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Does the Bible Teach Predestination?
Yes and no, depending on what one means by “predestination.” Let me explain.
“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:5). “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Other passages speak of people being chosen or part of an elect group, similar to being predestined (see Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:1-2). Clearly the Bible affirms some way in which God pre-selects or chooses someone even before the beginning of time.
When most people refer to predestination or election they are thinking of one of the main tenets of Calvinism, namely “Unconditional Election” in the acronym TULIP. Calvinism is a tightly-knit doctrinal system, carefully ordered and reasoned from the assumption that God’s sovereign will overrides man’s free will in eternal salvation (and in some cases, regarding everything that happens). The whole system falls or stands together.
In other words, Unconditional Election is primarily built on the tenets and assumptions that come before it, most importantly that man’s will is totally and inherently depraved, thus completely unable to seek God or respond in any way to His call without God himself acting sovereignly and directly on a person to liberate them from bondage and choose faith over unbelief.
We should mention in passing that the Bible speaks of several kinds of election depending on the context. Sometimes God chooses people, not to salvation but to service. Moses (Ps. 106:23), David (Ps. 78:70), and Pharaoh (Rom. 9:17) are example of individuals who God used as servants to help move his redemptive purposes forward. Other times God chooses groups (as opposed to individuals), as when he selected the nation of Israel to carry the Abrahamic promises until Messiah would come (Deut. 10:15). Other times, election does result in eternal salvation, as in Ephesians 1 or Romans 8. We must look at the context of each passage to determine the exact kind of election being discussed.
Now to our question. Does the Bible teach that God’s election of Christians is unconditional and completely dependent on God’s sovereign choice? No – and here’s why.
First, it flies in the face of the way the gospel was preached in the beginning. Read the gospels and Acts and you will see Jesus and the apostles urging people to choose belief and obedience. Even Ephesians 1, a hotbed of Calvinism, emphasizes the free will of those that responded to the message: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (v. 13). The salvation of Jew and Gentile in Christ is conditioned on the hearing and receiving the gospel by faith, repentance, and baptism.
Secondly, unconditional election necessarily implies two things about God which are wholly incompatible with what he has revealed about himself. First, that God unconditionally and arbitrarily excluded those who will be lost. If God chose some to be saved, regardless of their choices, he also (whether actively or passively doesn’t make much difference) condemned the rest to eternal destruction, regardless of their choices. Some Calvinists would disagree, but this conclusion is logically inescapable. This leads to the second implication, that God sovereignly wills some to be saved and some to be lost.
This is not the God I read about in passages like 1 Timothy 2:4, where God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And that he is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). God does not exercise his sovereignty to arbitrarily save and condemn. Instead, he, in his sovereign love of the whole world, willed to send his only Son to die and rise for our sins so that no one would perish but all who believe would enjoy eternal life (John 3:16).
God did not predestine our choices but the means by which everyone who is in Christ will be eternally saved. In this way we who believe are the elect, predestined to salvation. He foreknew us and our choices (Rom. 8:29). However, God’s foreknowledge does not cause your or my choice to do what we will with Jesus. He knows the end from the beginning. And right now, our choices are working toward that end – whether by faith or disbelief in his eternal plan.
