Sunday, September 10, 2023

Phil Bair on Acts 4:27-28 and the use of προοριζω

  

The usage in verse 28 above does not refer to individual salvation at all, and therefore is not relevant to our discussion. I will, however, point out that the word does not mean the decisions of Herod and Pilate were causally determined. What occurred was determined, but the decisions that led to what occurred were not. God knew what those decisions would be, and he used them to accomplish his objectives. In other words, the scriptures never tell us that Herod and Pilate could not have made other choices. God can determine specific outcomes without determining the choices that led to those outcomes. (Phil Bair, Calvin’s Desperation: How John Calvin’s Unbiblical Divine Determinism Destroys the Credibility of the Christian Faith [2023], 120)