Product Code Database
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. In this usage, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism; and usually predeterminism, also known as theological determinism.
Predestination has been a topic of debate throughout Jewish and Christian history. In pre-Christian texts like the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, some writings suggest a mix of determinism and free will, while authors like Ben Sira affirm human choice. Scholars debate New Testament passages such as Romans 8–11, with interpretations ranging from predestination being corporate or service-based, to God choosing some individuals for salvation while leaving others to reprobation. Jewish groups like the Essenes may have believed in predestination, but there were complex differences among sects.
In the early Christians centuries, the Patristics period saw varied views on predestination. Origen tied predestination to foreknowledge of individual merits, while others, like the Thomasines and Valentinus, developed systems of election or salvation according to one’s innate spiritual nature. Augustine of Hippo later emphasized that salvation results from God’s grace rather than human merit, sparking debates over double predestination. Subsequent thinkers, including John of Damascus, Thomas Aquinas, and William of Ockham, further explored how God’s providence, foreknowledge, and human freedom interact, with medieval and Reformation theologians like Gottschalk, John Calvin, and Huldrych Zwingli developing influential predestination doctrines, including double predestination.
Different Christian branches interpret predestination differently. Eastern Orthodoxy emphasizes the synergy of human effort and divine grace, while Catholic Church teaches that God predestines in harmony with human response and rejects predestining anyone to sin. Protestant traditions vary: Lutheranism affirms unconditional election to salvation but denies predestination to damnation, Calvinism teaches double predestination, and Arminianism links election to foreseen human faith. The LDS Church rejects predestination but teaches foreordination, emphasizing moral agency. Other variations, like corporate election, focus on God choosing groups or the church collectively rather than individuals.
Ben Sira affirms free will, where God allows a choice of bad or good before the human and thus they can choose which one to follow.
However some in the Qumran community possibly believed in predestination, for example 1QS states that "God has caused (his chosen ones) to inherit the lot of the Holy Ones".
In the New Testament, Romans 8–11 presents a statement on predestination. In Romans 8:28–30, Paul writes, Biblical scholars have interpreted this passage in several ways. Many say this only has to do with service, and is not about salvation. The Catholic biblical commentator Brendan Byrne wrote that the predestination mentioned in this passage should be interpreted as applied to the Christian community corporately rather than individuals. Another Catholic commentator, Joseph Fitzmyer, wrote that this passage teaches that God has predestined the salvation of all humans. Douglas Moo, a Protestant biblical interpreter, reads the passage as teaching that God has predestined a certain set of people to salvation, and predestined the remainder of humanity to reprobation (damnation). Similarly, Wright's interpretation is that in this passage Paul teaches that God will save those whom he has chosen, but Wright also emphasizes that Paul does not intend to suggest that God has eliminated human free will or responsibility. Instead, Wright asserts, Paul is saying that God's will works through that of humans to accomplish salvation.
Gill and Gregg Alisson argued that Clement of Rome held to a predestinarian view of salvation.
Some verses in the Odes of Solomon, which was made by an Essene convert into Christianity, might possibly suggest a predestinarian worldview, where God chooses who are saved and go into heaven, although there is controversy about what it teaches. The Odes of Solomon talks about God "imprinting a seal on the face of the elect before they existed". The Thomasines saw themselves as children of the light, but the ones who were not part of the elect community were sons of darkness. The Thomasines thus had a belief in a type of election or predestination, they saw themselves as elect because they were born from the light.
Valentinus believed in a form of predestination, in his view humans are born into one of three natures, depending on which elements prevail in the person. In the views of Valentinus, a person born with a bad nature can never be saved because they are too inclined into evil, some people have a nature which is a mixture of good and evil, thus they can choose salvation, and others have a good nature, who will be saved, because they will be inclined into good.
Irenaeus also attacked the doctrine of predestination set out by Valentinus, arguing that it is unfair. For Irenaeus, humans were free to choose salvation or not.
Justin Martyr attacked predestinarian views held by some Greek philosophers.
Augustine's position raised objections. Julian of Eclanum expressed the view that Augustine was bringing Manichean thoughts into the church. For Vincent of Lérins, this was a disturbing innovation.
The Council of Arles in the late fifth century condemned the position "that some have been condemned to death, others have been predestined to life", though this may seem to follow from Augustine's teaching. The Second Council of Orange in 529 also condemned the position that "some have been truly predestined to evil by divine power".
