When asked the question, what comes to mind when the word Calvinism is mentioned, one can't avoid the doctrine of predestination. But like a precious jewel, this doctrine has many facets to it that are worthy of being mused. What is predestination? What are the decrees of God? Is God the author of evil? Does God use evil to bring about His predetermined ends? And the list goes on.

Where then can one begin in the research for the heart of this doctrine? The scripture to be sure, is the place to begin. I am aware of many who outright avoid or even worse deny the existence of predestination. That is perhaps the most irresponsible of positions to take as the text is plain as to its existence. So let's look at the biblical use of the word firstly.

There are five occurrences of the word, all in the New Testament.

The Easton`s bible dictionary gives this definition:

This word is properly used only with reference to God's plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered "predestinate" is found only in these six passages, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5, 11; and in all of them it has the same meaning. They teach that the eternal, sovereign, immutable, and unconditional decree or "determinate purpose" of God governs all events.

Having looked at the uses and definition of the word I would like to then draw attention to the supporting texts of the word whereby we may gain a better clarity from scripture first.

Gen. 21:12 But God said to Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named."

Exodus 9:16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 33:19 And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name "The LORD." And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

Joshua 11:20 For it is the LORD`s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

1 Samuel 12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name`s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.

2 Chronicles 6:6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Psalm 33:12 blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.

Psalm 78:68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves

Psalm 135:4 for the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

Isaiah 41:1-10 (see)

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Mark 13:20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

Luke 22:22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!

John 6:37 All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 17:2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

John 17:6 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

John 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

Acts 3:18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Acts 13:48 And when the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts 17:26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Romans 9:11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad- in order that God`s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call.

Romans 9:18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 9:21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?

Romans 11:5 So to at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Ephesians 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 For we know brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Having delved into the scriptures usage and certainly not having exhausted the references nonetheless we move onto the next element of research in the uncovering of the provocative doctrine. Ecclesiastically we then must deal with the presuppositions of the church fathers with respect to the doctrine, yet nonetheless, we see a pattern of Godly men having given exposition to predestination. There have been countless texts making reference to or based upon it. We see the writings of Augustine (A treatise on the predestination of the saints), and Gottschalk (Confessio Brevior (Shorter Confession Concerning Double Predestination)) to name a few, the early pre-reformation fathers giving attention to this most important doctrine. Gottschalk in the ninth century was condemned, tortured, imprisoned and denied a Christian burial for falling on the wrong (or right) side of this debate. 

Moving into the reformation period the doctrine especially gained momentum with respect to its controversy. You have the decidedly what we now call Arminian view which was advocated by the likes of: Erasmus, Jacob Arminius and John Wesley to name a few. Erasmus wrote his treatise on the freedom of the will on September 1 1574, this led to the response by Martin Luther with his magnum opus, the bondage of the will, completed in December of 1575. The battle between the two resulted namely from pressure by the pope to Erasmus and latter the king of England leading to his treatise. It is the decidedly antiquated argument over the free will of man vs. the sovereignty of God. Predestination lay at the heart of the controversy. For the sake of time I shall leave the details of this argument for another day and introduce the next great battle in which predestination lie in the center of, namely the Remonstrant's.

James Arminius wrote a revision of the Dutch confession and Heidelberg catechism. In these he gave his refutations to the articles in question and one being on predestination. In short this eventually led to the Synods of Dordt taking up these objections and inevitably rejecting them as abhorrent teaching. This led to the Canons of Dordt being drafted out of the Dutch church affirming the churches original stance on predestination, which I will attempt to clarify later.

John Wesley`s view on predestination was such: Wesley`s struggle with the Calvinists centered around to the doctrines of election and predestination. As early as 1725, Wesley wrote his mother that these doctrines consigned a vast majority of the world to eternal death, without so much as a possibility of avoiding it...How is this consistent with either the Divine Justice or Mercy? Was it merciful to ordain a creature to everlasting misery? Was it just to punish man for crimes which he could not but commit? He went to claim that the doctrines would make God the author of sin and injustice. To lie under either a physical or a moral necessity is entirely repugnant to human liberty. He also declared faith an assent upon rational grounds. (Dave Brown, author) At this time, the resistance to his objections rose for George Whitfield. Whitfield adamantly defended the reformed view of predestination and refuted John Wesley. A good exposition on this battle is available at, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3505/WhitefieldWesleyGrace.html

A non exhaustive list of advocates from the reformation and post reformation period are as such:

• BB Warfield - http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/bbwpredest.htm
  
• John Calvin - http://www.lgmarshall.org/Calvin/calvin_eternalpred.html
  
• John Murray - http://www.lgmarshall.org/Reformed/murray_comparison.html
  
• John Gill - http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/Sermons&Tracts/sermon_07.htm
  
• Augustus Toplady - http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/attoptowes.htm
  
• Francis Turretin - http://www.apuritansmind.com/FrancisTurretin/francisturretinpredestination.htm
  
• John Calvin – from Institutes - http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/calvin.html
  
• BB Warfield - http://www.lgmarshall.org/Warfield/warfield_predestination.html
  
• A.A. Hodge - http://www.the-highway.com/articleAug02.html
  
• Theodore Beza - http://www.covenanter.org/Beza/bezas_table.html
  
• Octavious Winslow - http://www.gracegems.org/W/r26.htm
  
• Charles Spurgeon _ http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0241.htm
  
• Henry Bullinger - http://www.covenanter.org/Predestination/bullinger_04_04.html
  
• John Foxe - http://www.covenanter.org/Predestination/foxe_predestination.html
  
• W.G.T. Shedd - http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/wgt_shedd/wgt_shedd.DoublePredestination.html
  

  
   

In the contemporary circles we see the likes of John Macarthur, John Piper, RC Sproul, etc. defending the traditional views of predestination. All this to merely give an overview of the theological consideration given within the ecclesiastical realm for nearly 2000 years and the shape it has taken within the church yet still creating hotly contested disputes and debates. In the mainly reformed denominations, such as Presbyterian (PCA) and reformed Baptists, the doctrine has been accepted into the church confessions. Other mainline churches such as the Methodists, Baptist, and Assemblies of God, to name a few, are strongly Arminian on their view.

Another consideration on the doctrine of predestination is what I call confessional predestination. I must admit the recent fascination on my part towards the legitimacy and nuances of the doctrine stemmed from the Westminster Confession of Faith. In the Confession is stated thusly:

Chapter 3

Of God`s Eternal Decrees

1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
   
2. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.
   
3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.
   
4. These angels and men, thus predestined, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their numbers so certain and definite, that it cannot be increased or diminished.
   
5. Those of mankind that are predestined unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto; and all to the praise of his glorious grace.
   
6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.
   
7. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extended or withheld mercy, as he pleased, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.
   
8. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men, attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel.
   

This is a precise and well conceived statement that hits the heart of God`s eternal decrees. Some of this is very difficult to wrap our minds around due in part to the mystery of God, due in part to the Majesty of God and his subsequent incomprehensibility. We know only what the scripture tells us and no more. We know God, for his good pleasure, has decreed what he has decreed without consulting or feeling the need to instruct us any deeper than what has been revealed.

Summary

Predestination has long been a mysterious doctrine to me. I doubt my ability to ever add more to the evidential support to the debate. I write these things not to come off as more or less intelligent as any other saint but in doing so, it allows me to work out the nuances a bit more clearly in my mind. My hope is that the thoughts of this essay were such that the reader could track my thoughts on the subject. Many elements were left superficial within the context of this essay to be worked through on another day, such as the problem with evil. May the spirit bless the reader as I have been blessed in the working out of this text.

Soli Deo Gloria