Christianity Plain and Simple

Predestination

There is a popular belief that has existed since the beginning of Christianity and has been debated about quite a bit since, and this is the idea of predestination.

Predestination at its simplest is the idea of God deciding things before we are born or even existed, and regardless of your beliefs, this idea is found present in the Bible. It uses Jacob and Esau as an example, saying that before they were born, God decided that Jacob would rule over Esau.

Romans 9:11 - (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Now, the confusion and debate comes when Christians apply this to our lives and, especially, our salvation. Many Christians are divided because some believe that this means that before the world existed, God chose who would or would not be saved because He is all powerful, all knowing, and totally sovereign over all human beings. He is in total control, therefore He has the right to, and has chosen who will be saved, how their lives will be lived, and what their life will be like totally. This may be more or less extreme, depending on the Christian, but the main idea is that we only come to God when God calls us, we can not resist this calling, and God has pre-decided who to call or not call to salvation. This idea is usually called Calvinism, as John Calvin was the one who propagated.

Why is this? This is because the Bible says that those are saved were pre-ordained from the beginning of the universe. That is true, before we were ever created, God already had it where everyone who ever would get saved will get saved.

Ephesians 1:4-5 - According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Does this mean God picked who would or would not get saved though? That is not true. The Bible says those who are predestined for heaven are only so because God pre-knew who would be saved. So basically, God knows who will accept Him, so He acts accordingly and has basically already planned for those people to get saved.

Romans 8:29 - For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And that is predestination. Can God choose everything for us? Yes, but He didn't. That is an example of His love. The Bible says God loves all people and wants all people to be saved. It brings Him genuine sadness when the unsaved must be punished, but God also knows the actions of humans.

Ezekiel 33:11 -Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Again, God uses the example of Pharaoh in Egypt. God raised him up to power, because God knew he would disobey and God would punish Egypt for enslaving Israel for centuries.

Romans 9:17 - For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Can a person be saved and believe in predestination in the manner of Calvinist? I believe it depends. For example, some believe that a person is literally picked in heaven who will go to heaven or hell. We only know when we die. They don't ever make a conscious choice to trust Jesus Christ alone as Savior, but just believe maybe they will be one of the chosen. For those Calvinist, I would have to say probably not, because there is no personal choice to put faith in Christ alone, merely a distant hope that just maybe He might save them if they are lucky. Many of them also believe they must/will be good if they are truly the elect.

But there are other Calvinist though that do believe you must make a personal choice to put faith in Christ, they just believe it has been pre-decided who will and who won't. For those, I would say it is much more likely, as they believe in salvation the same way we do, they just believe that we get there differently.

Ultimately though, only God knows who has truly put faith in Him, and unless a person denies Christ and His salvation blatantly, we can not say that.