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Predestination
by Paul Nolting
The Words
We humans can’t express a thought or discuss it or even “tell it as it is” without using words. Words are bodies for thoughts and ideas. Words are supposed to make things clear, although they frequently are used to muddy the waters of thought. When we begin to study the biblical doctrine of predestination, we should realize that the Spirit of God used a number of words to express this same truth. Each word has a different shade of meaning, approaching the same subject from a distinctive point of view. The words that the Spirit of God selected were originally Hebrew, but chiefly Greek words. We use English words. In so doing we should realize that meanings of words become colored in translation and also from usage. There are four nouns and four verbs that may be used interchangeably, for they all express in English the same eternal truth. These words are predestinate and predestination, foreordain and foreordination, elect and election, foreknow and foreknowledge. However, a word of caution must be made concerning the word “foreknowledge.” It is used in a narrow or intensive sense as a synonym for predestination. But common usage has made foreknowledge a synonym for God’s prevision or prescience, that is, His knowing all things that ever will happen on earth. In this sense foreknowledge must be distinguished from predestination.
The Concept
What is the concept or the reality or the divine truth that lies behind these words? Predestination or foreordination or election is a decision of God’s will. Now when God wills something, He does it without fail. He carries it out, for our God is the God “who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). Man frequently wills something but then finds his will frustrated by his own weakness or by circumstances beyond his control. But not so with God! God’s will is never frustrated. What God wills, He carries out—with no possibility of ever failing. So we can speak of predestination as an act or action of God’s will. This act of God’s will occurred before the world was created—“according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Before time began, before this universe was in existence, before the Word cried out, “Let there he light!” God willed! What was the nature of that act of God’s will? It was an election, a selection, a choosing, a singling out of a definite number of people who should be born and live on earth after the earth had been created and man began to multiply himself. Recall the words quoted above: “ … according as he hath chosen us … .” What did God have in mind for these people that He chose, that were the objects of the action of His will? God knew that man would fall into sin, lose the image of God, and thus become the victim of death—which ultimately means eternal separation from God. God didn’t want this to happen. He wanted all men to be saved. That is why, from eternity already, he planned to send His Son to be the Savior of all men. St. Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, speaks of Jesus as “being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). But predestination dare not be identified with God’s universal will of grace. Out of the mass of fallen mankind, for whom Christ died, God chose a certain definite number of individuals “unto the adoption of children,” “to be conformed to the image of his Son,” “to salvation,” “unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” “to eternal life.” What God determined to do in eternity, he carries out in time—without fail! The fact that you and I have been called to faith in Christ Jesus, that we have been justified or have received the forgiveness of sins, that we have been sanctified or set apart for holiness of living, that we have been kept in the faith thus far and have the assurance of being kept faithful in the future, that we will be granted a blessed death and thereby enter into life eternal is the result of the fact that God, from eternity, predestinated, foreknew, foreordained, elected us unto eternal salvation. St. Paul writes: “ … whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
Election Of Grace
In Lutheran circles the doctrine of predestination is more commonly known as the election of grace. In the German— Gnadenwahl. Predestination is called the election of grace because grace was the motivating force or the prime cause that moved our God to elect or foreordain or choose or predestinate a certain definite number of people unto eternal salvation. That election is an “election of grace” is obvious from even a casual reading of the Trinitarian doxology, with which Paul began his letter to the Ephesians (1:3-14). That grace is inseparably connected with Jesus Christ, for Scripture knows of no grace apart from Christ. Such grace is also the cooperative enterprise of the Holy Trinity for the benefit of man. By the use of upper case, varying type, and underlining we shall try to cause your eyes to see more clearly election as an Election of Grace :
THE FATHER: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
THE SON: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself ( in him, i. e. Christ ): That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might, gather together in one all things in Christ , both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him : In whom also we have obtained an inheritance (a lot), being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted (hoped) in Christ.
