What follows is not a neatly wrought paper, but simply the notes from a talk I gave recently on the difficult and often hotly debated topic of the doctrine of election as taught in the Bible. Hopefully, it can be of some use to those who have wrestled thoughtfully with whether or not the Bible teaches a doctrine of election, and if so, what some of the implications are in getting a solid grasp both of what it is, and is not.

A Brief Discussion on the Doctrine of Election

 

4 Controlling thoughts:

 

1. No one is lost BECAUSE they are not elect – people are lost because we are fallen in sin.
2. No one who desires to believe and obey the Gospel and be saved – is denied.
3. Because God is just, no one can either be under-punished nor over-punished.
4. God owes salvation to no one.

 

1. The Bible teaches Election – the freedom and right of God to make choices in all sorts of contexts.

We must allow before anything else, that God has the right to make choices – period.

Election – first and foremost = DESIGNATION – the context must define the purpose of the election.

The question will be – does He make choices of any kind which have to do with people – and if so, what does that look like?

 

1. There are different types of election.
2. Jesus is spoken of as God’s ELECT – but it is clear this has nothing to do with salvation out of sin: Isa. 42:1
3. Israel is spoken of as God’s ELECT – a chosen “people” – but not all are saved – this is not regarding salvation out of sin: Isa. 45:4. ; Romans 11:28
4. Some angels are spoken of as ELECT without relation to being saved out of sin, but from falling into sin: 1 Tim. 5:21.
5. God makes choices regarding individuals in terms of abilities and disabilities –

Exodus 4:10–11 (ESV) — 10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

Exodus 31:1–6 (ESV) — 1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you:

 

5. God makes determinations regarding when and where we each exist –

Acts 17:26–27 (ESV) — 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

 

6. In prophecy – God determines how all kinds of events occur and play out –

Joshua 23:14 (ESV) — 14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.

Isaiah 46:5–11 (ESV) — 5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! 7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. 8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

 

7. God’s electing right is displayed in His choosing people and nations both for all kinds of purposes, AND unto salvation.

Deuteronomy 7:1–7 (ESV) — 1 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. 6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

 

1. Election does not occur ONLY within the context of salvation from sin.
2. Sonship / In this context, we have the freedom of a Father to choose between sons (all other things being equal) as to who will be the “firstborn” – the head of the family.

Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV) — 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

2. Bride of Christ / In this context, we see God does no wrong to any when He chooses a Bride for His Son out of those available.
3. People of God / In this context, we see God choosing a particular nation or group of people He desires to call His people – His own, out of all the nations of the earth. There is no wrong done to any in such choosing.

1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV) — 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

4. Displaying mercy & grace / In this context, fallnness is part of the equation. We must be in a pitiful state to receive pity.

We have the large number of passages which tell us about God’s right to choose, and that He does choose some in GRACE unto salvation – while leaving or passing over others who will experience justice.

Mark 13:20 (ESV) — 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

Luke 6:13 (ESV) — 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

John 15:16 (ESV) — 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

1 Corinthians 1:26–30 (ESV) — 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) — 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

 

We must recall that He owes salvation to no one – tho in the Gospel He offers it to all.

Therefore, the extension of grace to some is neither unfair nor unjust.

We must bear in mind as well, that due to the nature of our fallen condition, if it weren’t for election, none would be saved at all – for left to ourselves, we would never choose Him. Just like Adam, we would always choose ourselves first – which is confirmed as fact every time we sin now, choosing our own will above God’s.

For me, the first 3 are the controlling concepts, because they would function irrespective of the Fall.

Election within the context of salvation from sin comes after the fact.

In other words – I “think” – election must be understood first as a plan to set some of mankind as a people, and as sons in a unique familial relationship; then to bring those sons into an ever deeper relationship as Christ’s Bride. And as a result of the Fall, those first objects must find their fruition with the additional aspect of redemption from sin.

He redeems from sin, those He had all along intended to adopt as sons and make into a Bride for His Son.

 

1. If election does not humble us, but rather becomes a source of pride – we have misunderstood it completely.

It is our UNIVERSAL unworthiness which must be accounted for.

 

Election presupposes:

 

1 – A universally guilty mankind.

2 – A God who is holy and cannot simply overlook sin or dismiss the charges.

3 – A God who has sovereign discretion over His creation and all its creatures –  including man.

