Does Paul Teach Predestination in Ephesians 1 and Romans 8?
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Ephesians 1:3-12 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things (after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory."
Romans 8:28-30"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."
The early Greek-speaking Christians strongly and universally believed in free will. Yet they did not hesitate to quote these passages in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. What incredible integrity on their part! How can this be, if these passages require a Calvinistic interpretation? I mentioned earlier that the Gnostics believed in predestination and based that view on a misunderstanding of Romans 9 and quotes of Isaiah 6:9-10 in the gospels. Yet the early Christians never reported the Gnostics or anyone citing Romans 8:28-30 or Ephesians 1:4-5 in support of predestination. This interpretation, then, appears absent from the Greek writers. Marston and Forster give a solid definition of the Greek word proorizo ("predestine"):
"Predestination does not concern who should be converted; it concerns our future destiny. It is not that we are predestined to be Christians, it is rather that as Christians we receive a glorious future destiny ... to be conformed to the image of his Son."
Paul Marston and Roger Forster, God's Strategy in Human History (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000), p. 93.
I believe the key to Eph. 1:4,11 (as well as this Epistle as a whole) is understanding who Paul calls "us," "you," and "we." Jew-Gentile distinctions occupy a central role in this Epistle. In light of Paul's peculiar use of pronouns in this Epistle, I believe that Paul's point in 1:4-11 is that Gentiles have always been included in God's plan. Marston and Forster add:
"We are chosen in Christ. This does not mean that we were chosen to be put into Christ. It does not mean that God chose to make us repent but left others unrepentant! It means that as we repented and were born again into the body of Christ, we partake of his chosenness. He is chosen, and we are chosen in him. This was, of course, planned by God in his foreknowledge even before the world began. God decided that the church in Christ should be holy and blameless before him and should (also in Christ) be seated in heavenly places." (Ibid., p. 88)
In Romans 8:28-30, predestination takes second place to foreknowledge. And recall that predestination has reference to the requirement that believers be "conformed to the image of his Son." After first specifying the condition that a man love God and be called ("to those who love God and are called according to his purpose"), Paul goes on to describe God’s blessed plans for him. But there is nothing in this passage to say that these blessings comprehend individuals unconditionally or arbitrarily, especially in light of the conditions and warnings of verses 6, 12-14, and 17. Christ's justification is for all men who wish (Rom. 5:18), not just for some arbitrarily predestined number of men with the rest being sent to hell. With regard to verse 28, "to those who love God and are called according to His purpose," let us note that men can reject and resist God's purpose through their free will:
"But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John." (Luke 7:30)
"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit;" (Acts 7:51)
Calvinistic determinism is unbiblical. The Apostle Paul tells us elsewhere:
"This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. 2:3-4)
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