THE HOLY GHOST: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were
racial pride and carnal security. But had they read Moses and the prophets more carefully, they would have observed that “mine elect” was also used of a minority of the nation, a remnant— spiritual Israel, the true sons of Abraham (Is. 65:9). St. Paul speaks of these elect when he says that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Rom. 9:6) and that “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom. 11:5). In brief, a knowledge of God’s election—mis- used and perverted though it had become—was nonetheless a part of the religious heritage of Jesus’ countrymen. He could and did assume that they knew of God’s election. Jesus brings the parables of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16) and the Marriage of the King’s Son (Matt. 22:1-14) to a conclusion with a brief axiomatic statement: “For many are called, but few chosen .” “Called” is used here in the sense of invited, not effectively called to faith, as in the epistles. Both parables show that the number invited to share in God’s grace by becoming members of His Kingdom is larger than the number chosen or elected. Most reject God’s invitation, but the elect of God accept it. In the parable of the Unjust Judge Jesus makes the point that “men ought always to pray” by contrasting the unjust judge with our heavenly Father. He asks the rhetorical question: “Shall not God avenge his own elect , which cry day and night unto him … ?” (Luke 18:1-8) God has His elect, His very own elect. They are dear to Him. He cannot but hear and answer their prayers. In the Olivet Address Jesus discusses the destruction of Jerusalem, which lay in the immediate future, and the end of the world, which loomed in the background. The agony of judgment upon Jerusalem was a miniature of what shall one day be the fate of the world, yea the universe. At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem the fate of one nation hung in the balance; at the end of time the fate of all nations shall be weighed in the divine balances. Jesus said: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Those were and will be days of furious activity on the part of Satan, as he strains every effort to deceive and so increase his number of victims. Yet his frenzied efforts shall be unsuccessful—“if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” That remains impossible, for the elect rest secure in the eternal decree of God. At the end of time God shall send His angels to “gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:22.24.31.). The elect shall escape every effort of Satan, survive the judgment, and be gathered unto eternal life in heaven. So the Lord speaks of the elect as a small, but definite number of persons whose salvation was determined already in eternity and is effected in time unto life everlasting.
St. Luke
The Spirit of the Lord moved St. Luke to record the missionary journeys of St. Paul in the book of Acts. On the first missionary journey the first major stopping place on the mainland of Asia Minor was Antioch in Pisidia. As was custom among the Jews Paul was given an opportunity to speak on the Sabbath in the synagogue. He seized the opportunity to proclaim Jesus to be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies—the Bringer of divine forgiveness for all sinners. After that worship service the Gentiles “besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath” (Acts 13:42). On that next Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to hear the Word of the Lord. When the Jews saw that, they became envious and began contradicting and blaspheming. Paul then turned to the Gentiles, who “were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord” (v. 48). Luke continues by recording the results of Paul’s preaching in this way: “ … and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).
These few words show the proper relation between God’s eternal election of grace and man’s faith. When the Gospel is proclaimed, as Paul preached forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in and through Jesus Christ, those and those only are brought to faith and kept in the faith who have been “ordained to eternal life.” In brief—God’s eternal election of grace is a cause of man’s faith. To get and keep the point clearly in mind it is necessary to keep the opposite clearly in mind: Man’s faith is not the cause or the reason why God chose the believer from all eternity. Now it is true that God knew from all eternity who would believe and who would reject the Gospel in disbelief. But God did not base His eternal election on His knowing in advance the response and reaction of every single individual to the preaching of the Gospel. God’s selection of individuals to be saved was motivated by His grace on the basis of the redemption of all mankind by His Son, Jesus Christ. And so it comes to pass in time, and without fail, that those who are from eternity “ordained to eternal life” are brought to faith by the preaching of the Gospel.
