Professor Lay
English Composition Two
2 May 2007
Predestination in Scripture
Predestination is the theological concept that God alone chooses those who will receive His grace, and those who will be denied. God’s grace cannot be refused by those whom He chooses (Piper, Eternal Predestination 72). Others believe that references to predestination specifically refer to Christ, meaning he was specifically predestined to die on the cross, and it does not directly refer to the predestination of mankind (Jones, Shank 45).
Why bother studying the concept of predestination? Are there not more important matters that should be on one’s mind? At first glance, predestination seems to be an underlying concept when the scriptures are full of other principles like living godly lives, relating to others, and most importantly, coming to know Jesus as savior; and these principles often take greater precedence in studying the scriptures. However, the concept of predestination is not a trivial matter of the salvation process; but a matter of man’s relationship with God, thus should be handled with the utmost importance. We will examine passages in Romans that specifically address the subject of predestination, come to an understanding of the balance between God’s grace and man’s faith, and then view Jonah as a strong example of how God uses predestination in the lives of His people.
Paul speaks of predestination in Romans 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (English Standard Version). The text specifically says predestination and foreknew. The word for foreknew means “before there was knowledge” (Jones), or knew/known (Piper). Some may debate that this verse means that God, with his divine foresight, saw who was going to accept or deny Him, and thus made a decision for His predestination. Exploring this theological interpretation, we will find a larger logical error. Knowledge is something that is gained. Thus, if God is the creator of knowledge, how can He gain knowledge (Jones)? He has known what will happen in the future, without any type of knowledge gain. Thus, while creating the universe and everything in it in Genesis, God’s mind already had the play script of what would happen from beginning to end. With this understanding, it is impossible to say anything other than God created everything with the intent that parts would succeed while others would fail. However, with the concept of the word foreknew expressed earlier, we may draw this conclusion: before there was knowledge, God knew His people and predestined the path that they would travel, and this path is the path to be conformed into the likeness of His Son.
“And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (ESV, Rom. 8:30). Notice in verse 29 that predestined did not directly refer to the people, but to the path that some are to travel (Commentary on Romans 191). The first section of verse 30 is saying that God calls those whom he set to travel the path of being like his Son, and we know that one does not come to know Christ unless God calls him first (John 6:44, 65). John Piper states;
This calling in verse 30 is not given to all people. The reason we know it’s not is that all those who are called are also justified--but all men are not justified. So this calling in verse 30 is not the general call to repentance that preachers give or that God gives through the glory of nature. Everybody receives that call. The call of verse 30 is given only to those whom God predestined to be conformed to the image of his son (v. 29). And it is a call that leads necessarily to justification: ‘Those whom he called he also justified.’
While predestination is a key element in Romans 8, Paul is not primarily addressing predestination but is writing with the purpose of letting his readers know that God cares for them. God has a plan for His people, He calls them, He justifies them, He glorifies them, and there is great comfort in knowing that through God’s sovereign power, nothing can separate them from the father’s love (vs. 35-39). When we read chapter 9, we learn that he is primarily writing to assure the Jews that God chooses whomever he wants to carry out His will.
We see examples of predestination through biblical history. Abraham’s first-born son was Ishmael (Gen. 17), but through Abraham’s other son, Isaac, God chose to carry His promise. This demonstrates that God’s promise is not always through the “children of the flesh” but through the “children of God” (Rom. 9:1-10). Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God predestined that the “older will serve the younger” (Rom. 9:11-13). God also chose not to carry His promise through Esau (the older), but through Jacob (the younger); again demonstrating that the children of the flesh are not always the children of God (Rom. 9:8).
Predestination does not only apply to the elect but to the non-elect. Paul gives the example of Pharaoh, and how God hardened his heart in Exodus (Rom. 9:17). God rose up Pharaoh and placed him as the ruler over Egypt, hardened his heart, and eventually unleashes the ten plagues upon him. This is a prime demonstration of how God has even raised up sinners to do evil so that His will may be accomplished (Henry). Pharaoh may not have been “set along the path to be transformed into Christ’s likeness,” but God had predestined Pharaoh to still help carry out God’s will.
