Predestined
Chapter 3: Of God's Eternal Decrees
3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.
4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.
4. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.
Starting in the Renaissance era, when an interest in cataloguing and understanding the various living organisms of the world was renewed, the method of doing this was to go to the place where the animal can be found, collect a specimen, and bring it back to study, dissect, or else to display in a museum. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this changed with the rise of ethology which is the study of animal behavior in their natural environment: where do they fit in their particular ecological niche? How have they been made to survive in the unique conditions of their part of the world? How do they interact with other animals? This makes sense, doesn't it? There is only so much you can truly learn from an organism once you remove it from it's natural context, and there will, frankly, be a lot of guesswork involved as well.
Unfortunately, this practice of taking something out of its context and trying to understand it is a common way people read the Bible; we look at a single verse as if it was its own organism existing in the vacuum of our minds, and we unfortunately employ a good deal of guesswork in our attempt to figure out what the text says. Why do we do this? Well, often times this is how they were taught to read the Bible, even though we hardly read anything else in this way. I also wonder how much the "versification" of the scriptures contributes to this; we see the Bible broken into chapters and verses, and we are inclined to think this means they are individual pieces we can pull out like a puzzle.
I would say that a predominant reason we do this is because we approach the scriptures with a good deal of presuppositions, meaning things that we assume to be true--presuppositions that we picked up from upbringing, culture, media, society, etc. These are unavoidable, of course--we function based off of our presuppositions every day. For example, when you drive through a green traffic light, you are presupposing that the people with the red light know what that means. Yet, are our presuppositions always right? An unfortunately common method of approaching the scriptures is to see them as a tool to prove my own presuppositions, rather than allowing the Bible to correct what I assume to be true.
An extreme example of this is the early Gnostic named Marcion. Marcion had certain ideas about God and reality; he believed that the Bible depicted two gods, not one: the god of the Old Testament was evil, and that the god revealed in the New Testament through Jesus Christ was the supreme and good god. Now where in the Bible did he get these views? No where; this was a view supported by the ideas of Gnosticism which tended to see the spiritual as good, but the physical as bad. So, in order to support these ideas he assumed to be true, he riffled through the scriptures, rejected the parts that didn't fit this view, and accepted the parts that backed it up. This basically means he rejected the Old Testament, and kept a few pieces of the New. Now, does this sound like a man who has submitted himself and his thinking to God's word?? Not even in the slightest. This shows us that for Marcion, what Marcion thought was right was authoritative, not what God taught.
I say this, because as you and I approach the scriptures, we must be aware of this tendency; are you reading the scriptures seeking to prove something that you have always been taught or always assumed to be the case, or are you approaching the scriptures with the expectation that you will find your assumptions and presuppositions corrected? I could even go so far as to say that if you have never found yourself being challenged by the scriptures in this way, that you should consider if you have been approaching the Word of God with an eye to be taught by Him. God calls us to be transformed "by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2). Along with that, the Christian is exhorted to meekly submit to His word which is able to save you (James 1:21), which includes examining our own ideas or presuppositions against the standard of God's word.
But lets get to the meat of this article. I spent a good deal of time discussing how we read the Bible because we are now in the section of the Confession that deals with a subject matter that isn't agreed to by all. It is taught in scripture, to be sure, yet there are those who reject it--even detest it. This is the subject of predestination and election. Last time we discussed the sovereignty of God in history--that all things happen according to the council of His will. And we discussed how this included the trials and difficulties of this world--yes, even the sins of men and angels. As was said in the last article, there is a mystery here that is profound, yet it is a clear and unavoidable teaching of scripture: God is sovereign over the salvation of sinners.
In Ephesians Paul declares blessings on the God who “...chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world…” (Eph. 1:4). Before God created a world in which He would place people, He had already chosen those whom He would call to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to say: “In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will...” (Eph. 1:5). This is hard language to misunderstand, though many try to insist that it doesn’t say what it looks like it is saying. In Romans Paul explains God’s sovereign choice with the example of Jacob and Esau. God chose Jacob over Esau, saying: “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— [Rebekah] was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' ” (Romans 9:11-13). Paul declares that God “has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.” (v.18).
The Scriptures also make it clear that it is not the Christian who “welcomes Jesus into their heart” that initiates salvation. Rather, it is God who takes the initial step, renewing a person's heart so that they are able to see Jesus and believe in Him. Jesus said to Nicodemus that a person must be born “from above” by water and the Spirit (John 3:5). No one can birth themselves a first time, let alone a second time. Jesus’ words are a reference to God’s promise to give His people a new heart by pouring out His Spirit upon them (Eze. 36:26; Joel 2:28). Or consider Ephesians again where Paul describes the state of the Christian before they were born again: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked...But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” (Eph. 2:1,2, 4-6).
To be dead in one’s trespasses and sins means to have a heart which is inclined towards hostility and rejection of God. The presence of such hostility makes someone dead in their relationship to God—even though their physical body still moves and talks. God is the source of all life, and to be separated from His covenant love for all eternity is called in Revelation “the second death” (Rev. 20:14). So what can a dead body do besides decay? This is the reason that the Bible uses such strong imagery. It explains to us that before we believed we were helpless (Rom. 5:6-9), and that it required God’s initial act of grace to produce faith in us. This is why the scriptures declare “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
The truth of the matter is that there is great comfort in the doctrine of election and predestination for the believer, as is highlighted by the Confession: “These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished (WCF 3:4). The comfort is that, as Jesus has declared, “...this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). There is nothing that can separate the elect from His love (Rom. 8:38)! Our place in God’s eternal kingdom is being kept for us in heaven and we are being kept for it (1 Pet. 1:5)! Here is the motivation towards endurance and obedience: the assurance that those who run after Christ will not labor in vain, but God will bring that work which He started in them to completion on the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians. 1:6)! The question then becomes, can we let go of the idols of our autonomy and personal agency in salvation, and acknowledge God's sovereignty in all these things? Can we set aside our pride in thinking that our presuppositions are the starting point for all reality, and instead bow to the God of the Universe and what He declares to us in His Holy Word?
