Predestination E-Book

Andrew David Naselli

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Short Studies in Systematic Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

A Concise and Systematic Exploration of the Doctrine of Predestination  How can God choose to save some and eternally punish others? What about my loved ones who are not believers? For many, contemplating predestination brings about fear, trepidation, controversy, and emotional exhaustion, making it a difficult topic to study—let alone view as a blessing.  This addition to the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series carefully examines God's word to answer 15 commonly asked questions regarding the doctrines of election and reprobation. With helpful visuals, key definitions, answer summaries, and prayer responses, this concise guide is perfect for all believers who want to discover and delight in what God has revealed throughout Scripture. Readers will not only learn how God saves his people from their sins, but will be stirred to respond to him in worship.  - Great for Theologians, Pastors, and Students: Designed to be short and approachable, this concise study dives deep into the doctrine of predestination - Part of the Short Studies in Systematic Theology Series: Other titles include The Person of Christ; Glorification; and The Doctrine of Scripture - Written by Andrew David Naselli: Pastor and professor of systematic theology and New Testament 

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“Andy Naselli believes the subject of predestination is far too biblical and much too precious to keep hidden. It speaks of God’s glorious sovereignty and the wonder of his saving grace, as well as his holiness and justice. If you’ve avoided the subject for fear of offending someone or perhaps out of your own ignorance of what the word means, this book is for you. Naselli explores in a deeply profound but highly intelligible way what the Bible says about this controversial topic. I love this book and can’t recommend it too highly.”

Sam Storms, Founder and President, Enjoying God Ministries

“Andy Naselli makes a strong biblical case for election and reprobation. He aims not just to convince the mind but also to stir the heart to worship the sovereign Savior. Not all readers will agree with every facet of Naselli’s argument, but he demonstrates that the doctrine of predestination is firmly grounded in Romans 9 and other passages of the Holy Scriptures.”

Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

“Andy Naselli has given us a concise, accessible, and faithful treatise on the often-misunderstood topic of predestination. This book will become the go-to resource for both advocates and naysayers, helping Christians better understand God’s faithfulness and sovereignty.”

Rosaria Butterfield, Former Professor of English, Syracuse University; author, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age

“When we avoid discussing difficult biblical and theological subjects like predestination, we not only neglect what Scripture clearly teaches but also impoverish our view of God and therefore rob ourselves of the truth, comfort, and confidence that the doctrine is meant to give. For this reason, I am thrilled to recommend this book. Andy Naselli faithfully expounds the Bible’s teaching on predestination—and in such a way that we are led to glory in our triune God of sovereign grace and challenged to apply biblical truth to our lives in all of its breadth and depth. If you want to know what Scripture teaches about predestination, how to answer the common objections to it, and how to apply its truth to your life, then this book is for you.”

Stephen J. Wellum, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“How does one write a simple and clear treatment of one of the most complex and challenging doctrines? I’m not entirely sure, but that is precisely what Andy Naselli has done. This book provides an accessible and careful treatment of predestination that will serve pastors, laypeople, and all those who want to learn more about the wonders of God’s glory in election. Take, read, and be stirred to worship.”

Steven Lee, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, The North Church, Mounds View, Minnesota

Predestination

Short Studies in Systematic Theology

Edited by Graham A. Cole and Oren R. Martin

The Atonement: An Introduction, Jeremy Treat (2023)

The Attributes of God: An Introduction, Gerald Bray (2021)

The Church: An Introduction, Gregg R. Allison (2021)

The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction, Mark D. Thompson (2022)

Faithful Theology: An Introduction, Graham A. Cole (2020)

Glorification: An Introduction, Graham A. Cole (2022)

The Holy Spirit: An Introduction, Fred Sanders (2023)

Justification: An Introduction, Thomas R. Schreiner (2023)

The Person of Christ: An Introduction, Stephen J. Wellum (2021)

Predestination: An Introduction, Andrew David Naselli (2024)

The Trinity: An Introduction, Scott R. Swain (2020)

Predestination

An Introduction

Andrew David Naselli

Predestination: An Introduction

© 2024 by Andrew David Naselli

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

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Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7314-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7317-0 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7315-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Naselli, Andrew David, 1980– author.

