as it has been determined; but woe to that man through whom He is betrayed!"
All that the Father giveth to Me shall come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out;
Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.
even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that to all Whom Thou hast given Him He should give eternal life.
I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they were; and Thou gavest them to 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; because they are Thine.
Thou didst make known to Me the ways of life; Thou wilt make Me full of gladness with Thy presence.'
but God thus fulfilled what He before announced through the mouth of all His prophets, that His Christ should suffer.
And the gentiles, having heard it, were rejoicing, and glorifying the word of God; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
and He made of one every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having marked out their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;
because whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. And whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
(for, the children being not yet born, nor having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him Who calleth),
So, then, He hath mercy on whom He willeth, and whom He willeth He hardeneth.
Or has not the potter a right over the clay, out of the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
Even so, then, at this present time also, a remnant, according to an election of grace, has been reserved.
having predestinated us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
in Whom we also were made a heritage, having been predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will;
having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith as ye were taught, abounding with thanksgiving.
upon hope of eternal life which God, Who cannot lie, promised before eternal times,
holding fast the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the healthful doctrine, and to convict 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 settled counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, having fastened to the cross, through the hand of lawless ones, did slay:
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if, indeed, the Spirit of God is dwelling in you. And, if any one has not the spirit of Christ, he is not His.
And we know that all things are working together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose; because whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. read more. And whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father;
But, when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace,
according as He chose us in Him before the founding of a world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love; having predestinated us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, read more. to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved;
in Whom we also were made a heritage, having been predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we might be to the praise of His glory, we who had before hoped in Christ;
which is an earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord; because God, from the beginning, chose you to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of truth;
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord; because God, from the beginning, chose you to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of truth;
Who 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 us in Christ Jesus before eternal ages,
foreknown, indeed, from a founding of a world, but manifested in the end of the times for you,
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the founding of a world.
The beast which you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And those who dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the founding of the world, when they behold the beast, that he was, and is not, and shall 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 a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head have all been numbered.
This Man, delivered up by the settled counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, having fastened to the cross, through the hand of lawless ones, did slay:
Thou didst make known to Me the ways of life; Thou wilt make Me full of gladness with Thy presence.'
And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings; and grant to Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness,
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
and He made of one every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having marked out their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;
because whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.
because whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.
because whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.
As it has been written, "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
What, then, shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? It could not be! For He saith to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomsoever I have mercy; and I will have compassion on whomsoever I have compassion." read more. So, then, it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God Who hath mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose did I raise you up, that I might show forth My power in you, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth."
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose did I raise you up, that I might show forth My power in you, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth." So, then, He hath mercy on whom He willeth, and whom He willeth He hardeneth. read more. You will say to me, then, "Why doth He still find fault? for who has withstood His will?" Nay but, O man, who are you that reply against God ? Shall the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, "Why didst Thou make me thus?"
Nay but, O man, who are you that reply against God ? Shall the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, "Why didst Thou make me thus?" Or has not the potter a right over the clay, out of the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
Or has not the potter a right over the clay, out of the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? And what if God, willing to show forth His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;
And what if God, willing to show forth His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;
And what if God, willing to show forth 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 upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us,
God did not cast off His people whom He foreknew. Or know ye not what the Scripture says of Elijah? how he pleads with God against Israel:
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out, For who knew the mind of the Lord? Or who became His counsellor?
according as He chose us in Him before the founding of a world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love;
according as He chose us in Him before the founding of a world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love;
according as He chose us in Him before the founding of a world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love; having predestinated us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
having predestinated us to the adoption of sons 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 Him,
in Whom we also were made a heritage, having been predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will;
in Whom we also were made a heritage, having been predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will;
in Whom we also were made a heritage, having been predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will;
You also did He make alive, when ye were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the authority of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience; read more. among whom we also all once lived in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest; but God, being rich in mercy, on account of His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in our offenses, made us alive with Christ (by grace ye have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace ye have been saved through faith: and this, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the assembly, and delivered Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of the water in the word, read more. that He might present to Himself the assembly, glorious, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it may be holy and without blemish.
having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith as ye were taught, abounding with thanksgiving.
But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord; because God, from the beginning, chose you to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of truth;
So, then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the instructions which ye were taught, whether through speech, or through letter of ours.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
and "a stone of stumbling, and rock of offense"; who stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which also they were appointed.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the First-born of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loveth, and loosed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us a kingdom, and priests to God and His Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; because Thou didst create all things; and, because of Thy will, they were, and were created."
and they cry with a great voice, saying, "Salvation to our God, Who sitteth 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 out of Heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard was as that of harpers, harping with their harps. read more. And they sing as it were 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 hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been purchased out of the earth. These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, a first fruit to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no falsehood. They are without blemish. And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal Gospel to proclaim 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,"