Predestination
THIS WEEK IN OUR ONGOING STUDY OF THE GREAT BOOK OF EPHESIANS, we will once again be facing a very difficult subject: the subject of “Predestination.” And once again I must get technical in many of my comments. I don’t apologize for this. I remind you, we are dealing with the deepest of all doctrines of the Bible as we seek as much as humanly possible to plum the very mind of God. Aside from the 8th chapter of Romans, there is no chapter in the Bible that is deeper than chapter 1 of the book of Ephesians…
NAS Ephesians 1:3-6 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, 4 just 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 to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
YOU WILL NOTE THAT THE WORD “PREDESTINED” IS A VERBAL FORM, NOT a noun. It is important to note this: the noun “predestination” is not found in Scripture. Therefore, the subject of “Predestination” is one that is classified as theological. Its reality and definition are determined by Scripture, but the word itself is not found in Scripture. As we have said in earlier studies, the word “Trinity” is another word like this…
ANOTHER CLARIFICATION I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE HERE AT THE BEGINNING is that excellent scholars, men I have come to trust and admire, disagree on their definitions of “Predestination”…
SOME SCHOLARS PREFER TO DEFINE “PREDESTINATION” IN THE BROADEST possible sense, holding that the word applies to every expression of the will of God regarding all human beings – believers and unbelievers alike, angels, and all events. Respectfully, for various reasons I trust will become evident in the course of this study, I have a problem accepting these definitions with confidence…
FOR EXAMPLE, APPLYING “PREDESTINATION” TO ANGELS, as a number of theologians do… From one theology book this statement: “The (evil angels) who kept not their first estate are destined to the lake of fire.” – Chafer…
THIS THINKING COMES FROM MATTHEW 25:41…
NAS Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
I DO NOT ARGUE THAT GOD HAS “PREPARED” THE LAKE OF FIRE FOR SATAN and his angels. Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 20:10 clearly tell us that. But I have trouble saying this is predestination. For one thing, the word “predestined” is not in this verse. The word here in Matthew 25:41 is “prepared” (ἑτοιμάζω [heh-toi-mahd-zo]), not “predestined. The meaning in Matthew 25:41 is that God had previously prepared a place. I believe you will see that clearly is not the meaning of ‘Predestination.” There is more I could say, but I will move on. I am unconvinced that God’s dealings with Satan and the evil angels who followed him in rebellion is technically “Predestination”…
I AM OFFERING A DEFINITON OF “PREDESTINATION” FROM a Greek teacher, an exegete, not a theologian… My definition is admittedly smaller, narrower, and not likely to be found in theological textbooks, but I would defend it as sound. It is based upon the uses of the Greek verb “predestinate,” particularly how Paul uses the word, and especially how Paul uses the word in Ephesians 1:5…
IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO COME UP WITH A CONCISE AND comprehensive definition of “Predestination”…
MY SEMINARY DEFINITION OF “PREDESTINATION,” which this week I looked up in one of my seminary notebooks reads, Predestination is that part of the Decree whereby God sets limits around that which He purposes for the elect so that each elect person will be placed as an adult son. It is my prayer that after this study and next week’s study on “Adoption,” you will come to understand that definition and come to fully appreciate the loving doctrine of “Predestination”…
YOU WILL REMEMBER THERE IS ALSO A DIFFERENCE AMONG SCHOLARS AS to whether the phrase “in love” goes with v. 4 or with v. 5. I shared with you previously that in my studied opinion, I believe “in love” goes with v. 4: “that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.” This interpretation is reflected in the KJV, the NKJ, the NET, and the NLT translations. The NAS, which I have been using in our study, along with the ESV and NIV translations connect the phrase “in love” to v. 5: “in love He predestined us to adoption as sons”…
AS I HAVE MENTIONED BEFORE, VV. 3-14 OF THE FIRST CHAPTER of Ephesians comprise one extended sentence in the Greek text; it is the longest sentence in the entire Bible. Because this lengthy sentence is not punctuated in the original language, it is often difficult for scholars and Bible translators to decide where one clause ends and another begins. Such is the case with vv. 4 and 5…
I HAVE STUDIED THIS QUESTION FOR YEARS, AND WHILE WE simply cannot know for certain whether “in love” belongs with v. 4 or with v. 5, I am treating the phrase as part of v. 4, so we are beginning v. 5…
NAS Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
(For Greek students, my reasoning is this: “predestined” is an aorist participle; it is not the main verb. The main verb in vv. 4-5 is “chose” [aorist middle indicative]. So “predestined” is modifying “chose.” Therefore, if “in love” [one word in Greek] is meant to refer to God’s action in predestining [as NAS, ESV, and NIV indicate], which is describing more fully how God chose, it would seem more likely that Paul would have placed the phrase “in love” with the main verb, not the secondary participle: “just as He chose us in love in Him” or “just as He chose us in Him in love.” Admittedly, we cannot be certain either way.)…