4 – A God who nonetheless desires to reveal His capacity for and exercise His mercy and grace upon undeserving creatures.

5 – A substitutionary sacrifice which He accepts in the place of those He pardons, so that justice is not in any wise compromised.

 

We find all of these elements present in the biblical record.

 

What it would take for God to be unfair or unjust in election would be things like –

 

1. If God promised salvation to all, and then refused.

 

He has NOT promised that all will simply receive mercy.

He HAS promised that all who repent and believe can have mercy.

2. If God condemned all for no reason.

 

He has not condemned mankind for NO reason

He has condemned mankind both for ADAM’S sin (and our part in it) and for our OWN sins.

3. If God changed the agreement or terms.

 

The terms ALWAYS were – Sin and you will die.

4. If God OWED salvation to any and then denied them.

 

God OWES all men justice, in that He is holy, and cannot pervert justice.

God owes NO ONE mercy. Mercy and Grace by definition are gifts, not rewards.

There is no prohibition in being generous, there IS a prohibition against stealing.

5. If God had no absolute RIGHTS over His creatures.

 

If God did what He did not have the right to exercise mercy as he sees fit.

 

Election & salvation fits none of these

 

God has never promised salvation to all men, but HAS announced the Gospel and will receive all who come in faith.

 

God did not condemn mankind for no reason, but for its cosmic rebellion as a race.

 

God has never changed the terms by which He dealt with mankind – “In the day you eat of it, you will die”.

 

God owes mercy and forgiveness to none.

 

God HAS absolute rights over His creatures.

 

God has the right to exercise mercy as he sees fit.

 

SO…

1. (14) Is God being unjust in Election?

 

2. No.

 

3. Why not?

 

4. (15) Because God has said “mercy and compassion” are matters left up to His discretion.

 

Mercy is VOLITIONAL, not COMPULSORY.

 

Someone owed a debt has the power or right to forgive the debt. But he or she is never REQUIRED to forgive it, or it ceases to be an act of GRACE.

 

Grace to be grace must not be something OWED – Grace by definition is UNDESERVED.

 

5. (16) Mercy isn’t the product of either the will or the exertion of the one desiring it – but a product of the One SHOWING IT!

 

The intensity with which one desires mercy doesn’t make it happen

 

All condemned men want mercy.

 

In fact: Attempts to earn mercy try to make it a duty on the other person, not a free gift.

 

6. (17) Judgment on the other hand IS earned – e.g. Pharaoh. (Judicial hardening)

 

It is us getting exactly what is due us.

 

We must keep this in mind. God is doing no one wrong by carrying out their just judgment, even as He is doing no one wrong when He shows mercy – which is His to show.

 

– Even God’s mercy must somehow be “just” –

 

• Substitutionary atonement

 

Sin is never “overlooked” in one case and prosecuted in another. It is ALWAYS dealt with.

 

7. (18) Conclusion – Mercy is a matter of God’s own discretion, and hardening is a matter of His justice.

 

Mercy for some

Justice for some

Fairness to all.

 

Neither is being treated unfairly.

 

8. (19) Some will still ask – Then why does God find fault? If this is His plan (His electing grace) and none one can violate it – Why does He still find fault?

Some will be dissatisfied because they do not trust God with that kind of power.

 

They DO however trust themselves with it.

 

9-a. (20) Who are you (fallen creature), to try and judge God’s plan or righteousness?

 

A betrayal of the suspicion that God is somehow unjust or unrighteous in His arrangement – because we cannot work through the details to our personal satisfaction.

 

10-b. (21) God has a RIGHT to deal with His creation as He sees fit – period.

 

The forming of one for honor and another for dishonor – presupposes a fallen LUMP.

 

Water pail?              I can use the same water for drinking or for cleaning my floor – without in some way being “unfair” to the portion used for cleaning.

 

11-c. (22-24) Why is it a problem for you that He has refrained from judging all peoples in one fell swoop and withholding His final fury, while He opens an opportunity for multitudes to come and be saved – both Jews and Gentiles?

 

Especially when He owes salvation to none?

 

John 21.22 – “What is that to you? Follow me!”

 

 

Lessons:

 

1. Our sense of fair play must be rooted in God’s justice as revealed in His Word, not radical egalitarianism.

 

2. Our sinful hearts are never more revealed than in the uncomfortably we feel when contemplating God’s absolute power and authority over His creatures without having to answer to anybody.

 

We are back in the Garden – making Him suspect.

 

3. Mercy is not ours to earn or obtain by effort, God DOES call us to seek it! He willingly receives all who come and DO ask. He refuses none.

 

PREDESTINATION

A Very Brief New Testament Survey

R. A. Ferguson

 

To understand the Bible doctrine of predestination, the first thing we need to do is see that it is a word, and a concept that the Bible itself uses. It’s not an invented idea by man, though, some have taken the doctrine far beyond what the Scripture teaches. So here, it seems best if we confine ourselves to the places it is used in Scripture alone, so that we can see what exactly the Bible means when it uses the word.

 

First then, we need to look at the word itself. The word which we have translated “predestined” in our English Bibles is the Greek word προορίζω  (pronounced – pro-or-id’-zo). It is used six times in the New Testament, and in each of those places it plays a vital role in helping our understanding of how God works within His universe, both spiritually and naturally.

 

According to Vine’s dictionary of New Testament Words, we see that the Greek word (and thus the English equivalent) means: 1) to predetermine, decide beforehand; 2) in the NT of God decreeing from eternity; 3) to foreordain, appoint beforehand

 

Easton’s Bible Dictionary gives us this entry: “PREDESTINATION This word is properly used only with reference to God’s plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered “predestinate” is found only in these six passages, Acts 4:28; Romans 8:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11; and in all of them it has the same meaning. They teach that the eternal, sovereign, immutable, and unconditional decree or “determinate purpose” of God governs all events.”

 

Vincent’s New Testament Word Studies gives us this: “Predestinated (προώρισεν). Revised Version = foreordained. From προ  before, and the word for – to define, the latter word being from a boundary. Hence, “to define or determine beforehand.”

 

Kittle’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says: “This comparatively rare and late word is used in the Greek Bible only 6 times in the NT sense to “foreordain,” “to predestinate”. Since God is eternal and has ordained everything before time, προορίζειν is a stronger form of ὁρίζειν [to set a boundary]…

 

The simple meaning of the word is then, that to predestinate is, to ordain things beforehand.

 

With that basic and uncontroverted definition in hand, we need to go to the six texts where it is found so that we can understand just how the Holy Spirit used it in communicating to us what He wanted us to know.

 

1 – Acts 4:27, 28 / The first time the word is used is in Acts 4. It is used in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus. The scene is a familiar one. Peter and John had been arrested for healing the paralytic on the steps of the Temple. After their release, they return to the rest of the Believers, and then enter into prayer. It is in this prayer that they make the following statement in verses 27 & 28: “For truly in this city 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 had predestined to take place.”

 

This is an important passage not only because we see the word used here first, but because in its use we find that there was nothing accidental or unplanned concerning the events surrounding Christ’s death. It demonstrates first, that even the lost are used in the unfolding of God’s plans. This is a powerful revelation of God’s sovereignty. We tend to think of the unsaved as such loose canons that we might be their victims at any time. But Jesus was certainly no victim (in the sense of helplessness) in His death. This confirms what we read in John 10 where Jesus speaks of His impending death with these words: “17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My  Father.”

 

10 Things to observe about this passage:

 

1 – “this city” / An appointed city. God determined ahead of time WHERE Jesus would die.

2 – “were gathered together” / An appointed gathering. There was an astounding confluence of peoples, groups and circumstances which had to interact in certain ways to carry this out.

3 – “against Thy holy servant Jesus” / An appointed target. Jesus was the appointed one to die.

4 – “Herod” / An appointed King. Wicked King Herod acted by his own wicked will. He was not forced.

5 – “Pontius Pilate” / An appointed governor. Pilate and his relationship with Herod factored into his sinful will allowing this to happen.

6 – “the gentiles) / An appointed geo-political structure. Not only the Jews were involved, but there were a host of details within the Roman occupying government which had to mesh with   the Jewish leaders to bring it all to pass.

7 – “the peoples of Israel” / An appointed race. Fulfilling OT prophecy, the Jews themselves as a broad coalition of disparate leadership had to conspire together.

8 – “to whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose” / An appointed task. The crucifixion event itself and those that had to surround it in all of its details had to be woven together.

9 – “Thy hand” / By God’s power exerted – His will to provide the atoning sacrifice for human sin in Jesus was carried out.

