Predestination in Relation to Salvation

The topic of predestination to salvation is a hotly debated topic in Christendom. Some denominations reject it completely, and some embrace it to the extreme. Most acknowledge it as a teaching from the Bible, but they take a middle ground on what it means and how it applies to our salvation. When many people hear the term, they generally think of the Calvinist view.

John Calvin believed that God, before creation, pre-selected or elected people to be saved by some criteria known only to God; only those people would be saved, and there is nothing we can do to change that. The rest of us are pre-destined to go to hell.

Calvin explained this view in Institutes of the Christian Religion (1539) Chapter 21, titled "Of The Eternal Election, By Which God Has Predestinated Some To Salvation, And Others To Destruction." The Chapter title alone makes his view clear. This is an excerpt from that chapter:

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.

Taken literally, this teaching could lead people to conclude that there is no reason to follow any of Jesus’ teachings or God’s commandments because it does not matter if they do or not in relation to their salvation. To address the many objections to Calvin’s views and questions about how we know who is elect, Calvin wrote in that same chapter:

In regard to the elect, we regard calling as the evidence of election, and justification as another symbol of its manifestation, until it is fully accomplished by the attainment of glory. But as the Lord seals his elect by calling and justification, so by excluding the reprobate either from the knowledge of his name or the sanctification of his Spirit, he by these marks in a manner discloses the judgment which awaits them.

So, Calvin was telling people that if they were called to accept Christ, learn about, and follow his teachings, that is evidence that they are among the elect. Those who are not elect will not feel the calling and will not choose to accept Christ and follow his teachings. That is how he counters the thought that what we do does not matter. Those who are elect will feel the calling and will feel compelled to follow Jesus’ teachings. Calvin did not believe in free will in relation to choosing to follow Christ; only the elect will or can do that. In other words, people do not have the free will to choose salvation, God has already decided that question. He only believed in free will in relation to everyday choices, like how the sinners choose to sin, or the faithful choose to worship.

If you want to know more about Calvin’s views, read Institutes of the Christian Religion. I found it freely available in PDF format at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website

Where does this notion of predestination come from? Is it from Jesus? Is it from the Twelve Apostles? Some say the answer is "No" to both questions. They assert that there are no direct teachings of Jesus or the Twelve Apostles on predestination.

Calvin pointed to part of this passage from John 10 as supporting predestination:

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." John 10:24-30 (ESV)

Calvin implies that in the passage, "but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep." the sheep are the elect, and the statement that the Father has given them to Jesus implies predestination. Those who are not elect do not hear his voice and believe. However, this passage does not indicate that the sheep were chosen before creation and predestined to follow Jesus. One could just as easily believe that when a person, through free will, accepts Jesus, God enables them to hear Jesus’ teachings and gives them over to Jesus. It is the subject of much debate as to whether these passages support predestination, as explained by Calvin.

The concept comes not from Jesus’ teachings in the gospels but is primarily from Paul’s letters to the Romans and Ephesians:

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. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8.29-30 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6 (ESV)

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, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:11-12 (ESV)

There are other writings about God’s foreknowledge in Paul’s letters and in 1 Peter 1:2, 1:10-20, 2 Peter, 1 John and others. However, foreknowledge need not imply predestination; it could mean that God knows what will happen, he is all-knowing and can see the future. For example:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 1 Peter 1-2

Does "elect… according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" imply predestination or simply foreknowledge?

The meaning of these passages has been much debated over the centuries, and there is no consensus about what they mean. Some people, like Calvin, assert they mean that only those who are predestined by God will receive salvation. And the rest are predestined to hell. Yet, none of the passages say that ONLY those predestined are saved, and none talk about predestination to hell. Read together with Jesus’ and the Apostle's teachings that anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved, it casts serious doubt on the assertion that only those elect who are predestined by some unknown criteria are saved.

Some people, looking for hidden or subtle meanings in various teachings in the Gospels and Acts, say there are teachings there that may imply the Calvinist view of predestination. For example:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16 (ESV)

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 (ESV)

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48 (ESV)

For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 (ESV)

And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? John 6:37 (ESV)

None of these passages clearly imply predestination. Being called or drawn by the Lord does not necessarily imply predestination. Being appointed to eternal life could easily be because of your faith, not predestination. God’s elect, mentioned in John 6:37, could also be those who have faith, which does not necessarily imply predestination. Reading through the many passages in the Gospels and Acts that people cite to support the Calvinist view of predestination, I did not find any that clearly imply that concept.

