Question: Thank you for responding to my question about predestination. You asked for more information regarding what I believe and why, so you could answer my question about predestination more specifically. I have always assumed that we all have free will and that WE CHOOSE God. But many verses in the Bible indicate that HE in fact chooses us (John 15:16, Thess. 2:13, Romans 8:29-30). Are there any Bible verses to support that WE CHOOSE God? Did God know before each of us were created if we would choose Him or not? Romans 9:13-24 seems to say that God may even create people he knows will be destroyed.

Thanks!

Diane

Answer: Diane,

First, virtually all Christian churches believe in predestination, in some manner, shape or form, because the Bible teaches it (whatever "it" may be – that is the discussion). For example, read the first chapter of the book of Ephesians.

However, Christians disagree (sometimes with gusto!?!) about what is involved.

We could start by saying that the basic teaching of predestination is that our final destiny is in God’s hands, not ours. So far so good, most Christians agree. That is, our salvation does not ultimately depend on what we do or don’t do, it is a matter of God’s grace and his sovereignty.

Sovereignty is a key word – for it is used by Calvinists (who are of Reformed churches, Presbyterian churches) who believe in the strongest forms of predestination, in some cases what is called double predestination (I will spare you the big words) – double predestination says that God has predestined everyone to either hell or heaven before they are born. Single predestination teaches that God has only predestined those who are saved.

Back to sovereignty. The strength of the Calvinist position is that it emphasizes the fact that God is not bound by time and space, that he is sovereign, that he exists outside of the world in which we are "trapped" – our time/space existence. He knows the future, the end from the beginning, etc. Modern math, science, and physics help humans to "see" that such a view can be possible.

The Arminian position, named for a man named Arminius, says essentially that yes, this is true, but humans are not robots, we have choices. God allows us free will (an important word/concept from this perspective – so we are not simply caught in an eternal self-determined universe, but we have powers of self-determination. Of course, such a view also appeals to our western world of free enterprise, capitalism, democracy, etc. Problem with this view is that it may also lead to legalism – for followers/advocates of this kind of predestination emphasize that we have something to do with our salvation, and this can lead to a works-based view of salvation.

Some try to cut through this argument by saying that God makes his eternal choice based on his foreknowledge – that is – he knows how we will choose (he still gives us the choice) and predestines us according to what he already knows, for he lives in eternity future, and knows what we will do tomorrow.

This may be getting a little deep, or a little philosophical, but that is where this topic goes. Plain Truth Ministries would simply say that there are some things that we will not comprehend while we are in the flesh, and that having the "one and only true" view of predestination is not required for salvation. It is not necessary for Christians to divide on this issue, and we should allow others to differ from us, without condemning them.

If you want to study this further, I would suggest going to a good Bible college or seminary library – or at the more popular level to a Christian bookstore, and tell them you are looking for material on predestination. I say Christian library or bookstore, for there are a garden variety of world religion views on this topic as well, that are outside of the teaching of the Bible.

Hope this helps in some small way,

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht