Predestination

Predestination is a religious idea, under which the relationship between the beginning of things and the destiny of things is discussed. Its religious nature distinguishes it from other ideas concerning determinism and free will, and related concepts. In particular, predestination concerns God's decision to create and to govern Creation, and the extent to which God's decisions determine ahead of time what the destiny of groups and individuals will be.

Predestination in Christianity

The "doctrine of predestination" usually refers to Christian teaching concerning the ultimate implications of the predestination idea: the final destiny of men and of angels. As such, discussion of predestination concerns the extent to which salvation and damnation are the issue of God's decisions before time, and the extent to which these are matters decided by men and angels for themselves. The more immediate application of the doctrine of predestination concerns the extent to which people and nations are confined by God to particular roles, compared to how much they are makers of their own destiny. Predestination is mentioned in the Bible (Ephesians 1:4-6 (ESV) for example), and therefore all Christian theologies discuss it in some way.

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In terms of these ultimates, with creation as the ultimate beginning, and salvation as the ultimate end, a belief system has a doctrine of predestination if it teaches:

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• God's decision, assignment or declaration concerning the lot of people is conceived as occurring in some sense prior to the outcome, and
• the decision is fully predictive of the outcome, and not merely probable.

There are numerous ways to describe the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, in Christian thinking. To some extent, this spectrum has analogies in other monotheistic religions; although, in other religions the term predestination may not be used. For example, teaching on predestination may vary in terms of three considerations.

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• Is God's predestinating decision based on a knowledge of His own will, or does it arise from a knowledge of whatever will happen?
• How particular is God's prior decision: is it concerned with particular persons and events, or is it limited to broad categories of people and things?
• How free is God in effecting His part in the eventual outcome?

Furthermore, the same sort of considerations apply to the freedom of man's will.

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• Assuming that an individual had no choice in who, when and where to come into being: How are the choices of existence determined by what he is?
• Assuming that not all possible choices are available to him: How capable is the individual to desire all choices available, in order to choose from among them?
• How capable is an individual to put into effect what he desires?

With each additional consideration relevant to predestination, the spectrum of beliefs can be expanded to display the religious presuppositions upon which the various systems are organized. For this reason, predestination is of particular interest in discerning the principle upon which a belief system explains differences of status or condition between people, in life and in death.

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Various Views on Christian Predestination

There is a resounding consistency in the early church fathers, regarding the freedom of human choices. This polemic was crucial in the Christian confrontation with Cynicism and some of the chief forms of Gnosticism, such as Manichaeism, which taught that man is by nature flawed and therefore not responsible for evil in himself or in the world. At the same time, belief in a sovereign and predestinating God was held without clear attempt to reconcile these ideas with one another. That this was an uneasy tension eventually became obvious with the confrontation between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius culminating in condemnation of Pelagianism (as interpreted by Augustine) in 417. The British monk denied predestination in order to affirm that salvation is achieved by an act of free will.

Related Topics:
Cynicism - Gnosticism - Manichaeism - Augustine of Hippo - Pelagius - 417

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Leading to this controversy, Augustine's own early writings clearly affirmed that God's predestinating grace was granted on the basis of his foreknowledge of the human desire to pursue salvation. After 396, however, his understanding began to turn increasingly toward the necessity of God granting this grace in order for the desire for salvation to be awakened. Thus his thoughts took a more determinist direction, especially as Augustine wrestled with the implications of the writings of the Apostle Paul.

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His solution was not to deny that man has freedom to choose, but to assert that on account of Original Sin, human free choice is enslaved to sin (liberum arbitrium captivatum). The individual does not lack knowledge of what God's will is and knows it to be good, but is deprived of the ability to desire to do God's will, and subsequently freely chooses what is desired, which is sin. The grace of God cures this disease, which has as its main symptom the absence of any desire to be cured, setting the person free to choose God's will (liberum arbitrium liberatum). God's grace acts first on the human heart, to awaken the desire to do His will, and cooperates with the individual in a process of granting prayers for the greater desire and ability to choose His will and to do it, according to Augustine's later thought on the issues.

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Augustine's formulation is neither complete nor universally accepted by Christians. In a real sense, all ideas of predestination are further developments of this same struggle to reconcile the idea of free will with the idea of predestinating grace; both of which are affirmed in Scripture and throughout Christian tradition. Especially in Western Christianity, the history of this development is traced through Augustine.

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Conditional predestination

Conditional Predestination, or more commonly referred to as conditional election, is a theological stance that came from the writings and teachings of Jacobus Arminius. Jacob studied under the staunch reformed scholar Theodore Beza, whose views of election, Jacob eventually argued, could not reconcile freedom with moral responsibility.

