PREDESTINATION IN
THE BIBLE
The word “predestine” occurs only six times in the Bible, all in the New
Testament. Predestination is not a prominent theme in the Scripture. By
comparison, the verb translated “believe” (pisteuō)
occurs 241 times in the New Testament alone. The Greek word behind “predestine”
is proorizō. A standard Greek lexicon
defines the verb as “to come to a decision beforehand—to decide beforehand, to
determine ahead of time, to decide upon ahead of time.” Another lexicon defines
the word in a similar way: “decide upon beforehand, predetermine.” Do the six New Testament occurrences of the word indicate precisely what was decided beforehand? Every New
Testament occurrence of the word proorizō
is considered here in its context to determine what was decided, or determined, in advance.
ACTS 4:28
They did what your power and will had
decided beforehand should happen.
—Acts 4:28
Acts 4:28 is part of Peter and John’s prayer spoken upon their release
by the religious authorities. Verses 25–26 quote from an Old Testament text,
which states that people raged against the Lord and the Christ. In verse 27,
Jesus is identified as the Christ, who was rejected by both Herod and Pilate.
Verse 28 continues the prayer by referring to the actions of the people: “They
did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” In this
verse, the action predestined was neither
every event in history nor the
salvation of certain people chosen by God from eternity past. Rather, the
action predestined—or decided in advance—was the cross of Christ.
ROMANS 8:29–30
For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined,
he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also
glorified.
—Romans 8:29–30
Paul has already established in his letter that all people are sinners
(Rom 1:18–3:20). Thankfully, God justifies sinners through the atoning work of
Christ on the cross. People are justified, or made right with God, by faith in
Jesus (3:21–5:11). Adam’s transgression, which resulted in death and judgment,
was answered by Christ’s gift, which resulted in justification and life for
those who receive God’s grace (5:12–21). Chapters 6 and 7 address a believer’s
relationship to sin. Chapter 8 deals with many important themes, especially the
work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The Holy Spirit is
mentioned nineteen times in the chapter, as God reveals his glory in and renews
his broken creation (vv. 18–30). Romans 8:27 states that the Holy Spirit
intercedes for saints, a common biblical term for believers. Verse 28 contains
the well-known promise that all things work together for good for those who
love God. The following terms in verses 27–28 describe the same group of
people: saints, those who love God, and those who are called according to his
purpose.
Verse 29 states
those whom God foreknew (“to know in advance”) God also predestined. Who is
predestined, and for what purpose? The verse refers to people “predestined to
be conformed to the image of his Son.” In verse 29, predestination does not refer to God from eternity choosing
certain people for salvation. Instead, the verse promises that believers are predestined to, one day, be glorified and thus conformed to the Son’s
image. In other words, God decided in advance that those who believe in
Jesus will one day be like Jesus.
Verse 30 refers
to the same group, “those whom he predestined,” and states they were called,
justified, and glorified by God. Other texts also reveal that believers will be
glorified. Paul writes, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). John promises,
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been
made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Predestination in Romans 8:29–30 is a
promise that believers in Jesus—those who are called, justified, and
glorified—will one day be conformed to and remade to be like Jesus.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:7
No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God
destined for our glory before time
began.
—1 Corinthians 2:7
In this verse, Paul refers to God’s wisdom as a mystery, “a wisdom God
predestined before the ages for our glory” (CSB). What was the hidden wisdom
that God predestined? Paul uses the same phrase at the end of his letter to the
Romans. He refers in his doxology to “the message I proclaim about Jesus
Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages
past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the
command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the
obedience that comes from faith” (Rom 16:25–26). In the doxology of Romans, the
hidden mystery is that through faith in Christ, the gentiles were included
among God’s people. Paul teaches the same concept in Ephesians 1:9; 3:2–9; and
Colossians 1:26–27. According to 1 Corinthians 2:7, God predestined that the
boundaries constituting God’s people would expand in Christ to include the
gentiles.
EPHESIANS 1:5, 11
He predestined us for
adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and
will.
—Ephesians 1:5
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose of his will.
—Ephesians 1:11
In the Greek, Ephesians 1:3–14 comprises one extended sentence of praise
to God. The emphasis is union with Christ, as demonstrated by the ten
statements in these verses, such as “in Christ,” “in him,” or “in the One he
loves.” For example, Paul states, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight” (Eph 1:4). God chose believers, a group, in Christ. William Klein
comments on Ephesians 1:4, “The ‘chosen ones’ designate the corporate group to whom
Paul writes with himself (and presumably all Christians) included: God chose us. The focus is not on the selection of
individuals, but the group of those chosen.” In other words, Ephesians 1
concerns corporate election, God’s
choice of a group. Those who define election as God’s choice of certain
individuals for salvation also affirm corporate election. However, their
definition of election renders their corporate view as a reference to the group
composed of those individuals chosen by God for salvation.
Herschel Hobbs
commented on Ephesians 1: “ ‘Predestinated’ translates a verb meaning to
mark out the boundaries beforehand (see v. 11). But note also that God has
chosen ‘in him.’ Thus God’s election was in Christ. And he marked out the
boundaries of salvation in love, not by an arbitrary choice.” Hobbs concludes,
“God has chosen ‘in the sphere of Christ.’ He elected that all who are ‘in
Christ’ shall be saved. ‘In Christ’ is the boundary that God marked out
beforehand, like building a fence around a field.” He adds, “Man is free to
choose whether or not he will be in Christ.” Hobbs writes, “Simply stated,
before the foundation of the world God elected a plan of salvation and a people
to propagate that plan.” Chadwick Thornhill’s explanation is similar: “God
intends to accomplish the plan through his previous decision to adopt the elect
as children through Jesus Christ.” He clarifies how predestination in Ephesians
1 should not be interpreted: “We need
not read this as God marking out certain individuals for salvation and thereby
rejecting others, but rather God determining the sphere and the means by which
his people will be identified as his children.”
Predestination is mentioned twice in Ephesians 1. In verse 5, believers
are predestined for adoption. Romans 8:23 refers to adoption as a future event: “the redemption of our
bodies.” In Ephesians 1:11, believers are informed they have been predestined
to obtain an inheritance. In both verses, predestination refers to what occurs
to believers and what they receive, not
how they become believers. Verse 13 clarifies how a person becomes a believer, stating: “And you also were
included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised
Holy Spirit.” According to Ephesians 1:13, believers are those who hear the
gospel, believe in Jesus, and are sealed with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1,
predestination refers to what occurs to believers and what they receive as a result
of trusting in Jesus. (Adam Harwood, Christian Theology: Biblical,
Historical, and Systematic [Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Academic, 2022],
583-89)
