PAUL'S TEACHING OF
CONDITIONAL PREDESTINATION

by Jacques More

I could have named this differently (see my notes below¹), but basically, with the added notes now, all this, is the full transcript of the YouTube video² I made in 2010.
       I edit the text where it makes no sense as other than as part of the video.

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In Romans 8:29-30 we read Paul mention predestination like this:

Whom God "foreknew, He also predestined . . .
Whom He predestined, these He also called
Whom He called, these He also justified
Whom He justified, these He also glorified."

What is not seen when the context is excluded is how this is Paul's teaching of conditional predestination.

Here you will see step by step how the foreknowledge is gained in the lifetime of the person, but ahead of that person's knowledge of what is needful: hence the word foreknowledge mentioned by Paul. The knowledge obtained is of the love of God seen in the heart after God has searched the heart of the person.

To all those loving God, all things then are worked into good as expanded upon in Romans 8:29-30.

Whom He FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED
Whom He PREDESTINED, these He also CALLED
Whom He CALLED, these He also JUSTIFIED
Whom He JUSTIFIED, these He also GLORIFIED

In Romans 8:29-30 we read a list of verbs which are at the core of understanding Paul's thinking about predestination.

Romans 8:29
       God FOREKNOWS
R8:29-30
       God PREDESTINES
R8:30
       God CALLS
       God JUSTIFIES
       God GLORIFIES

Paul lists them in a particular order:

R8:29
Whom He FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED
R8:30
Whom He PREDESTINED, these He also CALLED
Whom He CALLED, these He also JUSTIFIED
Whom He JUSTIFIED, these He also GLORIFIED

We see then,
Before God PREDESTINES, before God makes a decision involving a destiny, KNOWLEDGE is involved.

So this knowledge is FIRST³ and never after a decision to destine the person.

But, this is a decision about what?

And this knowledge what kind is it?

We see this list of verbs involving TO JUSTIFY

This indicates that the destiny is about salvation.
Paul in this same letter had already mentioned,

being JUSTIFIED freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

Romans 3:24 EMPHASIS mine

TO JUSTIFY then is about SALVATION

So, PREDESTINATION here is a decision about the destiny of the person involving SALVATION

       What about the knowledge?
       WHAT knowledge?

It reads "WHOM He foreknew"
So the PERSON is foreknown⁴.

       But, again what specific is known about the person?

For that answer we need to be attached and fully connected to the preceding verses.

If we are to understand Paul here, we cannot, if we are divorced from following his train of thought.

A text out of context is a pretext

We find the previous inference of knowledge God has about the person in Verses 27 and 28
Verses 29-30 are fully connected by the fact this is,

KNOWLEDGE OF THE PERSON.

Paul expands about what God does with that knowledge in Romans 8:29-30
But, what the knowledge is needs to be learned by seeing what Paul is saying 1st.

In Verse 27 we read about an action of God

Now He who SEARCHES THE HEART

ROMANS 8:27 EMPHASIS mine

              God searches men's hearts.

       But, what is God looking for in the heart?

       We find this in R8:28

to those who LOVE GOD

ROMANS 8:28 EMPHASIS mine

       Here we see LOVING GOD IN THE HEART is what is in view.
So, the searching of the heart is to see if the person loves God.
The knowledge involved about the person is the fact that THEY LOVE GOD.

When was this knowledge gained?

Answer: WHEN God searched the heart.

Can God search a heart before a person exists?

No.

How do we know this?
How do we know that God always searches the heart of people who are actually living and breathing?

       Because that is how He does it throughout the bible.

And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN YOUR HEART, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:2 EMPHASIS mine

When was this?

              Answer: During 40 years of being in the wilderness.

However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might KNOW ALL THAT WAS IN HIS HEART.

2 Chronicles 32:31 EMPHASIS mine

When was this?

               Answer: During the visit of the ambassadors.

When God says to Abraham:

NOW I KNOW THAT YOU FEAR GOD, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.

Genesis 22:12 EMPHASIS mine

When was this testing?