If Calvin is correct, then it necessarily follows that these Gospel passages are called into question:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:35-40 (ESV)

In Jesus’ own words in John 6:40 says, "everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" and in John’s summary in John 3:16 it says, "whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life". If it is only those who are preselected and who believe are saved, that is not reflected in these statements.

Some people say that "All that the Father gives me" in John 6:37 implies predestination. That is a tenuous conclusion. If that were so, if people have free will and choose to follow Jesus, that would mean that we must then conclude that they were preselected and will be saved. This is circular logic and flies in the face of the concept of free will. Some Calvinists today do use this circular logic to placate their followers. They assert that we do have free will, but we are too weak to exercise it properly, and only the elect will find the strength to choose Christ. So, have heart; if you genuinely choose Christ, you must be among the elect!

Universal Election

There is a possible interpretation of the teachings of predestination and of Jesus’s teachings in the Gospels that provides a solution to this problem. I will call it "Universal Election". Perhaps, due to Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross, God preselects us all to be saved, preordaining no one to hell. In this view, we are all elect, and we are all called to accept Christ and follow his teachings. God gives us the free will to accept Christ or not and thus be saved or not. That view fits with John 3:17-21:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:17-21 (ESV)

This proposed interpretation is similar to the current views of Catholics and Lutherans. The Catholic View is (from the Catholic Answers website):

The Catholic Church permits a range of views on the subject of predestination, but there are certain points on which it is firm: "God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end" (CCC 1037). It also rejects the idea of unconditional election, stating that when God "establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace" (CCC 600).

The Lutheran View is (from the ELS website)

You and I cannot tell exactly who the chosen and elect are, for we are unable to read people’s hearts. That is something only God can do. Nevertheless, it is possible for a person to know with certainty that he or she is of the elect by trusting in the promise of God: "…whoever believes in him (Christ) shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

In both traditions, our free will plays a part in our salvation. The Catholic Position is clear: no one is predestined to hell. The Lutheran tradition clarifies that what is in our hearts determines whether we are chosen or elect.

Arminianism

Another proposed interpretation is simply that God can see into the future, so he has foreknowledge of who will truly choose, through their own free will, to believe in and follow Jesus and that God preselects those truly faithful people for salvation (Proposed by Jacobus Arminius in 1610). Several denominations believe the Arminianism view (e.g., Orthodox Christians, some Baptists, Methodists, Wesleyan Church, Pentecostal, Unitarian).

The Orthodox Christian view is (from "Predestination in Orthodox Christian Teaching" By Monk Benedict (Armitage)):

God foreknew all those who have believed and will yet believe in Christ, and these He predestined to salvation through His Son.

John Wesley, in his Sermon on Predestination, put it this way:

As all that are called were predestinated, so all whom God has predestinated he foreknew. He knew, he saw them as believers, and as such predestinated them to salvation, according to his eternal decree, "He that believeth shall be saved." Thus we see the whole process of the work of God, from the end to the beginning.

Calvinist

Modern-day Calvinists believe in Calvin’s views on predestination, as described above. The largest Protestant tradition in the world, Anglican, was influenced by Calvin’s views. The Anglican church expresses its view on predestination in Article 17 of the 39 Articles of Religion.

Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.

As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So, for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.

Furthermore, we must receive God’s promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God.

This article appears Calvinist; however, it does not endorse predestination to damnation. The Anglican Communion resists being called either Calvinist or Lutheran. See the Anglican Communion website.

Today, churches in the Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregational traditions are considered Calvinist. Some view Anglicans as Calvinist, and some Reformed Baptist sub-denominations are viewed as Calvinist.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Paul’s statements and the lack of discussion about predestination in Jesus' direct teachings have caused disharmony and division. Schism has occurred over this concept. Some people feel repulsed because they see it as manifestly unfair that not everyone has a shot at salvation through faith and that some are predestined to damnation. Many churches just avoid the topic in their teachings because it drives people away. The majority of Christians reject Calvin’s understanding of predestination.

Ultimately, we do not know how God chose the elect, and none of the teachings in the Bible tell us that. If we are to believe that the statements in the Gospels about salvation for all who have faith in Christ are correct and that Paul’s teachings, upon which Calvin based his views, are also correct, then either the concept of Universal Election or the concept of Arminianism, both described above, seem to supply the answer.

In conclusion, my view is that we should have faith, follow Christ, and stop worrying about predestination. No matter what the true meaning of elect, foreknowledge, and predestined are, Jesus assures us:

"For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:40 (ESV)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV)

Douglas A. Leas, October 2024

Sources:

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Akin, J. (2020, June 7). "What is Predestination?", posted on the Catholic Answers website

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) Second Edition, Washington, DC