“The Bible Doctrine of Predestination Defined”  (Section 7)

Having seen then, as I think we have, that neither Extreme Calvinism nor Free Agency contain any real substance we return to the subject of predestination and will attempt to approach it in the Bible way to try to find the truth. The word PREDESTINATE means “to ordain beforehand by an unchangeable purpose.” The word “ORDAIN” means “to appoint.” Therefore whom God did predestinate He did actually appoint beforehand by an unchangeable purpose. And folks who are predestinated are folks who were appointed beforehand by unchangeable purpose.

Now let us inquire as to what they were appointed unto, and when and I think the truth will present itself as clear as a bell. To do this let us copy again from Ephesians one: “According as he 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 to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Emphasis added G.W.)

Now unto what were the “us” of the text chosen? That in Christ Jesus we should be holy and without blame. Unto what were we predestinated? To the adoption of children. Before the foundation of the world. The reader would do well to note here that the same “us” that was chosen was also predestinated and made accepted in the beloved, and are (verse 3) blessed with Spiritual blessings according to that choice and predestination.

Some will argue that it is only the Apostles who were predestinated. Some argue that it was the Jews. But such arguments are so invalid that they do not merit a reply. The letter is addressed to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. To say the least of it the term embraces the faithful, not just the apostles or the Jews.

According to these texts the proposition is simply this: God did before the foundation of the world choose a portion of the human race to salvation, having, as the Scripture says, appointed them before hand by an unchangeable purpose (predestinated) to the adoption of children to Himself by Jesus Christ. The time element is before the foundation of the world. That was before man had an existence and therefore he could not have had anything to do with it.    

The end to which they were at that time predestinated was to the adoption of children. The act was an act of God. It was not an act of man. The act was to appoint people before hand by an unchangeable purpose to the adoption of children unto Himself. Notice, appointed before hand, to the adoption of children, and that by an unchangeable purpose. It is unchangeable. If it is unchangeable what can keep it from being successfully executed? Once again, the answer is simple: Nothing can.

In Romans it says” “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,” etc. So, once again it is people that are said to have been predestinated, and that, not only to the adoption of children, but also to be conformed to the image of His Son.

This is important, so let us briefly recapitulate” “Predestinate” means, “To appoint before hand by an unchangeable purpose.” It is God that did predestinate, and it is people that was predestinated. They were predestinated, or if you prefer, appointed before hand to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto God, and to be conformed to the image of Christ. The time was before the foundation of the world. So the doctrine of predestination is simply this: Before time began, God choose at least a portion of the human race that in Christ Jesus they should be holy and without blame before Him in Love. He appointed them unto the adoption of children to Himself. He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of Christ, and did so by an unchangeable purpose. That, in my judgment, is predestination, nothing more and nothing less.

The question now presents itself: “Upon what condition did God predestinate them unto the adoption of children?” The church bulletin says upon the condition that they repent and believe. The Bible mentions no condition whatever. Therefore a doctrine that predicates predestination upon any action of man is foreign to the Bible. It is a doctrine of man and not the doctrine of God.

To examine this error let us now return to the church bulletin. The writer says: “Paul indicates that (1) since God foreknows all future events including the conduct of every individual man, he takes into account his repentance and faith; (2) He then predestinates him to be conformed in the image of His Son,” etc. As to how anyone can get the idea that Paul indicates that God takes into account the sinner’s repentance and faith is not quite clear to me. He certainly did not say anything to that effect.

Let us notice the time element in the church bulletin. It says that God takes into account his repentance and faith and then predestinates him. According to this doctrine when does predestination take place? After God takes into account the repentance and faith of the sinner. In other words, if this be true, predestination is a continuing process, and is predicated upon the repentance and faith of the sinner.

That is, God is predestinating people today provided they repent and believer. This fixes predestination as of today, after and only after they repent and believe. Paul spoke of predestination in the past tense as having taken place before the foundation of the world. Here we find quite a difference in the time element. The Bible says, before time began. The church bulletin says, today. The church bulletin is therefore more than 6,000 years off – too late.

Another thing, never in this world would the young brother in the bulletin admit that repentance and faith can be produced in any way other then through the gospel. This with him it is the gospel call – then predestination. But Paul says just the opposite; “whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called.” The bulletin says that predestinates whom He calls; the Bible says He calls whom He did predestinate. Please remember that.

Now something else, if election and predestination are predicated upon repentance and faith, they are predicated upon good works. But the Bible teaches that election is of grace, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace,” – Paul. Grace is an unmerited favor bestowed upon a person. Repentance and faith contain merit. Election and predestination are therefore not predicated upon repentance and faith.