Related Topics:
Conditional election - Jacobus Arminius - Theodore Beza - Election - Moral responsibility

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Jacob used a philosophy called Molinism (named for the philosopher, Luis De Molina) that attempted to reconcile freedom with God's omniscience. They both saw human freedom in terms of the Libertarian philosophy: man's choice is not decided by God's choice, thus God's choice is "conditional", depending on what man chooses. Jacob saw God "looking down the corridors of time" to see the free choices of man, and choosing those who will respond in faith and love to God's love and promises, revealed in Jesus.

Related Topics:
Molinism - Luis De Molina - Omniscience - Libertarian - Jesus

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Arminianism (the theological system that rose from Jacob Arminius) sees the choice of Christ as an impossiblity, apart from God's grace; and the freedom to choose is given to all, because God's prevenient grace is universal (given to everyone). Therefore, God predestinates on the basis of foreknowledge of how some will respond to his universal love ("conditional"). In contrast, the Calvinist views universal grace as resistable and not sufficient for leading to salvation, and instead supposes grace that leads to salvation to be irresistible, and given to some but not to others on the basis of God's predestinating choice ("unconditional").

Related Topics:
Arminianism - Prevenient grace - Calvinist - Irresistible

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Temporal predestination

Temporal predestination is the view that God only determines temporal matters, and not eternal ones. This Christian view is analogous to the traditional Jewish view, which distinguishes between preordination and predestination. Temporal matters are pre-ordained by God, but eternal matters, being supra-temporal, are subject to absolute freedom of choice.

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J. Kenneth Grider

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Sublapsarianism

Also called infralapsarianism, holds that predestination logically coincides with the preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is, God predestined sinful men for salvation. This view assumes that God determined that there would certainly be sinners, while affirming the important proposition that God cannot be the author of sin. Infralapsarians often emphasize a difference between God's decree (which is inviolable and inscrutible), and his revealed will (against which man is disobedient). Proponents also typically emphasize the grace and mercy of God toward all men, although teaching also that only some are predestined for salvation.

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Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin?

Related Topics:
Augustine of Hippo - Martin Luther - John Calvin

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In common English parlance, the doctrine of predestination often has particular reference to the doctrines of Calvinism. The version of predestination espoused by John Calvin, after whom Calvinism is named, is sometime's referred to as "double predestination" because in it God predestines some people for salvation (i.e. Unconditional election) and some for condemnation (i.e. Reprobation). On the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, Calvinism is the strongest form among Christians. It teaches that God's predestinating decision is based on the knowledge of His own will rather than foreknowledge, concerning every particular person and event; and, God continually acts with entire freedom, in order to bring about his will in completeness, in an unfathomable way, not accessible to scrutiny, so that the freedom of the creature is not violated.

Related Topics:
Calvinism - John Calvin - Unconditional election - Reprobation

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Calvinists who hold the sublapsarian view of predestination usually prefer to call it Infralapsarianism, perhaps with the intent of blocking the inference that they believe predestination is on the basis of foreknowledge (sublapsarian, meaning, assuming the fall into sin). The different terminology has the benefit of distinguishing the Calvinist double predestination version of infralapsarianism, from Lutheranism's view that predestination is a mystery, which forbids the unprofitable intrusion of prying minds.

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Calvinists seek never to divide predestination in a mathematical way. Their doctrine is uninterested, in the abstract, in questions of "how much" either God or man is responsible for a particular destiny. Questions of "how much" will become hopelessly entangled in paradox, Calvinists teach, regardless of the view of predestination adopted. Instead, Calvinism divides the issues of predestination according to two kinds of being, knowledge, and will, distinguishing that which is divine from that which is human. Therefore, it is not so much an issue of quantity, but of distinct roles, or modes of being. God is not a creature, and the creature is not God, in knowledge, will, freedom, ability, responsibility, or anything else. So that Calvinists will often attribute salvation entirely to God; and yet they will also assert that it is man's responsibility to pursue obedience. As the archetypical illustration of this idea, Jesus Christ humanly fulfilled all that he as God eternally determined from the Father would be done, in his words and work, death on the cross, and resurrection, etc. What he did humanly is distinguishable, but not separate, from what he did divinely.

Related Topics:
Paradox - Being - Knowledge - Jesus Christ - Resurrection

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Supralapsarianism

Supralapsarianism is the doctrine that God's decree of predestination for salvation and reprobation logically preceeds his preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is, God decided to save, and to damn; he then determined that the fall of Man into sin would accomplish his purpose. Calvin is often counted among the supralapsarians, especially by those who hold this view.

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John Calvin?, Theodore Beza, Franciscus Gomarus

Related Topics:
John Calvin - Theodore Beza - Franciscus Gomarus

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Modified supralapsarianism

late 16th century - early 17th century

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Bible reference

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

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Ephesians 1:3-5

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And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 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; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

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Romans 8:28-30

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but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

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1 Corinthians 2:7

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"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.

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Acts 4:27-28

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