Predestination (1)

This is, certainly, one of the most controversial topics in Scripture.  I believe this is due to the fact that our finite human minds cannot understand the infinite, divine, wise, all-knowing mind and purposes of God.  We try.  But we can’t.  Solomon remarks in Ecclesiastes 8:17 “then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.”  Or as Paul says in Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  Or, my favorite, after Job questions God and God asks him if he was there when the foundations of the world were laid, Job replies

4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:4-5).

Personally, I think that our finiteness is one of the main reasons for the aversion many have to the concept of predestination.  Yesterday’s topic, election, seems to be not as controversial.  It is predestination, the truth that God controls all, that causes many to cringe and say, “No, that can’t be true, so I think [blank].”  My finite mind can’t reconcile the fact that God controls all, knows all, and yet, still desires us to pray to Him; seek Him; share Him; commune with Him; confess Him.  Why?  How does it work?  I don’t know.  But I do know that God desires us to glorify Him in all that we do (Psalm 86:12; Luke 2:20; Romans 15:6; I Cor 6:20).  Ok, so on to what the Bible says regarding predestination.

Predestine is from the Greek word proorizō where it means to “ordain, in advance.”  So, when we speak of predestination, we are saying that God ordains things in advance.

We see predestination first in the book of beginnings, Genesis, when God curses the serpent (Satan) for tempting Adam and Eve.  God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15).  This is the protoevangelium, “the first Gospel.”  God tells Satan that offspring will come from the woman (Christ) and he will defeat you, but you will cause him to suffer.  Here God takes initiative.  It is God that divides those who are children of Light and children of darkness.  Paul confirms this in Galatians 3:16.

In Acts 4:23-31 we see the early believers affirm the Sovereignty of God

23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,  said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

27 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, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

However, the greatest discussion of predestination in the New Testament is undertaken by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-23.  I will cover that tomorrow.  For now, we can all take wisdom from the words of Jeremiah 9:23-24

23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Election

We have looked at grace, what it means, and how it is God’s means of providing salvation (faith in Jesus) to those whom he has called (Rom 8:29).  What about election and predestination?

In the Greek, election is from eklogē which denotes “divine selection.”  Ek is a Greek primary preposition denoting an origin/beginning and legō means to “set forth.”

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the coming of the Christ in Isaiah 42:1-4 (KJV) says

1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.  2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.  3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.  4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Isaiah tells us that Jesus is coming and that judgement is coming to the Gentiles.  From this we see that Jesus is God’s elected choice for service and his “judgement to the Gentiles” is the Gospel message that will be the “true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1:9 ESV).  His kingdom shall not fail and it will go to all the earth.  Jesus proclaims this with the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15).  Isaiah continues in 42:5-7 (KJV)

5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:  6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;  7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Here we have a grand picture of the Sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing God, the God who merely spoke the Universe into existence speaks again, yet this time He speaks personally and intimately through His Son to do what John tells is in John 1:9–be a light.  This light will (v.7) “open the blind eyes” and free prisoners.  We see this echoed in the words of Jesus in John 15:16, speaking to his disciples, he says “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.”  Jesus is telling them that he has set them forth which he also does in the Great Commission, saying “go.”

Grace… Theologically (2)

So, since we are all sinners and we have all fallen short of the glory of God, how do we obtain God’s free gift of grace?

Paul in Romans 5:1 tells us we are “justified by faith.”  The writer of Hebrews proclaims in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  He goes on to recount the great OT patriarchs that acted by faith, not seeing God’s promise come to pass in their lifetime, yet knowing it would be fulfilled.  As well, he tells of those who were persecuted or suffered hardships for the sake of Jesus’ name knowing that God has a better promise.  Matthew Henry makes an insightful observation, “We should be pleased to think how great the number of believers was under the Old Testament, and how strong their faith, though the objects thereof were not then so fully revealed. [And, we] should lament it, that now, in gospel times, when the rule of faith is more clear and perfect, the number of believers should be so small and their faith so weak.”  How true!

Now that we see the Scriptural definition of faith… one could ask, Faith in what?  Paul tells us in Romans 5:1 we are “justified by faith…through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This justification produces peace with God.  His wrath is no longer turned against us.  But what did Jesus do?

Paul explains in Romans 5:6-11

(6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–  (8)  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (9)  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  (10)  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  (11)  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

While we were still weak.  We had no strength to cause Christ to die, we didn’t will Christ to die, we didn’t WANT Christ to die; yet, Christ died for the ungodly.  Paul explains that Christ died for us “while we were still sinners.”  We were enemies of God (v.10) and Christ died for us.  This immense love that God poured out, his own blood, is the blood that justifies us.  The blood of Jesus was the sacrifice that paid for our sin and reconciled us to God.  We are declared righteous (the meaning of justification) and we should be rejoicing in God, through Jesus, for this great gift of grace.  While we were sinners we had no desire to do good, to seek God, to believe in Jesus, but God, through the Holy Spirit, has poured His love into us (Rom 5:5).

But why faith?  Paul answers this in Romans 4:16-17

(16) That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring–not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,  (17)  as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

God uses faith to allow the one who shares the faith of Abraham be guaranteed the grace (the free gift) of Jesus’ death.  Faith is used to fulfill the promise to all Abraham’s offspring–Jew and Gentile.

Grace… Theologically (1)

Paul’s letter to the Romans is the most comprehensive, systematic explanation of salvation in the Bible.  In Romans 1-2, Paul’s purpose is to do two things: (1) make the case that God’s glory is revealed throughout creation, however, those that don’t follow God’s law are condemned, and (2) the Law was meant to show God, to show what sin is, to provide and point to the Gospel (Jesus Christ) but call those who read the Law into repentance.  The Jewish Christians in Rome were judging the Gentiles and Gentile Christians that they were not “following the Law.”  Paul condemns them in Romans 2:1-3

(1) Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.  (2)  We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.  (3)  Do you suppose, O man–you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself–that you will escape the judgment of God?

Paul concludes the matter in Rom 2:28-29

(28) For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  (29)  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Paul, in these verses, points to “the children of promise” (God’s promise to Abraham to bless him and make him a great nation in Gen 17:4-8; Here God promises Abraham an “everlasting covenant…to be God…to your offspring after you.”)  Paul connects this in Rom 4:16.

Through Romans 3-8 Paul makes the case for salvation by grace through faith.  He begins by showing that there is not one who does good, quoting the Law in Rom 3:10-12

(10) as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;  (11)  no one understands; no one seeks for God.  (12)  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

And Romans 3:13 “‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’”  Romans 3:14 “‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’”  In Romans 3:15-17 Paul declares

(15)  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  (16)  in their paths are ruin and misery,  (17)  and the way of peace they have not known.”

Paul says very plainly in Rom 3:20 that no one will be justified by the works of the law; that the law produces and its purpose is to show knowledge of sin, to point (as Paul claims in Rom 3:21) to Jesus Christ and receive righteousness and justification through believing in his name.  Paul continues in Rom 3:22b-24, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  Paul declares that we all fall short of God’s glory.  It is not a one-time declaration, referring to Adam’s sin bringing death and sin in the world.  No, Paul claims that falling short is something that we do constantly.  He proclaims himself in Rom 7:15,18 that he does the very things he hates and that nothing good lies in him.