St. Paul—Romans
In the eighth chapter of his letter Paul discusses a very practical human problem—that of suffering, specifically the suffering that befalls a child of God because he is just that—a child of God. He brings comfort with the assurance that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (v. 18). He assures the buffeted child of God that in the hour of utmost need “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us” (v. 26). Then comes an amazing word of comfort, namely, that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (v. 28). How can we be so sure of this—that both the good and the evil day, the sufferings and the triumphs, the pain and joy work together in some mysterious way for our good? Our assurance is to be found in our eternal election, for those “that love God” are individuals
… who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (vv. 28-30)
Notice the chain of actions that began in eternity and were carried out in time. God had a purpose from all eternity. That purpose had to do with a certain definite number of persons whom God foreknew. That doesn’t mean that He just knew who they were, but that He knew them as His own from eternity. He claimed them as His own or elected them, as Paul puts it in Eph. 1:4. These elected ones He predestinated. They were made the objects of His irrevocable decision which He unfailingly carried out in time. He called them to faith in His Son, justified them or gave them forgiveness, and glorified them. What followed in time was the result of actions taken and decisions made in eternity. So it is that all cannot but work together for good in the life of a child of God. All suffering is as pieces of a puzzle, which when the last piece is fitted in will reveal the picture of a child of God elected from eternity unto salvation and led in time through life to glory.
doubt our election, but rather points to the necessity for daily repentance. In so doing we follow the exhortation of St. Peter who urged the brethren to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Our eternal election is sure; our Savior-God would have us be sure of it.
St. Paul—II Thessalonians
Some members of the congregation at Thessalonica were misapplying what Paul had taught them concerning our Lord’s coming again in glory. They expected the Lord’s return within the span of their lifetime, yea at any moment. If this were true—and they firmly believed what Paul had taught them about the Lord’s return to this earth—why there would be no reason to keep on working so hard! What for—if the Lord were coming again so soon? So they quit their jobs, behaved in a disorderly manner, became busybodies, and before long were dependent upon others for their daily bread. The Lord is coming again! Of that there is no doubt. But the proper application of this truth for Christian living is not that children of God become “bums” waiting around for His coming, but that they continue about their God-given tasks, waiting quietly for the Lord with all watchfulness. But there was another matter which Paul revealed to the Thessalonians. A great anti- Christian development lay in the future at that time but had to come to pass before the return of the Lord. That was the great “falling away” which would bring about the revelation of “that man of sin … the son of perdition.” This development has now come to pass in the rise of the Roman Papacy, which demands submission to the Pope as a condition for salvation and which has placed its official curse upon the very heart of the Gospel—justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus. Paul revealed to the Thessalonians that the great Antichrist would come as a judgment from God upon men “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” When the Thessalonians read these words, they could not but think about their own salvation. Would they become victims of this terrifying anti-Christian power? Had not Paul written that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work”? Paul quieted the fears of the Thessalonians with the assurance of their election. Immediately following his prophecy of the Antichrist Paul wrote: “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2:13-14). The “mystery of iniquity” was already at work; the “man of sin” would be revealed. Despite this, Paul is certain of the salvation of the Thessalonians, whom he calls “brethren beloved of the Lord.” What is the basis for his assurance regarding them? “Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation … .” Paul points to an act of God in eternity. But how did Paul know what God had done in eternity? By observing what God had done in time for the Thessalonians. For when God made His selection or election in eternity—when He elected a certain definite number from the mass of fallen mankind—He made that choice “through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” His election was not “bare” or “absolute.” That is, God did not simply reach down into the mass of mankind and grasp out every tenth or hundredth person by His almighty power. No, He made His selection, but He at the same time determined to carry out or effect His choice “through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth.” He determined to send His Spirit to work on the elect through the Gospel, thereby bringing them to faith in the Truth, and so making His election effective in time. And so it happened in the case of the Thessalonians, as it regularly and unfailingly does in the case of all the elect—that they are called by the Gospel and through that call receive the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians and we also can be certain of our election because we have been called to faith in Christ Jesus by the Spirit through the Gospel. The certainty of our election is strengthened in our hearts by our use of that same Gospel. In exhorting the Thessalonians St. Paul was also exhorting us: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2:15). Again we are directed to the Gospel, not back to eternity, for the certainty of our election.