To prove that I have not misrepresented anyone and to show that the doctrine of the church bulletin is substantially that of all the advocates of free agency, I now copy from the Book of Theodicy by Albert Taylor Bledsoe, LL.D., professor of mathematics in the University of Virginia. This is the finest defense of free agency I have ever read.

The writer did a splendid piece of work. He used some 360 pages trying to prove free agency and trying to harmonize it with the perfections of God, and Bible teaching. But in the end he paid the usual penalty for trying to establish a false doctrine – he contradicted himself. From page 330 I copy two statements and if the reader will read them carefully I am sure he will detect a glaring contradiction in them:

No. I
“We cannot suppose God elected anyone because He foresaw his good works, so as to make election depend upon them, instead of making them depend upon election.”

No. II
“And we also suppose that such is the overflowing goodness of God, that all were elected by Him, and had their names written in the Book of Life, who He foresaw would yield to the influence of His grace, and by cooperating therewith, ‘make their calling and election sure’.”

In statement number one, Professor Bledsoe says that election does not depend upon good works, but rather good works depend on election. But in statement number two he says election does depend upon good works. There obviously is not room for compromise on this proposition. It is either one way or the other. If statement number one is true, and I think it is, then statement number two is not true.

On the other hand if statement number two is true, then statement number one is wrong. Without further discussion I shall now dispose of this point by simply affirming that there is no place in the Bible where it is stated that election and predestination of God’s people to eternal glory is dependent upon human activity of any description. There is not one.

The failure to recognize the condition of man is basically the cause of most of this misunderstanding. Man by nature is an alien sinner. He is dead in sin. He cannot act in a spiritual way. He cannot repent and believe. And furthermore he has neither the will nor desire to do so. If election and predestination had been conditioned upon the repentance and faith of the sinner there would never have been a soul saved in all the history of mankind.

Predestination is predicated upon and is an outgrowth of God’s love and mercy for His people, and His purpose is to save them from their sins. Every object of God’s love was, before time began, predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. Christ was sent to redeem and did redeem all who were predestinated, being every object of God’s love. And here in time God, by the Holy Spirit, through spiritual life and belief in Him. And everyone of them will finally be housed home in heaven with the God that loves them. There will not be one of them lost.

I don’t believe there is a man on earth that can take the Bible and prove that even one single person for whom Christ died will spend eternity in torment. To do so he would have to pick out a person, prove that Christ died for that person and then prove that that person will go to torment forever. I do not believe it can be done.

Copied from a booklet by Elder Glen Williams
(To be continued next issue)

The New Birth and Repentance

The scriptures teach that when people are born again, God writes his laws within their hearts and their minds. We quote the following seven passages that prove this principle:

A. Psm. 37:30, 31 "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."

B. Psm. 40:8 "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."

C. Jer. 31:33 "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."

D. Heb. 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."

E. Heb. 10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."

F. II Cor. 3:3 "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."

G. Rom. 2:14, 15 "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the mean while accusing or else excusing one another."

We draw several conclusions from the above seven passages:

A. God writes his laws directly into the hearts and minds of his children, there are no intermediators.

B. These laws written in the hearts and minds of God's people serve
as the foundation of the new covenant of worship.

C. These laws manifest themselves in the lives of God's people.

D. These laws serve as the foundation of a court room set up in the hearts and minds of God's people.

Upon the last conclusion we expand using Rom. 2:14, 15. There can be no trial or judgment without a law. No one can be tried for breaking a law when there is no law. In a court room there are laws, witnesses, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a judge. First, the laws are in the hearts and minds of God's people. Secondly, God has given us a conscience whose purpose is to be a faithful witness. Thirdly, our thoughts thru either accusing us or excusing us serve as both the prosecutor and the defense attorney. Finally, our hearts serve as the judge (I John 4:20).

God has built within each of his children a court room. The trials within our heart and mind serve to convict us and lead us to repentance. First, we are convicted of our own sinful condition which causes us to see ourselves as condemned before a just and holy God. Afterwards, we are enabled, by faith in Christ's atoning blood, to see Jesus as our Savior. Thus the court room of our heart and mind has served to both convict us and to justify us. For an example of these principles I encourage the reader to look at Isaiah's experience in Isaiah Chapter 6.

Secondly, this court room serves to convict us of individual sins, thus causing Godly sorrow within us. This in turn leads us to repent (II Cor. 7:10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of.") We do not repent in order to be born again or to become a child of God, but we repent because we are born again!

