Does God plan everything ahead of time?

If so, does that mean humans lack free will, that we are
like robots? Such topics lead to questions about salvation: Does God save only those he’s chosen in
advance? And, if so, how is that fair? These are the kind of questions that pop up whenever we
broach the doctrine of predestination.

These questions are not just extra-biblical speculation. The main reason Christians talk about the
doctrine of predestination is that they’ve encountered it in the Bible. The doctrine of predestination
derives from several biblical passages, including Romans 8:28–30 , Romans 9:9–23 ,
and Ephesians 1:11 : “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according
to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”1

To answer our questions properly, we first need to understand some key terms. The different
categories that have been used to explain predestination and its related topics, and the way others
have answered these questions throughout church history, will help us think about these ideas more
clearly.

In short, predestination is a doctrine in Christian theology that explains God’s role in planning and
bringing about actions in history. In theological discussions, predestination is at times given a
broader or narrower meaning. Its broad meaning applies to the foreordination of all things that
come to pass, whereas its narrow meaning limits the focus to God’s gracious election of certain
creatures to eternal salvation. How you understand predestination will also affect or be affected by
your understanding of the nature of God, the role of grace in salvation, the freedom of the will, the
offer of the gospel, and perseverance in the faith.

In church history, the doctrine of predestination is often associated with Augustine of Hippo and John
Calvin, but a wide variety of theologians discuss it at length, making use of a spectrum of technical
terms and points of emphasis. Mature understandings of predestination are articulated by Anselm of
Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas. Predestination also became a hot-button topic among Protestants
during the seventeenth century. The 1619 Dutch Synod of Dort is perhaps the most famous
Protestant defense of predestination.

In this article, I seek to lay out the basic grammar involved in the theology of predestination and
summarize the church’s historical discussion of the matter, showing areas of consensus and areas
where distinctive schools of thought developed. My hope is that this will equip you to have a better
grasp of the related arguments and feel more confident in understanding the Bible’s teaching.

Defining key terms

Discussions of predestination have been marked by controversy since at least the fourth century.
Sometimes this is due to real and substantial disagreements. Other times, the disagreement comes
down to a misunderstanding of the meaning and use of key terms. So it is helpful to begin by
defining certain important theological terms.

Prescience and foreknowledge

Prescience or foreknowledge refers to God’s own knowledge of things before they actually come to
pass.

The Scriptures explicitly teach that God knows all things (1 John 3:20 ), and that he knows them
before they happen in history (Ps 139:4 ).
Counsel and decree

God’s counsel has to do with his active planning of all that comes to pass. “My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isa 46:10 ).

When God’s counsel is applied to the specific question of redemption and God’s intention to carry
out his counsel, this is also called his eternal decree.

Providence

Providence refers to God’s active involvement in and governance over all things.

Providence is often described as a sort of continuation of creation and the outworking of God’s
decree in history. The doctrine of providence maintains that God wills, preserves, and sustains
whatsoever happens (Matt 10:29 ; Amos 3:6 ).

Theologians distinguish between primary and secondary causes, as well as prevenient (causally
preceding) and permissive acts (choosing not to intervene with secondary causes). The doctrine of
providence also gives rise to discussions about determinism, free will, necessity, and contingency
with different conclusions according to the varying schools of thought. Theologians who disagree
about other specific aspects of predestination nevertheless often do agree on providence and the
relationship between God’s causation and human causation. The term concursus is used to affirm
that God’s causation can work in and along with other lesser causes without taking away their
integrity.

Election

Election is God’s choosing certain creatures to be saved. In the case of humans, people are usually
said to be elected from their fallen state. They are elected out of this general status and transferred
into a new status, the plan of redemption. Believers are said to be chosen in Christ (Eph 1:11 ) and
before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4 ).

Reprobation and preterition

Reprobation is the inverse of election, sometimes referred to as God’s rejection or his passing over of
certain creatures. Reprobation is usually identified with God’s preterition. This is his immanent act of
“not choosing” or of passing some by without granting them additional grace.

Reprobation is also sometimes applied to God’s determination to damn those who are not chosen.
This determination to damn is grounded upon the actual sins of the reprobate, while the decision to
“not elect” is grounded upon God’s good pleasure. No orthodox account of reprobation teaches that
God is the cause of sin or evil. Instead, the doctrine affirms that God permits sin in order to bring
about his purposes.

Reprobation is drawn from Romans 9:22 and Jude 4 , passages which ascribe a pre-temporal
intention to God’s condemnation of certain sinners.

Predestination

Predestination, then, is sometimes defined as the summary of all of the above terms, essentially the
larger topic of God’s sovereign foreordination of all things. But predestination is also conceived of
more narrowly, being limited to the specific act of God in choosing to elect some creatures to glory.
Anselm of Canterbury provides an example of this distinction between a broader and narrower sense
of the term:
It should be recognized that God’s predestination attaches not only to our good actions but, it is
possible to say, to our evil ones in the sense that it is by permitting the latter that God is said to be
the cause of evils which he does not actually cause. … Therefore there is no problem in saying that in
this sense God predestines evil people and their acts when he does not straighten them out along
with their evil acts. He is, however, more precisely said to foreknow and predestine their good works
because in their case he causes both that they should exist and that they are good, whereas in the
case of the evil ones he is only the cause that they simply exist and not that they are evil.2

A narrow technical definition of predestination could be as follows: The determination to provide the
means by which all those whom God has chosen will infallibly be saved.

