Predestination Discussions

Prepared with Lynn and Martha Rowe

What does predestination mean (as it is used in the Bible)?

The following are all the texts where some form of predestination is found in the Bible:

Romans 8:29 Because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated conformed to the image of His Son for Him to be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰And He also called these whom He predestinated. And He also justified these whom He called. whom And He also glorified these He justified.

Acts 4:23 And [Peter and John] having been let go, they came to their own [company]. And they reported whatever the chief priests and the elders said to them. ²⁴And they lifted up a voice to God with one accord, having heard. And they said, “Master, Thou art the God Who made the heavens and the land and the sea, and all that are in them, ²⁵Who said by the mouth of David Thy servant, ‘Why have races raged? And folks will meditate emptiness! ²⁶Kings of land shall position themselves. And rulers ‘secreted’ unified concerning Yehovah and concerning His Messiah!’ ²⁷For of a truth, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the races and peoples of Israel, were gathered together against Thy holy servant Yeshua, whom Thou didst anoint ²⁸to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel predestined to come to pass. ²⁹And now, Yehovah, look upon their threatenings, and give to Thy slaves to speak Thy speech with all boldness ³⁰in that Thou stretchest out Thy hand for servicing, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy slave Yeshua.” ³¹And they having prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken. And they were all filled with the Spirit of the Holy [One]. And they spoke the speech of God with boldness.

1 Corinthians 2:7 But rather, we speak the hidden Wisdom of God in a mystery that God predetermined before the ages for our glory…

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Messiah Yeshua Who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies with Messiah ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world for us to be holy and blameless before Him in love, ⁵having predestinated us for ‘sonshipment’ through Messiah Yeshua to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace in which He made us objects of grace in the Beloved ⁷in whom we have redemption through His blood—the remission of offences—according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:11 …in Him in whom we also obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…

The lexicographic entry is as follows:

4309 , pro-or-id’-zo: from 4253 and 3724

1) to predetermine, decide beforehand

2) in the NT of God decreeing from eternity

3) to foreordain, appoint beforehand

As a reader can see, the Greek comes from a prefix and a main root (4253 and 3724). The prefix has the following entry:

4253 , pro: a primary preposition: 1) before

The main root has the following entry:

3724 , hor-id’-zo:

1) to define

2) to mark out the boundaries or limits (of any place or thing) 1b to determine, appoint

3 that which has been determined, acc. to appointment, decree

4) to ordain, determine, appoint

Putting these together, we have before + determine, appoint. This shows a predetermination or a pre-appointing.

The problem with the English word predestination is that it has the connotation of destiny, as if the direction of the person is fixed and unchangeable. The texts above refer to particular goals that have been appointed by God, and will certainly occur.

The reader must examine each text in order to see what these goals are.

This text shows that Saints were predestinated (better, predetermined or pre-appointed; I will use preordained) to a particular goal: that of being conformed to the image of His Son. This text does not indicate that unsaved folks were predetermined to be Saints. Understand the difference! He already foreknew them. (He states, “I never knew you,” to some of the damned to show that He never foreknew them in this way.) Again, His purpose for the Saints in this text is that they will be conformed to the image of His Son.

Then, verse 30 shows that those whom He foreknew and who were preordained conformed to the image of His Son were also called, justified, and then glorified. Again, this preordination is not unto Salvation, but unto conformation! They are already the Saved (the Saints) from the previous verse.

The next text is the following:

It shows that Yehovah the Father sent and anointed Yeshua, using His power (His hand) to bring to pass what Yehovah’s counsel predetermined. It also isn’t a text showing predestination to Salvation.

The following text is next:

1 Corinthians 2:7 But rather, we speak the hidden Wisdom of God in a mystery that God predetermined before the ages for our glory…

The mystery was predetermined, and not salvation.

Now, consider the next text:

Verse 4 shows that these folks were chosen. Verse 5 shows that they were predestinated (preordained) for ‘sonshipment’ (a coined word indicating that a person who formerly was not a genetic son has been turned into a son contrary to nature; it is much more than adoption).

Us in this text refers to a group. But what group? The following verses identity this group:

Ephesians 1:12 …for us who have previously trusted in the Messiah to be to the praise of His glory ¹³in Whom also ye, having heard the speech of the Truth—the glad tidings of your salvation—in Whom also ye, having believed, were sealed with the Spirit the Holy [One] of promise, ¹⁴Who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the Acquired Possession, to praise of His glory.