10 – “Thy purpose” / According to God’s plan. Nothing transpires in a vacuum, and especially not this. But we must never forget this was God’s plan, and not something He simply co-opted          in response.

 

Second, we see the divine mystery that His plan is executed by men even when they are acting out of their fallen and depraved wills. This is an amazing truth. No man took Jesus’ life from Him, He laid it down. They didn’t know that. They thought they were doing what they wanted to do – never imagining that they were working out God’s pre-ordained plan. This is why they remain morally responsible, and this is why predestination is different than fatalism. This is the nature of predestination. What God had predetermined to take place, did. He was taking no chances concerning the work upon which the salvation of the elect depended. Just as there was no chance that Christ would not come and die for our sins, so, there was no chance that His eternal plan would not be worked out – because He predestined it.

 

Most of us have little problem when it comes to something like the central event of all of human history, Jesus’ death. It seems fitting that God predestining all the details should be the case with something like this. But the question arises as to whether or not this same predestination has anything to do with the life of the Believer above and beyond the guaranteeing of redemption through the crucifixion. The remaining passages give us much light on that very thing.

 

 

2 – 1 Corinthians 2:7  / “but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed (same word as predestined here) before the ages for our glory;”

 

In this passage, Paul remarks that the wisdom which is not of this world – the wisdom he had preached among the Corinthians, was a wisdom which God had all along determined would be a source of the glory of the Church. That God had predestined the Church to find a measure of its glory in that the truth it preaches does not come from men, but from above. This, God has predestined to be the case.

 

Here, the predestination is of something quite general in nature and wide spread. It is not so much applicable to the individual, nor even so much to salvation itself, as much as the fact that this is the means that God predestined to be used in evangelization. It says nothing of what response(s) (if any) would be expected. Only that this “wisdom” would be preached, and that God designed the Church to receive glory as the voice of this preaching. The glory of the Church is wrapped up in the proclamation of the Gospel she preaches.

 

 

3 & 4 – Romans 8:29 & 30 / “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And whom He predestined He also called; and whom He called He also justified; and whom He justified He also glorified.”

 

Now we move into a use of the word which is far more restrictive and directly related to the salvation of individuals. Here we have a chain of logic which the Apostle Paul is unfolding, and which relates the salvation of individuals directly to the concept of predestination.

 

Note first in verse 29, that those whom God “foreknew”, these He also predestined (determined before hand) that they would eventually be “conformed to the image of His Son.” Predestination in this verse speaks to this one aspect of salvation – the end of those who are redeemed. In fact, this speaks more to the concept of the preservation of the saints, than to how the saints actually become saints. The saints have a sure destiny, and that destiny is to be finally made like Christ.

 

If Paul had stopped there, we might still have an argument over what it means to “foreknow.” Does it mean simply to have some concept of beforehand, or something else? This gives rise to a question which is sometimes couched in terms of saying “God saw beforehand who would believe, and elected them.” Which of course is no form of predestination at all – but is merely God reacting to something. If such is the case, then He neither caused it, influenced it, nor foreordained it, but simply observed it and went along with it. This actually is Fatalism. In this scheme, God too is just a player in what is just “going to happen.” But the following verse makes that question moot by asserting what is often called the ordo salutis, or the “order of salvation.” Here then is the scheme of things as Paul presents it: Those whom God predestined, are the ones whom He called; and those whom He called, are the ones He justified; and the ones He justified, are the ones who are glorified – or conformed to the image of Christ. God predetermines, and then the chain of events required to fulfill what He purposes is set in motion. What we must not do here is overstate the case. Yes, this is the process whereby all who are His actually become His. But we are also told in Acts 17:30 that God “commands all men everywhere to repent”, and in Mark 16:15 that the “whole creation” – that all are called to believe. It is in fact the duty of every human being to believe God and to be saved. God’s predestination has not prevented any FROM being saved, it is the good news that at least SOME will be saved even though so many will refuse. It is the astounding news that some will be saved, even tho if left to ourselves, none of us would desire to be saved, but would prefer to be our own god and live according to our own dictates.

 

Note too, that each step inevitably leads to the other.

 

This then brings us to the fifth mention of predestination.

 

 

5  –  Ephesians 1:5 / “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”

 

Now we are looking at a verse that even more directly links the notion of how it is that saints become saints, with predestination. But in truth, like the passages immediately above – here,  predestination is to adoption. The question is, is adoption just a synonym for salvation? We must be careful here. We must not go beyond what the passage is actually saying – and compare it with other passages. This is especially true when the topic of adoption enters the picture.

