PREDESTINATION
A. (Rom.8:29,30; Eph.1:5,11) The word “predestined” occurs 4 times in the NKJV. If you look the word “predestination” up in a contemporary dictionary you’ll find this or a similar definition - “the doctrine that God has foreordained all things, especially that God has elected certain souls to eternal salvation; the divine decree foreordaining all souls to either salvation or damnation; the act of God foreordaining all things gone before and to come.” This implication of this definition is flawed with error.
B. The Greek word from which the word “predestined” is translated is proorizoô (pro-or-id'-zo)& means “to limit in advance; to set out boundaries in advance; to predetermine, decide beforehand; in the NT of God decreeing from eternity; to foreordain, appoint beforehand.” THAYER
a. nothing within this definition indicating God arbitrarily appointed some people to be saved & some to be lost
b. so-called St. Augustine & John Calvin put it in years after the apostolic age
C. The objective of this lesson will be to show the Calvinistic idea of predestination is not the predestination spoken of in Scripture.
A. From certain man-made creeds, we learn what Calvinistic predestination is:
a. Presbyterian Confession of Faith, chapter 3, section 1 we read these words – “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise & holy counsel of his own will, freely & unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.”
b. also we find these words – “God’s decrees are the wise, free, & holy acts of the counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass, especially concerning angels & men.”
c. Westminister Confession of Faith 1643 – “...By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death” (Art. III).
B. This is the notion that, consistent with his own sovereignty, God, before the foundation of the world, pre-determined who would be saved and who would be lost. In view of this, when Christ died, his death was beneficial only for the “elect.” This concept of “limited atonement,” hence, limited grace, is so foreign to the teaching of the Scriptures that it is difficult to see how anyone with an elementary knowledge of the New Testament could accept it.
a. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Tit.2:11)
b. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb.2:9)
C. If the Calvinistic teaching of predestination is true then the following is also true:
a. impossible for man to err because whatever he does is in keeping with & brought about by God’s fore-ordination or decree, & therefore cannot be wrong
a. if man does either good or bad he is only doing what God ordained him to do
b. if man lies, God has unchangeably ordained him to lie
b. God has forbidden things that He has unchangeably ordained man to do (such would be inconsistent)
c. God would be unjustly punishing wicked people for doing what He has unchangeably ordained them to do
a. man would be punish for doing what God forbids, yet God is the One who
unchangeably ordained man’s actions
b. man cannot change what God has made unchangeable if he did he would be
changing God’s unchangeable decree & possess more power than God
d. every day men break God’s decrees, that, according to the decree, are supposed to be unchangeable (Rom.13:1,2)
e. taken to its logical conclusion, Calvinistic predestination would indict God as being responsible for every murder, rape, theft, etc. done (“whatsoever comes to pass”)
II. MANY DECREES OF GOD HAVE NOT & DO NOT COME TO PASS
A. Many of God’s decrees have been changeable:
a. God decreed that Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days, but it wasn’t because the Ninevites repented (Jon.3:4).
b. God decreed that King Hezekiah would die, but this decree was changed (2Kgs.20:5,6)
c. God’s decree in reference to David at Keilah was changed (2Sam.23:11-13) Had God decreed from all eternity whatsoever comes to pass, then it appears He answered David deceitfully
B. Some of God’s decrees are subject to human conduct (Jer.18:7-10).
C. When God created Adam & Eve & placed them in the Garden of Eden, He gave them a law – don’t eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. Yet, they both ate the fruit God commanded them not to eat. But, according to Calvinistic predestination they were only doing what God had unchangeably decreed them to do. If Calvinistic predestination is true, then Adam & Eve were in a dilemma:
a. if they eat the fruit they violate God’s law
b. if they don’t eat the fruit they change God’s “unchangeable” decree
III. THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION
A. The doctrine of predestination is taught in Scripture, but it is a far cry from Calvinistic predestination.
B. Biblical predestination has to do with God deciding beforehand that “whosoever” will accept His Son would become His children (Eph.1:3-6). Calvinism says God makes all the choices.
(Joh.3:16; 1Tim.2:4; 2Pet.3:9; 1Jn.2:2; Rev.22:17)