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Three items appear below:
DOES THE BIBLE TEACH PREDESTINATION? Hans Ossa (Investigator 12, 1990 May)
INTERPRETATIONS The word "Predestination" means different things to different people: 1. Predestination refers to God's foreknowledge – that He knows a thing before it happens or exists. "Fresh things I now foretell; before they appear I tell you of them." (Isaiah 42:9) "And also I revealed things beforehand, before they happened I announce them to you." (Isaiah 48:5) "For God everything is possible." (Matthew 10:26) God, as revealed in
the
Bible, is:
2.
Predestination means
that God has eternally
chosen those whom he intends to save. This belief is not based on the
Bible.
God chose Samson before he was born. (Judges 13:5-7) Because of his own
faults Samson later found an early death. God had, however, chosen
Samson
for specific tasks to be accomplished during his life. This choice of
Samson
to perform special tasks had nothing to do with Samson's ultimate
rejection
or salvation by God.
God also named
other
individuals, besides
Samson, who would perform a special task including: Samuel the prophet
and judge; Josiah King of Judah; Jeremiah the prophet; John the
Baptist,
forerunner of the Messiah; Jesus the Messiah and Son of God.
God also
foretold events
beforehand with
regard to Esau and Jacob, King Solomon, Cyrus King of Persia, Pharaoh
of
Egypt, and Judas Iscariot. Such foreknowledge, of God was no guarantee
of the person gaining eternal salvation.
3. Another
version of
Predestination is that
the salvation or damnation of each soul is determined by God before its
creation regardless of the person's faith, free decisions, love or
merit.
There are no Bible texts to prove this version of Predestination. Such
a doctrine would be inconsistent with fundamental teachings on grace,
faith
and free will.
SOME BIBLE TEXTS The substantive
"predestination" does not
appear in the Bible. Let us examine some Bible texts often brought
forward
when discussing predestination and foreknowledge.
1.
The Greek "ek-legomai" means "make choice; to pick out; to select; choose (out); chosen." God has chosen people whom He has set apart from the irreligious multitude as dear to Himself, and whom He has rendered, through faith in Christ, citizens in Christ's kingdom. 2.
Romans 8:29, 30 "because those whom he foreknew, he also before marked out (or predetermined) to be copies of the likeness of his Son, for him to be a Firstborn among many brethren; and those whom he before marked out (or predetermined), he also invited (or called) and whom he called, those he also justified…" The Greek
"pro-orizo" means
to "limit in advance,
i.e., (figuratively) predetermine, determine, determine before, ordain
or decide beforehand, appoint beforehand." The same Greek word occurs
also
in Acts 4:28 and 1 Corinthians 2:7.
People are justified through the free gift of God's grace and are reconciled to Him through faith. (Romans 3:21-26) The Apostle Paul further explains: "For we reckon that man is justified by faith apart from works of law…" (Romans 3:27-28) Through faith Christians will produce fruits of the spirit and of love. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:22-25 6:8) 3.
1 Peter 1: 2 "chosen, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…" The Greek word here
is
"pro-gnosis" meaning
"forethought, foreknowledge, pre-arrangement." The English medical term
"prognosis" means "a forecast of the" probable course and outcome of a
disease or a disorder. . Also, the weather forecasts are based on the
"prognostic
charts" of the Meteorological Bureau.
4.
1 Peter 1: 20
"(Christ),
having been " foreknown,
indeed, before the foundation of the world…"
The Greek
"pro-ginosko" means
"to know beforehand,
i.e., to foresee, foreknow (ordain); to know (before); to have
knowledge
of beforehand."
5.
Ephesians 2:10 "for we are his work, having been formed in Christ Jesus for good works, for which God prepared us, that we might walk in them." The Greek here
"pro-etoimazo"
means "to fit
up in advance; ordain before; prepare afore." It can have a literal or
a figurative meaning; to prepare beforehand in mind and purpose, i.e.
to
decree.
6.
7.
The Greek
"pro-tasso" means
"to pre-arrange,
i.e., prescribe, to appoint before; define beforehand." The Greek
"horizon"
means "to appoint, determine."
INDIVIDUALS HAVE A CHOICE The above listed
Bible
texts do not allow
the interpretation that God predestinated every individual, before he
even
existed, to either salvation or damnation.
From the Bible
texts we
can however understand
God's ability to foreknow and foreordain events.
As a God of
wisdom, love,
freedom and mercy,
He has set moral standards for "man whom He created in His own image
and
after His likeness" and who is a free agent and accountable for his
deeds.
Man is no robot and is not saved or condemned before he was born. He
has
a free choice to serve and worship God and gain his blessing, or refuse
to do so and harvest what he has sown. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Galatians
6:7-9)
Do individuals
have a
choice concerning their
salvation? Yes! The idea that their fate is predetermined in past
eternity
for either eternal life or eternal punishment is not a Bible teaching.