Title: Predestination : an introduction / Andrew David Naselli.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2024. | Series: Short studies in systematic theology | Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023011170 (print) | LCCN 2023011171 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433573149 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433573156 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433573170 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Predestination.

Classification: LCC BT809 .N48 2024 (print) | LCC BT809 (ebook) | DDC 202/.2—dc23/eng/20230804

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023011170

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023011171

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-11-29 11:01:51 AM

To Phil Gons,

chosen by God

Contents

Illustrations

Series Preface

Introduction

Part 1

Vessels of Mercy

What Does the Bible Teach about Election?

1  What Is the Goal of Election?

2  When Did God Choose to Save Some Humans?

3  Did God Choose to Save Individuals?

4  Did God Choose to Save Individuals Based on Foreseen Faith?

5  Is Unconditional Election Unfair?

6  Do We Have Free Will?

7  Does Election Contradict God’s Desire That All Humans Be Saved?

8  How Does God Accomplish His Plan to Save Individuals?

9  How Do I Know If God Has Elected Me?

10  Did God Elect Babies Who Die?

Part 2

Vessels of Wrath

What Does the Bible Teach about Reprobation?

11  Who Ultimately Causes Reprobation?

12  How Does God Accomplish Reprobation?

13  What Is the Result of Reprobation?

14  What Is the Goal of Reprobation?

15  Who Deserves Blame for Reprobation?

Conclusion

Exult in God as You Take in the View

Acknowledgments

Appendix

Chapter Summary Questions and Answers

Further Reading

General Index

Scripture Index

Illustrations

Tables

 0.1  Two Ways to Respond to Predestination

 0.2  Defining Predestination, Election, and Reprobation

 0.3  Distinguishing the Synonyms Election and (Positive) Predestination

 0.4  Comparing Arminianism and Calvinism

 0.5  How TULIP Is Misleading

 0.6  Three Levels of Predestination’s Importance

 3.1  Four Kinds of Election

 4.1  Foreknowledge according to Conditional and Unconditional Election

 5.1  Arminianism versus Calvinism on God’s Special Grace

 6.1  Incompatibilism versus Compatibilism

 6.2  Four Possibilities for Whether Humans Are Morally Free to Choose What God Wants

 6.3  Doctrinal Tensions

 7.1  Biblical Examples That Distinguish Two Ways That God Wills

 7.2  Terms That Distinguish Two Ways That God Wills

 7.3  What Does God Value More Highly Than Saving All Humans without Exception?

 8.1  Analogies for How Regeneration Enables and Causes Faith

11.1  Two Views on Double Predestination

11.2  Eternal Death and Eternal Life in Romans 6:23

11.3  Two Views on the Logical Order of Different Aspects of God’s Decree

12.1  Ultimate, Proximate, and Efficient Causes

14.1  Doxologies in Books That Highlight God’s Wrath and Power and Mercy

Figures

 6.1  How Our Choices, Desires, and Heart Relate

 6.2  Evangelism That Assumes Incompatibilism

 8.1  Christ’s Nine Saving Events

Series Preface

The ancient Greek thinker Heraclitus reputedly said that the thinker has to listen to the essence of things. A series of theological studies dealing with the traditional topics that make up systematic theology needs to do just that. Accordingly, in each of these studies, a theologian addresses the essence of a doctrine. This series thus aims to present short studies in theology that are attuned to both the Christian tradition and contemporary theology in order to equip the church to faithfully understand, love, teach, and apply what God has revealed in Scripture about a variety of topics. What may be lost in comprehensiveness can be gained through what John Calvin, in the dedicatory epistle of his commentary on Romans, called “lucid brevity.”

Of course, a thorough study of any doctrine will be longer rather than shorter, as there are two millennia of confession, discussion, and debate with which to interact. As a result, a short study needs to be more selective but deftly so. Thankfully, the contributors to this series have the ability to be brief yet accurate. The key aim is that the simpler is not to morph into the simplistic. The test is whether the topic of a short study, when further studied in depth, requires some unlearning to take place. The simple can be amplified. The simplistic needs to be corrected. As editors, we believe that the volumes in this series pass that test.

