Pertinent Scripture Passages.
On the one hand there are Bible passages that emphasize predestination and seem to violate human freedom of will and choice.
(Ephesians 1:3-5 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. {4} For he [God] chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love {5} he [God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
(Ephesians 1:11 NIV) In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him [God] who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
(Rom 8:28-30 NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. {29} For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. {30} And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Underline emphasis added.)
On the other hand there are plenty of passages which encourage people to make righteous life choices in order to receive salvation.
(Galatians 6:7-9 NIV) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. {8} The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. {9} Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
(Revelation 2:7 NIV) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
(Philippians 2:12-13 NIV) Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, {13} for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
(Mark 1:15 NIV) “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Underline emphasis added.)
(Joshua 24:15) “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19) “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
The above cited and similar passages, interpreted solely from the temporal perspective, have spawned a great deal of confusing theology that smacks of the biologic and mechanistic determinism of secular humanism on the one hand or of a dangerously unrestrained dominance of human will on the other. The tension in this argument has rent the fabric of love in the Christian church, mercilessly frustrating ordinary Christian believers and fueling the fires of angry argumentation, so much so that church “leaders,” whom I have known, advocate “keeping this fight in house” so that the world does not see the bitter ecclesiastical strife that shames Christ and might therefore turn away unsaved people from the Bible’s good news.
There are two extreme positions in this argument. One extreme consists of self-proclaimed devotees/interpreters of the reformer John Calvin, who claim that God decides everything in advance and that people are predestined (hence, predetermined) to salvation or condemnation before they are born and thus have no choice in the matter.
The other extreme consists of adherents of Jacob Arminius who emphasize that people have to make a choice, and that it is their personal freely willed choice that independently determines whether they receive salvation or damnation.
The Calvinists are so concerned with defending God’s sovereignty (as if He could not defend it Himself) that they insist on emphasizing God’s sovereignty over everything, which includes divine obliteration of the human freedom to choose, which God Himself has give to man. The Arminians insist on human free will being the ultimate determinant of salvation and suggest that God, in predestining people, somehow gazes forward in time to see what they will choose, and thus bases His “predestination” on their “foreseen” free choice. In this way human beings assume a sort of divine sovereignty, since God simply submits His will to their wills.
Neither extreme has conceded the other’s point of view, and in centuries past people have, quite literally, lost their heads in this argument, which is a sad public testimony for the church!
Between the two extremes in this conflict are a variety of intermediate positions. But the manifold variations and convoluted arguments need not be discussed in order to resolve the conflict. When both the eternal and temporal perspectives in the Bible are acknowledged and properly focused, there is no need to take up sides in this “private,” and often bitter, religious fight.
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