Predestination
(CONTINUATION)

PASSAGES THAT SEEM TO EXCLUDE THE FREE WILL

We are aware of the difficulty somebody who is used to this teaching may experience when reading some passages in the NT. The real sense of verses which sound like predestination would need an in-depth study. Nevertheless, it is essential to keep in mind what we know about God's nature. After all, there are many other expressions in the New and Old Testaments that cannot be understood literally.

• 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. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1: 3-5.11)

What is emphasised in verse 4? If we emphasise "He chose us", then one could understand it in the way Calvin did. However it is a completely different matter if one reads "He chose us in Him". If we understand the statement in this way, then this verse is effectively no different from John 3:16. Hence it is stated that God wants to save everyone who believes in His Son and that those who reject him will be condemned.

In Ephesians 1:4 this means that he elected us in Christ and in Him alone. The same thought is expressed in verses 3, 5 and 11. Consequently this means that if we do not come to Christ, we place ourselves outside of the election and purpose of God. The teaching of election or predestination in Christ is in this form simply an expression that we can be saved only through the grace of God. It is not based on our deeds, but on the mercy God has on us. Yet this mercy is obtainable for all people (1 Timothy 2:4), and not only for a predetermined number of people as the Calvinists understand it.

• So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for {His} good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

In the beginning of the chapter Paul writes about the example Jesus gave us by humbling himself totally and looking for the best for the others, giving his life in every aspect for the people. Therefore His glory was restored to Him.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. (Philippians 2:9)

In verse 12 Paul goes on to explain that "so then" we ought to do every thing possible within our power to hold onto our relationship with God and reach the goal of our salvation. It is clear that for this decision, our own power and will are never strong enough. Therefore we should turn to God in "fear and trembling". This expresses honour, seriousness, respect and the consciousness of standing in front of the omniscient almighty God (v 12), who strengthens the little will we have (v 13). He can give us the power to will and to act.

Verse 13 should not be misunderstood to mean that man cannot have an influence on his own will, otherwise Paul would never have written in v 12, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling". To do this presupposes that a person has the free will to decide.

Verse 13 starts with "for it is God who is at work in you" This expression shows that verse 13 explains why we should turn to God with trembling and fear, namely, because He is the only one who can help. (1)

• No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

Jesus had just expressed in the preceding verses that he is the true bread and he gives eternal life and people should believe in Him. Therefore he calls people to follow Him as the Messiah. For Jews it was always clear that they should follow only God. So it was very difficult for them to accept the claim of Jesus (that people should follow him). For that reason he emphasizes the deep unity between the Father and Himself. Jesus explains that the only way to Him is through the Father whom they already knew.

The fact that the Father draws a person expresses how someone comes to Jesus, but does not say that the Father would not be willing to draw everyone if they were ready to follow.

Still more about the context:

The statement of Jesus is a direct reaction to the partly despising, partly disappointed question in verse 42.

They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?" (John 6:42)

It would be entirely out of context if Jesus had replied in this way, "You don't have any decision" or "The Father predestined the people who can have a relationship with me". But the reaction of the people shows that they understood that Jesus claimed to be the son of God coming down from heaven, who is in complete unity with the Father. In verse 45 he continues:

It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. (John 6:45)

The verses speak about the right understanding of God's revelation and the right attitude towards the Messiah that is towards Jesus. Everyone is invited, not an elite group of people who don't know it yet.

• Romans 9

The Problem of the Jews (especially 9:1-8, 30-33)

The Jews relied on the law and on the promise given to them in a formalistic way and not spiritually (Luke 3: 8). They did not listen to Jesus (John 8:39). The consequence the paradox that the gentiles, who did not seek salvation found it, and the Jews who eagerly pursued salvation did not find it (Rom9: 30-32). Paul solves this "contradiction" in the ninth chapter of his letter to the Romans by saying that man and his activity cannot set the standard for righteousness. He starts with the topic of the promise.

