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Course 10 · Lesson 4.1

Election and predestination in Scripture

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 10 outline

Module 1: Sin and Human Nature

  1. Human beings in the image of God
  2. The fall in Scripture: Genesis 3 and Romans 5
  3. Original sin in Augustine and the Western tradition
  4. Ancestral sin and mortality in the Eastern tradition

Module 2: Grace and Free Will

  1. Pelagius and Augustine
  2. The church responds: semi-Pelagianism and the Council of Orange
  3. Luther and Erasmus on the bondage of the will
  4. Monergism and synergism across the traditions

Module 3: Justification and Sanctification

  1. Justification in Paul and James
  2. Justification by faith alone in the Lutheran and Reformed traditions
  3. The Catholic teaching and the Council of Trent
  4. Sanctification, holiness and theosis
  5. Recent ecumenical discussion of justification

Module 4: Predestination and Election

  1. Election and predestination in Scripture
  2. Augustine, Aquinas and Calvin on predestination
  3. Arminius, Wesley and conditional election
  4. Eastern and Catholic views on election and foreknowledge

Module 5: Atonement, Redemption and Adoption

  1. Atonement and its extent: for whom did Christ die?
  2. Redemption: the images of ransom, freedom and return
  3. Adoption: sons and daughters of God
  4. The order of salvation across the traditions

Module 6: Death, Resurrection and Judgment

  1. Death and the intermediate state
  2. The resurrection of the dead in Scripture and the creeds
  3. The final judgment: Christ the judge
  4. Purgatory, the Orthodox practice of praying for the dead, and the Protestant objection

Module 7: Heaven, Hell and the New Creation

  1. Heaven and the vision of God
  2. Hell: eternal torment, annihilationism and universal hope
  3. The fate of those who have not heard the gospel
  4. The new heavens and the new earth

Module 8: The Millennium and Christian Eschatological Traditions

  1. Revelation and apocalyptic literature
  2. Premillennial views, historic and dispensational
  3. Amillennial and postmillennial views
  4. Preterist, historicist and futurist approaches
  5. What the traditions hold in common about the end

All courses

Program / Course 10: Salvation and Eschatology / Lesson 4.1

What you will learn

  • Define election and predestination as the Bible uses the words.
  • Trace the theme from the choice of Israel to Romans 9 to 11 and Ephesians 1.
  • Identify the main interpretive questions: individual or corporate, to salvation or to service, based on foreknowledge or not.
  • Distinguish what the texts plainly say from what later traditions conclude.

The big idea

The Bible speaks of God choosing: Abraham, Israel, David, the apostles and, in the New Testament letters, believers in Christ before the foundation of the world. All Christians affirm that salvation begins with God’s initiative. They disagree about what the choosing consists of. Does God choose individuals for salvation, or a people in Christ? Is the choice unconditional, or is it made in light of God’s foreknowledge of faith? Reading the texts first, before the systems, shows both why the question matters and why careful readers still differ.

Key terms

Election
God’s choosing of persons or a people for his purposes. The Greek noun is eklogē and the verb eklegomai.
Predestination
From the Greek proorizō, ‘to mark out beforehand.’ In Paul it describes God’s prior decision regarding those he calls and conforms to Christ (Romans 8:29-30).
Foreknowledge
Prognōsis in Greek. Interpreters differ on whether it means knowing beforehand what a person will do, or God’s prior personal commitment to a person.
Reprobation
The idea that some are passed over or appointed to judgment. How it should be understood is one of the sharpest points of disagreement.
Corporate election
The view that God chooses a people, the church in Christ, and that individuals belong to the chosen people by being in Christ.
Unconditional election
The Calvinist teaching that God’s choice of individuals does not depend on foreseen faith or works.
Conditional election
The Arminian teaching that God elects those whom he foresees will believe.

Background

The theme of election runs through the whole Bible. God calls Abraham from Ur (Genesis 12). He tells Israel that he set his love on them, not because they were more in number, but because he loved them (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). He chooses Jacob over Esau, David over his brothers, and the prophets and the apostles for service. The New Testament carries this language over to the church: Jesus tells his disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16), and Paul writes to the Ephesians about being chosen in Christ.

