Is Predestination Biblical?
The teaching that God chooses some for salvation and others for destruction is not biblical. The Bible teaches that people have a choice, expressed through faith. Biblically, predestination is God’s plan of salvation, established before Creation, and made known through His prophets in advance. God desires that all people be saved, and He made provision for man’s salvation before sin arose. Romans 8:29–30 and Ephesians 1:5–11 show that God’s plan was in place before it was carried out. This is what the Bible means when it speaks of God’s predetermined will.
Salvation is offered to all people as a free gift; none are excluded from the invitation (Romans 1:16; Revelation 14:6; Titus 2:11; 1 Timothy 2:3–4; 2 Peter 3:9; Luke 14:23; John 3:17). God’s will is that all people will choose to accept the salvation He provides (1 Timothy 2:3–4; 2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 33:11). But God’s will for us can only be carried out with our permission. Salvation must be accepted by a personal choice (Deuteronomy 30:19; John 3:36; Ezekiel 18:32).
Only God’s decision makes salvation available, but it is our decision whether to respond to that invitation. This is why God continually presents the results of obedience and disobedience through His prophets and apostles, and pleads with sinners to choose obedience (Joshua 24:15; Isaiah 1:16, 20; Revelation 22:17; John 7:37–38).
Further evidence that salvation is a personal choice rather than a pre-selected outcome is the fact that a believer may fall away and be lost (1 Corinthians 9:27; Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 6:4–6, 10:29; Ezekiel 33:12–20; 2 Peter 2:20–21). Paul mentions Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus as examples of those who strayed from the faith (1 Timothy 1:19–20; 2 Timothy 2:17–18).
Predestination in the Bible refers to God’s predetermined plan to offer salvation through Jesus, the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), and His desire that all people put their faith in Jesus for salvation. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). This invitation is presented repeatedly. Free will is what permitted sin to enter the human race. But God has not rescinded our free will. Instead, it is the means by which we are permitted to choose salvation.
The “elect” are not chosen because of God’s arbitrary selection of a minority. All who choose to believe are the elect. Their choice of faith and repentance places them among those whom God can permit to enter Heaven and receive eternal life. 2 Thessalonians 2:13–15 describes God choosing in advance to call us to salvation through the gospel. We must choose to respond to that call. God knew in advance that there would be a small group who would choose to believe, but He did not predetermine the decision each individual would make.
Predestination is only fulfilled in Christ, and it is impossible for those who remain in Him to be lost. As long as they remain in Christ, their salvation is assured. But that decision is left up to them, and not to God. He has decreed that all who obey Him through faith will be saved; but He has left men free to make their own decision on whether to comply with the conditions He ordained beforehand. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Each individual must choose their own destiny.