St. Peter
In previous articles we have observed how Jesus, St. Luke and St. Paul treat the doctrine of the eternal election of grace. We now come to St. Peter. We find that Peter neither adds anything new nor subtracts in any way from the doctrine that the others teach. There is not a doctrine of God’s eternal election according to Jesus, another according to Luke, still another according to Paul, and then also one according to Peter. On the contrary the same Spirit moved the holy men to write of election in the same manner that Jesus spoke of it. Not all writers emphasize the same points of the doctrine or always use all or the same words, but none in any way contradicts or negates what the others have written. The Spirit of God never moved any of the holy writers to treat the eternal truths of our salvation in a mechanical, stereotyped manner. Each writer selected the de tails and the words that fit into his thought and purpose. Thus Paul presents the doctrine of election in a doxology at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, while Peter uses the doctrine to describe the Christians to whom he is writing: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ … ” (1 Peter 1:1-2). Who are the elect of God on earth and how can we know who they are? Peter very freely addressed all the Christians receiving this letter as elect. Paul considered himself among the elect of God—“according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:3). He includes the members of the Ephesian congregation. Neither Peter nor Paul seek to pry into the hidden, inscrutable will of God in an effort to discover some list of the names of the elect. No, they both simply identify the elect with the members of the Christian congregations—the believers, saints, those that love God. Peter speaks of the “ elect according to the foreknowledge of God.” Paul had written of the elect: “for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate” (Rom. 8:29). Both say that God foreknew the elect. That doesn’t mean that God just knew their names or knew something special about them, for example, that they would come to faith or that they would persevere in faith unto the end. Of course God knew that: He knows every detail about every single person that ever has or will live on this earth. But when the holy writers speak of God foreknowing the elect , they mean that God foreknew, that is, claimed or chose them as His own already in eternity. He foreknew them in such a manner that His love made them lovers of Himself—even before they were born. Peter says that God elected those whom He foreknew; Paul says that God predestinated them. Both terms, elect and predestinate, are synonymous—yet retaining their
of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:8). This is the positive spiritual exercise program that Peter sets up for believers. There is another or negative side of his program. That is continuing to escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (v. 4) and not forgetting that one has been “purged from his old sins” (v. 9). Any person who imagines that he can continue in faith in the Lord Jesus and thus be certain of being an elect of the Lord while continuing to live in the sin of despising the Lord in His Word or living in some sin of the flesh—is simply deceiving himself. Saving faith does not and cannot coexist with slavery to sin. “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure!” That is a call to faith in Christ. That is a call to have one’s faith feed on the Bread of Life—the Gospel’s proclamation of unconditioned absolution from all sin. That is a call to exercise one’s faith always in a twofold way: by striving untiringly against the devil, the world, and one’s own flesh and by cultivating, also untiringly, the virtues that spring from faith. “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v. 11). After presenting the doctrine of election in Romans 8, Paul concludes: “I am persuaded that … nothing … shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
St. Paul—Romans 9-
In these three chapters Paul discusses the history of Israel, both of the Old Covenant and of the New, from the viewpoint of God’s eternal election. He shows how, in the history of Israel, God’s eternal act of election works itself out always according to the principle of grace and ever according to His freedom, His justice, and His wisdom. The dominant principle of grace appears first in the basic distinction that Paul makes between Israel as it appeared in history and Israel as seen from the viewpoint of God’s election (9:6): “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” To be a member of the Jewish nation did not automatically make one part of the Israel of God. Paul illustrates that by the choice of Isaac, the child of the promise, over Ishmael, the child of the flesh—although both were sons of Abraham. The next generation saw the selection of Jacob over Esau. The principle of grace, acting with complete freedom, is expressed thus (9:11-12): “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.” In making His choices God cannot be charged with unrighteousness because God is ab- solutely free—responsible and accountable to no one but Himself. God elected those whom He chose according to the principle of His free-flowing grace (9:15-16): “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” But Israel, as a nation, was being rejected and was rushing headlong towards judgment at the very time Paul was writing. Was God just and righteous in rejecting the nation He had chosen? Yes, indeed! For God elected Israel in Christ. But Israel was determined to by-pass Christ. They were determined to achieve righteousness without Christ—by the works of the law. As previous generations had rejected the promise of Christ, so the generation of Paul’s day was rejecting Christ. In chapter ten Paul vindicates the justice of God in casting off His people because they refused to believe, and so rejected His righteousness.
