A Quick Lesson on Biblical Predestination (It’s Not What Calvinism Says)
Biblical Predestination is not God unconditionally, unavoidably saving some while unavoidably damning others to hell eternally. Those ideas come from the doctrine of unconditional election, which is a false teaching that is a key tenet of the heretical theology of Calvinism. Biblical predestination is the Lord’s goal that all who truly do receive Christ run a race whereby they are conformed to His image through Christ’s purifying work in them in the midst of a crooked and perverse world. If one leaves their house and intends to go to the store, then the store is their “predestined” goal (whether they actually make it to the store or not).
Reaching God’s predestined goal for us is not automatic, as we can choose to never submit to Him in order to cooperate with that; or we can walk away from the right path in Christ after we’ve entered into it by refusing His chastisement. Yet if we will run in the right direction in the race of faith, and endure in authentic faith in Christ to the end, this is the direction we must run in.
Hebrews 2:10-12: “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”
1 John 3:2-3: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
Many emphasize God’s work in purifying His people to the point of excluding man’s responsibility and need to cooperate in this work (see 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22, considered with the next two verses, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, for an example of how true Christianity doesn’t put man’s need to obey God and man’s need for God to cleanse and sanctify him as opposed to each other- they’re rather complementary to each other). We need soap and water to purify our bodies since we can’t clean ourselves without them. Yet we need to apply soap and water in order for them to work on us so that we partake in their benefits. It is the same with the power of Christ which purifies the soul. We therefore need to cooperate with Him and fall in line with His purposes; to let go of ourselves in order to let Him do His work unhindered in us (if He did this work against our wills, we’d either be robots or He’d be forcing Himself upon us, which Christ doesn’t do- Luke 24:28-29).
1 Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians 7:1: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
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