While the specific focus varies, each volume (1) introduces the doctrine, (2) sets it in context, (3) develops it from Scripture, (4) draws the various threads together, and (5) brings it to bear on the Christian life. It is our prayer, then, that this series will assist the church to delight in her triune God by thinking his thoughts—which he has graciously revealed in his written word, which testifies to his living Word, Jesus Christ—after him in the powerful working of his Spirit.

Graham A. Cole and Oren R. Martin

Introduction

Why I Love Predestination

An advertisement for an energy bar pictures two triumphant climbers at the tip of a mountain peak, basking in the glorious view. The caption over the photo reads, “You’ve never felt more alive. You’ve never felt more insignificant.”1 Why do we love seeing grandeur and feeling small? Because God made us for God. That’s why I love what the Bible teaches about predestination.

An Invitation to Hike Up a Mountain

When you arduously hike up a mountain, it is satisfying to take in the breathtaking panoramic view at the top. God designed us so that we complete our joy by seeing God’s beauty, savoring him, praising him, and then sharing our joy with others. In this book I invite you to let me share my joy with you. The hike is not easy, but it’s worth it because the view at the top is awe-inspiring. The more you know about God and his ways, the deeper and sweeter will be your praise.

Who Is This Book For?

This book’s target audience is thoughtful Christians—both pastors and laypeople—who want to study what the Bible teaches about predestination. I wrote it with several types of Christians in mind, including my students at Bethlehem College and Seminary, the members of my church (to whom I preached the gist of this book in four sermons), my wife (a homemaker and homeschooling mom), and my oldest daughter (who was thirteen when I drafted it). My main audience is not professional academics, but I attempt to be academically responsible. I aim to explain a complex topic simply but not simplistically.

What Is Helpful to Know Upfront about Predestination As We Prepare to Study It?

I’ll attempt to orient us by answering six questions.

1. What If I Am Anxious or Fearful about Studying Predestination?

My wife, Jenni, was initially anxious about my writing this book. Here is what she wrote after reading a draft of it:

When Andy told me that he was planning to study predestination in order to write his next book, I honestly felt trepidation. I firmly believe and rejoice in the sovereignty of God, but the doctrine of predestination and especially reprobation felt very frightening to me, especially because some people I love are not believers. The thought of digging into that doctrine felt frightening—like digging into a dark hole. I wasn’t sure I would like what I found.

But each time I come back to Andy’s book, I come away with a completely different emotion. My heart is filled with grateful worship to God. There is nothing in me that caused God to choose me. I am amazed that the God of the universe chose me before the foundation of the world. The doctrine of predestination—rather than frightening me—has changed my heart and caused me to worship and love our good God even more. And that was surprising to me.

Friend, if you think predestination is hard to understand and even harder to treasure, you’re not alone. Many Christians have struggled with being assured that they are God’s elect. And most of us have loved ones who are rejecting Christ.

If you are anxious or fearful about studying predestination, take courage. All Scripture is God-breathed and “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). That’s true for what God says about predestination. These precious truths are gifts from the all-good, all-powerful, all-wise God to humble us, comfort us, and satisfy us with himself.2

Many people avoid talking about predestination or gloss over it or misinterpret it to fit with what they already presuppose. We are born with a self-centered view of the universe instead of a God-centered one. We naturally think, “It’s all about me.” We need a Copernican revolution so that our “felt reality” matches reality.3 My goal in this book is to clearly and faithfully explain and apply what God says about predestination.

2. How Should We Talk about Such a Controversial and Emotional Issue?

When I told friends that I was writing a book on predestination—that is, election and reprobation—some would pause long enough for me to read the thought bubble above their heads: “Wow, that’s brave. Election is controversial. And reprobation is frightening. That’s heavy stuff.”

Sometimes Christians passionately disagree with each other about predestination. For many of us, our convictions about predestination are deep. We feel strongly about how to interpret and systematize and apply what the Bible says about predestination.

So how should we talk about an issue that is often controversial and emotional? Carefully, reasonably, charitably, evenhandedly, patiently, humbly, convictionally, straightforwardly, soberly, joyfully.