“ON THE WHOLE IT IS PREFERABLETO ATTACH ‘IN LOVE’ TO WHAT PRECEDES so that it is viewed as part of the goal election is intended to achieve, namely, a life before God which is holy and blameless and lived in love.” – O’Brien…
GOD CHOSE US, AND GOD PREDESTINED US…
PAUL IS USING THESE TWO COMPLEX WORDS TO EXPLAIN GOD’S ACTIONS “before the foundation of the world” on our behalf. “Chosen” and “predestined” may indeed be difficult words, but they are wonderful words for the believer. When properly studied, “chosen” and “predestined” speak of God’s love and purpose for us, and assure us of our everlasting life with Him in heaven…
PAUL SAYS THAT THE PURPOSE OF PREDESTINATION IS ADOPTION…
NAS Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
“BECAUSE OF GOD’S PREDESTINATION, BELIEVERS ARE ADOPTED sons and daughters in His family. Nothing could be finer than to belong to God!” – Garner…
NEXT WEEK WE WILL LEARN ABOUT THE FASCINATING SUBJECT OF “Adoption”…
WHILE I AM QUICK TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE DIFFICULTIES in accurately defining the word “Predestination,” as a Greek teacher who has studied this word for more than a few years it is my humble opinion that it is not as difficult as is commonly thought. I think if we start with an understanding of what the word itself means – and this, remember, must come from the verb form, since the noun form is not found in Scripture, and then maintain that understanding as we attempt to determine its meaning in Scripture and its theological meaning to us as believers, although we may not be able to speak about “Predestination” dogmatically with complete assurance, we are nevertheless unlikely to be too far off…
“PREDESTINATION” COMES FROM THE GREEK VERB προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo)… BDAG, the leading Greek lexicon in the world today, defines προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) as to decide beforehand, predetermine…
A ONE WORD DEFINITION OF “PREDESTINATION” IS “PREDETERMINATION”… When God predestines us He predetermines the course of our lives. Please don’t get the idea that by that I mean God prearranges every single event of our lives and that we are as a result mere robots. I pray you will listen carefully and stay with me, and I think you’ll see in a moment that is not the meaning of “Predestination” at all…
ONE THEOLOGIAN I ADMIRE SAID, “Predestination witnesses to divine certainty, but not compulsion.” – Chafer…
προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) IS A COMPOUND WORD comprised of the verb o`ri,zw (ha-reed-zo). By the sound of that word can you think what English word we get from it? Horizon. o`ri,zw (ha-reed-zo) means to set a boundary, to determine, to separate. A horizon is a boundary. When you go to the beach and look out as far as you can see to the line where the ocean and the sky meet, that’s a boundary: you can’t see beyond that boundary. A horizon determines the limits. A horizon separates the ocean from the sky…
THE OTHER PART OF THE COMPOUND WORD προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) is the prepositional prefix pro– (pra). pro– (pra) means before, “not before others, but before time” – Hoehner. So, the definition of the Greek word προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) literally means to set a boundary beforehand, to determine beforehand, to predetermine, to predestine – get it?…
“PREDESTINATION” IS LITERALLY “BEFORE THE HORIZON.” “Predestination” is to beforehand mark out a limit…
WHEN I LAST PASTORED, PARENTS BROUGHT THEIR CHILDREN to the church and dropped them off in the children’s ministry. We, of course, did not then simply let the kids run free to go wherever they wanted to go – like out in the street if they cared to, of course. We had a big fence around the children’s area. We had predetermined an area in which the children could play; we had predestined them…
AND PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND: our “Predestination” of our children did not prevent them from exercising their own free will within the confines of our preset boundaries. I promised you in my blog on “Election,” “Chosen by God,” that I was going to return to the subject of man’s free will when we got to v. 5. Neither does God’s “Predestination” preclude our exercise of will as Christians today. The children could pretty much do what they wanted to do inside the boundaries we had set beforehand, and we, likewise, can pretty much do what we want within the predestined boundaries God has placed around our lives…
NOW WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF MY PREDESTINATION OF THE CHILDREN?…Protection, right? We had predetermined where they can run around while they are at the church because we don’t want them to get hurt. Without being simplistic, it is much the same with God when He predestines us. I think you can see why some of our English Bibles have chosen to put the phrase “in love” with v. 5 instead of v. 4; you can see how it would fit: “In love He predestined us”…
EVEN IF “IN LOVE” GOES WITH V. 4, AS I SUGGEST, SURELY WE CAN SAY THAT God predestined us in love. One commentary I read this week said on this point, “Any interpretation of this mysterious doctrine that detracts from the love of God is rightly suspect.” – Wood (Expositor’s)…
