Predestination and Gospel Blindness

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

(1 Corinthians 1:21-23)

In the previous section, we saw that the first step in the pattern God follows in the creation of man is His foreknowledge of each individual. That now brings us to the second step in God’s pattern: His predestination of man. It is important to note that in this series, we are focusing only on one aspect of predestination—salvation.

In this section, we will examine specifically God’s predestination of unbelievers, for as we will see later, His predestination of believers differs substantially. As we will learn, because of God’s predestination, there are none in heaven who should be in hell. Based on His foreknowledge of an unbeliever’s unwillingness to submit to Him, they are not chosen for salvation.

However, even though God knows these individuals cannot be saved, He still does not arbitrarily condemn them to destruction—doing so would render Him unjust. Instead, God employs a method that upholds His justice: He has chosen to save those who believe through the preaching of the gospel.

The apostle Paul tells us in the passage above that God has chosen through the “foolishness” of the message preached to save those who believe. Why this method? The answer is simple: it allows each person to make their own decision—to either believe or reject the message. Because God does not override human free will in this life, He remains just in not choosing the unbeliever for salvation.

 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us.

(Acts 16:13-15)

So then, if people freely choose whether to believe the gospel or not, where does predestination come in? The answer is that God ensures that all unbelievers, of their own free will, reject the gospel. And how does He do that? By blinding their minds, so they cannot perceive the truth of the message.

To establish this truth from Scripture, I have again cited four witnesses: the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, the prophet Isaiah, and the apostle Paul.

The first witness quoted above is the Holy Spirit. In the passage above, we see the apostle Paul preaching the gospel to a group of women. Although they all heard the same message at the same time, only Lydia believed. What was the difference? The Holy Spirit tells us that the Lord opened her heart to heed the things Paul spoke. In other words, because Lydia was chosen for salvation, the Lord enabled her to understand the gospel—whereas the others, not being chosen, were not granted such understanding.

Thus, we see that God hides the truth of the gospel from those not predestined for salvation. Someone in that position could hear the gospel a hundred times and still not believe it—not because they refuse to listen, but because they do not understand it, as to them, it is foolishness.

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

(John 12:37-41)

The second witness quoted above is the prophet Isaiah. In this passage, the apostle John explains why many Jews refused to believe in Jesus, even after witnessing numerous miracles. John answers this by quoting Isaiah, who declares that the reason they could not believe was because God had blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.

Isaiah further explains that God did this to prevent them from understanding, repenting, and being saved. In other words, God blinds the minds of those not chosen for salvation so that they cannot see the truth of the gospel.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

(Luke 10:21-22)

The third witness quoted above is the Lord Jesus. Here, Jesus explicitly teaches that God reveals the truth of the gospel to “babes”, while hiding it from the “wise and prudent.” He is not saying that all babes understand the gospel and all wise individuals do not. As the apostle Paul clarifies, few wise and noble are chosen, while many weak and despised are (1 Corinthians 1:26–27).

The key point is this: Jesus teaches that God the Father hides the gospel from those not appointed to salvation, while revealing it to those who are. This explains why many who consider themselves wise scoff at the gospel as foolishness—their minds are blinded to the truth.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

The final witness quoted above is the apostle Paul. He states clearly that the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing—those who do not believe because their minds have been blinded.

Here, Paul gives us more insight: Satan, the “god of this age,” is the one who blinds the minds of unbelievers. And he can do so because they belong to his domain (1 John 5:19). God permits this blinding, because they are not chosen for salvation. Thus, Satan is allowed to prevent them from seeing the light of the gospel.

In conclusion, all four witnesses—the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, the prophet Isaiah, and the apostle Paul—affirm the same truth: God’s method of predestining the unbeliever is by blinding their minds to the truth of the gospel.

Even if the gospel is proclaimed to them countless times, they will still, of their own free will, reject it and call it foolishness. Thus, God remains just in not choosing them for salvation, because they reject Him of their own accord.

Michael E.B. Maher

Predestined to His Purpose

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