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- Foreordination and Predetermination
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The Last WordSummarizing what we have seen from the texts above. The Terms (C. Gordon Olson does a great job on this) ForeknowledgeDoes not mean to “fore-choose.” Never means that. Marston and Forster, God’s Strategy, 224-227, 241 The New Testament writers speak of God’s specific foreknowledge of only one individual—Jesus Christ.0 Other than Jesus, God’s foreknowledge is general, or “corporate.” God foreknowledge of Israel was God’s plan for what He would accomplish in the world through the people Israel. It is similar with the church. God did not decided beforehand what exactly to do with each individual person, but He did decide beforehand what to do with the church. And thus, everyone who enters the church by faith in Jesus automatically becomes part of God’s plan for the church in the world. Foreknowledge does refer to the knowledge God has of future events before they occur. We saw, for example in Jeremiah 1:4-5 that God knew all about Jeremiah before he had even been conceived in his mother’s womb. These sorts of texts raise big theological questions about what God knows and when He knows it. Debates about this issue have been raging for thousands of years, and so we will not solve them here. Nevertheless, for the sake of the discussion about election, it is important to provide a brief explanation of my own views on this subject. I believe that when we talk about the foreknowledge and omniscience of God, it means that God knows everything that can be known. In regard to future events, I believe that God not only knows everything that will happen, but He also knows what will not happen, and He knows what might happen as well as what might not happen. So does God know everything about the future? Of course He does. He knows everything. Yet in God’s exhaustive knowledge of everything, there is knowledge of some future events which may or may not occur. Their likelihood of occurring changes as time flows by, as decisions of free agents are made, and as preceding events unfold. I like to think of God’s foreknowledge as if it were the delta region of the Mississippi, the Nile, or the Amazon. The delta regions of these large rivers span millions of square acres, and the waterways in these regions can shift and change from year to year. Imagine God traveling down the Mississippi river toward the Gulf of Mexico. As He travels, He knows with absolute certainty the entire layout of all the waterways and tributaries. Yet He not only has a perfect map of its layout, He also has a perfect map of the current shifts and changes that are occurring. Due to His knowledge of the waterways, He also knows what shifts and changes are most likely to occur in the future. So as He travels, God is certain that He will reach His destination in the Gulf of Mexico. When He comes to a fork in the river, He often chooses one direction or another. He makes His choice based on His knowledge of what is going on further downstream or in other parts of the river. But sometimes, due to His interest in having genuine give-and-take relationships with His creation, God allows some of the passengers on His ship to decide which fork in the river to take. When God allows these genuinely free decisions to be made, He does not know with precise certainty which choice will be made. This, of course, does not limit His foreknowledge, for He still knows which choices are available, He fully knows the complete chain of events that will result from whatever choice is made, and He knows that no matter which choice is made, it too will allow Him to continue directing the boat toward its ultimate destination. This is a picture (inadequate though it may be) of how God’s foreknowledge works. He knows everything that can be known. He knows everything about the future, which includes not just those events that will happen, but also those that cannot happen, and those that may or may not happen. But regardless of what does happen, the ultimate destination is sure, for God guides the ship of His creation with accuracy, certainty, and care. Foreordination and PredeterminationPredestinationPredestination is about God’s goals for His people; “not the selection of who will become His people.”0 Predestination is about the benefits, privileges, and blessings that God determines to give to all those who become His children by faith in Jesus Christ. Some of these blessings include adoption into God’s family (Eph 1:5), future glory (1 Thess 5:9, Rom 8:29-30; 9:33; 1 Cor 2:7), and the opportunity to do good (Eph 2:10). CallingMarston and Forster, God’s Strategy, 162-165 ElectionNeither chosenness nor predestination concern how we came to be Christians. Chosenness concerns our present position and task in Christ. Predestination concerns our future task and inheritance with and through him.0 Texts to consider: Ezekiel 33:11 1 Timothy 2:4 – see Shank, 92-95 2 Peter 3:9 – See Shank, 95-96