Using one's free will to serve and worship God, observe his
commandments
and follow in the footsteps of Christ is what is pleasant to God.
Christ's
followers who
became the "called
ones" or "chosen ones" have to "make your calling and election sure."
(2
Peter 1:10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Hebrews 3:14)
The Bible does
not state
that Christians
are now saved in a way that prevents them ever proving unfaithful
because
of God's foreknowledge. Jesus said: "But he who patiently endures to
the
end, will be saved." (Matthew 24:13)
The Apostle Paul
declares,
particularly to
Jews:
Paul also states
(in Romans
5:1-11) that faith
shall guarantee salvation – not predestination or foreknowledge.
Jesus said: "And
I know
that His commands
mean eternal life." (John 12:50) And: "Eternal life is this: to know
you,
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3)
REFERENCES Berry, G R Interlinear
Greek English New
Testament
PREDESTINATION,
CAUSATION,
FOREKNOWLEDGE, RESPONSIBILITY AND FREEDOM Anonymous (Investigator 12, 1990 May)
FREE WILL
DETERMINISM PREDESTINATION Free will is the
concept
that humans choose
and act according to the dictates of the will – limited only by
ability,
environment and sometimes coercion from others. Determinism is the
concept
that all things are caused. Indeterminism is the concept that some
things
have no cause.
A philosopher
once said to
me: "If all things
are caused then we can't be free and if some things are uncaused then
we
aren't free either."
This
philosophical
argument that we lack
freedom seems to agree with the doctrine of Predestination of the 16th
century Protestant Reformers.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) wrote: "there can be no free will in man, or angel or in any creature." (Dillenberger 1963) John Calvin (1509-1564) wrote: "No one who wishes to be thought religious dares to deny predestination, by which God chooses some for the hope of eternal life, and condemns others to eternal death." (Bettenson 1967) The topics I'll
discuss
have been debated
in hundreds of books for thousands of years. My answers therefore will
not be final. This article is an inquiry into the mutual compatibility
of Free Will, Determinism, Indeterminism, Predestination, personal
responsibility,
and Foreknowledge and certain statements in the Bible. An inquiry into
compatibility need not say anything about whether God actually exists
or
whether the Bible is from Him. Those questions are not-addressed.
FREE WILL AND THEOLOGY Chambers Dictionary defines Predestination: "God's decree fixing unalterably from all eternity whatever is to happen especially the eternal happiness or misery of men." Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary says: "The foreordination of all things by God, including the salvation or damnation of men." Calvin wrote: "By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he has decided in his own mind what he wishes to happen in the case of each individual. For all men are not created on an equal footing, but for some eternal life is pre-ordained, for others eternal damnation." Included in this doctrine is that humans can't reach for salvation themselves because they are too lost in sin to take the initiative. Salvation comes by God's initiative and is an expression of his almighty power and sovereign purpose. The Bible seemingly agrees: "[God] chose us…before the foundation of the world…" (Ephesians 1:4) If
Predestination is true
we seem like puppets
on strings with God controlling the strings. If Determinism is true
then
we're like robots following a program consisting of causes. If
Indeterminism
is true then some choices of conscious creatures are inexplicable like
"bolts from the blue" unconnected to previous actions, intentions,
learning,
conditioning and character.
If humans are
not free why
blame them for
bad actions or praise them for good ones? Shouldn't all praise and
blame
go to the cause? Or to God? Or to a spontaneous non-cause? Yet the Law
punishes us for crimes! Even God – according to the Bible – will have
no
mercy unless we repent of the bad actions He (seemingly) predestined us
to do!
DETERMINISM VERSUS INDETERMINSIM If every event
is
determined (caused) by
previously existing conditions which are caused by still earlier
conditions
then free will seems impossible. After all, if all things are caused
then
so are human thoughts, actions, decisions and the brain events
affecting
these.
Many human actions can't be predicted by us because the factors involved and their interactions are too many to calculate. We can't calculate the motion of individual stones in a landslide but doubtless every movement of every stone and all the interactions are caused – as is the overall result of the landslide. The
Indeterminist agrees
that most events
have causes – movements of planets, reflex actions and everything that
can be described by scientific laws. He adds, however, that causality
does
not always apply and that some actions of conscious intelligent humans
therefore have no cause. Therefore in a choice between two actions the
person might do either irrespective of previous beliefs, conditioning,
etc. In that lies his freedom.
Causeless events
would,
however, be as bad
for freedom as caused events! Suppose I do something not caused by my
character,
habits, intentions, etc – not caused by anything that constitutes me as
a person. If that happened I would deny that I acted freely –
especially
if the uncaused act turned out to be a crime!
