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Predestination
Predestination is a teaching to which some Christians have adhered, including
the Reformed theologian John Calvin. While the doctrine of predestination has
sometimes been hotly disputed, it belongs within the larger context of John
Calvin's teachings about God's grace.
Calvin argued from Scripture that God has "predestined" or
"elected" some people to be saved in Jesus Christ and others not to
be. He insisted, nonetheless, that we could be sure only of our own salvation;
we were never in a position to judge whether or not another person was saved. As
the Second Helvetic Confession says,
We must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a
reprobate. (5.055)
For Calvin, the point of the doctrine of predestination was to remind us that
God is free and gracious. There is nothing that we can do to earn God's favor.
Rather, our salvation comes from God alone. We are able to choose God because
God first chose us.
Properly understood, the doctrine of predestination frees us from speculating
about who is saved and who is not. God has already taken care of these matters
in the mystery of God's own being. We are called to hear God's good news in
Jesus Christ and to trust in God through Jesus Christ.
For the preaching of the Gospel is to be heard, and it is to
be believed; and it is to be held as beyond doubt that if you believe and are
in Christ, you are elected. (Second Helvetic Confession, 5.059)
The doctrine of predestination is to be
"held in harmony with the doctrine of [God's] love to all
mankind . . . [and] with the doctrine that God desires not the death of any
sinner, but has provided in Christ a salvation sufficient for all"
(amendment to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 6.192).
(Copyright © 1997, PresbyFax, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),
Louisville, KY.)
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