SEEK 28 – Predestination

SEEK 28 – Predestination

Question: If God has predestined everything, why bother? Do I have free will?

 Bible Reading: John 15

Text: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 15:16)

 If being asked about other religions is one of the most common questions asked by non-Christian young people, being asked about ‘predestination’ is one of the most common I am asked when visiting church youth groups. Sometimes I think the question is asked by those who have a real problem with the doctrine, but I suspect that at other times it is asked by those who like a bit of obtuse theological argument, and want to show how clever they are.

I am assuming that you are not one of the latter. That this really is an important issue for you. At first glance the question is a disturbing one that seems to make sense. After all, if God has predestined everything then surely we are trapped– there is nothing we can do? We do not have free will and the whole preaching of the Gospel and the call to repent and believe is just a game. This view was perhaps best expressed by the Scottish poet Rabbi Burns in his poem ‘Holy Willie’s Prayer’. Here is the English translation of the Scots!

O Thou, who in the heavens does dwell,
[And] As it pleases best Thyself,
Sends one to Heaven and ten to Hell,
All for Thy glory,
And not for any good or bad
They’ve done during their lifetime!

Burn’s poem is a poem about a religious hypocrite. It reflects a common misunderstanding of predestination and salvation. God does not send people to Hell irrespective of what they have done. Rather the Bible tells us that the dead are judged according to what they have done. (Revelation 20:12). God is just. He does not lie. He does not play games. He is pure justice and pure goodness. Those who go to Hell, go there because they have chosen to go there. They have chosen to be without God – which is Hell. And God gives them what they have lived for.

But the other side of that coin is that those who go to heaven, go because Christ has chosen them. “In him we were also chosen, predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).

As Jesus told his disciples – you did not choose me, but I chose you. The teaching is clear but there are some obvious questions which arise from it.

Do I have free will? Yes – but it’s not absolute. Your will cannot determine anything against your nature. You could will to fly but you will never get off the ground just because you will it – no matter how much you flap your arms! The trouble with our will is, as Martin Luther pointed out in his book The Bondage of the Will, that we are bound by our natures. We need a new nature that we may freely choose to enter the kingdom of God. Without being born again of the Spirit, we cannot even see the Kingdom of God, never mind enter it!

Is it fair? Yes. God is not unjust. How can it be unfair if we get what we have chosen? No one goes to Hell who has not chosen to go there. No one goes to heaven who has not been chosen.

Am I chosen? The Puritan Thomas Manton answered this question helpfully: “We know God to be ours by giving ourselves up to be his. His choice and election of us is a secret until it be evidenced by our choice of him, till we choose him for our portion” (Works of Manton vol 7 p.447).

Your task is not to work out whether you have been chosen; your task is to believe and repent. When you do so then you will know that you have been chosen. I once heard an old preacher describe it in this way.

I know that this question is often asked because people find the doctrine of predestination (or election, or the sovereignty of God), to be a disturbing one. But, as John Calvin, pointed out – it is not meant to be like that. In fact, if it is taught well, it is one of the most comforting teachings you can have. As an 18-year-old student in the University of Edinburgh I recall the impact on my life when I discovered that my salvation did not depend ultimately on my choice, but on God’s. Rather than being a restricting and depressing doctrine – it freed me and gave me a great assurance and joy. I pray that you will know the same.

Consider: If God has chosen you, the Spirit has given you new birth and the Son given you new life, why would you think it didn’t matter what you did? Predestination is not an excuse for not bothering – it is the greatest reason to bother! We care and love because he first loved us!

Recommended Further Reading:

Chosen by God – R C Sproul

And this article by John Piper – https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/before-you-believed-you-belonged

Prayer: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counsellor?”

³⁵ “Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay him?”

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory for ever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

Romans Road to Hope 14 – Predestination

SEEK 27 – Islam