So, for example, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:4-6 - emphasis added)
Soon thereafter, Paul writes, In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12 - emphasis added)
Chapter 8 of the book of Romans also talks about predestination, twice. More importantly, the Bible also talks about how God how God elected us, how he chose us long before we chose him, as well as God's sovereignty, all closely related to predestination. I might discuss this in a future post, especially since it contains two different words for foreknowledge and predestination (since some consider predestination to simply be foreknowledge).
However, the Bible also asserts, time and time again, that God created man with free will. Any understanding about predestination that denies mankind's free will goes against what the Bible teaches about both predestination and free will. I will write more about this in a future post.
Part 3 (last post)
Part 1 (Intro)
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