But God is always the Creator-God. In His wisdom He was and is busy creating the New Israel out of both Jew and Gentile—always according to the principle of grace. There always remains (11:5-6) “ … a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” God’s election of grace works itself out in history according to His wisdom. Grace is transmitted from the Jew to the Gentile, then back to the Jew through the Gentile. The book of Acts narrates the initial development, from Jew to Gentile, and the beginning of the second phase, which continues till the end of time. All of this is presented under the imagery of the olive tree. Israel is the good olive tree. Some of the branches had to be broken off because of unbelief. Branches of the wild olive tree, the Gentiles, were grafted in. At the same time the possibility of regrafting the broken-off branches of the Jews remains. The hardening of Israel is partial. During the New Testament times, while the elect are being gathered from among the Gentiles, the remnant according to the election of grace is also being gathered from among the Jews. “And so all Israel (made up of both Jew and Gentile)*^ shall be saved! (11:26)” We cannot but marvel at the wisdom of God, as He works His gracious will among the nations. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? (11:33-34)”
Distinction Between Foreknowledge and Predestination
The first distinction is that of extent. God’s foreknowledge or prescience or prevision or omniscience extends over all creatures, both good and evil. But God’s predestination extends only over the elect, the children of God. From eternity God has known every single event in the history of mankind, every incident in the life of each individual, every occurrence in the world of nature. It is impossible for us even to begin to comprehend the foreknowledge or prescience of our God. Even in our prime we forget so easily, and the fraction of information and facts that any one individual knows, even one with an extremely high IQ, is becoming steadily smaller, God knows all—every single detail. And God knew it all before any of it ever happened! That is God’s foreknowledge or prescience. In contrast, God’s predestination extends only over the elect, God’s children. It does not extend over the ungodly or wicked. Scripture knows of no predestination or election to eternal damnation or reprobation. This teaching is a figment of man’s imagination as he attempts to answer questions that God left unanswered in His Word. A second distinction between God’s foreknowledge or prescience and His predestination is in the relationship between God’s foreknowledge and what is foreknown on the one hand and God’s predestination and the elect on the other hand. God knows everything in advance of its happening, but not in such a way that He causes it to happen. God knew that Adam and Eve would fall into sin, but His knowing of that tragedy in advance did not cause it to happen. In other words—God’s foreknowledge is not the cause of sin and evil and wickedness in this world. The cause of all sin and evil is the perverse, wicked will of the devil and of men. John Calvin maintained that God predestinated the fall into sin and so was actually the cause of man’s fall into sin. That is blasphemy. Scripture nowhere makes God the cause of sin and evil.
- (^) See the asterisked note on page 26.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world … (Eph. 1:4).
Both occurred in Christ. Note the “grace, which was gives us in Christ” in the Timothy passage and the “chosen us in him [Christ]” in the Ephesians passage. In both the universal will of grace and in predestination the motivation is God’s love and mercy:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but. have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will (Eph. 1:5).
In both His universal will and His particular will of election God is most serious:
As I live, saith the Lord, r have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live … (Ez. 33:11).
And shall not God avenge his own elect ... I tell you that he will avenge them speedily (Luke 18:7-8).
