PREDESTINATION according to the Bible, not man's interpretation.

Predestination For Eternal Life….Not according to Scripture

 

Some were taught about predestination (as it pertains to eternal life) in the following manner: In the beginning, God determined that a certain person would be born and after living his life on this earth, would inherit eternal life. In other words, God de­termined or set in advance what this person’s destiny would be. If God had actually done that, then why would He put someone’s name on the book of life, and then remove it? In doing that, would that not be saying that God either did not predestinate that person or that God made a mistake? Well, we know that God does not make mistakes, so then He must not have predestinated the person in question to have eternal life

Have you never heard of the scriptures saying that God would remove people’s names from the book of life? The following scri­ptures show that God has said, He would blot out the names of some of those written in the book of life for certain reasons. (Ex 32: 33, Psa 69:28, Rev 3:5 & 22:19)

Saying that God determined our eternal destiny in the beginning, is also saying that we do not have a free choice to believe or not believe, to obey or not to obey, and we are not a free moral agent. This is not consistent with the way it was in the beginning and God is always consistent in what He does. In the Garden of Eden He gave Adam and Eve the choice to believe or not to believe His word and He gives us that same choice today. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He changes not.

You might ask why I am addressing the issue of predesti­nation. It’s for this reason. If you have been taught, and do believe, that in the beginning God selected the persons that will inherit eternal life, those would be the predestinated ones, then you must also believe that no matter what you do in life, it will not cause you to fail in achieving that which God has appointed unto you. This concept is taught in many churches and causes those believers to have a false sense of security that does not exist. By the same token, if God did not predestinate a certain individual to eternal life, then no matter what that person does in his life, he can never be saved. But did not God tell Cain that he could be saved if he did well? God also speaking through the prophet Ezekiel said: it was not His will that the wicked die, but that they would repent and live. He also said that only the person that sins would be lost. God also said that He has no pleasure in the death of anyone and would rather that all live. The Apostle Peter said: the Lord doesn’t want any to perish, but all to repent.

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, shall you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and he shall rule over you.” (Boldface words changed by the author due to a poor translation)

Ezekiel 18:23 “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die said the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live”?

Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.”

Ezekiel 18:32 “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, said the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves around, and live.”

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concern­ing his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God did predestinate certain individuals to perform certain tasks in their life. God said in Exodus 9:16 that He raised up Pharaoh during the time of Moses for a certain task. Paul also told the Ephesians that God predestinated the apostles for a certain work. But even though many more could be pointed out, these serve as examples that God did predestinate and sent certain ones to serve Him in very specific ways.

Exodus 9:16 “And in very deed for this cause have I raised you up, for to show in you my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” (God’s word to Pharaoh)

Ephesians 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (He was Speaking of the Lord’s apostles only)

Since we have already covered the Scriptures that speak of God blotting out names in the book of life which were in Exodus 32: ­33, Psalms 69:28, and Revelations 3:5 & 22:19, we must realize in order for certain names to be blotted out, they must have been put there in the first place.

In Revelations 17:8, it speaks of certain people “whose names were not written in the book of life. Now why would God put someone on this earth and not give him or her opportunity to re­ceive eternal life? That is just the point, He wouldn’t. For all have the same opportunity to receive the call from God, but if they chose not to heed that call, their names will never be put on the Book. As the scripture says, the call of God comes from hearing the Word.

Romans 10:13-18 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. {14} How then shall they call on him in who they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of who they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? {15} And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! {16} But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who has believed our report? {17} So then faith comes by hear­ing, and hearing by the word of God. {18} But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

Ephesians 1:13 “In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in who also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,”

2 Thessalonians 2:14 “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 4:2 “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 22, verse 14, the Lord says, “many will be called, but few will be chosen”. The many that are called, are those who hear the Gospel of the Lord. When they accept that call, God puts their names on the Lamb’s Book of Life. The few that will be chosen are those whose names remain on the book until the end. The Lord said in John 6:44 that no man can come to Him unless God draws him. God draws people into the Kingdom by the hearing of His Word.