THERE IS NOTHING BAD, NOTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT PREDESTINATION… It is all good; it is all meant for good…
THE PRIMARY USE OF THE GREEK WORD προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) is just this loving, protective use of believers. I will grant that two of the uses of the word do not exactly fit the definition I am emphasizing, but they do not contradict what I am saying and fit the definition generally…
SO, FROM A BASIC LEXICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GREEK WORD, we can now go on and try to figure out what the word “Predestination” means in its context, its theological meaning. You’ll remember that “context” is the neighborhood in which the verse lives. Words in Scripture are not just defined by their lexical meanings but by their context…
PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF BIBLE STUDY IS THAT WORDS ARE defined by their context…
BEFORE I CONTINUE EXPLAINING V. 5, LET ME SAY A COUPLE OF THINGS about predestination in general…
ONE IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW ABOUT PREDESTINATION IS THAT the word is never used of unbelievers. I believe that is so important for us to remember because it is often said wrongly that God predestines some to salvation and He predestines others to damnation. I know from years of teaching the subject that many people believe this. This is entirely wrong. I can be dogmatic because I have studied every occurrence of “Predestination” in the N.T. and can testify that this is the case…
THE VERB προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) IS FOUND JUST 6 TIMES IN THE N.T.… Therefore, it doesn’t take long to look up all 6 references προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) is and find out whether or not the word is ever used of unbelievers. I can tell you it is not. Let’s look at the other 5 times the Greek word προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) is found…
NAS Acts 4:28 to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
HERE, IT IS CLEAR THAT THE WORD “PREDESTINED” IS USED IN A BROADER way than just the predetermination of the boundaries of the lives of believers… Here, we might say that the word applies to God’s predetermination of events. But even herewith this variation, it still maybe shown that believers and not unbelievers are indirectly in view…
NAS Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
NAS Romans 8:30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
THESE TWO VERSES FROM ROMANS 8 WILL BE PART OF OUR STUDY NEXT week as we look at “Adoption”…
NAS 1 Corinthians 2:7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
THIS IS THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is another broad use of the term but includes the specific “Predestination” of chosen believers…
NAS Ephesians 1:11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
NOW, IF THE WORD IS USED BUT 6 TIMES, AND ALL 6 REFER EITHER TO GOD OR to believers, then we can say without fear of being corrected that “Predestination” never refers to unbelievers. God does not predestine unbelievers. So, if you thought that, change your thinking…
GOD PREDETERMINES THE BOUNDARIES AROUND THE LIVES OF BELIEVERS out of His love for them. He does not predestine unbelievers…
THINK OF THIS: Jesus healed people; did He heal everyone? No. So why did He simply heal some? The best answer is to demonstrate His loving character. When Jesus healed, people understood something of His character and the character of God. Predestination and election are something like that…
“PREDESTINATION SERVES TO EMPHASIZE GOD’S SOLE INITIATIVE AND authority in our salvation. Predestination is for a God-designed purpose, in this instance in Ephesians 1:5, adoption.” – O’Brien…
WHILE I WILL CONFESS THAT MY DEFINITION OF “PREDESTINATION” does not fit all 6 uses in the N. T. as tightly as I would like, it does fit 4 of the 6 uses exactly, and in the other two uses an indirect reference may easily be seen…
BACK TO OUR PASSAGE…
NKJ Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
“HAVING PREDESTINED” IS A PARTICIPLE IN V. 5… Participles mostly describe other words, most commonly verbs. The main verb of this extended sentence in Paul’s introduction is found in v. 4; it is the word “chose”…
NAS Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
THEREFORE, THE PARTICIPLE “HAVING PREDESTINED” IS DESCRIBING “chose.” But this is just the beginning; just how, in what manner, is the participle describing the main verb. This is difficult. There are at least four different ways “predestined” could be describing “chose,” each held by a leading Greek scholar…
ALLOW ME ONCE AGAIN TO GET A LITTLE TECHNICAL. It is important for me to include this information in our study because in one immediate sense this is where the differences of opinion originate. “Chosen” in v. 4 is the main verb in Paul’s lengthy introduction. There are no other main verbs from v.4 through v. 14. Everything through v. 14 is connected to the main verb “Chosen” in v.4 by means of participles and relative clauses. What all this grammatical detail means is that “Chosen” is the word that is driving everything in the entire 12-verse introduction. “Predestined” is a participle subordinate to and connected to “Chosen.” Full understanding of both “Chosen” and “Predestined” depends on one’s view on how these two words are related. In brief, does one happen before the other, or do they both occur simultaneously, at the same time? Some prominent theologians (e.g., Chafer) believe that “Predestined” occurred before “Chosen.” Even though the participle is not the main verb, this is possible, owing to the aorist tense of the participle…
