The Mystery of Predestination

Over the last several months I have been studying the book of Romans alongside women in my church. We just dived into Romans 9 where Paul introduces what we term “predestination,” or God’s choosing ahead of time who will be saved.

This raises so many big questions, questions I have wrestled with long before this study. How could a loving God choose to save some, but not others? Why would he not, in his great love, bring all people to himself, making a way for everyone to enjoy eternity with him?

I know many people who do not believe in Jesus, and who have rejected the Gospel. At least it seems this way from the outside (It could always be the case that God has and is working in their hearts). It saddens me to think that my friends and collogues, who do so much good in the world, could miss out on eternity with God because they have not embraced the salvation he freely gives. If only God would just direct them to himself? Why wouldn’t he? The idea that God chooses some and not others has fueled my own doubts about God in the past and led me to question his goodness.

As I raise my almost 5-month-old daughter, I also wrestle with the thought of her rejecting God one day. I fear she will not believe in Christ as her Savior, and will be swept up in her own big doubts and questions. What if God does not hand pick her? What if His Spirit does not guide her into the way of truth?  The possibility that your own child may not spend eternity with you in Heaven, but suffer in Hell is a hard pill to swallow. It seems so unfair and wrong.

God’s Mercy and Grace

What I am learning, however, is that Romans chapter 9 and this topic of predestination cannot be approached without first understanding the character of God. We cannot begin to understand this particular passage without first laying a foundation for who God is as depicted throughout the entire Bible. To do so would fail to acknowledge the whole picture and provide a very narrow view of the Gospel.

What does this foundation consist of? What do we know about God as reflected in His Word? Through the scriptures, we learn of God’s mercy and grace. His deep desire is for all to come to faith in him and to be saved. How interesting it is that Romans 9 comes right after Romans 8, which speaks to God’s love for us:

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39, NLT

We may not fully understand why God does what he does, and why he allows some to be saved and others to live with hardened hearts. But our confusion about him does not minimize his big love and the mercy he longs to shows us.

Tolerating the Tension

As Westerners, we have a logical frame of mind. We try to figure everything out and come to clear cut conclusions. In the East however, this is not so. Easterners are more comfortable with living in the tension and being ok with not having everything all figured out. We would benefit from adopting this perspective, and learning how to live in this tension of predestination and free will, recognizing that at the heart of the gospel God loves and seeks to save.

I appreciate the words of Charles Simeon on this topic as he writes,

“When I come to a text which speaks of election, I delight myself in the doctrine of election. When the apostles exhort me to repentance and obedience, and it indicate my freedom of choice and action, I give myself up to that side of the question… As wheels in a complicated machine may move in opposite directions and yet subserve a common end, so may truths apparently opposite be perfectly reconcilable with each other, and equally subserve the purposes of God and the accomplishment of men’s salvation.”

Perhaps the only way to rightly handle the doctrine of election, and the wider complexities of our faith is to learn to live in the tension. Just like conflicting emotions, only by accepting the discomfort, without trying to change or fix can we work through it.

Maybe this is also true about our knowledge of God, particularly parts of Him that we don’t always understand. We come to faulty conclusions when we attempt to figure God out, and “humanize” him based on what we would do in any given situation.

As Scott writes “many mysteries surround the doctrine of election, and theologians are unwise to systematize it in such a way that no puzzles, enigmas, or loose ends are left.”

The way God works is a mystery to me. But what I do know is that he is a God of mercy and grace. I cling to these truths, they are my foundation, even when I can’t make sense of the rest.