What does the Bible call ‘predestination’?
In this study, a group can be split in 3 teams, e.g. based on their age to tackle complementary texts and questions and then present their findings to one another.
GROUP 1
1) What do these verses say
- about the will of man and
- whether and/or how this will is influenced by God?
2) If God’s plan and purposes overrule or even determine the plans and intentions of the human heart, do they limit the freedom of man’s choice? Why or why not?
- Could it be that the Bible teaches that the human will is free to choose despite God’s sovereignty in predestination? Does it ask Christians to embrace and teach both, as a paradox that is simply beyond human reason to resolve? =>
- Read Jer 10:23-25. What does it mean that it is “not in man to direct his step”? Did Jeremiah deny that humans choose their steps willingly? Hint:
- The context in Jeremiah 10 is about the idolatry of mankind (10:1-3ff), and that God would be unjust if He would not condemn and punish it (10:25-26). Why is God right to be angry about how mankind exchanges Him for their idols?
- Do they exchange the living God for their man-made idols willingly? cf Ro 1:21
- Accordingly, how does this human will itself prove how free or unfree it is?
- If it were free to love God more than its idols, how could you tell? Ro 3:9-10
- How did Jesus ask us to find out if our supposedly free will is actually in bondage? e.g. Mk 10:24-27; Jn 8:42-45
- In 10:12-16 (context), Jeremiah contrasts the bondage of men against the sovereign freedom of God in “forming all things” (v16): Freedom to do what?
3) Do any of these or other OT passages infer from such observations that men are not accountable for their choices, or that these do not matter? [cf Ps 33:10-15, especially v15].
- What difficult question(s) inevitably arise from this doctrine? =>
- Read Ro 9:14&19. What were the two main objections that Paul expected from his readers against his claims about election and predestination in the preceding passage(s)? [Note that these objections will be discussed separately in part IV of this study]
GROUP 2
Read Isa 45:6-12
1) Isa 45:7 states that God creates both light and darkness. Does this portray God as the author of evil? Why not? cf 1Jn 1:5 =>
- The context is about king Cyrus (v1). How did Isaiah’s prophecies about this future Persian king prove that besides God, there is no other god, v6?
- In v7, darkness and light are metaphors for disaster and prosperity. Why did Isaiah insist that both are created by God?
- Was this just an extreme view of Isaiah, or did other prophets share the same belief? [cf e.g. Amos 3:6].
- Read 1Pet 2:8. What could this mean that some are appointed to perish?
- v9: Why is man tempted by the doctrine of predestination to quarrel with his creator?
2) What do the two “woe’s” in vv9-10 reveal how God feels about those who quarrel with him about his judgment?
- Are they angry threats, or cries of compassion?
- Read Mt 23:37. What prompted Jesus to pronounce seven woes over his persecutors in the preceding verses 13-36?
3) Read again vv11&12: Has God abandoned those who are troubled by the teaching of v7? Why or why not?
- => When the Bible proclaims God as the sovereign power over both good and evil, we worry about his justice: Why, and how does God relate to such worries?
- How do words such as “the Holy One”, “Maker”, “my children” etc. direct us to overcome doubts in God’s justice over the issue of his complete sovereignty?
GROUP3
Read Ro 8:28-30
1) Write down all activities of God and their order described in this passage. Then discuss:
- Did Paul rejoice here about a salvation that has already been carried out according to an immutable plan and sovereign choice of God? Or did he describe a plan of potential salvation that may or may not succeed, depending on whether people by their “free will” make the right choice(s)?
- How can we tell?
- Hint: How many of those who are ‘foreknown’ will make it all the way to glorification?
2) Clarify, if needed: What did it mean for Paul to be ‘justified’ by God? [cf Ro 4:4-7]
3) If God predestines, this seems to contradict the human demand for equal opportunities. However, what destiny for the predestined is v29 talking about? Who complains if they are left out from this? cf 1Pet 1:2; Ro 8:17; Phil 3:11; Jn 15:19-20]. =>
- Do unbelievers envy Christians for this opportunity? Do they ever accuse God for not granting them that kind of privilege?
- When asked to obey Christ and to “die” with him as the condition to save their life, do unbelievers have any wish for that? Why do unbelievers never complain to God about being left out from sufferings?
- If humans desire already by nature the will of the devil to not know Christ (Jn 8:44), can God be accused for leaving them in what they so desire? Why or why not?
4) How can wrong ideas of predestination breed pride and self-congratulation?
- Does the Bible teach a kind of predestination that encourages self-congratulation, or rather one that is designed to destroy all pride? [cf Deut 9:4-6; 1Cor 1:26-29]
5) Any concept of predestination where not everyone is given an equal measure of grace offends our sense of justice. By contrast, if predestination means that God merely foresees who will reject or accept the gospel by their own free will, there would be no such offense ➔
- Discuss what the ‘foreknowledge’ in Ro 8:28 meant for Paul. Does it mean:
- To find out, consider the following:
- If predestination simply means foreknowledge, why does Ro 8:29 distinguish them from each other?
- Why must predestination and a ‘calling’ by God precede justification?
- Which of the scenarios A and/or B requires that predestination precedes justification rather than following it?
- Hint: Consider who would do the ‘predestining’ in either of these scenarios: Man himself or God? And who would deserve praise for it?
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