Both have as their goal eternal salvation. The goal of universal grace is that believers might “ have everlasting life ” (John 3:16). God’s goal in election:
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified (Romans 8:30).
In both faith is the means or instrument:
that whosoever believeth in him … (John 3:16).
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).
There are two essential dissimilarities between the universal will of grace and the particular will of election. The former extends over all people, while the latter extends over a certain, definite, but small, number of mankind. Consider John 3:16, also
God our Savior will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).
Many be called, but few chosen (Matt. 20:16).
According as he hath chosen us … (Eph. 1:4).
The other difference is that, though eternal salvation is the goal, it is not the absolute result of the universal will of grace, whereas eternal life is the absolute outcome or result of predestination. Man can resist God’s grace and so lose heaven. Consider:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37).
On the other hand God’s election of grace or predestination never fails. Consider Rom. 8:30, cited above, also
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible (but it isn’t), they shall deceive the very elect (Matt. 24:24).
That there is no conflict between the universal will of grace and predestination can be seen from the fact that both will eternal salvation and neither wills damnation.
Cur Alii, Alii Non****?
This is the unanswerable and insolvable question in the doctrine of predestination: “Why are some saved, while others are lost?” On the one hand Scriptures clearly teach that all men, without a single exception, are equally and utterly lost in sin—all having been conceived and born in sin. When St. Paul quotes Psalm 14 in Romans 3, he is recording the judgment of the Spirit of God on all mankind, including each and every individual: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14:2-3). On the other hand Scriptures also clearly teach that God earnestly and seriously wants all men to be saved: “God our Savior... will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). It would seem on the basis of these two all-embracing truths, universal sin and universal. grace, that either all men would be lost since all are sinners or that all men would be saved since God wants all to be saved. But what do we observe? Some are saved while others are lost. Those that are saved were conceived and born in sin and were by nature the children of wrath even as those that are lost. Some that are lost had the same chance and the same opportunity to be saved as those that are actually saved. How can one explain this dissimilar result when all men are similar in their guilt and in the fact that they are the objects of divine love? Let us say, already at this point, that there is no human answer to this question for the simple reason that Scriptures leave the question unanswered. Whenever and however man seeks to answer this question, he inevitably violates the Scriptures, either denying grace alone or universal grace.
The basic concept that governed predestination for Calvin was the sovereignty of God. God is almighty! So He can do what He wants to do, and no one can withstand His will. This is philosophically true, but not Scripturally true. Thus Calvin’s system ended up with a Scripturally perverted theology, as we shall see. Calvin reasoned that since God is almighty and since man cannot oppose the will of God, it follows that God determines the destiny of every person. Some He wills to save, and some He wills to damn. Hence there must be a double predestination. But Scripture knows only of an election to salvation. It teaches no election or predestination to damnation. This is a figment of man’s mind. Since God is almighty and man cannot oppose His will, it follows that all those whom Christ redeemed must be saved. So Calvin taught that Jesus died only for the elect. Atonement is not universal, but limited. But Scripture teaches that Jesus redeemed all mankind. Since man cannot oppose the will of God, God’s grace must be irresistible. Those whom the Lord calls are unfailingly brought to faith in Jesus Christ. All the others the Lord passes over. If they are exposed to the preaching of the Gospel, the Gospel is only meant to be for them a “savor of death unto death.” But irresistible grace conflicts with Scripture which tells us that God earnestly wants to save all men through the Gospel, but that man can and does resist God’s grace. Since God is omnipotent, Calvinists reason that it is beneath His dignity to use a vehicle or means for conveying His grace to man. When the Spirit calls a sinner to grace, He works directly or immediately upon his heart. “Efficacious grace acts immediately” is the way it is put, but Scripture teaches that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Since God’s will cannot be resisted by man, it follows that once a person is saved, he cannot fall from grace. This is the doctrine of the inadmissibility of grace, popularly expressed: once saved, always saved! But this doctrine forces the Calvinists to say that “backsliders” either never were converted or that mortal sin can coexist with saving faith. This conflicts with the Scriptural warnings against failing from grace and with the Scriptural examples of a Saul and a Judas. Thus Calvin answered the question Cur alii, alli non? by appealing to the sovereign will of God who saves some, damns others; sent His Son to die only for the elect; converts the elect immediately by His irresistible grace; and then holds them in that grace by His omnipotent power. In so answering the question Calvinism violates universal grace. This, in turn, destroys the Christian’s certainty of salvation. For no one can find the certainty of his election and salvation in the hidden, inscrutable will of God. We can find that certainty only in His universal will, for if God wants all to be saved, as He most certainly does, then He also wants me to be saved. In times of spiritual distress no one can find comfort in the hidden will of God or in some past conversion experience. Comfort can only be found in the fact that God loves all, Jesus died for all, the Spirit calls all earnestly in and through the Gospel.