This is not a denial of the truth of election and predestination. Far from it! The doctrine of election and predestination is certainly a biblical truth. But election and predestination unto eternal life is not biblical. Election concerns something entirely different than the issue of whether or not one will spend eternity with God. God may guide human history, and may direct the hearts of kings toward His intended purpose. He may order the winds and waves to obey His command, and bring forth light from darkness. He may whither a plant or cause fish to swim into waiting nets or keep the rain from falling for three years. God may send people to preach the gospel to those who have never heard it, and He may direct human events so that the thoughts and desires of a person’s heart are hardened in their rebellion. All of these sorts of actions are within God’s power, plan, and purpose, and all of these sorts of actions can be found within the pages of Scripture, but one searches in vain for a passage which states that God decided in eternity past who will receive eternal life and who will not. Though they appear in various contexts, the various forms “of the word elect all have one thing in common: they are never connected with any decree of God—sovereign, eternal, or otherwise.”0 Election is to service; not salvation. God chooses believers for sanctification; not unbelievers for justification. God chooses people for special tasks, responsibilities, or vocations.0 Election in the [Bible] is to the service of God in this world and has nothing at all to do with salvation in the world to come. … A proper understanding of the … doctrine of election in Christ will dispel the somber and frightening mists of post-Reformation theories about predestination, double predestination, reprobation and the rest of the lingering errors of medievalism, from which the rise of biblical science has happily set us free. … Election refers to God’s purpose in this world. … In the NT, as in the OT, election is a matter of service.0
Election is God choosing out a people through whom He is going to manifest Himself to the rest of the world. … It is not an election to salvation, but an election to service; that these people elected are elected to serve.0 Election is the sovereign act of God whereby certain persons are chosen for distinctive services for Him. It primarily involves service, not salvation.0 In his excellent book on Election, H. H. Rowley makes the point over and over that election is to service; not salvation.0 Vance, 401-404 Guts of Grace, Hawley, 283f Can there be unsaved elect people? Charles Ryrie thinks so: There are unsaved people alive today, who, though elect, are now lost and will not be saved until they believe.”0 If a person believed that God has chosen only a limited number of people to be saved out of the larger race, he would have to conclude either that the universal texts [of Scripture] to not mean what they appear to say, or that God has two wills in the matter, one which is well disposed toward all sinners, and another secret will which purposes only to be gracious to a few.0 There is no predestination to salvation or damnation in the Bible. There is only a predestination of those who are already children of God with respect to certain privileges out ahead of them.0 Election is always a call to obedience, thanksgiving, and brotherly love.0 The debate between Calvinism and Arminianism over the issue of election suffers from the fact that both sides of the debate assume that biblical election is about God’s choice of who gets to go to heaven. Calvinists say that God made this choice in eternity past without any outside influence whatsoever except His own sovereignty. Arminians, on the other hand, argue that in eternity past, God looked down through corridors of time to see who would choose Him from their own free will, and then these are the ones God elected.0 If these were the only two options, I would side with the Calvinist, as it has far fewer logical and theological problems than the Arminian position. Thankfully, these two positions are not the only two possibilities. Both sides of the debate are wrong because they have begun from a faulty premise, namely, that election is unto eternal life. Instead, as we have seen in the discussion of various texts, election is not to eternal life, but to service. It is as Shawn Lazar points out: To “elect” something, simply means to choose it, and there isn’t a single verse in the Bible that says God elects individuals for eternal life or eternal death. When you look up the passages dealing with God’s elections or choices, you find they are to service and privilege, not to eternal life. In sum, Biblical election is vocational: God chooses people, places, and things to serve Him in a task or mission.0
Jesus chided His Jewish brethren for thinking that they were God’s elect simply because of their lineage. (Do not say to me, “We have Abraham as our Father.”) In other words, “Do not say to me, ‘We are God’s elect.’ I tell you the truth, God can raise up servants from these rocks.” The Jews erred because they misunderstood the purpose of election. They interpreted election selfishly as if it were their privilege to sit down in isolation and contemplate their good fortune. They thought that God’s choice of them mean His rejection of all others. And they compounded their error by assuming that their election was unconditional.0 The purpose of election is not for some to be chosen out of the mass of humanity to enter heaven and spend eternity with God. No, the purpose of election is for God to raise up people who can be a blessing to the rest of the world so that they also might come to God and receive His grace. Israel was chosen, not only to glorify and serve God, but to do so by blessing and serving the world (Isa 43:10, 21; 45:20-22; 60:1-3; 66:19; Zech 8:23). Israel failed in her task, which is one reason God sent His Son. Where Israel failed as the elect nation, Jesus succeeded as the elect person. Just as God raised up Israel so that they might be a blessing to the nations, so also, God raised up Jesus so that He might be a blessing to the nations and call the nations to enter into God’s family by faith. Those who become part of God’s family in this way also become elect, and as such, are called to the same goal and purpose which was given to Israel and to Jesus: to be a blessing to the nations and to call them also to live as members of God’s family under His rule and reign. God wants His name and His deeds to be proclaimed in all the earth, and one means by which He seeks to accomplish this is through His elect people.