Answer:
When Abraham was seen to go through the sacrificing of Isaac his son, which God prevented, at the point of seeing Abraham was going through with it. God testing the heart is important in the bible:

I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Jeremiah 17:10

For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds

Psalm 7:9

I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works

Revelation 2:23

But, WHEN God searches the heart is in a person's lifetime.

So, when we read God FOREknows:
       Why is that?

If this knowledge of loving God is gained in the lifetime of the person, why is it called FOREknowledge?

It is because - AGAIN IN CONTEXT - We see that the person is seen NOT to KNOW what to pray for.

For we do not KNOW what we should pray for as we ought

Romans 8:26 EMPHASIS mine

"The saints" (V. 27) - like the O.T. saints i.e. pre-Christian - do not know what to "pray for" (V.26) "to be conformed to the image of His Son" (V.29) until they are "justified" (V.30) by knowing that "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" Romans 3:24 which happens when they are "called" (V.28 and 30)

So, what do we read?

       We read that:

God knows after searching the heart - IN THE PERSON'S LIFETIME - that the person loves God BEFORE the person KNOWS what to pray.

So the FOREKNOWLEDGE is about God KNOWING AHEAD OF the person involved.

This makes sense of Romans 8:28

Oidamen de - but we know + Hoti - that/because/since
Tois - to/for the ones + Agapósin - they are loving/they love
Ton theon - (the) God + Panta - all (things)
Sunergei - he/she/it works + Eis agathon - into good
Kata (+ Accusative) - according to
Prothesin - (a) purpose (in the Accusative) /display of intent
Klétois - (to/for the ones) called + Ousin - they are

But we know that He works all things into good for the ones loving God for they are the ones called according to a purpose

Note "His" in front of "purpose" is added by translators who understand the passage without the (preceding) context. "HIS" IS NOT IN THE GREEK.

The purpose is the loving of God seen in the heart

Now PROTHESIS⁵ = PURPOSE - is the word used in Hebrews 9:2
kai hé PROTHESIS tón artón - And the PRESENTATION of the loaves
Often shortened to SHOWbread
It is about the SHOWING, the presentation
Robert Young's concordance defines
PROTHESIS as "A setting before, purpose"

And what was being displayed after God had searched the heart?

Answer: The LOVING of God

This is the PURPOSE IN VIEW - the display of intent - according to that which makes God THEN work all things into good.

This is what is then expanded upon by Paul in R8:29-30

Paul wrote:

Whom He FOREKNEW, He also PREDESTINED
Whom He PREDESTINED, these He also CALLED
Whom He CALLED, these He also JUSTIFIED
Whom He JUSTIFIED, these He also GLORIFIED
Romans 8:29-30

Do you really believe Paul is speaking of something divorced from the preceding verses?

CONCLUSION

In Paul's CONDITIONAL PREDESTINATION we read:

God searches the heart.
He sees a display of love for God.
He then works all into good: (namely)
He foreknows before the person,
He sets up - He predestines - the person
So they are called
They are thus justified
And all justified are glorified

NOTES
¹I did wonder about making the title about the Calvinist's claim of "the golden chain" (Romans 8:29-30's list of verbs is described by some Calvinists as that). It was better I thought to have a positive title, than a title as a "response" to an apparent negative.

²The link to the video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D9hxQwyD3w

³Contrary to the bible text, Calvin in his Institutes (his most well known works) mentions how predestination in the form of God's decrees precede God's foreknowledge: It is God's decisions that enable Him to know all things, which He decided in full, since to Calvin God decreed every detail of everything and nothing happens by chance.

⁴For a simple and clear view of the meaning of the verb "to foreknow" Greek PROGINÓSKÓ one only has to look at the first and last occurrence of the verb in the New Testament (the verb does not occur in the LXX):
Acts 26:5 - "*They knew me from the first*, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee." This is a simplification of the Greek, so here it is in the YLT:
"*knowing me before* from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;" The "me" in between the ** being the word ME added, and not part of the verb.
2 Peter 3:17 - "You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;"

So, knowing beforehand = to foreknow

⁵See also the Appendix to my book Serious Mistranslations of the Bible entitled PROTHESIS

ROMANS 9 (R9) SIMPLY EXPLAINED

Ref. M.042

Unless otherwise stated Bible quotes are from the New King James Version

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