Synergism
Some Reformed and. some Lutherans have attempted to solve the problem of Cur alii, alii non? [Why some, not others?] by means of synergism, which is a denial of grace alone. The word synergism is made up of the prefix syn, which means “with” (as in sympathy— “to feel with someone”), and erg , which is a unit for measuring work. In the theological sense of
the word synergism means that God and man cooperate or work together to bring about man’s salvation. The opposite of synergism is monergism, which means that God alone has worked out man’s salvation and gives it to man without man’s cooperation. Monergism is the Scriptural teaching of grace alone. Jesus taught monergism in the parable of the seed which took root, grew, and brought forth fruit by reason of the power that is in the seed (Mark 4.:26-29). St. Paul teaches monergism in that familiar verse once written to the Ephesians: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). John Calvin taught monergism in a perverted form (immediate and irresistible grace), but he resorted to double predestination, to salvation and to damnation, to explain why some are saved and others lost. The synergists’ answer to that same question is aliquid in homine , that is, they find something in man that accounts for the fact that some are saved and others are lost. Down through the ages there have been a variety of expressions used to isolate just what it is in man and how it works that one is saved and another lost. One of the earliest synergists was Pelagius, a heretic of the fifth century who was opposed by Augustine. He denied original sin and claimed that a child is born without virtue or vice, but capable of both. Whether a person’ is saved or lost depends upon whether or not he makes proper use of the innate moral germs of his nature. Pelagianism was rightly condemned by the Church of that day. Pelagianism was condemned, but it didn’t die. Error never does; it just springs up in a different form. The new form was Semi-Pelagianism, which believes that man’s free will was only partially impaired by the fall into sin. Man needs the help of God’s grace. Whether a person is saved or lost depends upon whether or not he makes the proper use of his natural spiritual powers. Man makes the beginning; then God helps him along. Synergism in both the Reformed (Arminian) and Lutheran churches is different from Semi-Pelagianism in this way, that, whereas Semi-Pelagians hold that man makes the beginning and then God helps along, the synergists contend that God makes the beginning and man responds with innate spiritual powers that are still left to him after the fall into sin. The father of synergism in the Lutheran Church was Melanchthon, the co-laborer of Luther. Especially after Luther’s death Melanchthon began to speak of a facultas se applicandi ad gratiam in man, that is, that man had within himself by nature an ability to apply himself or respond to grace. Melanchthon then spoke of the three concurring causes in man’s conversion: “The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the human will, which, indeed, is not idle, but strives against its infirmity.” The Lutheran Church is still infected with this germ of synergism introduced by Melanchthon. Later synergistic Lutherans spoke of man’s “right conduct,” “self-determination,” and “abstaining from willful resistance.” All of these formulas posit something in man that makes him different from those that are lost and so accounts for his being saved. Thus the synergist answers the question, Cur alii, alii non ?, with some decisive aliquid in homine. But this answer does violence to Scripture which teaches that all men are utterly and equally lost in sin. That applies to those that are saved as well as to those that are lost, for God is always the God who “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:3). If you or I are saved because we are in the least bit better or not quite as bad as someone that is lost, then we end up as our own saviors. Then also, salvation is no longer by grace alone. Synergism is the enemy of grace alone, as Calvinism is of universal grace.
