A by-request item for a dear relative of mine
concerned with ‘double predestination’(DP) themes (supposedly) arising from the
below passage…
What do foreknowledge
and predestination in Romans 8:29-31 mean?
“For
those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”(Rom
8:29-31)
First, it
should be noted that DP needs to be questioned from the start given that here
God’s foreknowing precedes His predestining, whereas in the Calvinist
scheme God’s decrees are not a function of anything apart from His will (not
even His foreknowledge). Nevertheless,
the word ‘foreknowing’ (vs.29) contains a richer sense than just the cognitive
(all emphasis mine, italics in the original):
“The ‘knowing’ here is generally understood in the Hebraic sense of fixing
one’s loving regard upon a person.
But although the Hebrew verb yada comes close in meaning to bahar,
‘to choose’, it has rather the sense of an intimate knowledge of the person in
question…The verb thus refers to the loving knowledge which God already has
of His people. It does not refer to
the separation of the elect and consequent rejection of the reprobate, a
thought which is not present in the context.” (Kept By the Power of God,
I. Howard Marshall, p.102)
“(Foreknowledge) does not indicate advance awareness of knowledge of
someone; it refers to God’s choice, his electing decision…God’s calling is not
a haphazard thing, nor is it something cold and formal. It is filled with the warmth of love, as in
the Hewbrew word ‘to know’…From these passages we learn that fellowship with
Christ in his sufferings is the prelude to sharing with him in his glory. God sent his Son in our likeness that we
might eventually be like him” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary Vol.10,
Everett Harrison, p.98)
“It is more likely that Paul is using the term know in the customary
Semitic sense of affection rather than in a merely cognitive sense. To ‘know’ someone is to love that
one. So to ‘foreknow’ someone means to
love that one ahead of time…What God loved ahead of time (ultimately from
the foundation of the world) was the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the
church considered as a corporate whole.” (Satan & the Problem of
Evil, Gregory Boyd, p.117)
Other
instances in Scripture were the verb ‘to know’ occurs are Gen 18:19, Exo 33:12,
Num 16:5, Jer 1:5, Hos 13:5 and Amos 3:2.
When it comes to God’s eternal plans, His foreknowing is often one with
His love.
Second,
although already alluded to above, the meaning of ‘predestination’ therefore is
hardly one denoting a selection of elect and non-elect individuals for
salvation (a’la Calvinism):
“Predestination is…a term for the ‘purpose’ of God that intends Christ
to be the ruling Son in a great family of faith, the members of which are all
like him in spiritual nature as if they had been cloned from Him. Not his DNA, but ‘the Spirit of Christ’
alluded to frequently in the earlier context (Rom 8:9-27) will unite the
community so as to fulfill the eternal purpose of God. The perspective is corporate and
delineates the assured destiny of the church.” (William MacDonald in Grace
of God Will of Man, ed. Clark Pinnock, p.226) (emphasis mine)
“…God has set Christians apart beforehand for the purpose of
glorification. Predestination in
this message therefore refers strictly to God’s final aim for His people…the
plan which God has formed for His people, those whom He already knows to be
His, is that they should ultimately be like His Son and share His image…(Paul’s)
readers can be sure that this plan will be fulfilled because God has already
begun to carry it out by calling them.” (Kept by Power, p.102)
“…‘Foreknow’ means that in every instance ‘God loves man before man
loves God’. ‘Predestine’ means that God
takes the initiative to remedy the human predicament…this divine
involvement is no afterthought; it is part of the original intention for
humanity in general and for every individual in particular” (Grace of God,
p.39)
God’s loving purpose since the beginning of
time was to create for Himself a people to share in the eternal destiny of
being conformed to the likeness of His Son.
He ‘foreknew’ His Church not unlike the way new couples ‘foreknow’ the
children they hope to have and the plans they hold dear for their kids; like a
father telling his children that he loved them from ‘even before they were
born’.
Given the context of suffering surrounding Rom
8:29-31 (see vs.18, 28, 31-39), the Roman Christians needed to be reminded that
God has all this time loved them - as a Church (and therefore as
persons) - and so they can be assured that He will see them through
their present trials. God will
lead them to the goal He’s prepared well in advance for them i.e. becoming like
His Son.
Election and predestination, then, is best
understood in a corporate sense, with individuals still required to make
the choice of faith. When I personally
choose to put my trust in Christ then I automatically align myself to, and
become a member of, that predestined group of people to whom Scripture’s
promises of glorification and justification accrue.
Basking in His Adoption,
AL
(See also the discussion
in John 6:37-44 and the Romans 9
series for more ‘second thoughts’ (smile) about Calvinism.)