It is pitiful how we can take a Bible teaching that should result in humility, praise, and comfort and instead talk about it with sinful pride, divisiveness, and anxiety (see table 0.1).

Table 0.1 Two Ways to Respond to Predestination

The Right Way to Respond to Predestination

The Wrong Way to Respond to Predestination

Be humbled.

Be proud.

Praise God.

Be divisive.

Feel comforted.

Feel anxious.

We self-centered sinners routinely rebel against God’s brilliant designs. We can turn a blessing into a wicked mess—like indulging in sexual activity outside of marriage or misusing authority to oppress others. Let’s not turn the blessing of predestination on its head.

Predestination is a teaching that God has revealed to us for his glory and our good. To talk about predestination in a humble way does not mean that we shrug our shoulders and decline to address it in detail since Christians disagree about it. To talk about predestination in a humble way means that we unreservedly affirm and cherish whatever God has revealed. We must not be embarrassed about what the Bible teaches. It does not honor God to say, “The Bible teaches that, but I don’t like it,” or, “The Bible says that, but it can’t really mean that.” We do not have the authority to judge what God has revealed. And if we feel the need to apologize for something God has said, then we must repent of our arrogance. If we have a problem understanding the nature and rationale of what God has revealed in Scripture, then the problem is with us—not with God’s word.4 We must be aware that sin has affected even our thought processes and that we are finite creatures who think we are a lot smarter than we really are. We think we know better than God does, and we don’t like it if we are not in control.

So let’s approach predestination on our knees and with open hands. Let’s not stand over the word of God as if we are the judge. Instead, let’s kneel under the word of God as humble learners. And let’s be committed to believe and cherish whatever God reveals.

This is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2)

3. What Do Predestination, Election, and Reprobation Mean?

Predestination may be contentious and alarming for some Christians, but we must not ignore it because it is all over the Bible. The Bible refers to God’s people as “the elect” (Matt. 24:22, 24; 24:31; Mark 13:20, 22, 27; Luke 18:7; 2 Tim. 2:10) and “God’s elect” (Rom. 8:33; Titus 1:1). What does that mean?

When addressing a controversial topic, it is crucial to define key terms clearly. I repeatedly use the words predestination, election, and reprobation in this book, so I will define those keywords here at the beginning.

In the New Testament, predestine translates proörizō, which occurs six times (Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29–30; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5, 11). Proörizō means “decide upon beforehand, predetermine.”5 It is an action that God does. God predetermines whatever takes place (Eph. 1:11; cf. Acts 4:28), and for God to predestine a person means for him to predetermine a person’s destiny.6 While it is valid to use predestination for everything God decrees,7 I am using predestination specifically regarding a person’s eternal destiny—similar to what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:9: “God has not destined us for wrath, but [God has destined us] for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (NASB).8 (See table 0.2.)

Table 0.2 Defining Predestination, Election, and Reprobation

Predestination

God predetermined the destiny of certain individuals for salvation (election) and others for condemnation (reprobation).

Election

Reprobation

God sovereignly and graciously chose to save individual sinners:

God sovereignly and justly chose to pass over nonelect sinners and punish them:

“vessels of mercy, which [God] has prepared beforehand for glory” (Rom. 9:23)

“the elect” (Rom. 11:7)

Jesus’s sheep (John 10:27–29)

“vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Rom. 9:22)

“the rest” (Rom. 11:7)

not Jesus’s sheep (John 10:26)

positive predestination for eternal life

with distinct goals (see chap. 1)

in accordance with God’s love, mercy, and grace

negative predestination for eternal death

with distinct goals (see chap. 14)

in accordance with God’s wrath, power, and justice

Predestination means that God predetermined the destiny of certain individuals for salvation and others for condemnation. Predestination has two parts: choosing to save some (election) and choosing not to save others (reprobation).

Election is positive predestination: God sovereignly and graciously chose to save individual sinners. God predestined certain individuals (i.e., predetermined their destiny) for salvation.