FOREKNOWLEDGE IS NOT PREDESTINATION If Determinism is the case then everything would be predictable, at least in theory. In practice much would remain unpredictable to humans due to lack of knowledge – just as we can't calculate and predict the motions of individual stones in a landslide! Someone who knows all the initial conditions could calculate all things in advance and the time of their occurrence. Foreknowledge (knowing in advance) would apparently agree with Determinism. To know
something in
advance does not necessarily
imply that the knower causes it or does it or makes it happen. By
consulting
my train schedule and by consulting all relevant persons about possible
alterations to the schedule I will know when to meet the train. But
that
in no way means that I influence, effect, change or cause the movement
of the train. Similarly if God knew in advance what people will do that
would not necessarily mean that God made them do it.
Some theologians try to make Foreknowledge and Predestination mean the same thing and in that way try to solve how being Predestinated can leave us free. Unfortunately the Bible distinguishes the two words: "those who he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be confirmed to the image of his son." (Romans 8:29) Therefore the
two are
different and theologians
who try to make them the same are wrong, Biblically speaking.
Furthermore, if all things are caused by previous conditions which are caused by still earlier conditions and so on back to when God started it all then the initial conditions that God set up long ago determine the end results. In that sense
God would
indeed make me do
what I do and he would know in advance as well! Then when I do what he
made me do, and if it's bad, he blames and punishes me! Holy horror!
What
a predicament!
MORAL RESPONSIBILITY John Hospers
(1970) cites
two writers who
argue:
"Moral
responsibility
requires that a man
should be able to choose alternative actions, everything in the
universe
prior to the act, including the self, being the same."
The Determinist
sees freedom
in that he chooses
his own actions and decides to do them and therefore he himself causes
them. But if ALL things are caused, as he maintains, then so are
decisions
and choices!
Desires,
heredity and
upbringing affect decisions.
But these things too have causes if all things are caused! The total
physiological
state plus the total psychological state (including desiring, willing,
hoping, etc) plus effects of surrounding circumstances is the cause of
my latest action. But all this is caused by previous situations.
It seems then
that any
particular act and
decision could not have been other than it was, given all the
circumstances
that led to it!
Therefore no real free will! Therefore no moral responsibility! The science of
physics
reveals that at the
sub atomic level certain events apparently do have no cause. Whether
these
events affect larger particles of matter which affect still larger
particles
until our decisions are affected is not known. If this does happen it
would
mean that indeterminism applies at least sometimes – which as shown
above
would not be compatible with free will either.
MORE THAN A STONE Despite seeming
evidence
to the contrary
most people have a stubborn belief that they make free choices. This
applies
particularly when they face, genuine options, no-one compels them and
they
can meaningfully say: "I could have chosen differently."
Freedom is a concept applying to living, conscious organisms in situations of alternative choices. Stones don't have "freedom of choice". Perhaps then, when matter is so complexly organized as to be associated with consciousness there may be a third category of events – besides caused and uncaused – namely mind events. Conscious humans reason, think, plan. love, hate, know, judge follow rules, choose, form habits, break habits, desire, compete, etc. If a human were part of a landslide he would desire to escape and even plan ahead to manoeuvre to grab an overhanging tree branch. Stones can't do that. If two stones fell side by side through unobstructed air both would hit the ground simultaneously their movement being according to causes and predictable from laws of physics. If, however, I played two games of chess simultaneously against one player and had the same position on both boards – giving two totally identical situations – would I make the same move on both boards? Try me! Reasons, plans,
interpretations and even
some desires can be changed instantly by choice whereas causes and laws
of nature cannot. The mind can therefore choose its own ends and that's
freedom! I won't try to define how the third category works. I merely
infer
the third category because consciousness permits innumerable actions
outside
of what science can predict and describe by laws of nature.
A BRIEF HISTORY Boettner (1932) says of Predestination: "This cardinal truth of Christianity was first clearly seen by Augustine." (p. 365) Augustine (354-430), the father of western theology claimed: "God's decision to save one person and condemn another…is totally arbitrary." (Bercot 1989) From Augustine the doctrine passed to Luther, Calvin and the Protestant denominations. Christians
previous to
Augustine such as
Justin Martyr (110-165) taught differently: "Actually, if
predestination
were true, we could not say that some people are good and others are
bad.
Rather unavoidable destiny would be the cause of evil, not man."
(Bercot
1989 – Justin Martyr)
ARE WE PREDESTINATED? The Bible says:
"He destined us in love to be his sons" I argued above that foreknowledge by a second party of what others will do does not necessarily effect their freedom. But Romans 8:29 distinguishes "foreknew" and "Predestined". Foreknowledge and Predestination are different! Does this mean
that God
knew all individual
identities before they existed and arbitrarily decided their destiny
irrespective
of their merit and choices?
