Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
We have seen thus far that God has His perfect will for mankind but that He also has His permissible will for man. We have also seen that God is all knowing and that because He is God His will prevails in His creation. So how does God’s will prevail among men, even though most men choose not to walk in God’s perfect will for their lives? In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit answers that question for us when He reveals to us that God predestines the lives of men. The concept of predestination seems to be at odds with the concept of men having a free will. But if we understand that God predestines men’s lives based on His foreknowledge of how men will use the free wills given to them, then the two concepts are no longer at odds with each other. In the passage of scripture quoted above when the apostle Paul taught us about God’s predestination of our lives, he linked that concept to God’s foreknowledge of us. There is a common misconception in the church that when scripture refers to the foreknowledge of God that it is refers to God’s ability to see into the future. While that statement is true it is only partly true however. Let me explain. Unlike that which is commonly taught in the church, God does not have knowledge of the future as a passive observer, but rather He has knowledge of the future as the one who determines what the future will be. However, God’s foreknowledge goes even further than that, because scripture reveals to us that God’s foreknowledge of His creations also refers to His intimate knowledge of His creations before He ever creates them. In other words when we say that God has foreknowledge of how we will exercise our free will, we are not saying that God looks into the future to see how we will do that. Rather we are saying that God knows how we will use our free wills before we ever exercise that ability. And so because God knows how we will use our free wills He then predestines our lives accordingly. And so it is in this manner that God knows our future because He has already predestined it before we are even created. Let’s take salvation as an example. God knows before He creates us which of us will choose salvation and which of us will reject His perfect will of salvation. And so God predestines for salvation, those who will choose it as an act of their free will. While at the same time God predestines for destruction, those who will reject salvation as an act of their free will. And so it is therefore based on God’s foreknowledge of His creations that He then predestines their lives accordingly.
1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (2) elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Peter teaches the church the same truth that the apostle Paul taught, for in this passage Peter also links the concept of God’s election of the saints with His foreknowledge of them. Election and predestination are two terms that are completely interrelated, for God chooses those whom He predestines. And so if we were to take the aspect of salvation as an example, the sequence of events would be as follows; it begins with God’s foreknowledge of His creations. Based on God’s foreknowledge of how His creations will exercise their free will He then chooses them either for salvation or destruction. Based on God’s election He then predestines their lives to either obtain salvation or to enter into destruction. And so it is because God predestines their lives that He then knows all their future.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comentários