So I’m Predestined? Now what?
(Note: This is a follow-up essay to one where I try to solve a 500 year old debate. Read the original here.)
Predestination is a biblical term. The idea that Paul, the world’s greatest evangelist and eye witness to the resurrected Jesus, shares in his magnum opus, Romans, is powerful. There is a sequence involved in reacquiring the right to being in the very presence of the Creator and it starts (and ends) with an action by God.
Most Christians understand and agree that we can’t “do” anything to earn our way to heaven. Said another way, we can do nothing to qualify to be saved (reunited with the creator). The only “works” involved in our salvation are those done by the Lord. As for us, to even see the kingdom of God we must be “born again” (John 3:1-21).
I liken the experience to being a stuffed animal, stuck in a claw machine (see image above of Jesus redeeming me from the prison of sin!). The box represents our prison in sin, condemned by Adam and Eve’s rebellion to always fall short of God’s glory. We are unable to free ourselves from this confinement. We need God to provide a path out of sin and into salvation. Counter to a world that teaches we must make our own way, it is still harder to admit is that in our natural, un-reborn state, we do not even desire release from this prison. All our inclinations, described in Romans 3:10-17 as Paul quotes from Psalms and Ecclesiastes fall short. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
The process of attaining reunion with our Creator is described by Paul and involves often misunderstood terms including the main topic of this essay: predestination. Here is the process Paul describes, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
So, to be glorified I must be predestined. This concept strikes a sour chord in mankind who, as he first asserted in the Garden of Eden, desired to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). He desires self-rule, a free will. He justifies his logic that free will must exist by inferring that God would not want robots worshiping Him but beings who willingly submit to and acknowledge his majesty and sovereignty. They argue how can God choose some for salvation and not others, (and in some circles – universalist) not everyone? They ask, if there is a selection, what is the criteria and how can I participate (that is if I wish/choose to do so)?
What most miss when arguing for man to have a role in salvation which supersedes God’s will, is the nature of human will. We do what we want based on the strongest influence at the time. Man’s strongest influence is always short of God’s glory and therefore by definition, sin. Yes, we have the will to do what we want, when we want to, but is that choice really “free”? Scholars like St. Augustine, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, say no. If we are not obedient to the Holy Spirit (which only the chosen receive as an unearned gift), we are free only to choose sin.
Wait!? “only the chosen” receive? How is that fair? Romans (9:14-23), Paul explains citing Moses’ experience in Exodus; “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Exodus 33:19). Listen you stiff necked people, this is God’s creation to do with as He sees fit.
He continues “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”
Knowing his readers even then would immediately raise the issue of man’s role/free will, Paul continues; “One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—”
(Yikes! If you still need a warning about challenging God, read Job 38 )
For more on Predestination, watch this free ten-part series at Ligonier.org
So, presuming I’m among the elect and if my ultimate destination is set, what is my role along the route to this destination? Do I have any say in what I to do with my life? The answer comes from the manual for life, the Holy Scriptures.
- Believe in Jesus Christ – the ability to do so is in itself a gift of grace from God who chose you to have faith. Read more in this essay “Just Believe”
- Repent – Once you have the power of the Holy Spirit within you, you can see where your natural inclinations are misaligned with the desires of your creator. Change your mind, change your ways, and change your life. All by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Invite the Holy Spirit – Acknowledge the need for the Spirit to do anything approaching that which is pleasing to the Father.
- Immerse in the Word – Learning God’s will for your life through the stories and experiences of those who came before you will give you the guidance you need and the encouragement when you fail (and as Paul shared, you will).
- Live in Prayer – A time of reflection and conversation with the one who made and saved you provides unprecedented connection to the source of all life.
- Practice Obedience – Small victories and corrections to your natural inclinations are best shared with the Father and your friends through prayers of praise.
- Engage in Community and Fellowship – Who better to help educate, commit, support, and love than others whose fruit demonstrates their shared desire and the workings of the Holy Spirit within them.
- Exercise your Spirit – Reach out to those whose faith is not aligned or as mature and provide gentle, loving counsel relying on the Word for arbitration in matters of conflict.
- Cultivate Fruit of the Spirit – Give to the world from the riches of your blessings. Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil”
- Pastor, Mentor, Counselor – Turn to those around you who model Christ’s behavior. Learn from them and emulate them, but never forget the original model, Jesus Christ, is the only one we are to worship and adore.
- Persevere – Paul admitted in Romans 7:15-20 how hard it was for him to emulate a perfect Christ. He recognized his failures but did not give up. In Hebrews 12:1 he wrote “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”