lets the conflict unresolved by bringing “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Cor. 10:5). We believe that God wants all men to be saved, but that He has also elected a certain definite number from the mass of fallen mankind unto eternal salvation. We let both His universal will of grace and His particular election of grace stand. In no case does God will the damnation of any man and in no case can man in any way as coming to or remaining in faith. Those that are saved glory in the grace of their Savior-God. Those that are lost have only themselves to blame. So it is, and so shall the mystery remain until the light of heaven clears it up. Instead of attempting the impossible the child of God stands in holy awe and wonderment and exclaims with St. Paul:
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen (Rom. 11:33-36).
May God give each one of us grace to glory in the grace given us—that we are one of all whom God wants to save and one of the few whom He has elected in grace.
Purpose—To Confirm Grace Alone
John Calvin and many before and after him have contended that the doctrine of predestination either cancels or limits the doctrine of universal grace since all are not elected unto salvation. But the purpose of God’s revealing the doctrine of predestination is not to contradict, limit, or restrict universal grace, but rather to confirm and impress on us grace alone. There is always need for this because believers are continuously plagued by their flesh which never ceases to suggest that God has chosen them be cause they are either not as bad or a little better than the unbelievers who are lost. Believers need to be reminded again and again that they are in the same condemnation as unbelievers. We have been elected and are saved by grace alone without any merit or worthiness in us. To think otherwise is to fall from grace: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). In the Old Testament era God chose Abraham from among the idol worshipers, gave him the promise of the Savior and the seal of the covenant, and then made of him a great nation. Why? Because Abraham was in some way better than the other idol worshipers? Because the nation of Israel was not quite as bad as the heathen nations? No! God was motivated solely by His grace. Speaking as the mouthpiece of the Lord Moses could not emphasize strongly enough that the election of Israel was not because they were any better or not. as bad as the surrounding heathen nations, but that their election was due to the grace of God alone.
Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God bath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out
from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people (Deut. 9:4-5).
The doctrine of the election of grace or predestination serves this same purpose—to impress upon the elect that their election was not due to anything in them, but is due to grace alone. Our God elected us:
... not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9).
... according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace (Eph. 1:5-6).
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace (Rom. 11:6).
So also The Formula of Concord testifies of predestination:
… it establishes very effectually the article that we are justified and saved without all works and merit of ours, purely out of grace alone, for Christ’s sake. For before the time of the world, before we existed, yea, before the foundation of the world was laid, when, of course, we could do nothing good, we were according to God’s purpose chosen by grace in Christ to salvation, Rom. 9,11; 2 Tim. 1,9. Moreover, all opinions and erroneous doctrines concerning the powers of our natural will are thereby overthrown, because God in His counsel, before the time of the world, decided and ordained that He Himself, by the power of His Holy Ghost, would produce and work in us, through the Word, everything that pertains to our conversion ( Triglot , p. 1077).
Thus the doctrine of election or predestination is, indeed, terrifying to anyone who trusts anything in himself for his salvation, but it is most comforting to all who have been taught by the Spirit of God to despair of their own righteousness and trust God’s grace alone.
Purpose—Comfort
There have been times when godly men became so depressed spiritually that they even doubted the very existence of the Church. Such were the days of Elijah during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel when Baal worship was made the state religion. Despite the fact that the Lord God had most gloriously vindicated his prophet at Mt. Carmel and had exposed the non-reality and non-existence of Baal, yet Elijah became so despondent that he prayed for death, believing himself to be the lone surviving God-fearing man in Israel. St. Paul records his lament and the response of his God while presenting the doctrine of election in his epistle to the Romans:
