Lesson: The Golden Chain of Redemption
Text: Romans 8:28-30
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
~Romans 8:28-30, ESV~
The doctrine of predestination causes many to cringe even just by hearing the subject uttered. But, as should be noted by the opening passage, predestination is not a word that is foreign to the Bible. In fact, in these three verses, you will note it was mentioned two times. Based upon this, we can immediately understand that if a person says, “I don’t believe in predestination at all” then that means that he or she does not believe the Bible.
But this is where things get a little more complicated. Most bible-believing Christians do not deny that predestination is taught in the Bible. What is denied is the METHOD God uses to predestine. And, historically, there have been two basic views.
Calvinism - God has, before the foundation of the world, set his affection upon a remnant of humanity, referred to as the elect, and these will be saved because God will irresistibly draw them to Himself.
Arminianism - God, before the foundation of the world, looked down the corridor of time and saw the decisions that people would make, and based upon those decisions, God predestined them for heaven or hell.
These names are given after two theologians from the time of the Reformation. John Calvin, who is most famous for writing his Institutes of Christian Religion, taught that God is sovereign in all areas, including man’s will. Jacobus Arminias, whose doctrines were opposed to the teachings of Calvin, especially regarding his views of predestination. Arminius was a student of Theodore Beza, John Calvin’s hand-picked successor.
Of these two views, Arminianism is the majority report in American evangelical churches. In fact, this is the only view that many are ever exposed to. The scenario of exposure usually goes something like this: A person is studying his bible, and he arrives at a passage that uses the language of predestination. He is intrigued. So he goes to his pastor and his pastor says, “Well, what is really meant there is that God foresaw what you would do, and based on that He chose you”. No more discussion, that is just the answer. And for many folks, this answer is satisfactory. It is satisfactory because it does not challenge the very prevalent tradition that salvation is the result of man’s decision. As one famous preacher put it: God votes for you, the devil votes against you. You break the tie. Because of this response, that satisfies man’s desire for salvation to be contingent upon his own decisions, many who ask this question never dig deeper to see if such an explanation is actually consistent with what the Bible teaches.
But is this the biblical view?
Is it true that God’s predestination is based upon Him looking down the corridor of time, seeing our faith, and responding to it? And, what Biblically, if anything, is such a belief based upon?
This doctrine (called PRESCIENCE) is based upon the verse of Scripture that was given in the opening section of this work (Romans 8:28-30). Arminius, and his followers, looked at the word “FOREKNEW” and saw there the answer to their theological questions regarding predestination. They believed that this word was the key to unlocking the mystery of predestination. And for them, there was no mystery. God didn’t choose according to His will, but rather according to the choices of man which He foresaw.
But, again the question must be asked: Is the arminian view the right understanding of this word, “foreknew”, or of this entire passage? I submit to you, it is NOT. In fact, I submit that the fundamental flaw of Arminianism is the misinterpretation of these verses.
The purpose of this booklet is to outline at least four reasons to reject the Arminian/Prescience view of predestination.
Reason 1:
The Object of the Verb “Foreknew”
One must immediately see, when reading ROmans 8:29, that the context is that God ‘foreknew’ the person. It does not say that God “foresaw” faith in this person. Some may say, this is ‘implied’ in the passage. But, where is this implied? The text simply says, “whom he foreknew”. The object of the verb is the person, as an individual, chosen by God. Notice that there are ‘five’ verbs used (foreknew; predestined; called; justified; glorified), and all of these are words that denote actions on God’s part.
Faith is never mentioned, though it is often placed there by those who want to put forward a view that is not upheld in the text. As Dr. R.C. Sproul says, “To add that it is a foreknowledge of what people are going to do before He predestines them, runs absolutely contrary to the rest of the list”.
Maybe this would be easier to understand if I used an analogy. What if this verse were speaking of unbelievers. It might say something like this: “For whom He did not know, He did not predestine.” But if it were speaking of foreseen faith, it would say, “For whom He did not know would believe, He did not predestine.” The difference, again, would be the object of the verb. The verb specifically speaks of knowing “someone” not something.”
When we look at this passage, we must simply read the word as it is written. It says God foreknew an individual. It says nothing of the quality of that individual. It speaks not of any inherent goodness, or willingness to believe, or any such quality in the person. In fact, the only action seen is an action on God’s part; the action of foreknowing the person. If one wants to argue that this means God’s foresaw faith in the person, the burden is on them to give proof. For it is certainly not supported by the context. And as we go forward, we will see this idea is not supported by the definition of the word “foreknew” either.