Now to the text in detail

In V.1-5 Paul describes what Israel received: the adoption as sons, divine glory, the covenants, the law, the Temple worship, the promises that the Messiah would be of Jewish descent. Jews see these things as a guarantee of salvation. Nevertheless Paul states (V.1-3) that most of them are not saved. For the Jews this is a contradiction. Paul expresses in a rhetorical question (V.6 Has Gods word failed?) what the reaction of the Jews is to this paradox that on the one hand they are given the promises and on the other hand there will be no salvation for most of the Jews.

V.6 Has Gods word failed? Surely not. The most important thing is not being a descendant, but being obedient to God - to be a child of the promise who is regarded as Abraham's offspring. (V.7)

Verses 9-13: Paul writes about Isaac and Jacob. Jacob is an especially good example for the fact that the promise was not transmitted according to human standards. Esau was the first-born and according to the custom he should have been the heir of the promise. The reality was different, which shows that God retained the right to decide who would be the bearer of the promise.

Paul speaks here basically about the question of spiritual tasks in the plan of salvation.

"...for though {the twins} were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad..."(V.11) God made the decision that Esau should serve Jacob. This submission of Esau to Jacob expresses by no means that God would have determined who would be saved and who would be condemned, but God decided before their birth who would receive the promise. In this way, Jacob could not boast that he would have received this through deeds. (V.12)

Many people interpret verse 13 so that Rebecca was told before the birth of the twins that God loves Jacob and hates Esau. This is wrong, because V.13 is a quotation of Malachi 1:1-5 and is written many centuries after the death of Esau and Jacob. What is meant here is simply that God had rejected the nation of Esau (the Edomites), because they had a hostile attitude towards Israel from the very beginning (Numbers 20: 14-21). Again it is not Esau's personal fate which is the topic but the fate of the Edomites as a nation. Paul quotes Malachi to show that Israel (Jacobs's offspring) is the chosen one.

Verses 14-16: Is God unjust? By no means. Because God chooses and elects according to his own standards and not according to human standards or customs, He has the right to determine who the bearer of the promise will be.

Verses 17-19: The salvation of Pharaoh is not the topic here, but the permission for the Israelites to leave Egypt. God's plans will be executed, even if e.g. Pharaoh doesn't want to accept it. Nobody can stop God's plan for mankind. Even if Pharaoh had permitted the Israelites to leave, he wouldn't have changed his belief, but would here remained an idol worshipper. God created man so that he hardens himself by denying him. In this example it is clear that Paul doesn't want to explain why Pharaoh is condemned and not chosen by God but his wickedness to reject the Jewish nation.

Verses 20-24: Paul derives the following thoughts from Jeremiah 18,1-10:

A potter is forming the clay. It seems that he sees how people act and according to this he forms his vessels. But something else happens here. The potter builds out of the destroyed vessels new ones for glory. This means that this text speaks strongly against predestination but about God's mercy and grace.

Paul treated the parable of the potter twofold. Verses 20-21 and 22-24. Both versions are not completely disconnected, nor does Paul refer to all aspects. One motif is used twice in different ways.

First in the verses 20-21, Paul states that a man cannot criticise God for the way he is made. The potter has the right to create vessels for noble and ignoble use. It is important to notice that both the vessels for noble use and the vessels for ignoble use are important in a household. This means that these verses do not speak about salvation and condemnation, but about an important and a less important purpose. God has the right to determine the one to receive either an important or less important task.

In verses 22-24 Paul speaks about the vessels made for destruction and vessels prepared for glory. The second he identifies with Jewish and gentile Christians. Vessels of destruction are those who decided against God. The fact that people decided against God is not explicitly mentioned here, but we have to suppose it through other passages. We see that Paul touches the topic of salvation. He does not want to say that we cannot influence our salvation but that man should submit to God and to his paths which are prepared in advance (verse 23). It is difficult to see a clear transition between both topics. God's prominence is emphasized not because God decides arbitrarily about somebody's salvation but because man should submit to God and to the way he prepared for us in Christ.