Who previously trusted in the Messiah? This group identified as us is in contrast to another group identified with the pronoun ye in verse 13. Since ye must refer to the Ephesian Saints, us must refer to the Israelis. Messiah is the earnest of the inheritance of the Israelis. When the Acquired Possession (Israel) is redeemed, the glory of the Messiah will receive praise.

Thus, in Ephesians 1:5, the Israelis are predestinated for ‘sonshipment’—to become children of God.

This entire group of Israelis was preordained. In verse 6, members of this group are made objects of grace in the Beloved. (Verse 6 shows Salvation; verse 5 shows the placement of these folks as sons/daughters to Yehovah through Messiah Yeshua.)

The purpose of verse 5 required verse 6 to occur first. They had to be made objects of Grace in the Beloved in order for them to fulfill their status of being made sons/daughters to Yehovah. Again, this does not show preordination to Salvation, but to a relationship: ‘sonshipment’ to Himself—to Yehovah.

Verse 7 indicates that this we (same as us), the Israelis, have redemption through Messiah’s blood. They also have forgiveness of offences. Nothing in this text indicates that Yehovah preordained them to redemption or forgiveness. Yet, it is evident that the preordination of verse 5 rested upon their being redeemed and forgiven.

The last text is the following:

Ephesians 1:11 …in Him in whom we also obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…

This text does not even state the reason for the predestination (‘preordination’). It only shows that this preordination is according to Yehovah’s purpose (singular).

Thus, Biblical predestination is preordination by which a group (the Israelis) is made conformed to Messiah, and that group will fulfill a certain purpose that He has (Ephesians 1:11).

What does predestination mean (as it is commonly used today)?

It commonly and erroneously means the act of God by which He determines who will and who will not be saved. This includes teachings that God’s decisions on this are unchangeable and fixed before a person is born. Thus, in this teaching, its proponents hold that a person who is predestinated to Salvation cannot and will not be unsaved, and a person who is predestinated to damnation cannot and will not be saved no matter how much each desires to have another ending.

Can we know whom God has predestined?

Yes.

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, apostle of Messiah Yeshua: to elect sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, of Galatia, of Cappadocia, of Asia and Bithynia ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Messiah Yeshua. Grace to you, and peace be multiplied.

We can know that Yehovah has already elected (chosen) these Israeli persons in the texts above, because through these writers, the Spirit of God stated that these folks are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. They are not only the same group of Israelis who will be the fulfillment of the other texts (since those future Israelis will live during the Tribulation). These Israelis who lived in the past and who died in the past are also elect, and are thus preordained. God wasn’t taken by surprise.

The question arises regarding knowing whether folks around us are predestined.

If we can know that a person is born of God, we will automatically know that this person is pre-known and elected (chosen). So, the question becomes, “Can we know, with certainty, who is born of God right now in our present location and time?” The following text indirectly answers the question:

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

This indirectly instructs that it is fine to be equally yoked with believers. This, in turn, indirectly instructs that one can know who is and who isn’t a believer.

This yoking is of a contractual nature, whether business or social, by which one person is linked in reputation and responsibility to another.

Thus, the Bible indicates that one can know with certainty who is and who is not a believer. The step from being a believer to being born of God has to do with whether the faith is permanent or temporary. The following text directly refers to temporary faith (temporary belief):

Luke 8:13 And those upon the rock are those who receive the speech with joy when they hear. And these who believe for a time don’t have a root, and fall away in time of trial.

Establishing who has temporary faith and permanent faith is a matter of observation and patience. Those with temporary faith will not last.

So, the Bible doesn’t directly refer to a miscellaneous individual being predestined, though it does refer to a group being predestined. It does speak of individuals who were preordained to particular tasks (good or bad), however, including John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot. It also speaks of all Saints as elect according to foreknowledge.

Can a person who has been predestined (predetermined, referring to a Saint) know that he/she has been predestined (predetermined)?

If one can recognize those who are not, one should be able to recognize his/her own status. A vanity occurs at this point, however. Rarely does a person look carefully ‘in the mirror’ to establish his or her own faith. The Scripture commands a group to do this:

2 Corinthians 13:5 Test ye yourselves—if ye are in the faith! Prove yourselves! Or, don’t ye recognize yourselves—that Messiah Yeshua is in you [in the group consisting of you], unless ye are rejected?

Apart from the danger of vanity, a person can know for sure:

1 John 2:3 And we know that we have known Him by this: if we keep His commandments.

1 John 3:18 My little children, we shall not love in speech or with language, but work and Truth. ¹⁹And we know that we are of the Truth by this. And we shall persuade our hearts before Him.

1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we shall love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. ¹³We know that we abide in Him and He in us by this, because he has given from His spirit to us.