With that, let us continue on with the word’s actual meaning…
Reason 2:
The Definition of the Word “Foreknew”
The word “know”, when it is used in the sense of God’s knowledge in Scripture, doesn’t simply mean to have a passive knowledge of something. It means to have an intimate, SAVING knowledge of someone.
Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
Does the Lord not “know” those who will be lost? Of course! So what does He mean when He says He doesn’t “know” them? He doesn’t have an intimate, or saving, knowledge of them.
Another way to understand the verb foreknew is to think of it in terms of “fore-relationship” or even more simply, a “forelove”. God set His affection upon those He predestined before the foundation of the world. This idea is magnified when we see this language used of Jesus by Peter:
1 Peter 1:20 (ESV) He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.
This should remove all doubt to its meaning. God did not just passively “know” His Son, but loved Him. This idea is also seen of Israel in the Old Testament regarding Israel:
Amos 3:2 (ESV) "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Doesn’t God “know” all nations passively? Of course! In this verse we see that “know” means “to set affection upon. The following quote is the actual definition, as given by Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, regarding the word “foreknowledge”
Nelson’s Bible Dictionary - FOREKNOWLEDGE - the unique knowledge of God that enables Him to know all events, including the free acts of people, before they happen. God’s foreknowledge is much more than foresight. God does not know future events and human actions because He foresees them; He knows them because He wills them to happen (Job 14:5; Ps. 139:15-16). Thus God’s foreknowledge is an act of His will (Is. 41:4; Rev. 1:8, 17; 21:6). In Romans 8:29 and 11:2, the apostle Paul’s use of the word "foreknew" means "chose" or "to set special affection on." The electing love of God, not foresight of human action, is the basis of His predestination and salvation (Rom. 8:29-30, 33). This same idea is used to express the nation of Israel’s special relationship to God (Acts 2:23; Rom. 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20).1
Nelson’s Dictionary is not, particularly, a Reformed (Calvinistic) publication. In fact, I was surprised to find this definition given, as many try to distort this word and give it a bend towards the prescient view. But this definition is exactly right regarding the use of this word.
So we have seen, based upon simply the (1) context and (2) definition, that the prescient view is lacking in support. But there is another reason...
Reason 3:
God’s Foreknowledge is Not Passive,
it is Determinative
God doesn’t just know what will happen because He can see the future; He knows what will happen because He wills it through Divine Decree.
Westminster Confession of Faith: “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass” (Chapter 3, Section I).
Stated simply, nothing happens that is not according to the divine decree of God. Probably the best example of this comes from the biblical example of the life of Joseph, son Jacob. He was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery by his brothers, wrongfully accused of attempted rape by the wife of Potiphar, and thrown into prison. Yet God decreed all of this to save people alive.
The question the becomes, did God just have a passive knowledge that his life would go the way it did? Not according to Scripture.
Genesis 45:4-8 “So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
If anyone understood God’s foreknowledge is purposeful and determinative, it was certainly Joseph. God doesn’t just passively see the future coming. He determines by His will the future. This is why we see the phrase determinate counsel and foreknowledge in regards to Christ’s death.
Acts 2:23 (KJV) Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Again, allow me to quite a commentary that is not exclusively Reformed:
Believer’s Bible Commentary - Some have tried to reconcile sovereign election and human responsibility by saying that God foreknew who would trust the Savior and that those are the ones whom He elected to be saved. They base this on Romans 8:29 (“whom He foreknew He also predestined”) and 1 Peter 1:2 (“elect according to the foreknowledge of God”). But this overlooks the fact that God’s foreknowledge is determinative. It is not just that He knows in advance who will trust the Savior, but that He predetermines this result by drawing certain individuals to Himself.2
Again, this is not a Reformed work, per se. But it speaks the simple truth of Reformation Theology. Why? Because it is Biblical Theology. Another famous Reformed author makes this point even more emphatic. A.W. Pink, in the Sovereignty of God, says this regarding foreknowledge:
Few...are likely to call into question the statement that God knows and foreknows all things, but perhaps many would hesitate to go further than this. Yet is it not self-evident that if God foreknows all things, He has also fore-ordained all things? Is it not clear that God foreknows what will be because He has decreed what shall be? God’s foreknowledge is not the cause of events, rather are events the effects of His eternal purpose. When God has decreed a thing shall be, He knows it will be. In the nature of things there cannot be anything known as what shall be, unless it is certain to be, and there is nothing certain to be unless God has ordained it shall be. Take the Crucifixion as an illustration. On this point the teaching of Scripture is as clear as a sunbeam. Christ as the Lamb whose blood was to be shed, was "foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Pet. 1:20). Having then "ordained" the slaying of the Lamb, God knew He would be "led to the slaughter", and therefore made it known accordingly through Isaiah the prophet. The Lord Jesus was not "delivered" up by God fore-knowing it before it took place, but by His fixed counsel and fore-ordination (Acts 2:23). Fore-knowledge of future events then is founded upon God’s decrees, hence if God foreknows everything that is to be, it is because He has determined in Himself from all eternity everything which will be—"Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18), which shows that God has a plan, that God did not begin His work at random or without a knowledge of how His plan would succeed. (???)