(Aorist participles are notoriously difficult to translate with certainty. There is room for honest disagreement. Simply put, the participle “Predestined” may be interpreted as occurring either before “Chosen” or at the same time. The NAS, as well as all other English translations except for the KJV and the NKJ, translates “Predestined” in a way that supports a simultaneous understanding. The KJV and NKJ translate the Greek word as “having predestined,” indicating that the predestining took place before the choosing.)…
AFTER STUDYING THIS QUESTION, I LEAN TOWARD THE PARTICIPLE BEING what is termed a “participle of means.” This view suggests that both the participle “predestined” and the main verb “chose” happened at the same time (for Greek students, this would be a participle of means, a view supported by Daniel Wallace)…
I DO NOT THINK SALVATION HAPPENS IN STAGES; I think it happens all at once. We speak of individual dimensions of salvation because it is easier for our human minds to grasp what God has done…
HERE IS HOW I SEE IT: God elected a certain number of people to be saved. These saved people make up Christ’s church. Included in this choosing by a sovereign God is the loving exercise of His will in “Predestination”…
“PREDESTINATION” MAY BE SAID TO DESCRIBE GOD’S PROTECTION of those He has chosen. This is a definition that I believe is sound; it is based upon the use of the Greek verb προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) in Scripture. I say this with the utmost respect and humility, but I believe scholars who expand upon the meaning of this Greek word to formulate impressive theological definitions do so at their peril and the peril of those who embrace those definitions. The word means to set a boundary around. God does this for believers; He does not do this for unbelievers…
AT THIS POINT, I THINK IT IS NECESSARY TO REMIND OURSELVES THAT we are speaking about God’s actions “before the foundation of the world”… In other words, we are attempting to discern the very mind of God. This, of course, is impossible to do for certain. With that in mind, maybe it’s best to humbly say that we just don’t know exactly how these two words, the participle “predestined” and the main verb “chose” relate grammatically to one another. I for one don’t have a problem at all doing just that…
NAS Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
I MUST ALSO MENTION IN THIS MESSAGE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE SOME conservative theologians who object to defining προορίζω (pra-ah-reed-zo) as “predestine” altogether… They say that throughout the centuries it may be shown that the word was never defined as “predestine” at all, but was instead defined as “foreordained,” “preappointed,” or “predetermined.” They point out that the word “predestine” “carries with it strong overtones of Augustine’s notion of unconditional election” (Olsen), a view many fundamentalists object as being extremely and unnecessarily Calvinistic. My response to these holding this minority view is that I do not believe it is possible to conclusively show the difference between these words and the word “predestinate.” As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I don’t have a problem with classic Calvinism in the area of election. Calvinism’s doctrine of unconditional election simply means that God chose us before we chose Him. I believe the Scriptures teach that…
WHILE THERE IS MUCH MORE WE COULD SAY ABOUT “PREDESTINATION,” we must end for this week…
“PREDESTINATION”… A DIFFICULT SUBJECT, one which cannot hope to know everything about, and therefore, it is a humbling doctrine. It’s properly described as part of the “Decree,” part of what God did “before the foundation of the world.” But in spite of its difficulties, “Predestination” is in the Bible; it’s a legitimate biblical doctrine; it’s part of the book of Ephesians, and therefore we are obligated to study it. We can know this: “Predestination” is a blessing to believers. We can thank God today for “Predestination”…
LIKE THE WORDS “ELECTION” AND “FOREKNOWLEDGE,” THE WORD “predestination” is a word that primarily points to God’s sovereignty. “Sovereignty,” you’ll remember from our previous studies, simply means God has the authority, the power, and the freedom of will to do whatever He pleases within the confines of His perfect loving character…
NAS Ephesians 1:3-6 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, 4 just 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 to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
A TOWERING PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE TELLING US WHAT A LOVING GOD HAS done for us in salvation…
PAUL SAYS IN EPEHSIANS 1:5 THAT GOD “PREDESTINED US TO ADOPTION”… This tells us the purpose of “Predestination.” Lord willing, we will look carefully at this most fascinating subject in the blog next week…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