Reprobation is negative predestination: God sovereignly and justly chose to pass over nonelect sinners and punish them.9 God predestined certain individuals (i.e., predetermined their destiny) for condemnation. (Proörizō does not refer specifically to reprobation, but other destine-words do. See 1 Pet. 2:8; cf. Rom. 9:22; Jude 4.) The word reprobation does not appear in the Bible, but it is a common label that theologians use for a reality that I believe the Bible teaches.10

The range of meanings for election and (positive) predestination overlaps. They can function as synonyms. What distinguishes them is that election emphasizes the who and predestination emphasizes the what.11 That is, election emphasizes that God chose us, and predestination emphasizes what God chose us for—“to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29) and “for adoption to himself as sons” (Eph. 1:5). But we should not overemphasize this distinction between the who and the what because (1) God chose us for something—“that we should be holy and blameless” (Eph. 1:4)—and (2) God “predestined us” (Eph. 1:5; cf. Rom. 8:29–30). (See table 0.3.)

Table 0.3 Distinguishing the Synonyms Election and (Positive) Predestination

Election

(Positive) Predestination

Emphasizes the who:God chose us.

Emphasizes the what:God predestined us for something.

Includes the what:God chose us for something.

Includes the who:God predestined us.

I think “those whom he predestined” (Rom. 8:30) are synonymous with “God’s elect” (Rom. 8:33), and I agree with Doug Moo that “chose” and “predestined” are “essentially equivalent” in Ephesians 1:4–5.12

In this book I use the terms predestination, election, and reprobation as shorthand for what I believe the Bible teaches. I am not being creative. This is the standard way that Reformed theologians use those three terms. For example, John Calvin explains,

We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or to death.13

Similarly, J. I. Packer explains, “It has become usual in Protestant theology to define God’s predestination as including both his decision to save some from sin (election) and his decision to condemn the rest for their sin (reprobation), side by side.”14

4. What Are the Two Main Ways Theologians Have Understood Predestination?

If you walk into a room where two people are hours into a deep conversation, it would be responsible and respectful for you to have a basic understanding of what they are talking about before you weigh in on the conversation. As we consider predestination, it is helpful to remember that we are entering a conversation that theologians have been carrying on for centuries, so before we continue that conversation, it would be responsible and respectful to have a basic understanding of what some influential theologians have argued.

Specifically, it would be helpful to be familiar with the two major positions on predestination—commonly called Arminianism and Calvinism. Those labels are common nicknames or shorthand for different ways of thinking about predestination. Authors have written entire books on how Augustine (354–430) or John Calvin (1509–1564) or Jacob Arminius (1560–1609) or John Wesley (1703–1791) understood election. We are not focusing on historical theology in this book, but we should value it and benefit from it. So let’s get our bearings by surveying the two main ways theologians have understood predestination in the context of larger theological frameworks.15

Instead of focusing primarily on Arminius and Calvin, I am focusing on the mainstream teaching in the Arminian and Calvinist traditions without getting sidetracked on intramural debates. Table 0.4 compares Arminianism and Calvinism on six issues.

Table 0.4 Comparing Arminianism and Calvinism

Issue

Arminianism

Calvinism

God’s sovereignty

God’s sovereignty is general. God is in charge of everything, but he does not ordain everything. For example, God does not ordain sin; he allows sin to preserve man’s free will.

God’s sovereignty is meticulous. God is in charge of everything, and he ordains everything—even sin.

Man’s depravity

As a result of Adam’s fall, man is radically depraved and thus cannot repent and believe in Jesus without God’s special grace. (God gives that special grace to everyone; Arminians call it prevenient grace.)a

As a result of Adam’s fall, man is radically depraved and thus cannot repent and believe in Jesus without God’s special grace. (God gives that special grace to only some people—the elect; this grace is effective and invincible.)

God’s election

God’s election is conditional. God chose to save sinners he foresaw would freely choose to believe in Christ.

God’s election is unconditional. God sovereignly chose to save individual sinners based on his forelove.

Christ’s atonement

The intention of Christ’s atonement is general—that is, it provides salvation for all people without exception. Christ’s atonement provides payment for the sins of all people, but God applies it to only those who repent and believe (i.e., the elect).

The intention of Christ’s atonement is definite—that is, it provides and accomplishes salvation for only the elect. Christ’s atonement provides payment for the sins of only the elect, and God applies it to only the elect.