An alternative
explanation
is that "us" and
"those" refer not to definite individual identities but to Christians
as
a group – to collective identity. That would mean that God decided to
create
Christianity but did not decide who would or would not enter in.
If humans, after informing themselves, choose salvation would that be counter to God's sovereignty and almighty power? Not if God delegates the authority [to us] to have some choice in the matter. Authority delegated is not power lost if He who delegates sets all the conditions. God, according to the Bible, also does important preliminary things. He created a means of salvation, ways to find out about it, and procedures for accepting or rejecting it. Without such preliminaries a free choice to be saved would be meaningless! The above
interpretation
of "collective identity"
is challenged by Acts 13:48 where the grammar seems to allow only for
individuals:
"And when the Gentiles heard…as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed."
HE FASHIONS THE HEARTS Another pro-Predestination point is that the Bible says that God "hardens" and "fashions" the "hearts" and "made evil" and even "deceived". "He has mercy
upon
whomever he wills and
he hardens the heart of whomever he wills." (Romans 9:18)
Yet God calls on people to choose! (Exodus 19:5-8; Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Joshua 24:14-15; Isaiah 1:18-31; Acts 3:19) An answer to
this seeming
discrepancy is
to distinguish three sorts of responsibility.
1. There is the
responsibility of performing
an act, good or bad, of being the agent of the action. (For example the
thief who stole my car.)
2. There is
also the
responsibility of the
person who performs preliminaries necessary to the act occurring. (If I
hadn't unlocked my garage my car would not have been stolen.)
3. Thirdly,
there is the
responsibility of
someone who observes or knows but doesn't intervene although having the
power to do so. (My neighbour who saw but didn't get involved.)
If Bible
references to God
"doing evil" refer
to type 2 and 3 then that leaves humans free and responsible (type 1)
as
the agents of what they choose to do!
Origen (185-255) compared God's influence on humans to rain that produces either fruit or thorns depending on the soil, and to the sun which softens one substance (wax) while hardening another (mud). (Bercot 1989) Whether we become fruit or thorns, soft or hard, is up to us. Humans often
lack the
self-control to perform
the good conduct they intend. (Romans 7:15) This reduces freedom but
need
not undo a decision for God and for salvation since God both forgives
(if
we want) and makes up for our deficiency.
CONCLUSION Neither caused nor uncaused events fully regulate human behavior, nor do combinations of both, when we are conscious. Humans have real freedom to choose, not in everything but in many things. The Bible reveals God as wanting salvation for everyone but of nevertheless permitting them the choice. They are free agents of their decision and the responsibility (type 1) is theirs. The Bible is consistent with this conclusion in that it apparently does not teach Predestination. Luther claimed
that to
reject the doctrine
of Predestination is to be predestined to damnation. (Dillenberger
1961)
if Luther is right then I hope I've been predestined to change my mind.
REFERENCES Bercot, D W 1989 We Don't
Speak Great Things – We Live Them! Scroll Publishing, USA
Bercot, D W 1969 Will
the Real Heretics
Please Stand up, Scroll, Publishing, USA, pp. 76-83, 151-152 Bettenson, H (Ed) 1967
Documents of the
Christian Church, 2nd edition, Oxford Press, Britain, pp. 213-214
The Bible, Revised
Standard Version, 1952
Boettner, L 1932 The
Reformed Doctrine of
Predestination, 1979 printing by The Presbyterian and Reformed
Publishing
Company, USA
Dillenberger, J 1963
Martin Luther Selections
from his Writings edited, Anchor Books, USA pp. 203, 184-185
Hook, S (Ed) 1961
Determinism and Freedom,
Collier USA
Leiser, B M 1973
Liberty, Justice and Morals,
MacMillan, USA
Rowe, W I and
Wainwright W J 1973 Philosophy
of Religion, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, USA
Sinclair, B et al
(Eds) 1988 New Dictionary
of Theology, Inter-Varsity, England
Vesey, G. 1974
Philosophy in the Open, Open
University Press, Britain
PREDESTINATION Rev. E. H. Kastelein Tea Tree Gully, SA (Investigator 13, 1990 July) I am a Christian of Calvinistic persuasion and hold to the biblical truth of predestination whereby God brings to pass what he destined before the foundation of the world. The article Does The Bible Teach Predestination is clearly against that. (Investigator 12) I appreciate, however, this non-condemnatory style. Calvinists hold that salvation is through "the blood of the lamb of God" and must be personally appropriated by the sinner. Through faith and repentance we become children of God through Christ. Calvinists regard the moving cause of our salvation to be the grace of God from all eternity to his elect whereas you would have to regard the moving cause to be man's free will. A Calvinist sees
the power
of God as so absolute
that without violating any man's free will God is able to renew a man's
will so that he is able to seize hold of Christ and the salvation
offered. |