Defining terms is important, especially on a hot-button topic like this. What is "predestination"? Well, to be clear, it is not what most people think it is. The first thought is "election" or the like. The biblical version (and it is indisputably a biblical term) is actually referencing ... everything. Romans 8:29-30 uses the term to cover the entire process from "foreknow" to "called" to "justified" to "glorified". Paul there says that we are predestined "to be conformed to the image of His Son". Ephesians 1:11 says we were predestined to adoption and to obtain an inheritance. In Acts 4, the people of Jesus's day did "whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place" to accomplish the crucifixion of Christ. And so it goes. It's only reasonable. If God works all things after the counsel of His will, then all things are predestined. Note that "predestined" means "determined in advance" without requiring direct causation. Thus, if God is omniscient and simply and accurately knows all that will occur, it will occur and is, therefore, already determined. Thus, given God's Sovereignty and Omniscience, not only is predestination biblical, it's mandatorily logical.
Of course, since "predestination" entails all things, then it would necessarily include "election". And since the concept of whether or not God chooses some for salvation is a hotly debated topic, it is that aspect of predestination that is contested the most. So when we roll around to double predestination, we've rolled into a fight. So let's see if we can take some of the teeth out of this squabble.
Assuming predestination means that God predestines some to eternal salvation, is there any reason to think that double predestination is true? Double predestination would say that, just as some are predestined to salvation, the rest are predestined to damnation. And that whole idea that some might be predestined (predetermined, foreordained) to damnation is what really gets people fired up. But I don't really know why. If we can establish that God chooses some for salvation and that God does not choose all for salvation, then haven't we already established double predestination? Look at it this way. If God chooses some (not all), then by definition we have double predestination.
Now, first let's agree on something. We all agree that God does not force people to be damned. This is the image conjured up in a lot of people's minds when we say "double predestination". They say, "So, you're saying that there are people who might want to be saved, but since they were predestined for damnation, they cannot be?" No, this is not in mind when we speak of double predestination. "But, if you argue that God brings people to salvation (election), then aren't you arguing that He also keeps people from salvation?" No, no, a thousand times, no. We will all agree that God does not force anyone to be damned, nor does God cause anyone to be damned. There is no biblical nor logical reason to think so. We're all agreed on that, okay?
Having tossed out together that horrendous concept that God authors sin and forces damnation, we are still not done with the concept. The real question, logic aside, must be "Does the Bible teach it?" That's the one we need to examine.
In Romans 9 Paul is talking about genuine Israel, "the children of the promise". How does one get to be one of these? Paul says:
It depends not on human will or work, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills" (Rom 9:16-18).Paul has no problem at all making the claim that God both has mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills. So stunning is this claim that Paul immediately answers the next obvious objection: "You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who can resist his will?'" (Rom 9:19) and so on. Regardless of what you'd like to think, this clearly speaks of both election ("Has mercy on whom He wills") and reprobation ("Hardens whom He wills"). ("Reprobation" is the opposite side of election. While election means "to foreordain to salvation", reprobation means "to foreordain to damnation".) And making such a large concept on a single verse is questionable, so, of course, there's more. Peter writes of Jesus as a cornerstone. Some find Him "chosen and precious", but others find Him a "stumblingblock". "They stumble," Peter says, "because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do" (1 Peter 2:8). This isn't the only place Peter speaks of double predestination. In chapter two of his second epistle he talks about false prophets and says, "Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" (2 Peter 2:3). That phrase, "from long ago", is an interesting phrase. The King James uses "of old". The same phrase is used in the next chapter where Peter speaks of mockers who "deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God" (2 Peter 3:5). Same concept ... before time. Jude uses the very same phrase in verse 4 of his epistle. "For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation" (Jude 1:4). So both Peter and Jude affirm that condemnation was "long ago" and the language most likely points at "before time" -- from the beginning.
Predestination is biblical. The only way to deny that is to cut out Bible passages. Election is also biblical, even if we wish to debate the mechanism. Further, God's Sovereignty and Omniscience make predestination a logical necessity. If we admit that predestination is in the Bible and that God chooses by some means or another who is saved, logic would require that those who are not chosen would be predestined to condemnation. The concept isn't merely logical -- it's biblical. I'd say that we should set aside the hostility and come to an agreement here.
7 comments:
Great post, Stan. I've really been struggling with the phrase, "God is not the author of sin." It seems to me that he is, and here's why.
Many verses in Scripture seem to claim that he is. For example:
Deuteronomy 32:39 “’See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.’”
2 Samuel 12:11-12 “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’”
1 Kings 22:19-23 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.”
Proverbs 16:4 “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.”
Isaiah 45:6-7 “…that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
Isaiah 63:17 “Why, O LORD, do You cause us to stray from Your ways and harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.”
Lamentations 3:37-38“Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?”
Amos 3:6 “If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?”
Acts 4:27-28 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”
In addition, I don't see a logical reason why God cannot be the author of sin. If I, for example, write a novel...a murder mystery, lets say. Am I a sinner because I authored someone to murder another? I don't think so.
I understand this is, too, not a popular stance, nor am I entrenched in it. As I said, I've been wrestling with this for a while and was wondering how far off I might actually be. Again, I'm completely open to criticism.
By the phrase "not the author of sin", I believe most people mean that He doesn't cause it. That would be problematic. He certainly (as in "there can be no doubt") wills it. He "meant" for Joseph's brothers to do evil that would result in the salvation of Israel. He predestined the crucifixion. In your example, "the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets." He doesn't cause it, but He ... authorizes it.
I say "doesn't cause" because we can clearly read "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone" (James 1:13).
will not the judge of all the earth do right.its all about him. we are fallen in our mental reasonings he is not.
Thou sayest truly.
the tendancy is to think of ourselves in relationship to time.the truth is the book of the revelation does not hold to such definite boundaries in relationship to time.god sees all history as a whole,our view is fragmented.in his mind history is already complete.we are merely stepping thru it as if it were a place to visit.in conclusion there is a future you and me which is already in eternity therefore double predestination is correct to its fullest extent.its all about god the father.we play the ultimate roll we have been given.time flows in one direction and is bordered on both sides by eternity.some passages in the bible are written about events outside of time and space.another way to think of the continuity of time is the future already being in the past which is how the father sees it.we are inside time.he certainly is not.time is like a parade.god sees it all.
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