The Spirit’s grace and man’s will

The Spirit’s saving grace is universal and ultimately resistible—that is, every individual receives prevenient grace and can reject it. Man has a free will in the sense that he can make equally alternative choices in the same circumstances. So man is equally free to choose or reject Christ. Theologically, repentance and faith precede and cause regeneration.

The Spirit’s saving grace is particular and ultimately irresistible—that is, it is persuasively effective for the elect. Man has a free will in the sense that he chooses what he most wants. The Spirit does not force a man to repent and believe against his will; the Spirit transforms a man’s heart with the result that he wants to repent and believe. Theologically, regeneration precedes and causes repentance and faith.

The believer’s perseverance

Genuine believers can finally fall away from the faith. They can fail to continue in the faith and thus will not be eternally saved.

Genuine believers (i.e., the elect) cannot finally fall away from the faith. Believers continue in the faith (perseverance) because God preserves them as eternally secure (preservation).

a. On prevenient grace, see the end of chap. 5.

God’s sovereignty (the first issue in table 0.4) is the overarching category.16 Everything follows from how you define God’s sovereignty. If God’s sovereignty is meticulous and not merely general—that is, if God is in charge of everything and ordains everything—then it follows that God also ordains every human’s eternal destiny. It’s an argument from the greater to the lesser. If I can pick up a refrigerator, then I can pick up a gallon of milk that’s in the refrigerator. If God ordains everything, then he ordains a man’s salvation.

The final five issues in table 0.4 correspond to the popular Calvinist acronym TULIP:

Total depravity

Unconditional election

Limited atonement

Irresistible grace

Perseverance of the saints

The origin of the TULIP acronym is unknown. “The five points of Calvinism” were originally a five-point response to Arminians. In 1610, Arminius’s followers presented a Remonstrance (a written protest) in the Netherlands containing five points that objected to John Calvin’s Institutes and arguably to Reformed confessions. The Synod at Dort (1618–1619) unanimously condemned the Remonstrance and responded to it with their own five-point answer, and that five-point structure persists.17 The popular TULIP acronym is misleading (see table 0.5),18 but it is so memorable and well-known that Calvinists still use it.

Table 0.5 How TULIP Is Misleading

TULIP

More Accurate (Less Misleading)

Explanation

Total depravity

Man’s pervasive corruption

Total may sound like absolute or utter. The point is not depravity’s depth (as if every person is as wicked as he possibly can be) but depravity’s breadth. Every aspect of a person is corrupt. Man is radically (i.e., at the root) corrupted in the sense that evil pollutes his whole being—body, will, mind, conscience, etc. The corruption is all-pervasive—like salt permeating sea water or chlorine permeating pool water. Pervasive (or radical) corruption describes man’s condition, and total inability describes the result of that condition. That is, unregenerate man cannot repent and believe in Jesus apart from God’s special grace.

Unconditional election

The Father’s sovereign election

Unconditional may sound like arbitrary—as if God the Father selected individuals randomly and whimsically (e.g., flipping a coin or picking names out of a hat). The point is that before God created the world he sovereignly chose to save specific individuals by name without basing his choice on any human conditions. The all-wise God has reasons for everything he does, and we don’t know what all of them are.

Limited atonement

Christ’s definite atonement

Limited may sound like tiny, weak, sparse, defective. But Christ’s atonement is global, powerful, lavish, perfect. The point is that Christ did not die for everyone in the same way. Christ definitively provided and accomplished redemption for particular individuals—the same individuals whom the Father elected (sovereign election) and whom the Spirit regenerates (effective grace). The members of the triune God do not work contrary to each other but in a unified way to accomplish the same goals.

Irresistible grace

The Spirit’s effective grace

Irresistible may sound like what a robber does (attack, force, steal) or what a prostitute does (tempt, allure, seduce). Further, irresistible may sound like it is impossible to resist God’s grace. Of course, it is possible to resist God’s grace (Acts 7:51). The point is that it is impossible to ultimately resist God’s special saving grace. It’s effective (i.e., it successfully produces the result that God intends) because it’s invincible (i.e., it’s too powerful to defeat or overcome). When God’s Spirit causes a man to be born again, he gives spiritual life to a man who was spiritually dead; he changes that man’s heart by effectively calling him so that he willingly (not reluctantly or protestingly) comes to Christ. Regeneration is not a joint effort in which the Spirit contributes his part and we contribute ours; the Spirit’s effective grace is entirely one-sided—like when Jesus cried, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43).

