Do You Struggle with Predestination

Where we struggle with predestination is at this point: that God leaves some to themselves, but in other cases he intervenes. He gives a blessing to his elect that he does not give to other people. This means that God does not treat everybody alike. Indeed, Scripture from beginning to end makes it abundantly clear that God doesn’t treat everybody the same. He appeared to Abraham, called him out of godless paganism and made him the father of a great nation, but he did not do that for Pharaoh. Jesus appeared to the enemy of the church, Paul, on the road to Damascus and overcame his unbelief right there, but he did not do that for Pontius Pilate or for Caiaphas. Would it not be a ghastly thing to suggest that the reason why Jesus revealed himself to Paul and not to Pilate, was because Paul in some manner deserved or earned or merited that special revelation? Think of it in this very personal way. If you are a believer, ask yourself candidly why it is that you believe yet somebody else does not. Do you harbour the idea within your heart that the reason why you received Christ while your neighbour rejected him is because you were somehow more righteously disposed towards obeying the summons of the gospel than your neighbour? Why doesn’t God give his grace to everyone? It is certainly a legitimate question, but we do not know the answer. We might suggest that God is honoured when his justice is manifested in leaving some to the punishment their sins deserve, and he is honoured when his grace is manifested in the salvation of his elect. Of course, God is also just when he gives grace, for election is inseparably bound up with Christ. It is for the sake of the Beloved, and not just because of God’s love for us, that there is redemption at all. God honours his Beloved Son by creating from fallen humanity new vessels of life, a new humanity, a new household of faith, that he calls his church, those who are called out from this world, according to the sovereign plan of Divine election. Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (25–26). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.