Predestination. Bible Research Group

Predestination -- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright 1976-2000 -- While God always knows the future, and the decisions that we will make ahead of time, there is a group of people who believe that we have no free-will at all. They believe that God predetermines our choice for us. They have great difficulty reconciling the concepts of an allknowing God, and that man mentally has a totally free will to choose anything that he wants. It also revolves around the Biblical concept of predestination. While some people would call them the "predestination crowd", the official name of the group is called, by ministers, "Hyper- Calvinists". Hyper-Calvinism is not a religion. It is a belief. It gets its name from the great preacher John Calvin, who was a major influence in the beliefs of the protestant, along with the Baptist, churches. He was a contemporary of Martin Luther. But he had nothing to do with the development of Hyper-Calvinism 1, which didn't begin until centuries after his death. In fact, he would probably react in horror and disgust to see how his name is being used. There are many good scriptural churches. And some of them have a few, among their members, which have this belief. And some of them come into leadership positions within the church. When that happens, then the ministry suffers, because it does not agree with the Word of God. The Word of God The Word of God, which is the Bible, is the "owner s manual" for God's creation, and especially the ministry. It is the most important written expression of God revealing himself to his creation, leading people to salvation, and guiding his believers through life. It is also the most important guide book in determining of what is a false teaching. The entire sixty-six books of the Bible must be taken as a whole. We can't just begin by omitting parts of it. It requires careful study. The most important acts of God are creation, revelation, salvation of his believers (through his Son Jesus Christ), the creation of his church, his activity through his believers, and his activity in the world throughout all of history. The most important aspect about the Bible is its source: God himself. The writings come from the hand of chosen believers (chosen by God), who were guided by his Spirit acting through them. His words have both unity and authority, throughout the entire Bible. The Old Testament makes this very clear. Isaiah writes (Isaiah 55:6-11), "Seek Jehovah while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the man of vanity his thoughts, and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are high from the earth, so My ways are high from your ways, and My thoughts from your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow comes down from the heavens and do not return there, except it waters the earth and make it bring forth and bud, and give

seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in what I sent it to do!" In the New Testament we have the revelation of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God (John1:1-5), "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it." And of Jesus' words there is written (Matthew 7:28-29), "And it happened, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were astonished at His doctrine. For He was teaching them as having authority, and not as the scribes." The New Testament also addresses Scripture as well. There were numerous occasions where Jesus himself used the expression, "For it is written... The Apostle Paul writes to a younger pastor Timothy (II Timothy 3:13-17), "But evil men and pretenders will go forward to worse, leading astray and being led astray. But you keep on in what you learned and were assured of, knowing from whom you learned, and that from a babe you know the Holy Scriptures, those being able to make you wise to salvation through belief in Christ Jesus. "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfected, being fully furnished for every good work." There are two main ways that God communicates with his believers: his Spirit (John 4:24; 14:16-21) and his written word (Romans 15:4). And if this became the norm, for all believers, then none of the false teachings, such as Hyper-Calvinism, would see the light of day. His Spirit and his Word are what we need, through Jesus Christ. And this is all we need to shed the light of truth on false doctrine. Four Main Beliefs of Hyper-Calvinism 1. That the invitation, from God, to salvation is restricted only to a group of chosen people (the elect). It views gospel preaching solely as a means for the ingathering of God's elect 2. WRONG: "The one believing into Him is not condemned..." (John 3:18); "For everyone, "whoever may call on the name of the Lord will be saved"" (Roman 10:13); "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: If anyone hears My voice and opens the

door, I will enter to him, and I will dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20); "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And the one hearing, let him say, Come! And the one thirsting, let him come; and the one desiring, let him take of the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). 2. They fail to treat the word and promises of God as the sufficient warrant for faith of the believer 3.The truth: The warrant lies within scripture alone. "And this is His commandment, that we should believe the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as He gave command to us" (I John 3:23). 3. They minimize the place of human responsibility 4. WRONG: "But without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is right that the one drawing near to God should believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out" (Hebrews 11:6). 4. They deny any love in God, except to the elect 5. WRONG: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). What is Predestination? This has become the expression that many preachers and teachers avoid, as a subject. It has become very controversial. There is a lot of disagreement about it. And, because of this controversy, many people choose to remain unsure about it. But it is in the Bible. And it's not all that difficult. The key is within the context of its use within the scriptures. "Predestination", in the New Testament, uses the Greek word prooritso 6, which means "to foreordain", "to predestinate". In the New Testament, it is used with God in the expression of appointing a situation for a person, or a person for a situation, in advance. Used in this sense, the word is used five times in the New Testament (Romans 8:29, 30; I Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11). It all stems from the will of God, and the passages focus upon the life of the Christian, after the point of salvation. John Calvin himself also came to this same conclusion. And, unlike the Hyper- Calvinists, he was right on the mark. It goes like this: An individual makes the commitment of faith to Jesus Christ. His free-will is also involved, because he chose Jesus Christ as his Savior. He is now a Christian ("Christ-like"). He is a child of God. And God, as his heavenly Father, has predetermined (or predestined") that all of his children should conform to the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ. He will accomplish this through his Holy Spirit, his scripture, and circumstances. Another word for it is "discipleship", which means "apprenticeship" 7 (learn by doing).

His salvation has been "foreknown". But his plan of salvation, his progressive path of becoming more like Jesus afterwards, his inheritance as a child of God (Romans 8:16-18), his glorified state in Heaven, have been predestined by God himself. Jesus Christ is an open door (John 10:9) which one can walk through, only by faith, by one's own choosing. But the path behind the door, and the door itself, is one of God's own choosing. Our free-will is still there. But, as our Father, he helps us along. It is a daily act of faith. Conclusion The best possible conclusion was already written by the Apostle Paul himself (Romans 8:28-31), But we know that to the ones loving God all things work together for good, to those being called according to purpose; because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers. "But whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Bible Research Group

Footnotes 1. "Spurgeon v, HyperCalvinism" [Murray], p.40. 2. Ibid., p.69. 3. Ibid., p.72. 4. Ibid., p.80. 5. Ibid., p.89. 6. Strong's number 4309; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Kittel] V:456. 7. mathetes- (Greek: Strong's number 3101); Kittel IV:416.

Bibliography Green, Jay P. (ed.), The Interlinear Bible, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1985. Kittel, Gerard, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 10 vols., Grand Rapids Michigan, 1964. Murray, Iain H., Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, Banner of Truth Trust, 2000.