In the eighth century, John of Damascus emphasized the freedom of the human will in his doctrine of predestination, and argued that acts arising from peoples' wills are not part of God's providence at all. Damascene teaches that people's good actions are done in cooperation with God, but are not caused by him.
Prosper of Aquitaine (390 – c. 455 AD) defended Augustine's view of predestination against semi-Pelagians. Marius Mercator, who was a pupil of Augustine, wrote five books against Pelagianism and one book about predestination. Fulgentius of Ruspe and Caesarius of Arles rejected the view that God gives free choice to believe and instead believed in predestination.
John Cassian believed that despite predestination being a work that God does, God only decides to predestinate based on how human beings will respond.
Augustine stated, "And thus Christ's Church has never failed to hold the faith of this predestination, which is now being defended with new solicitude against these modern heretics."
In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas taught that God predestines certain people to the beatific vision based solely on his own goodness rather than that of creatures. Aquinas also believed that people are free in their choices, fully cause their own sin, and are solely responsible for it. According to Aquinas, there are several ways in which God wills actions. He directly wills the good, indirectly wills evil consequences of good things, and only permits evil. Aquinas held that in permitting evil, God does not will it to be done or not to be done.
In the thirteenth century, William of Ockham taught that God does not cause human choices and equated predestination with divine foreknowledge. Though Ockham taught that God predestines based on people's foreseen works, he maintained that God's will was not constrained to do this. Medieval theologians who believed in predestination include: Ratramnus (died 868), Thomas Bradwardine (1300–1349), Gregory of Rimini (1300–1358), John Wycliffe (1320s–1384), Johann Ruchrat von Wesel (died 1481), Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498) and Johannes von Staupitz (1460–1524).
The medieval Catharism denied the free will of humans.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, God does not will anyone to mortally sin and so to deserve punishment in hell.Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1037; Katholieke Encyclopaedie, praedestinatie
Pope John Paul II wrote:the encyclical Redemptoris Missio, chapter 1, section 10
Augustine of Hippo laid the foundation for much of the later Roman Catholic teaching on predestination. His teachings on grace and free will were largely adopted by the Second Council of Orange (529), whose decrees were directed against the Semipelagians. Augustine wrote,
Thomas Aquinas' views concerning predestination are largely in agreement with Augustine and can be summarized by many of his writings in his Summa Theologiæ:
| Election | Unconditional election to salvation only | Unconditional election to salvation only, with reprobation (passing over) | Conditional election in view of foreseen faith or unbelief |
From this perspective, comes the notion of a conditional election on the one who wills to have faith in God for salvation.Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker Academic, 2001, p. 98
The LDS Church teaches the doctrine of moral agency, the ability to choose and act for oneself, and decide whether to accept Christ's atonement.
On the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, Calvinism is the strongest form among Christians. It teaches that God's predestining decision is based on the knowledge of his own will rather than foreknowledge, concerning every particular person and event; and, God continually acts with entire freedom, in order to bring about his will in completeness, but in such a way that the freedom of the creature is not violated, "but rather, established".
Calvinists who hold the infralapsarian view of predestination usually prefer that term to "sublapsarianism," perhaps with the intent of blocking the inference that they believe predestination is on the basis of foreknowledge ( sublapsarian meaning, assuming the fall into sin).Here, sub- is opposed to super- or supra- in a sense related to volition and/or necessity. Cf., for relapse of same origin, http://freedictionary.org/index.php?Query=relapse&database=%2A&strategy=exact : L. relapsus, p. p. of relabi to slip back, to relapse. The different terminology has the benefit of distinguishing the Calvinist double predestination version of infralapsarianism from Lutheranism's view that predestination is a mystery, which forbids the unprofitable intrusion of prying minds since God only reveals partial knowledge to the human race.
Gottschalk of Orbais taught double predestination explicitly in the ninth century, and Gregory of Rimini in the fourteenth. Some trace this doctrine to statements made by Augustine in the early fifth century that on their own also seem to teach double predestination, but in the context of his other writings it is not clear whether he held this view. In The City of God, Augustine describes all of humanity as being predestinated for salvation (i.e., the city of God) or damnation (i.e., the earthly city of man); but Augustine also held that all human beings were born "reprobate" but "need not necessarily remain" in that state of reprobation.Augustine, The City of God (New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, 1950), pp. 478–479.
|
|
