Difference between revisions of "Predestination"

<p> Is the decree of God, whereby he hath for his own glory fore-ordained whatever comes to pass. The verb predestinate is of Latin original (praedestino, ) and signifies in that tongue to deliberate before-hand with one's self how one shall act, and, in consequence of such deliberation, to constitute, fore-ordain, and predetermine, where, when, how, and by whom any thing shall be done, and to what end it shall be done. So the Greek word whish exactly answers to the English word predestinate, and is rendered by it, signifies to resolve before-hand with one's self what shall be done, and before the thing resolved on is actually effected; to appoint it to some certain use, and direct it to some determinate end. This doctrine has been the occasion of considerable disputes and controversies among divines. On the one side it has be observed, that it is impossible to reconcile it with our ideas of the justice and goodness of God, that it makes God to be the author of sin, destroys moral distinction, and renders all our efforts useless. [[Predestinarians]] deny these consequences, and endeavour to prove this doctrine from the consideration of the perfections of the divine nature, and from Scripture testimony. If his knowledge, say they, be infinite and unchangeable, he must have known every thing from eternity. </p> <p> If we allow the attribute of prescience, the idea of a decree must certainly be believed also, for how can an action that is really to come to pass be foreseen, if it be not determined? God knew every thing from the beginning; but this he could not have known if he had not so determined it. If, also, God be infinitely wise, it cannot be conceived that he would leave things at random, and have no plan. He is a God of order, and this order he observes as strictly in the moral as in the natural world, however conceived otherwise of God, is to degrade him, and is an insult to his perfections. If he, then, be wise and unchangeable, no new idea or purpose can arise in his mind; no alteration of his plan can take place, upon condition of his creatures acting in this or that way. To say that this doctrine makes him the author of sin, is not justifiable. We all allow omnipotence to be an attribute of Deity, and that by this attribute he could have prevented sin from entering into the world, had he chosen it; yet we see he did not. Now he is no more the author of sin in one case than the other. May we not ask, Why does he suffer those inequalities of Providence? Why permit whole nations to lie in idolatry or ages? Why leave men to the most cruel barbarities? Why punish the sins of the fathers in the children? In a word, Why permit the world at large to be subject to pains, crosses, losses, evils of every kind, and that for so many thousands of years? And, yet, will any dare call the Deity unjust? The fact is, our finite minds know but little of the nature of divine justice, or any other of his attributes. But, supposing there are difficulties in this subject (and what subject is without it?) the Scripture abounds with passages which at once prove the doctrine, &nbsp;Matthew 25:34 . &nbsp;Romans 8:29-30 . &nbsp;Ephesians 1:3; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:6; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:11 . &nbsp;2 Timothy 1:9 . &nbsp;2 Thessalonians 2:13 . &nbsp;1 Peter 1:1-2 . &nbsp;John 6:37 . &nbsp;John 17:2-24 . &nbsp;Revelation 13:8 . &nbsp;Revelation 17:8 . &nbsp;Daniel 4:35 . &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 5:19 . &nbsp;Matthew 11:26 . &nbsp;Exodus 4:21 . &nbsp;Proverbs 16:4 . &nbsp;Acts 13:48 . the moral uses of this doctrine are these. </p> <p> 1. It hides pride from &nbsp;Prayer of [[Manasseh]] 1:1 : </p> <p> 2. Excludes the idea of chance. </p> <p> 3. Exalts the grace of God. </p> <p> 4. Renders salvation certain. </p> <p> 5. Affords believers great consolation. </p> <p> See [[Decrees Of God; Necessity;]] King, Toplady, Cooper, and Tucker, on Predestination; Burnet on 17 Art.; [[Whitby]] and Gill on the Five Points; Wesley's Pred. considered; Hill's Logica Wesleinsis; Edwards on the Will; Polhill on the Decrees; Edwards's Veritas Redux; Saurin's Sermons, vol. 5: ser. 13; Dr. William's Serm on Pred. </p>

<p> (See [[Election]] .) &nbsp;Acts 2:23; &nbsp;Acts 4:28, "whatsoever [[Thy]] hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done" ( '''''Proorisen''''' ). God has "predestinated" believers "unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace." "He hath chosen us in Christ" out of the rest of the world, "predestinated" us to all things that secure the inheritance for us (&nbsp;Ephesians 1:4-5; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:11). "Predestination" refers to God's decree, embodied in God's "election" of us out of the mass; His grand end. in it being "the praise of the glory of His grace" (&nbsp;Ephesians 1:6; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:12; &nbsp;Ephesians 1:14). It is by virtue of our union to Christ, "foreordained before the foundation of the world" (&nbsp;1 Peter 1:20), that we are "predestinated" (&nbsp;2 Timothy 1:9). </p> <p> Believers are viewed by God before the world's foundation as "IN CHRIST" with whom the Father makes the covenant (&nbsp;Revelation 13:8; &nbsp;Revelation 17:8; &nbsp;Ephesians 3:11), "according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." In &nbsp;2 Thessalonians 2:13 the Greek for "chosen" ( '''''Heilato''''' ) means rather "taken for Himself"; He adopted them in His eternal purpose; "in ''(Greek)'' sanctification of ''(I.E. By)'' the Spirit" ''(By [[Consecration]] To [[Perfect]] [[Holiness]] In Christ Once For All, Next By Imparting It To Them [[Ever]] More And More)'' . There was no doubt or contingency with God from the first. All was foreordained. God's glory and the believer's salvation are secured unchangeably. All pride on man's part is excluded; all is of God's unmerited grace. Yet the will of man is, in the sense of preserving our reponsibility, free. God alone knows how the two harmonize, His predestination and our freedom; it is enough for us they are both distinctly revealed. </p> <p> At the same time fatalism is excluded, for God who predestinated believers to salvation as the end predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son as the means. We must make as sure of the means as of the end. Not to have the Spirit of Christ is to be none of His. Yet God's predestination is not founded on the believer's character, but the believer's character results from God's predestination (&nbsp;2 Thessalonians 2:13; &nbsp;Romans 8:9; &nbsp;Romans 8:28-30). God the Father gives us salvation by gratuitous election; the Son earns it by His blood-shedding; the Holy Spirit applies the Son's merits to the soul by the gospel word (Calvin): &nbsp;Galatians 1:4; &nbsp;Galatians 1:15; &nbsp;1 Peter 1:2; the element IN ''(Greek)'' which we are elected is "sanctification of ''(Consecration Once For All By)'' the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" ''(The End Aimed At By God As Regards Us)'' . </p>

<li> In the case of the believer who has the witness in himself, this doctrine at once deepens his humility and elevates his confidence to the full assurance of hope" (Outlines). <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton [[M.A., DD]]  Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Predestination'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/p/predestination.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>