Finally, we ask ourselves, "What laws are written in our hearts and minds when we are born again?" I Thes. 4:9, tells us that God teaches us to love one another, "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." Similarly, I John 4:7 reads, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." Again, I John 3:14 says, "We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." From the above we can conclude that love comes from God and is placed within us when we are born again. God teaches us to love directly by writing the laws of love within our hearts. The Lord taught us that there are two great laws of love in Matt. 22:37 40, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Rom. 13:8, 20 teaches us that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Likewise, Gal. 5:14 reads, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Paul told Timothy in I Tim. 1:5, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Finally, James wrote in James 2:8, "If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well."

On the negative side we can conclude that before a man is born again, he will not love his neighbor or God, he will be totally selfish in his actions, he will have no conviction of sin or sins, and he will not repent or believe that Christ is his savior. The gospel is foolishness to him (I Cor. 1:18).

Conversely, the man that is born again, having the laws of love in his heart, will love both God and his neighbor, will manifest unselfish love, will be convicted of sin and of individual sins, will be led to repent, rejoice in the gospel of his salvation, and by faith see Jesus as his savior.

Only One Way to be Born Again

How many ways are there for being born again? Were people in the Old Testament days born again in a different way than in these New Testament days? Are those who die in infancy or those who are mentally incapable of responding to the gospel born again in a different way than those who do hear the gospel? Are people who never have an opportunity to hear the gospel born again in a different way than those who hear the gospel? We read in John 3:8, "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."   In a previous installment we noted that this scripture taught the sovereignty of God in bringing about the new birth. It also teaches us that "every one" is born of the Spirit in the same way. There is no such thing as some being born of the Spirit in one way and others being born again in a different way.

I want to look at five examples of people who were born again at different times and under different circumstances. It will be noted that they were all born again by the grace of God without man's help or cooperation.
Let us first look at David. David said in Psms. 22:9, 10, "But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me to hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly." Based on the above we know that God was David's God while still in his mother's womb and that he was made to hope while still a suckling infant. David was indeed born of the Spirit at a very early age. Due to this fact, the Spiritual birth had to be by the sovereign work of God without any human instrumentality. Remember our text says, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Thus we are all born of the Spirit in the same way that David was.

Second, we look at John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel prophesied to Zacharias concerning John in Luke 1:15, "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." Also we read in Luke 1:41, 44, "And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost...For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." Please note that John was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb and was filled with "joy." "Joy" is the second of the 9 fold fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22 and its presence proves John was born again while yet in his mother's womb. John's spiritual birth had to be by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit without any human instrumentality. Remember our text says, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit."  In the same way that John was born of the Spirit, so are we born of the Spirit.

Third, we look at the thief on the cross. At one time both thieves were railing upon Jesus (Matt. 27:44), but something happened to one of the thieves as he hang on the cross, for we read in Luke 23:39 43, "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly: for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Certainly a fundamental change had come over this thief who went from railing on Jesus to praising him and recognizing him as Lord during the first three hours he hung on the cross. This change was not brought about by any human instrumentality, but was the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. Remember our text says, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit." We are born of the Spirit in the same manner that the thief on the cross was born of the Spirit.

Fourth, we read in Acts 9:1 6 about Saul of Tarsus, "And Saul, yet breathing out threathenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priests, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me? And he said, Who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecuteth: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." We can all recognize that Saul went from being the church's worst persecutor to being the church's strongest defender based on what happened to him on the Damascus road. This change in Saul's life was not brought about by human instrumentality, but by the sovereign work of a Sovereign God. Remember our text says, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Finally, in Acts 10 we read of a Gentile by the name of Cornelius. In the last part of chapter 10 we read about how Cornelius and his household and friends heard the gospel preached for the first time. However, prior to hearing the gospel we have the following evidences that Cornelius was already born of the Spirit prior to ever hearing the gospel:

A. In verse 2 Cornelius is called a devout man.
B. In verse 2 Cornelius is said to "fear" God.
C. In verse 2 we find that Cornelius gave much alms to the people.
D. In verse 2 Cornelius prayed to God always.
E. In verse 4 we find that Cornelius' prayers and alms came up for a memorial before God.
F. In verse 15, God said he had already cleansed Cornelius and the Gentiles with him.
G. In verse 22, Cornelius is called a just man.

Now all the above was said of Cornelius prior to his ever hearing the gospel. By the evidences we are forced to conclude that Cornelius was born again without the use of human instrumentality, but by the sovereign work of a sovereign God. Again our text says, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Our grand conclusion must be that every one that is born of the Spirit is born of the Spirit in the same way that David, John, the thief on the cross, Saul of Tarsus, and Cornelius were. That is by the grace of God without human instrumentality. Praise be to God for what he has done for us.

Elder Vernon Johnson