PREDESTINATION

"Predestination" is the idea that God determined something beforehand. The noun itself does not appear in the Bible, but the verb behind it does. The Greek term is proorizo (pro — "before" and horizo — "to mark out, to set a boundary"). It is found six times in the New Testament (Acts 4:28; Romans 8:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11). English versions render it "predestinate," "foreordain," or "determine before."

In each case, the term refers to God's plan. He determined beforehand that Christ would die for sin (Acts 4:28), that the gospel would be revealed (1 Corinthians 2:7), and that those who are in Christ would be adopted as his children and conformed to the image of his Son (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:29).

The Scriptures do not teach that God selected specific individuals, before they were born and without regard to their own response, to be saved or to be lost. That is the Calvinistic doctrine of unconditional predestination (election), and it cannot be harmonized with the Lord's desire that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9) or with a gospel that is to be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15-16).

What God predestined is a plan and a people, not each person's future destiny regardless of any personal choice on their part. He "chose us in him" (Ephesians 1:4): the blessing is in Christ, and each person decides whether he will enter that relationship by obedience to the gospel (Galatians 3:26-27).

See ELECT.