This concept of predestination of all believers to inherit eternal life is a result of teaching basically centered on a few verses in the 8th chapter of Romans and on the first chapter of the book of Ephesians. Let’s begin by looking at Romans 8: 29-30.

Romans 8:29 says: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren”.

Let’s look at who this scripture is referring to. Who was the first-born among many brethren? It was obviously Jesus. But what makes this verse to be misread is two words that the original translators added to make it read better, but what these added words actually did was tend to change the meaning of the state­ment.

The two words that were added, that was not a part of the original writing, were the words to be after predestinate. If you would read the verse without the words to be in it, it would say:

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did pre­destinate conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren”.

God predestinated Jesus, Conformed to or fashioned like unto, his Son. With the words to be added, makes it sound like someone else was predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus. And without a doubt, Jesus was the first-born (of the Spirit of God) among many brethren.

I know what Revelations 22:18 and 19 say about adding to or taking away from the words in the Bible. But I say unto you that if any man, the original translators especially, have added any words to the Bible that have changed the meaning of a pas­sage, making the doctrine inconsistent with other teaching in the Bible, then those words need to be removed, to restore the mean­ing back to the original word of God. And if I did not believe that the Holy Spirit had revealed this to me, I would never dare to touch it and face the possibility of going against the Word of God.

Let’s look at what Romans 8:30 says:

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified”.

The thing that drew my attention to this verse was the statement at the end of the verse; “them he also glorified”. The only person that has been glorified is Jesus. In the Gospel of John chapter 7 verse 39, it speaks of Jesus having not been glo­rified as yet, because He had not ascended to the Father and sent back the Holy Spirit. Then John 12:16 speaks of when Jesus had been glorified. Then Jesus Himself talks about it in John 13:31 and Peter also in Acts 3:13. So what the Scriptures say to us is that until the time comes that Jesus returns and receives us, and glorifies us by giving us a new body, then only He, has been glorified up to now.

John 7:39 “(But this spoke he of the Spir­it, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet giv­en; because that Jesus was not yet glori­fied).”

John 12:16 “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.”

John 13:31-32 “Therefore, when he had gone out, Jesus said; now is the Son of man glori­fied, and God is glorified in him. {32} If God was glorified in him, God shall also glo­rify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.”

Acts 3:13 “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; who you deliv­ered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.”

The other problem I had was with the word “them” being glori­fied. Since this spoke of more than one person being predestinat­ed and glorified, I questioned the use of the word “them.” Since only Christ has been glorified I felt that possibly they had used the wrong word in the trans­lation process.

When I looked up the word them in the Greek to English dic­tionary, I found the Greek word to be the word “Autos.” It said that the Greek word “Autos” could have been translated to any one of the following words:

 

He               Her              Him             His              it                                           She             Their           Them                    They           That      

Those                   The Same  This Man

Since it was obvious that this passage was talking about Jesus, a more correct translation would have been: He, Him, or This man. This would make the passage read:

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, Him he also called: and whom he called, Him he also justified: and whom he justified, Him he also glorified”.

Then in the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul says that God chose the apostles before the foundation of the world:

Ephesians 1:4 “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”:

And Paul continues to state that God predestinated them:

Ephesians 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”

Now some have said that Paul was talking to the church in Ephesus and was speaking of the Saints in the church having been chosen and predestinated before the foundation of the world. But that is not who Paul was speaking about, he was talking about himself and the other apostles.

Paul goes on to say that the apostles have obtained an in­heritance after having been predestinated because they were the first who trusted in Christ.

Ephesians 1:11-12 “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will: {12} that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”

Then Paul ends off speaking about the apostles and addresses the Ephesians, starting at the 13th verse.

Ephesians 1:13-14 In whom you also trust­ed, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, {14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The Scriptures must not be taken out of context or they will be misunderstood. These are the only scriptures in the Bible that speak of predestination and they are talking about: (1st), Jesus, in Romans the 8th chapter, and (2nd), the apostles, in the first chapter of Ephesians.