Perseverance of the saints

God’s preservation of the saints

Perseverance may sound like a believer’s activity is the key. The point is that believers persevere because God preserves them. (Those who claim to be neither Calvinists nor Arminians typically like this teaching—or at least a truncated version of it: “Once saved, always saved.”) We work out our salvation because God works in us the willing and the working (Phil. 2:12–13).

TULIP presents a logical order according to Calvinism:

It starts with man’s desperate need to be saved (T), and the rest explains how God saves his people.God the Father chose to save specific individuals without basing his choice on the condition of faith (U).God the Son atoned particularly for those individuals the Father chose to save (L).God the Spirit effectively calls them to himself (I).God enables them to persevere until they die or Christ returns (P).

J. I. Packer summarizes Calvinism in three words: “God saves sinners.”19

This introductory chapter to a concise book on predestination is not the place to explain in depth the complexities and nuances of Arminianism and Calvinism. Many other resources helpfully argue for Arminianism20 or for Calvinism.21 The purpose of this short survey is to orient us to how predestination is part of larger frameworks for understanding how God saves sinners. Arminians and Calvinists agree on many evangelical doctrines, but they fundamentally differ on predestination.

You have probably figured it out by now, but I’ll say it in case you are still wondering: I am a Calvinist. I use the term Calvinism as theological shorthand. I do not follow John Calvin in a proud or partisan way (see 1 Cor. 1:12) or in every way, but I am convinced that Calvinism faithfully expresses what the Bible teaches. My goal in this book is not to explain and defend what John Calvin wrote about predestination—though I essentially agree with him.22 My goal is to explain and defend what the Bible teaches about predestination.

5. How Important Is Predestination?

Some Bible teachings are more important than other Bible teachings. Paul writes, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received” (1 Cor. 15:3). “First importance” implies that although everything in the Bible is important, not everything is equally important. Some doctrines are more important than others. That is why Jesus could refer to “the weightier matters of the law” (Matt. 23:23). We can distinguish at least three levels of importance (see table 0.6).23

Table 0.6 Three Levels of Predestination’s Importance

Level

Labels

1

First-level issues

Essential for the Christian faith

Dogma

Fundamental teachings

2

Second-level issues

Crucial for church health but not essential for the Christian faith

Doctrine

Denominational distinctives

3

Third-level issues

Important but not essential for the Christian faith or crucial for church health

Disputable matters

Matters of conscience

You do not have to affirm the Calvinist view of predestination in order to be a Christian (level 1). But predestination is not merely a matter of conscience (level 3). I think affirming the Bible’s teaching on predestination is crucial for a church to be robustly healthy (level 2).

My church has two statements of faith—one that the pastors (also called elders) affirm and one that the members affirm. The Elder Affirmation of Faith upholds Calvinism (without using that word), and the Member Affirmation of Faith upholds basic Christianity (plus credobaptism). An Arminian may be a member of our church but not a pastor of our church, and members know that our church teaches in accord with the Elder Affirmation of Faith. We think it is crucial that our pastors and other teachers be aligned on predestination because it directly affects how we make disciples. It affects what and how we preach and teach and sing and pray and counsel.

6. How Will We Explore What the Bible Teaches about Predestination?

This book attempts to answer specific questions regarding what the Bible teaches about predestination. Part 1 addresses election (chaps. 1–10), and part 2 addresses reprobation (chaps. 11–15):

1. What is the goal of election?

2. When did God choose to save some humans?

3. Did God choose to save individuals?

4. Did God choose to save individuals based on foreseen faith?

5. Is unconditional election unfair?

6. Do we have free will?

7. Does election contradict God’s desire that all humans be saved?

8. How does God accomplish his plan to save individuals?

9. How do I know if God has elected me?

10. Did God elect babies who die?

11. Who ultimately causes reprobation?

12. How does God accomplish reprobation?

13. What is the result of reprobation?

14. What is the goal of reprobation?

15. Who deserves blame for reprobation?

I crafted and arranged these questions as I studied what the Bible teaches about predestination. This is my attempt to synthesize and organize both what the Bible explicitly teaches and what we may reasonably infer.24 Such correlating or systematizing is doing systematic theology.25

1. See Andy Naselli, “God Is Supreme,” Andy Naselli (blog) November 6, 2021, https://andynaselli.com/god-is-supreme.

2. John Calvin, a French pastor-theologian in the 1500s, reminds us that in Scripture “nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to know, so nothing is taught but what is expedient to know.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 3.21.3 (924).

