Predestination, according to oxforddictionaires.com comes from two words. Firstly pre meaning previous to or before. Secondly destination, meaning the place to which someone or something is going or being sent.
Predestination, therefore means that the place to which someone or something is going is known or decided in advance.
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Picture the scene: It is a child’s 5th birthday party and they are playing ‘pass the parcel’. Under each layer of wrapping there is a small chocolate. There are enough layers for each child at the party to unwrap and have a chocolate. The father of the child decides in advance when to stop the music to ensure that every child gets a chocolate. This is Predestination.
The doctrine of Predestination is closely related to the doctrine of Providence, which I would suggest you read before going any further.
There are two main views of the Christian Doctrine of Predestination. Both concern God’s knowledge of who will respond to His offer of Salvation through the Repentance of their Sin.
1. God is Omniscient (all knowing), He can foresee every possible response to every possible situation. This is often call Foreknowledge. Because of God’s Foreknowledge He knows, but has not decided who will respond to His offer of Salvation. This view of predestination holds that individuals have free will and can choose to respond to God’s offer to bring us to Salvation.
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Picture the scene: I believe that I don’t need to set an alarm clock because I have foreknowledge that my wife’s alarm will go off at the time I want to get up.
This doctrine of predestination would normally be held by someone who holds to the doctrine of Limited Providence or Free Will Theism.
2. The second view holds that because we are sinners we are all unable to choose Salvation by ourselves. Because of this, only God’s grace can bring us to Salvation and it is not the choice of the sinner. Therefore, God must choose or predestine who will (and who will not) achieve Salvation. It could be argued that with this view of predestination, humanity has no free will.
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Picture the scene: Remember that alarm clock my wife set? Well she predestined it to go off by setting it in advance. She did this because of her foreknowledge that I wouldn’t bother to set my own alarm!
This doctrine of predestination would normally be held by someone who holds to the doctrine of Meticulous Providence.
Someone who holds to the doctrine of Open Theism would not hold to the doctrine of predestination.
The main chapters in the Bible concerning predestination can be found in Romans 8 and 9, Ephesians 1.
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