 

Those who are being regenerated by the Spirit of God, cry out “abba father?” If we use the language of John 1, we see the whole thing laid out before us in startling clarity: John 1:11  He came to His own, and his own people did not receive Him. 12  But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, 13  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

The first part we take in easily, that Jesus came to His own people, the Jews, and for the most part, they utterly rejected Him. “But” says John to those who did receive Him, Jesus gave authority to become “sons of God” – adopted into the family, with all of its rights and privileges. And how does that occur? First, by being regenerated, “born again”. Born “of God.” God having willed it, accomplished it.

 

But secondly, they are declared, or placed as sons in His family – adopted. We need to be born again – we absolutely need to be regenerated – such an act makes us alive again. It re-establishes our connection with God if you will – it lets the life of the Vine flow through the Branches again. But son-ship includes something more. Son-ship, also takes adoption. God has only ONE begotten (born) Son (John 3:16). The Believer, indeed receives the Spirit whereby we “cry abba” – even now. (Rom. 8:15 & Gal. 4:6) This is our present privilege by faith – to partake even now of what is not yet fully ours. But formal adoption still awaits us according to Romans 8:23 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Adoption – full placement in the economy of God’s family still awaits the resurrection. In what ways? The Bible isn’t clear. But something more in an official capacity is at least hinted at here.

 

Paul’s point is not that predestination is the means whereby God elects some to salvation and passes over others. Election is true enough and can be discussed elsewhere. His point here is simply that God predestined the redeemed, to arrive at the fullness of our salvation which is our adoption through Jesus Christ – not according to OUR will, but according to the kind intention of HIS will. This is a most amazing reality for certain.

 

 

6 – Ephesians 1:11  / “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

 

Lastly, we come to this sweetly comforting verse in Ephesians 1, which follows close on the heels of the one we examined just above. In this passage, once again, the subject is not the Believer’s salvation per se, but the whole of what his salvation holds in promise for him, i.e. his inheritance.

 

Quite simply, the idea is this: God Himself is the One who determined before hand to make us His sons through Jesus Christ, adopting us ONLY according to the kind intention of His own will. But in doing so, He also foreordained that as sons, we should share in the Son’s inheritance. This is not a mere external relationship, but a familial one which makes us rightful heirs. Heirs of an inheritance of which the Holy Spirit Himself is the down payment (Eph. 1:14). And which, according to 1^st Peter 1:4, is “reserved in heaven for you”, which is “imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away.”

 

To wrap it all up in terms of the Believer we can rightly put it this way:As sure as it was that Jesus would die when He did, how He did, where He did, and why He did – just so – the glory of the Church He died to redeem is wrapped up in the gospel she preaches to the world, and is comprised of those God intends to fully conform to the image of His only begotten Son by calling us, justifying us, glorifying us and preserving us unto the eternal inheritance He has laid up for us in Heaven.

 

But we must let this verse speak fully. And in doing so we must reckon with the statement that the One who predestines, is the One who “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

 

Nothing happens in God’s universe but that God remains Lord over it. The will of man is free to make decisions within the scope of our created constitution. We cannot will not to be human for instance, or by mere will fly or breathe under water unassisted. Free will always has its limitations. Bound in sin, we cannot make ourselves desire holiness and hate sin, or love God above ourselves.

 

Like one who has leapt from an airplane without a parachute – they may well regret their decision and exert all of their will to reverse it – but the free act to jump, precludes the ability to make a free act to take the first act back. One act of a the free will can prohibit certain other acts from being obtainable. So it was in the Fall. Mankind chose to leap away from God, and no amount of human will or exertion can reverse that decision AND its effects upon us. This is why Paul (quoting Isaiah, the Psalms, and Jeremiah in Romans 3:10-18) can paint man’s condition this way: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 

Until freed in Christ, every human being lives to serve themselves first, to love themselves above God, and to want the right of self-determination. And unless God in His great grace so moves to free us from that, we remain in our lost condition. Praise God that through the preaching of the Gospel, truth takes root in the hearts of some – and by the Spirit of God bringing life out of it, produces a new creature in Christ.

 

If He did not predestinate any, then it is sure that none would be saved at all. We would not want Him.