1 John 5:13 I wrote these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God so that ye will know that ye have everlasting life, and so that ye will believe on the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5:19 We know that we are from God.

These texts show certainty, and include self-evaluation.

All who hold a view that is ‘hyper-Calvinistic’ believe that whatever God foreknows, He causes. Thus, they hold God responsible for all things that happen since He knows all things! This is a violent and evil theology that cannot describe the Biblical God, but instead describes an evil deity more akin to what certain ‘earth tribes’ have followed.

How do we know what God causes or does not cause?

(1) Yehovah causes what He claims He causes and what He prophesies that He will cause. The Bible has many examples of acts for which Yehovah Himself takes credit. If Yehovah has predetermined something and has communicated that directly or through a prophet, a dreamer, etc., He is the cause.

Many (including insurance companies) claim that natural disasters are ‘acts of God.’ Unless He takes credit for it, this is a form of blasphemy, since whatever Yehovah does is beneficial, constructive, or selectively destructive to save more lives, destroying only what is necessary to stop a gross violation that will spread. A tornado that destroys homes of evildoers and doers of good alike is no act of the Biblical God.

Yehovah instituted weather, lightning, clouds, wind, storms, temperatures, rain, etc. This does not mean that He has set a particular storm into action (unless He claims to have done so). Yehovah always gives warnings before He does something:

Amos 3:7 For my Lords Yehovah will not do a speech but-rather He exposed His secret unto His slaves the prophets!

Consider the greater context:

Amos 3:3 Will two walk unified without having-been-appointed? ⁴Will a lion roar in a forest, and torn is not to him? Will a young-lion give his voice from his habitation without capturing? ⁵Will a bird fall upon a snare of the land, and a trap is not to her? Will a snare ascend from the soil, and capturing, he will not capture?—⁶if a shofar will blast in a city, and a people will not tremble?—if bad will be in a city, and Yehovah did not do? ⁷For my Lords Yehovah will not do a speech but-rather He exposed His secret unto His slaves the prophets! ⁸A lion roared! Who will not fear? My Lords Yehovah spoke! Who will not prophesy?

What about the Holocaust? Did Yehovah give warnings of this catastrophic event? Yes, He did. He gave the following sources of information at least five years in advance:

The Bible itself that spoke of the continuing cycle of destruction from Yehovah against the Israelis as long as they are refusing to even consider the Torah. He gave how their enemies would destroy them in cycles throughout history.

Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

This strangely translated text gives the cyclical nature of Yehovah’s destructions. The following is a literal rendering of this verse:

Isaiah 6:12 And Yehovah will distance the adam. And He will multiply the desertion in the midst of the Land. ¹³And yet, in her is her wealths. And she shall return. And she shall be for burning as a terebinth [tree]. And the holy seed is her trunk, as an oak that the trunk is in them when shooting-forth!

This text describes a tree growing tall, then being cut. The top is used for firewood. The trunk then sets out new shoots that grow, finally becoming a large tree. That tree is then cut, the top being used for firewood. The cycle continues. This is how Yehovah has determined that Israel will both continue and will suffer holocausts throughout her history.
Another source of warning before the Holocaust came from Israel’s enemies. They told the Jews that they would kill them, given the opportunity, and they told them to leave.
Traveling rabbis provided another source. They told Jews in the small communities that they needed to leave, because their enemies would kill them.
Friends, non-Jewish folks who knew that they were in the greatest danger, and they needed to leave, provided another source.

Thus, with these four sources of warnings, and with folks willing to help them leave, the majority stayed under the belief that things could not possibly become that bad. When the enemies came to destroy, the majority of Jews stood still while they were slaughtered—not only because of the shock, but because they knew they had no place to run, and they had no hope. They had refused all warnings. Israel will experience the cycle of holocausts throughout history to come until the greatest holocaust, the Tribulation. The end of sin in Israel will finally occur at that time.

Do humans have ‘free will’?

No. Humans have limitations and responsibilities. If they had free will, they could freely will anything, and could accomplish whatever they freely willed. Freely willing something while knowing that failure will be the result isn’t truly freely willing anything. For example, if I were to will to fly like a bird, another could say, “You have free will, because you will to fly like a bird without any restrictions on your willing to do that!” My response would be that my wishful thinking cannot be the same as free will. Anytime one wills what the person cannot accomplish, that cannot be considered an act of free will, but rather of desires that won’t occur. Free will must necessarily mean that what is willed certainly shall be accomplished. (Will includes both the desire to do or accomplish something and the possibility of its being done and accomplished.)