3. Joe Rigney, “Submit Your Felt Reality to God,” Desiring God, May 19, 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/.

4. To clarify, (1) the Bible itself is without error, but (2) a human’s interpretation of the Bible is not necessarily without error. On interpreting the Bible, see Andrew David Naselli, How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2017).

5. Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 873 (προορίζω; hereafter cited as BDAG).

6. “Person” includes both humans and angels. Aquinas rightly asserts, “Predestination applies to angels.” Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae: Prima Pars, 1–49, trans. Laurence Shapcote, Latin/English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas 21 (Green Bay, WI: Aquinas Institute, 2017), q. 23, a. 1 (254). Angels are either elect (1 Tim. 5:21) or evil (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). Cf. C. Fred Dickason, Angels: Elect and Evil, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 42–45. This book focuses on the predestination of humans.

7. E.g., “Predestination and election are not synonyms, although they are closely related. Predestination has to do with God’s decrees concerning anything. A specific type of predestination is election, which has to do with God’s choosing certain people in Christ to be adopted into the family of God, or, in simple terms, to be saved.” R. C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2014), 222.

8. Elsewhere (in contrast to the previous footnote), Sproul defines predestination the way I do in this book. E.g., “We may define predestination broadly as follows: From all eternity God decided to save some members of the human race and to let the rest of the human race perish. God made a choice—he chose certain individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven, and he chose others to pass over, allowing them to suffer the consequences of their sins, eternal punishment in hell.” R. C. Sproul, Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1997), 141. See also R. C. Sproul, Chosen by God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1986), 23.

9. Some theologians label two aspects of God’s decree of reprobation as preterition and precondemnation. (1) Preterition means that God sovereignly and justly chose to pass over nonelect sinners. He did not choose to save certain individual sinners; he chose to leave some sinners to themselves in their sins; he chose to withhold grace. God did not choose to pass over some sinners in the same way that he chose to save some sinners (see chap. 11), and his choice to pass over some sinners is based on his sovereign will (see chap. 7). (2) Precondemnation (or predamnation) means that God sovereignly and justly chose to hold accountable the sinners he passed over by punishing them. God will execute his decree when he righteously condemns people for their sins; hell is what sinners deserve. E.g., see Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger, 3 vols. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1992–1997), 1:380–82; Peter Sammons, Reprobation and God’s Sovereignty: Recovering a Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2022), 121–27.

10. I offer you the same invitation John Piper does: “I invite you to penetrate through words into reality. Providence is a word not found in the Bible. In that sense, it is like the words Trinity, discipleship, evangelism, exposition, counseling, ethics, politics, and charismatics [and I would add reprobation]. People who love the Bible and believe that it is God’s word want to know what the Bible teaches, not just what it says. They want to know the reality being presented, not just the words that were written. . . . The task of a teacher is not just to read the Bible to his hearers, but to explain it. And explaining means using other words besides the ones in the text. Throughout the history of the church, heretics have frequently insisted on using only Bible words in defending their heresy.” John Piper, Providence (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 15–16; emphasis original.

11. See Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. and trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., 5 vols. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2013–2016), 1:112; Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 199, 228.

12. Douglas J. Moo, A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ, Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2021), 272. A more form-based translation of Ephesians 1:4–5 is “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, . . . having predestined us for adoption as sons.” Most translations break up the single sentence of 1:3–14 into several English sentences and begin a new sentence in 1:5. For example, the ESV begins 1:5, “He predestined us.” If the participle proörizō (predestine) modifies the verb “he chose,” then it is not clear how God’s predestining relates to his choosing—e.g., contemporaneous time (God chose us when