The Necessity of Predestination

December 13th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 8:28-30 We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Man’s salvation is not something he attains on his own. The fact is, God has already chosen those who will receive His saving grace, and He did this prior to the laying of the earth’s foundations (Eph. 1:4; cf. Rev. 13:8). Man does not know who the elect of God are amongst the world’s population; only God knows His own. They are the wheat of Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43 that He held in His hand and scattered all over the planet on the sixth day of creation when He created in Adam and Eve the future offspring of humanity. It is these that God “foreknew” and “predestined” to salvation. These are the ones God “called,” summoning them to salvation through the spoken and written word of God (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23, 25). God sets His mercy, grace, and love on these (Rom. 5:5; 8:35; Eph. 1:6; 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1), offering them the truth of the gospel after removing the spiritual blinders from their eyes and drawing them to Christ (Isa. 45:22; 55:6; Ezek. 33:11; Matt. 11:28; John 6:44; 7:37; Rom. 8:30; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Rev. 22:17; cf. 2 Cor. 4:3-4). God then sanctifies His own, calling them “holy ones” and “saints” (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 1 Peter 2:5, 9), for they are eternally set apart from the kingdom of darkness.

Only “those” whom God has foreknown, predestined, called, and justified will certainly be glorified. For, just as all five terms are written in the past tense and already accomplished long before the elect receive their physical lives, glorification, though not present today in the lives of Christians, is also a certainty. It too is a past tense action accomplished by God alone in eternity past. God loses nothing of what He has ordained to occur, for nothing is stronger or more powerful than God who is sovereign over His creation. God allows many evil things to occur under the curse which He subjected the world to after man’s fall (Gen. 3), but He is the One manipulating all things to work together for His ultimate end.

Only “those” who “love God” can expect God to work all things in their lives for their good and for His glory. These are the ones who cannot resist God’s effectual calling. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). Jesus calls those whom God has given to Him “sheep,” and like a shepherd who loves and cares for his sheep, Jesus loves and cares for His own. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28). Note that Jesus used the word “know” in regard to His sheep. He has always known them, and His true sheep not only hear His voice, they follow Him. This is indicative of God’s foreknown, predestined, adopted children.

Those foreknown and predestined to eternal life are distinguished from those who are not. The repetition of the word “those” throughout the passage shows that not all are chosen for salvation. Many hear the gospel, for “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). In that context “called” is not used in the same manner as Paul uses it in his NT letters. Matthew uses it only in the external sense of a general calling of those who can hear. Paul uses it as a summons to salvation for the elect. As Paul presented the teachings of Jesus in Antioch of Pisidia, only those who had been “appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). He spoke to many, and in that sense many were called. But since only a few were “appointed to eternal life,” only they believed. Without God’s mercy and grace in appointing the elect, none would ever believe.