PREDESTINATION

  Musick-al note # 299   

 Predestination simply means “to determine beforehand.”  It is sometimes translated “foreordination”.  As used in the Bible, it means that God foreordained or determined beforehand a plan of salvation for men, and decreed that all who would obey that plan would be saved by it, and all others who refused it would be lost.  The gospel is God’s foreordained or predestined plan to save men (Romans 1:16).  Therefore, when Jesus sent out men to preach it, he said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).  Never was there a more positive decree than this.  Therefore, whether men are saved by God’s predestination or not depends on whether they believe and obey the requirements of the gospel. Every man’s salvation depends on his voluntarily obeying the gospel and his damnation is certain if he does not (2 Thessalonians 1:8).  If you will read carefully Ephesians 1:3-12, you will notice that those who were chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved, and predestined to be children of God were those trusted in Christ and obeyed Him (v. 12).  That means God predestined before the foundation of the world that those who trusted in Christ and committed themselves to him by obedience would be saved.

Gordon Musick