Unfortunately, this practice of taking something out of its context and trying to understand it is a common way people read the Bible; we look at a single verse as if it was its own organism existing in the vacuum of our minds, and we unfortunately employ a good deal of guesswork in our attempt to figure out what the text says. Why do we do this? Well, often times this is how they were taught to read the Bible, even though we hardly read anything else in this way. I also wonder how much the "versification" of the scriptures contributes to this; we see the Bible broken into chapters and verses, and we are inclined to think this means they are individual pieces we can pull out like a puzzle.
I would say that a predominant reason we do this is because we approach the scriptures with a good deal of presuppositions, meaning things that we assume to be true--presuppositions that we picked up from upbringing, culture, media, society, etc. These are unavoidable, of course--we function based off of our presuppositions every day. For example, when you drive through a green traffic light, you are presupposing that the people with the red light know what that means. Yet, are our presuppositions always right? An unfortunately common method of approaching the scriptures is to see them as a tool to prove my own presuppositions, rather than allowing the Bible to correct what I assume to be true.
An extreme example of this is the early Gnostic named Marcion. Marcion had certain ideas about God and reality; he believed that the Bible depicted two gods, not one: the god of the Old Testament was evil, and that the god revealed in the New Testament through Jesus Christ was the supreme and good god. Now where in the Bible did he get these views? No where; this was a view supported by the ideas of Gnosticism which tended to see the spiritual as good, but the physical as bad. So, in order to support these ideas he assumed to be true, he riffled through the scriptures, rejected the parts that didn't fit this view, and accepted the parts that backed it up. This basically means he rejected the Old Testament, and kept a few pieces of the New. Now, does this sound like a man who has submitted himself and his thinking to God's word?? Not even in the slightest. This shows us that for Marcion, what Marcion thought was right was authoritative, not what God taught.
I say this, because as you and I approach the scriptures, we must be aware of this tendency; are you reading the scriptures seeking to prove something that you have always been taught or always assumed to be the case, or are you approaching the scriptures with the expectation that you will find your assumptions and presuppositions corrected? I could even go so far as to say that if you have never found yourself being challenged by the scriptures in this way, that you should consider if you have been approaching the Word of God with an eye to be taught by Him. God calls us to be transformed "by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2). Along with that, the Christian is exhorted to meekly submit to His word which is able to save you (James 1:21), which includes examining our own ideas or presuppositions against the standard of God's word.
But lets get to the meat of this article. I spent a good deal of time discussing how we read the Bible because we are now in the section of the Confession that deals with a subject matter that isn't agreed to by all. It is taught in scripture, to be sure, yet there are those who reject it--even detest it. This is the subject of predestination and election. Last time we discussed the sovereignty of God in history--that all things happen according to the council of His will. And we discussed how this included the trials and difficulties of this world--yes, even the sins of men and angels. As was said in the last article, there is a mystery here that is profound, yet it is a clear and unavoidable teaching of scripture: God is sovereign over the salvation of sinners.
In Ephesians Paul declares blessings on the God who “...chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world…” (Eph. 1:4). Before God created a world in which He would place people, He had already chosen those whom He would call to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to say: “In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will...” (Eph. 1:5). This is hard language to misunderstand, though many try to insist that it doesn’t say what it looks like it is saying. In Romans Paul explains God’s sovereign choice with the example of Jacob and Esau. God chose Jacob over Esau, saying: “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— [Rebekah] was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' ” (Romans 9:11-13). Paul declares that God “has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.” (v.18).
The Scriptures also make it clear that it is not the Christian who “welcomes Jesus into their heart” that initiates salvation. Rather, it is God who takes the initial step, renewing a person's heart so that they are able to see Jesus and believe in Him. Jesus said to Nicodemus that a person must be born “from above” by water and the Spirit (John 3:5). No one can birth themselves a first time, let alone a second time. Jesus’ words are a reference to God’s promise to give His people a new heart by pouring out His Spirit upon them (Eze. 36:26; Joel 2:28). Or consider Ephesians again where Paul describes the state of the Christian before they were born again: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked...But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” (Eph. 2:1,2, 4-6).
To be dead in one’s trespasses and sins means to have a heart which is inclined towards hostility and rejection of God. The presence of such hostility makes someone dead in their relationship to God—even though their physical body still moves and talks. God is the source of all life, and to be separated from His covenant love for all eternity is called in Revelation “the second death” (Rev. 20:14). So what can a dead body do besides decay? This is the reason that the Bible uses such strong imagery. It explains to us that before we believed we were helpless (Rom. 5:6-9), and that it required God’s initial act of grace to produce faith in us. This is why the scriptures declare “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
The truth of the matter is that there is great comfort in the doctrine of election and predestination for the believer, as is highlighted by the Confession: “These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished (WCF 3:4). The comfort is that, as Jesus has declared, “...this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). There is nothing that can separate the elect from His love (Rom. 8:38)! Our place in God’s eternal kingdom is being kept for us in heaven and we are being kept for it (1 Pet. 1:5)! Here is the motivation towards endurance and obedience: the assurance that those who run after Christ will not labor in vain, but God will bring that work which He started in them to completion on the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians. 1:6)! The question then becomes, can we let go of the idols of our autonomy and personal agency in salvation, and acknowledge God's sovereignty in all these things? Can we set aside our pride in thinking that our presuppositions are the starting point for all reality, and instead bow to the God of the Universe and what He declares to us in His Holy Word?