I’ll be as blunt and straightforward as I know how: I do not believe that God predestines some people to go to heaven. I definitely do not believe in double predestination, where God predestines some people to go to heaven and predestines others to go to hell. I used to believe this (that’s part of the “hyper” in hyper Calvinism), but no longer. While a complete study on the topic of predestination would also require a study of God’s sovereignty, human free will, sin, and all the passages on election in the Bible, this is a blog post, and I cannot get into all that now (though a book is in the works!) In this short post, I just want to briefly present my views on predestination itself. I believe that predestination does not refer to God’s choice of which people get to go to heaven, but refers instead to God’s determination to bring into glory all those who receive eternal life by faith in Jesus. In other words, predestination teaches us about who gets glorified, not who gets justified. God’s predetermined (this is a synonym for predestination) plan was that He would bring into glory everyone who believed in Jesus for eternal life, that is, for justification. All who are justified will be glorified. As such, there is absolutely nothing in predestination about God’s choice of which people will get justified and which people will not. Predestination has nothing to do with that, and it is a categorical mistake to think it does. To put it another way, predestination is about the destiny of believers (all will be glorified), not about the destiny of unbelievers (some will get justified and some will get damned). Or to put it another way again, discussion about God’s predestination should not fall under the category of justification, but under the categories of sanctification and glorification. Predestination is a discipleship issue; not an evangelism issue. Passages about Predestination Two of the key passages about predestination are Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 1:4-11. In both cases, Paul is pretty clear that predestination is about God bringing people to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29), and that election and predestination are most properly understood in connection with being made holy and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:4-5). God does not choose some to be in Christ while passing over the rest. No, God chooses, elects, predestines, predetermines, decides, foreordains, commits Himself to make sure that every person who believes in Jesus for eternal life, will finally and ultimately be glorified into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Predestination of the saints is about God’s commitment to the preservation of the saints. This is why no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:29), why nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39), and why God has given us the Holy Spirit as a promise and guarantee of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14). Predestination is a controversial topic, but it need not be. The Bible teaches that predestination is about our glorification and sanctification; not about justification. Therefore, if we fight about predestination, we are not living according to what we were predestined for, namely, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. There is corporate election just as there is individual election. It is not an either or. And the ultimate elect one is Jesus Christ. The fact that Jesus is elect should tell us that election is not unto “salvation.” That is, election is not the act of God choose whom He will give eternal life, for although Jesus is elect, God did not choose to give eternal life to Jesus, for Jesus is eternal life. Instead, the fact that Jesus is elect tells us that the basic definition of election has nothing whatsoever to do with being chosen by God to receive the gift of eternal life. Instead, election has everything to do with being chosen by God for a specific role, purpose, or function in God’s unfolding plan. Vance, 365 But today I read a great quote over at Mark Woodward’s blog, EveryTongue. The quote is by Christopher J. H. Wright, from his book, The Mission of God’s People (p. 72): Election [i.e., the choosing] of one is not rejection of the rest, but ultimately for their benefit. It is as if a group of trapped cave explorers choose one of their number to squeeze through a narrow flooded passage to get out to the surface and call for help. The point of the choice is not so that she alone gets saved, but that she is able to bring help and equipment to ensure the rest get rescued. “Election” in such a case is an instrumental choice of one for the sake of many. In the same way, God’s election of Israel is instrumental in God’s mission for all nations. Election needs to be seen as a doctrine of mission, not a calculus for the arithmetic of salvation. If