God has determined His plan from all eternity...nothing can frustrate it...it is a determinate plan...thus his foreknowing is also determinate. So we have seen, based upon simply the (1) context and (2) definition, that the prescient view is lacking in support. We have also seen that God’s foreknowledge is not passive, but is determinate. But there one final reason reason why Arminianism fails...
Reason 4:
The Bible Teaches that Faith is a
Gift from God
This truly hits the heart of the matter. Calvinists believe in the Doctrine of Total Depravity, which means that man is by nature a sinner and has no natural affection for God. In fact, mankind naturally rebels against God.
Romans 3:10-18 (ESV) “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Jesus affirms this in his interaction with the rich young ruler. The ruler came to Him and said, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to Him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:17-18). Please note that here Jesus is not denying His own deity, but making a distinction between man and God; that no person is good.
On top of this, our natural state of rebellion will not be changed by our own will.
Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.”
Man is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). And the dead do not bring about their own resurrection. The dead must be acted upon by an outside force to come alive. Just as God brings physical resurrection, so also does He bring physical resurrection. Based upon this, Calvinists believe that FAITH is not something that is mustered up by sinful men, but it is granted by the Father. The carnal mind is at enmity with God and doesn’t want to do what God wants until it is changed. We call this change “regeneration” and it is the CAUSE of faith, not the RESULT of faith. God must ‘give’ us faith if we are to be saved. John 6 makes this truth crystal clear:
John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:65 (ESV) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
What has to be given, drawn to, and granted to someone by the Father? An ability to ‘come’ to Christ in faith!Many other verses support this truth:
Romans 12:3 (ESV) For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Phil 1:29 (ESV) For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake
Ephesians 2:8 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Regarding Ephesians 2, some argue that it is the grace alone that Paul assigns as the gift. But most linguists acknowledge that it is the entirety of the preceding phrase (including grace, faith and salvation) that Paul assigned to be “the gift of God”.
This leads to an important question: If faith itself is a gift, how can God look through the corridors of time and see what He Himself has given to a person and it not be considered determinate foreknowledge. Dr. John Macarthur calls this the unanswerable question of the Arminian. He Comments:
Another unanswerable question would be, “If God based salvation on His advance knowledge of those who would believe, where did their saving faith come from?” It could not arise from their fallen natures, because the natural, sinful person is at enmity with God (Rom. 5:10; 8:7; Eph. 2:3; Col. 1:21). There is absolutely nothing in man’s carnal nature to prompt him to trust in the God against whom he is rebelling. The unsaved person is blind and dead to the things of God. He has absolutely no source of saving faith within himself. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,” Paul declares; “for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). (???)
I agree with Macarthur, this is the unanswerable question. How can God be the supplier of faith, and make His decision based on looking down the corridor of time and seeing faith? The simple answer is that He doesn’t. He gives faith to those whom He has entered into relationship with (those whom He foreknew) from the foundation of the world.
Final Thoughts
I genuinely believe that the entire debate about predestination is summed up in how one interprets Romans 8:28, especially the phrase “foreknew”. Does foreknowledge mean that God simply sees a person’s faith and chooses based upon that? I hope that this short booklet has shown that is not really what the word “Foreknew” means, either linguistically or contextually. And, if this word means that God elects people to believe, and gives them the gift of faith, then the debate should be over.
Sadly, however, the debate will roll on.
It will roll on because people do not give up on traditions easily, especially in the church. And this traditional understanding will continue to be perpetuated by folks who do not want to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about God’s predestinating purpose. Allow me to conclude with a final thought on our passage of study. Romans 8:28-30 constitute what theologians call “The Golden Chain of Redemption.” This means that these are five essentials works of God that bring about our salvation. And we need to realize that not one of the links in this chain can be broken. This is why Calvinists have longed held to the doctrine of Eternal Security, otherwise known as Perseverance of the Saints. Because whom He foreknew, He predestined. Whom He predestined He called. Whom He called He justified. Whom He justified He glorifies.
This is one of the greatest assurance passages in all of Scripture. Because if you have been brought to faith by God, you are also being brought to glory by God. Those who have been brought to faith by God ought to praise Him not only for His predestinating grace, but also His preserving power. For by it, we are kept in Christ until the day of redemption.