As much as I would like to believe that God has predestinated me to receive eternal life and God having set my destiny, nothing could prevent it from happening, it cannot be right, for it is not consistent with the rest of the scriptures. God put man on the earth and made him a free moral agent, capable of choosing right from wrong. God predestinated and sent Jesus to make a way for mankind to obtain eternal life. And as God says in Genesis 3:22, if man chooses to put forth his hand and take of the tree of life, and eat, he will live forever.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that those who will be saved were predestinated to receive eternal life.

Let’s look at some who are named in the Bible whose names were in the book of life, but chose to turn their back on the Lord. Jesus sent seventy of His disciples out to preach, as is recorded in Luke chapter 10 and when they returned, He said to them to re­joice because their names were in the book of life. Then those seventy rejected His word and turned away from Him. In chapter six of John, because they rejected His word and turned back to their old ways, they without a doubt had their names removed from the Book of Life.

Anyone that has the desire in their heart to serve God, are those whom He is calling or drawing to Himself, and if they obey His commandments and endure until the end, they will be saved.

There were a number of people who were predestinated, chosen by God to serve Him according to the calling that He determined in the beginning. Some of those were the pro­phets, Moses, Jesus Himself, John the Baptist, and the apostles.

These persons had no choice in the matter, for God so influ­enced their lives they could do nothing else, but what He predes­tinated them to do.

But remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist:

Matthew 11:11 “Truly I say unto you, among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: not­withstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

The person that is the least or smallest in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than John. Why? Because John was chosen by predestination and those who are “least” to which He was referring, answered the call of God and chose to believe on their own.

Then also remember what Jesus said to the Apostle Thomas:

John 20:29 “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have be­lieved: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Yes, Jesus says that those who are given the choice to be­lieve by faith in His Word and accept Him as God’s Son are more blessed than Thomas was. If God predestinated all the people in the world, and knew in advance how they were to live their lives; what could we possibly do to please Him?

Once again we have seen how the poor selection of one word and the addition of a word in the translation process can change the meaning of a Scripture. Even though the King James Version of the Bible is the most accurate translation that we have, we must be sure that any subject is dealt with in a consistent manner throughout the scriptures, because the Word of God is consistent and does not change.

I believe that every person living today has the opportunity to obtain eternal life, but there are many who will not take ad­vantage of that opportunity. Some refuse to take advantage of it by keeping themselves separated from ever hearing the gospel. That is why the Lord said that many, not all, would be called. Then there are those who receive the call of God through the gospel, and refuse to accept it; these will never have their name entered on the Lamb’s Book of Life.

So the term predestination, which has been applied to the eternal security of a person, has been misunderstood. It does not pertain to eternal life, but was used by God to foreordain certain persons to perform His will in certain situations. God continues to use man in this day to perform certain tasks according to His will, but in no way does this guarantee that person eternal life. All persons obtain eternal life the same way, by accept­ing Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.

Two scriptures that are used to support the doctrine of predestination for eternal life are Revelations 13:8 and 17:8. These two verses read as though names were put on the Book of Life before or at the foundation of the world. The phrase that causes some to think that is where it says: “. . . from the foundation of the world.”

Rev 13:8 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Rev 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

The word “from” was not translated from the Greek in the original scriptures, but was added by the translators. This word “from,” causes these verses to be read as though they mean at the foundation of the world, but from doesn’t mean “at.” A better word that should have been used, and means the same thing as “from”, is the word “since”.

Reading these verses with the word “since” used instead of the word “from”, gives a clear­er understanding of when believers’ names were put on the book of life. They were put there after the foundation of the world, whenever the person first accepted Jesus Christ.

There is nothing wrong with using the word “from” in these verses; the problem is with our definition of what the word “from” really means.

God predestinates certain people to perform certain works for Him, but, according to the scriptures, does not predestinate any certain individual to obtain eternal life.

 

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