we are to speak of being chosen, of being among God’s elect, it is to say that, like Abraham, we are chosen for the sake of God’s plan that the nations of the world come to enjoy the blessing of Abraham (which is exactly how Paul describes the effect of God’s redemption of Israel through Christ in Galatians 3:14). A while back, I read a similar quote from David Bosch, in his groundbreaking book, Transforming Mission (if you haven’t read this book, you must). Here is what he wrote (p. 18): The purpose of election is service, and when this is withheld, election loses its meaning. Primarily Israel is to serve the marginal in its midst: the orphan, the widow, the poor, and the stranger. Election, I believe, is not God choosing some to go to heaven, while everyone else goes to hell. Election is God choosing some to accomplish His mission and purpose in the world, for the benefit of all. Sometimes, God chooses unregenerate people (such as Pharaoh, Cyrus, and Judas) to accomplish His purposes. But every single person who believes in Jesus is chosen as well. We are the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus to the world. Cyrus, Vance, 262-263 Olson chapter 7 http://www.faithalone.org/magazine/y2002/02F1.html The main mistake in the theology of election is a category mistake. It is usually discussed under the topic of justification when it should be discussed under sanctification, or maybe even under ecclesiology. Anyone may believe in Jesus for eternal life. Election has nothing to do with it (cf. John 7:37; Acts 10:43; Rom 9:33; 1 Pet 2:6; 1 John 5:1; Rev 22:17). Of course, as we learned from Ephesians 1 and other texts, all who believe in Jesus become elect in Jesus, and so if someone wants to know whether or not they are part of God’s elect, all they need to do is ask if they have believed in Jesus for eternal life. If they have, then they are elect. If they have not, then once they believe in Him, they will become elect. Before the foundation of the world, God chose that anyone and everyone who believed in Jesus would be given special significance and purpose for all eternity—to carry out God’s rule and reign, both now and forevermore.
John 15:16 “You will note that there is no reference in these four verses to either Heaven or Hell, but to Christlikeness eventually. Nowhere are we told in Scripture that God predestinated one man to be saved and another to be lost…Predestination means that some day all the redeemed shall become just like the Lord Jesus…God has predestined you to be fully conformed to the image of His Son. (Dr. H. A. Ironside: Full Assurance, pp. 93-94.) “We are chosen in Christ to share His glory for eternity, but predestination is always to some special place of blessing. Predestinated to what? Predestinated "to be conformed to the image of His Son.” (H. A. Ironside: In The Heavenlies, Expository address on Ephesians, pp. 34-35.) Predestination is the exercise of divine sovereignty in the accomplishment of God's ultimate purpose…What must be borne in mind is the fact that predestination is not God's predetermining from past ages who should and who should not be saved. Scripture does not teach this view. What it does teach is that this doctrine of predestination concerns the future of believers.” (Dr. Herbert Lockyer: All the Doctrines of the Bible, p. 153.) God by His foreknowledge has predestined all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ‘to be conformed to the image of His Son.’ Predestination is never to Heaven, nor yet to Hell; but always to special privilege in and with Christ…The gospel preacher can declare…the blessed fact that whosoever will, may take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). This is not at all a question of being allowed to take Christ as Savior. It is an earnest entreaty to do so.” (H. A. Ironside: What's The Answer?, pp. 43-44.) The doctrine of election, then, is not an invitation to sit back and hope that you are one of the elect by God’s sovereign decree. Instead, the doctrine of election is an invitation to fulfill our God-given purpose and mission to go and love our neighbors, serve others, and be a blessing to the world. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2014 2014 -> For want of a nail 2014 -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 2014 -> Ihbb asian Championships 2014 middle school bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> Ihbb european Championships 2014 Bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> International History Bee and Bowl 2013-14 Asian Division Question Set Bowl Round Six 2014 -> United states patent and trademark office 2014 -> Coffs harbour eisteddfod vocal syllabus 2014 -> Listen News Programs Schedule pledge now 2014 -> Slow club announce third album complete surrender Download 0.79 Mb. Share with your friends:
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