Few themes have caused more argument, and most of the argument centers on a small group of texts. This lesson sets out the texts, notes the questions each raises and lists the interpretive options. The next lessons follow how Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Arminius, Wesley and the Eastern churches answered. It is important to remember that all of them were trying to be faithful to the same words.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Election in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, election is mostly about a people and a task. Israel is chosen to be a holy nation and to bless the nations (Genesis 12:3, Exodus 19:5-6). Individuals are chosen for roles: kings, priests, prophets. Election in this sense is not the same as final salvation. Israel is chosen, yet many in Israel fall under judgment, and the prophets warn the chosen people that privilege brings responsibility (Amos 3:2).

Step 2: Ephesians 1 and Romans 8

Ephesians 1:4-5 says that God “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.” Notice that the choosing is in Christ, and its purpose is holiness and adoption. Corporate readers stress that the choice is of the church in Christ. Individual readers stress that the “us” are those who believe and that Paul names a decision before creation.

Romans 8:29-30 gives a chain: “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son... 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.” The question is the meaning of foreknow. If it means foreseeing faith, election is conditional. If it means God’s prior loving commitment, as in Amos 3:2 and Jeremiah 1:5, it is not.

Step 3: Romans 9 to 11

In Romans 9, Paul recalls that God chose Jacob and not Esau before they were born, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth” (9:11). He quotes God as saying, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (9:15), and compares God to a potter who makes vessels (9:21). He ends the chapter by asking why Israel did not attain righteousness and answers that they pursued it not by faith.

Romans 9 to 11 together deal with the question of why many in Israel have not believed. Chapter 11 ends with Paul’s hope that “all Israel shall be saved” and with praise for God’s mercy to all. Interpreters agree that the passage is about God’s freedom and mercy. They disagree about whether it is about the destiny of individuals, or of Israel and the nations as groups in the history of salvation.

Step 4: Gospel and Acts texts

John 6:37 and 6:44 say that all whom the Father gives to Christ will come, and that no one comes unless the Father draws him. Acts 13:48 says that “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Matthew 22:14 says, “many are called, but few are chosen.” These texts are cited for unconditional election. Others cite John 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:4 (“who will have all men to be saved”) and 2 Peter 3:9 (“not willing that any should perish”) for God’s desire that all repent.

Step 5: Questions the texts raise

Several questions recur. Is election of individuals, or of a people in Christ? Is it to eternal life, or to a role in God’s purpose? Does God choose in view of faith, or does faith follow the choice? Does God also decide who will not be saved? And how does election relate to the universal offer of the gospel? The traditions studied in this module give different answers, and each cites texts above. A careful student should be able to state for each answer which verses it relies on and which it has to explain.

  1. What difference does it make that Ephesians 1:4 says ‘in him’?
  2. Does election in the Old Testament refer to final salvation or to a role? How do you know?
  3. What do you think ‘foreknew’ means in Romans 8:29, and what is your evidence?
  4. Does the potter image in Romans 9 describe individuals, nations or both?
  5. How can the same Bible contain ‘whom he will, he hardeneth’ and ‘not willing that any should perish’?
  6. What does it add to read Romans 9 to 11 as a single argument ending in praise?

Examples

Two readers, one verse

Two students read Ephesians 1:4. One notes that the verse says chosen before the foundation of the world and concludes that God decided the destiny of individuals beforehand. The other notes that it says ‘in him’ and concludes that the choice is of the people of Christ, into which individuals enter by faith. Each can point to the verse, and neither can settle the matter without wider arguments. (A constructed example.)

Israel’s election and judgment

In Amos 3:2 God says, ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’ The verse shows that being chosen could increase responsibility and did not guarantee escape from judgment. Many scholars see this as a key to what election first meant in the Bible.

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catechism teaches that God predestines no one to hell, and that predestination to glory is the free initiative of God. It also holds that God wills the salvation of all. Catholic theologians read Romans 9 to 11 as about God’s mercy and the history of salvation, and differ among themselves on how to relate grace and freedom.