All orthodox Christians affirm God’s prescience or foreknowledge, his immutable counsel, and his
sovereign and active providence. Disagreements arise over predestination, with some theological
traditions arguing that it is absolute or unconditional and others arguing that election is conditioned
on future events or actions which are foreseen by God.

Reprobation is usually where one sees the most pointed disagreement, particularly as theologians
discuss the way in which God can be considered in any way a cause of damnation.

What does the Bible say about predestination?

The Scriptures teach each of the related points of the doctrine of predestination.

Prescience and foreknowledge

God’s omniscience is directly inferred from his nature as the almighty Creator, but it is explicitly
stated in Psalm 139:4 and John 16:30 . His foreknowledge is asserted whenever he predicts
future events, but is also directly affirmed in John 6:64 , “For Jesus knew from the beginning who
those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him”; and Romans 8:29 , “For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that
he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Counsel and decree

God’s eternal counsel and foreordination is also taught explicitly in the Scriptures. Isaiah 46:9–10
says, “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient
times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”

Acts 2:23 even applies this to the death of Christ: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the
definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Providence

Divine providence is affirmed throughout the biblical witness. “The Lord brings the counsel of the
nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples” (Ps 33:10 ); and “The heart of man plans
his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov 16:9 ); and “Are not two sparrows sold for a
penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt 10:29 ).

Election

The doctrine of election can be seen in John 6:37 , 44–45 :

Acts 13:48 also says, “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” The description of
“appointed to eternal life” conveys the concept of intentional ordering or arrangement.

Also noteworthy is 2 Timothy 1:9 , “[God] called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but
because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

Our effectual calling was given to us in Christ before the ages, and it was not based upon our future
works but rather God’s own purpose.

The most substantial passages of Scripture which teach election are found in Romans and
Ephesians. Romans 8:28–31 demonstrates the chain of divine causation in our salvation and
grounds effectual calling and final glorification in predestination. Romans 9:11 , 15–16 , and 21–
23 each attribute election to the divine will and to the exclusion of human works.

Ephesians 1:4 states that God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world.” Ephesians
1:5 states that God predestined us “according to the purpose of his will.” Ephesians 1:11
grounds this predestination in God’s eternal counsel: “In him we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the
counsel of his will.”

Reprobation and preterition

The doctrine of reprobation is usually defended as a necessary corollary of election, but it is also
mentioned in the Scriptures. Romans 9:18 says that God “has mercy on whomever he wills, and he
hardens whomever he wills.” Romans 9:22 adds, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”

1 Peter 2:8 states, “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”
Finally, Jude 1:4 states, “certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for
this condemnation” (emphasis added).

Counterarguments are made from the Bible against the perceived implications of predestination.
These have to do with the nature and efficacy of the gospel, its universal offer, and God’s desire that
people not perish. Examples of these apparent contradictions are Ezekiel 33:11 , “As I live, declares
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way
and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”

1 Timothy 2:4 , “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”;
and 1 John 2:2 , “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the
whole world.”

Additional arguments are also made regarding free will and the goodness of God. These
considerations account for the differing perspectives on predestination that emerge in church
history.

Conclusion

The doctrine of predestination is widely affirmed across Christianity, but in varying senses. In its
Augustinian form, it teaches that God eternally ordains all things that come to pass and that God
graciously elects some to be saved apart from any consideration of their merits and solely based
upon the divine will. In its more developed variants, the doctrine of predestination teaches that God
eternally determines to save the elect and ordains to leave the reprobate in their sins. This is usually
explained as an asymmetrical formula: predestination is based entirely upon God’s free grace
whereas eternal punishment is always based upon man’s sin. The various traditions within
Christianity disagree over how to explain the details.

All adherents of predestination affirm some form of free will. Arminian and Molinist thinkers argue
that God allows for the human will to exist in a causal relationship to God’s will, providing for a fully
free human will. Augustinian predestinarians assert that God is always the first and primary cause
and that he makes use of secondary and lesser causes at his pleasure. But Augustinians further argue
that humanity’s misuse of this will at the fall brought about a certain amount of inability in the
human will which prevents them from doing truly righteous works and returning to God. They then
maintain that divine grace is necessary to restore the will to righteousness and salvation. God’s
decision to do this or not is based entirely on his free and good pleasure.

Predestination is connected with both the doctrine of God and the nature of salvation, and so
theological explanations of predestination are integral to the larger systems of the various
theological traditions. In each, predestination explains the sovereignty of God and the graciousness
of salvation.