Predestination, Yes, No or Neither
Paper by: Ralph Thoren
Date: March 1, 2022
Last evening during Church Bible Study an interesting topic came up. One of our members was talking about predestination as is mentioned in the Bible and another member was adamantly opposed to the idea and was sure everything is about free will. It appeared “the enemy” was getting involved as people were locking into positions and sides were being developed. Our leader stepped in and stopped things in there tracks,(good job) to allow calmer gentler hearts to consider the topic.
I decided to do some research on the topic. The first thing I discovered was there was not a Hebrew word for predestination. This word is a translation of a translation of the Hebrew word “ א’ מל “ Pronounced MLee. This word has a myriad of meanings including the following: do something wonderful, miraculous acts, be completed, finish, carry out, make peace, come to fruition, fulfill and many others. This word was translated into and also used in the Greek, (all of the New Testament was Greek). The Greek word προώρισεν which has many meanings also was used in Romans 8:29 V-AIA-3S. Now let’s go to Romans 8:29 and look at how the Greek was morphed into the English versions.
GRK: προέγνω καὶ προώρισεν συμμόρφους τῆς was translated into the following English versions:
NAS: He also predestined [to become] conformed
KJV: also did predestinate [to be] conformed
INT: he foreknew also he predestined [to be] conformed to the
That sounds like Paul’s talking about predestination, but is he.
I would like to present a paper by another theologian. Let’s just read his thoughts and let the paper stand or fall on it’s own merit’s.
In this mysterious problem of predestination Paul likewise faithfully carries out the teaching of his Master. For in the sublime description of the final judgment, Christ says to the “blessed of my Father:” “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt.25:34), but to those on the left hand he says, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels” (25:41). The omission of the words “of my Father,” after “ye cursed,” and of the words, for you, “and, from the foundation of the world,” is very significant, and implies that while the inheritance of the kingdom is traced to the eternal favor of God, the damnation is due to the guilt of man.
Paul undoubtedly teaches an eternal election by the sovereign grace of God, that is an unconditioned and unchangeable predestination of his children to holiness and salvation in and through his Son Jesus Christ. [796] He thus cuts off all human merit, and plants the salvation upon an immovable rock. But he does not thereby exclude human freedom and responsibility; on the contrary, he includes them as elements in the divine plan, and boldly puts them together. [797] Hence he exhorts and warns men as if salvation might be gained or lost by their effort. Those who are lost, are lost by their own unbelief. Perdition is the righteous judgment for sin unrepented of and persisted in. It is a strange misunderstanding to make Paul either a fatalist or a particularist; he is the strongest opponent of blind necessity and of Jewish particularism, even in the ninth chapter of Romans. But he aims at no philosophical solution of a problem which the finite understanding of man cannot settle; he contents himself with asserting its divine and human aspects, the religious and ethical view, the absolute sovereignty of God and the relative freedom of man, the free gift of salvation and the just punishment for neglecting it. Christian experience includes both truths, and we find no contradiction in praying as if all depended on God, and in working as if all depended on man. This is Pauline theology and practice.
In conclusion:
I believe that pretty well explains the predestination quandry, but I would like to add this note:
At the time the predestination word was translated into the English Bible, the culture was quite different and the meaning of the word would more reflect the culture of that time.
However, the connotation of the word predestination in our time is most likely different. Many people would believe that predestiny means that no matter what you do the same result will happen. That was not the meaning at the time of translation. The meaning would have been more like the original Greek and Hebrew meanings. Yes, God has us pre-destined to find salvation. The plan is predestined, but it’s up to us to enter the plan. Yeshua gives us the opportunity to join in the light and the living. Amen