by Jeremy Sprouse ~ April 8th, 2008
There are some false doctrines that are so prevalent they have made some passages of the Bible harder to understand. They have redefined words and twisted Scriptures to make the Bible say something it never intended to say. Take Romans 8:29-30 for instance. What does this passage mean by foreknowledge or by predestination? Imagine that all the people in the world are citizens in one of two countries. The first country is composed of all individuals who are saved. The second is composed of all who are lost.
The Calvinistic doctrine of predestination says God placed you in one of these countries before you were even born. He has already mapped out your life. You had no choice in the matter and have no choice now. There is nothing you can do to switch your citizenship. This conflicts with numerous Scriptures about the character of God. How can God be just when He has judge people on actions He predestined them to do? How can God be holy if He predestined some to perform evil deeds? How can God be loving if He set some up to fail and be condemned eternally? It just doesn’t fit. God doesn’t want anyone to perish—He wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The Calvinistic view of predestination must be false.
The Biblical doctrine of predestination says God has chosen how people will become citizens of these countries. Take a closer look at Romans 8:29-30. First note foreknowledge is not predestination. Just because you know something is going to happen doesn’t mean you make it happen. God knew before the foundation of the world some would come to Him for salvation and some would not. He predestined what path those who would come to Him would have to take—to be conformed to the image of His Son. We are called to be conformed thus by the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Those who make the choice to obey this gospel and conform to the image of His son will be justified and glorified.
God predestined the path, not the people. He has told us how to be a part of the country of the saved and those who ignore Him become a part of the country of the lost. The choice is up to us where we want to make our citizenship.