The following are dictionary (Mirriam-Webster) acceptations of free that pertain to our topic:

1. Not subject to the control or domination of another.

2. Not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being : choosing or capable of choosing for itself : determined by the choice of the actor or performer.

3. Not bound, confined, or detained by force.

For will, the following acceptations are pertinent:

1. A choice or determination of one having authority or power.

2. The power of control over one’s own actions or emotions.

The dictionary also gives acceptations for free will as an entity:

1. Voluntary choice or decision.

2. Freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.

All these things show one flaw as far as humans having a ‘free will’: Humans are not self-existent, and all they have and can do has been provided to them from another source. Thus, prior causes always are part of decisions that must be made. Yehovah also divinely intervenes when He desires to do so, removing some of the supposed freedom.

Free will is commonly characterized as a human’s freedom to ‘accept the Lord’ or ‘reject the Lord.’ This formula contains several errors. One error is that a human’s accepting God is important rather than the opposite: whether one is accepted in the Beloved, or not. Our acceptance of God is a total vanity. His acceptance of anyone of us is Salvation, and is a demonstration of His Grace. The second error is that a person has freedom to believe, as if faith were in the possession of every person. Faith is not an entitlement; it is a command. One cannot exercise what one does not possess. Faith is possessed by no person at birth; it comes about only by one means mentioned in the following text:

Romans 10:17 Faith is by hearkening, and hearkening is by the speech of God.

Put in its proper order of events, first comes the speech of God in some form (including the Bible). After this comes hearkening—that is, doing what the speech says and listening to its message. Only then can faith form.

The terms faith and belief are exactly the same in Biblical usage.

Freedom of will discussions are not usually about obtaining Salvation, however. They are usually about whether a person has the freedom to make a particular decision in a particular circumstance, whether that decision has already been made, and whether the person truly didn’t have an option, but was being coerced. This, then, is not an issue of spirituality, but one of options in life. If the Bible does not indicate that God is causing a particular choice, and if God has not communicated that He is causing a particular choice, assuming that He is the cause may be blasphemy, and is certainly an accusation without warrant. He does cause the lots to fall certain ways, as some texts will show:

Numbers 34:13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, “This is the land that ye shall inherit by lot that Yehovah commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe.”

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast in the bosom, but the whole disposing thereof is of Yehovah.

Jonah 1:7 And they said everyone to his fellow, “Come! And we shall cast lots so that we will know for whose cause this evil is upon us!” So they cast lots. And the lot fell upon Jonah.

It is evident (to me) in this last text that Yehovah made sure that the lot fell to Jonah. I have found no proof that all lots are controlled by Yehovah. I have no doubt that some have been and will be controlled by Yehovah. Determinism is not part of Biblical faith.

Determinism is defined (Mirriam Webster) in the following way: A theory or doctrine that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are causally determined by preceding events or natural laws.

If one considers Yehovah the ‘Natural Law’, this definition would become, “A theory or doctrine that acts of the will, occurrences in nature, or social or psychological phenomena are causally determined by Yehovah.” Thus, Yehovah would be causing an act of the will in every person. This removes all responsibility from humans. This is not Biblical.

Folks have limited choices. Their choices are always limited. (One cannot say ‘limited freedom’ since those two are oxymoronic in nature.) Within the limits one has, one can make choices.

Sin occurs when a person steals an option that is not given as a choice. It is a violation of what a deity has defined as righteousness. Biblical sin occurs when a person steals an option that Yehovah never gave. Thus the person has violated a command. A person may say, “It was my choice,” but actually not doing that sin was a command of Yehovah, and He never gave a choice to do other than what was commanded.

A lot (usage of dice) was used to find information or to determine who would do what. Thus, the sailors on the ship that Jonah took to flee from Yehovah’s assignment used the lot to figure that Jonah was the responsible party for the storm’s intransigence.

Does God Control All Things?

If Yehovah controls all things, He is responsible for sin. If He is responsible for sin, He is a liar.

Yehovah does not control all things, but sovereignly intercedes when He desires to do so to make sure that all His plans have been and will be perfectly fulfilled.

The sovereignty of God necessarily includes His ability to not be the cause of all things. If He must be the cause of all things, He is a slave, not a sovereign Being.

Sovereignty includes having all power and authority at one’s disposal so that one can make sure plans work exactly as desired. This does not necessitate using that power and authority all the time and in every situation in order to cause every detail to happen.

Foreknowledge is knowing something in advance of its occurrence.

Foreknowledge and sovereignty are not related. Just because Yehovah knows does not mean Yehovah causes.