Orthodox

Orthodox writers read the texts of predestination in light of God’s foreknowledge and love for all. Chrysostom’s commentary on Romans, for instance, stresses human response alongside God’s call. Orthodox theology does not teach an eternal decree dividing the saved from the lost.

Lutheran

The Formula of Concord teaches election to salvation in Christ, of all who are saved, as a gift of grace, and it rejects the teaching that God has predestined anyone to damnation. Lutherans hold that the matter should be taught only as it is revealed in Christ, as a comfort, not as a speculation.

Reformed

Reformed confessions read Romans 8, 9 and Ephesians 1 as teaching that God, before the creation, chose particular persons to eternal life, not on account of foreseen faith or works, and that the rest are passed over. They hold that this is the plain sense of Scripture and a ground of assurance.

Arminian and Wesleyan

Arminians read the same texts as teaching election in Christ, so that God elects believers as a class and, in his foreknowledge, those who will persevere in faith. They cite the many texts on God’s desire for all to be saved and hold that unconditional election makes those texts hard to take at face value.

Why it matters

Election is a biblical theme, not an invention of theologians, and every Christian reading the Bible meets it. How it is read affects how one thinks of God’s character, human freedom, evangelism and assurance. Learning the texts first makes it easier to hear later systems as attempts to give a whole account, and to ask of each where it stands closest to the text and where it has to work hardest.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Predestination is only a Calvinist doctrine.

Correction: The word is in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1, and every major tradition has a doctrine of it. What differs is the meaning given.

Misunderstanding: Election always means salvation of individuals.

Correction: In the Old Testament it often means the choice of a people or a person for a task. Whether the New Testament uses it differently is one of the questions at issue.

Misunderstanding: Romans 9 is plainly about individuals’ eternal destiny, or plainly not.

Correction: Both views have serious scholarly defenders. The context is the destiny of Israel and the nations, and the passage’s relationship to individual salvation is argued.

Misunderstanding: Believing in election means ceasing to evangelize.

Correction: Calvinists such as Whitefield and Spurgeon preached widely. They hold that God uses preaching as the means of calling the elect.

Knowledge check

What does election mean in the Old Testament?

Mostly God’s choosing of a people or person for his purposes: Israel as a holy nation, or leaders such as David, priests and prophets. It is a matter of grace, not merit (Deuteronomy 7:6-8), and it brings responsibility (Amos 3:2). It is not simply identical with final salvation, since many chosen Israelites fell under judgment.

What are the two main readings of ‘foreknew’ in Romans 8:29?

One reading takes it as God’s prior knowledge of who would believe, which makes election conditional on faith. The other takes it as God’s prior loving commitment to persons, citing biblical uses such as Amos 3:2 and Jeremiah 1:5, so that election does not depend on foreseen faith. The choice shapes the Calvinist and Arminian positions.

What is the main subject of Romans 9 to 11?

Paul faces the question of why many in Israel have not believed in Christ, and of what that means for God’s promises. He argues for God’s freedom and mercy, and he ends with the hope that all Israel will be saved and with praise. Interpreters differ on whether the chapters speak of individuals or of groups.

Which texts do interpreters cite on the side of God’s desire for all to be saved?

They cite John 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:4, which says God will have all men to be saved, and 2 Peter 3:9, which says God is not willing that any should perish. Calvinists read these as referring to all kinds of people or to God’s revealed will. Arminians read them as expressing God’s real desire for every person.

Think it through

  1. Which verse about election do you find the most comforting, and which the most difficult?
  2. If you had to explain to a child what ‘chosen’ means in the Bible, what would you say?
  3. What would you want to know about the original setting of Romans 9 before deciding what it means?

Independent assignment

A table of texts

In your notebook, make a table with three columns: text, what it seems to say plainly, and which questions it raises. Include at least eight texts from this lesson. Then write 200 to 300 words on the two texts that you find the hardest to fit into a single view, saying why. Do not decide the question. Say what kind of evidence would help.

Further study