In the spirit of understanding man and God’s relationship through predestination, a common question asked is, “Why would God, being a loving God and not wishing for anyone to perish (1 Timothy 2:4), choose others to be saved while choosing others to be damned?” Unfortunately, Paul strongly instructs that understanding this concept is not one that we should attempt, or that we should even comprehend it. “...I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Rom. 9:15) Then Paul continues:
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to it’s molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. (vs. 18-23)
Calvin adds to this concept by explaining that God chooses some while rejecting others, but neither are deserving of God’s grace, thus making the chosen humbled and God’s grace greater (Institutes 493). God has his own reasons for why he chooses some and rejects other--reasons that may always be rightfully kept from us. Nevertheless, as the creator and rightful owner of all, God has the right to it all, He is not obligated to save any part of the human race, and He may rightfully destroy it all if He wishes (Instructions of Faith 36).
An inevitable conclusion is that God’s will has been established before the creation of man--this includes the election of His people, their part in God’s will, His election of those who He rejected, and man’s contribution to the establishment of His ultimate will. In other sections of Romans, as well as Ephesians, this first appears to have theological problems. Shank points out in his book that Romans 11:6 states, “Not of works, but of grace,” Romans 4:1-5 says, “Not of works, but of faith.” The Bible does not say, “Not of faith, but of grace,” Romans 4:16 says, “By faith, so that by grace,” and Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace, through faith” (125). We find strong evidence supporting that man is not only saved by the grace of God, but by faith; this would imply some element of man possessing free will.
The story of Jonah is a prime demonstration of how God carries out his will through whomever He chooses and how man still has free will. God chose Jonah to go to Neneveh and tell them that they are doing evil in God’s sight (Jonah 1:2). Jonah--expressing his free will and not wishing to go to Nineveh--chose to run away and sail to Tarshish (1:3). Jonah could not run from God, and God had Jonah cast overboard and swallowed by a giant fish (1:17). After three days and three nights, God forced Jonah to give in, and He had the fish spit Jonah out (2:10). Jonah was obedient, went to Nineveh, and the city repented. We see that Jonah still did not want to carry out God’s will for he was displeased even after Nineveh repented (4:1). We find that God’s will was for Nineveh to turn back to Him and Jonah was not going to change that. Jonah had no other choice but to give in to God’s will for his life. Jonah still expressed free will by running from God, but like the father that God is, he disciplines Jonah, and Jonah submits to the will that God had planned for his life.
Likewise, God has elected His people whom He calls into a relationship with His Son. God has a specific plan for His chosen (and even for those who are not chosen) in order that His ultimate will is accomplished. Man is given free will--within the restraints of God’s will--and this is where the element of faith comes in. However, it is imperative to understand that faith cannot be obtained unless God first calls one into His elected. Man receives faith through God’s grace, and man receives God’s grace through faith. Both grace and faith happen because of God’s call, thus neither may be deemed as “works of man,” but only as a gift of God, thus no one may boast in God’s salvation (Eph. 2:8). Thus, ultimately God chooses and rejects whomever He wills; people have free will within the restraints of God’s will which allows for faith; yet faith and grace may never be deemed as the assets of the possessor but as free gifts of God not resulting in boastfulness but in undeserving humble spirits. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV, Eph. 2:8).
Work Cited
Calvin, John. Calvin’s Institutes. Mad Dill, FL: Mac Donald. N.D.
---. Commentary on Romans. 24 April 2007 <http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom38.html>.
---. Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God. Trans. J.K.S. Reid. London: Clarke, 1961.
---. Instruction In Faith. Trans. Paul T. Fuhrm ann. Philadelphia: Westminster P, 1949.
English Standard Version. Compact Thineline ed. Wheaton: Good News, 2003.
Henry, Matthew. “Commentary on Romans 9.” Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible. 1 Mar. 1996. Blue Letter Bible. <http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mbc/Rom/Rom009.html>.
Jones, Billy. Personal Interview. 16 April 2007.
Piper, John. What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism. 7 March 2007 <http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate?1985/1487_What_We_Believe_About_the_Five_Points_of_Calvinism/>.
Shank, Robert. Elect in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Election. Springfield, MO: Wescott, 1970.