by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Jesus was predestined to die for the sins of the world, and a church was predestined to form around the call of the gospel to come into His grace. So, if you are “baptized into Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 3:26-27), it is because you have heard that predestined call of the gospel and have entered into union with Him.<\/p>\n
Predestined events do not affirm the Calvinistic concept that every thought, every moment, and every decision I make is already predetermined. This concept means we have no real ability to make a choice. It basically says that we are merely pre-programmed robots and that God arbitrarily pre-programmed me to come to him, and others are not so fortunate. That would mean that God programmed the majority to sin and go to hell, and there is nothing they can do about it. Such an extended predestination of all thoughts and actions is not taught in the scriptures.<\/p>\n
But some things were predestined. The free will and moral accountability of all capable people have been predetermined. The payment for sin in Jesus was predetermined. The fact that the gospel of Jesus would call some people to these precious benefits was predestined to take place. Leaving that decision up to you was also predestined. Those who obeyed the gospel were predestined to be adopted as God’s children. The call to be holy and blameless before Him in love was predetermined in God’s plan. That only those who would enter into Christ would be His adopted children was part of the plan.<\/p>\n
To be in Christ is to be a part of the predestined. These are predestined for very important and special spiritual blessings that are only in <\/b>Christ (Ephesians 1:3, 7). Forgiveness of sins, chosen to be holy, adopted as His children, with eternal benefits. Indeed, we are guided in this plan and equipped for great things here and for eternity. Don’t miss out on these predestined things in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Ephesians 1:5). Jesus was predestined to die for the sins of the world, and a church was predestined to form around the call of the gospel to come into His grace.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[562],"class_list":["post-89822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-predestination"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-foreknew-and-predestined-to-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":0},"title":"Could you explain “foreknew” and “predestined” to me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have struggled for years with the \"foreknew\" and \"predestined\" parts. I believe the Bible 100% and actually understand what is being said; however, there is something I can't quite get. Maybe I can ask my question this way: I am blessed with two grandsons. God knew from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/predestination\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":1},"title":"Predestination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Campbell Are some people predestined to be saved while others are predestined to be lost? If this is true, would it make any difference for one to do right if he is predestinated to be lost? Predestination is definitely a Bible topic, but not in the way that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63292,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/predestined-to-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":2},"title":"Predestined to Glory","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 1:3-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The confusion over predestination isn\u2019t due to understanding that it exists; rather, the questions is who was predestined and for what purpose. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cthe doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52372,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-gods-puppets\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":3},"title":"Are we God’s puppets?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: About predestination and foreknowledge: God gave us a mind of our own, but He already knows what we will choose. Therefore, He can determine His plans without taking away our own responsibility. As a child, I learned that God predestined us to believe, so we don't choose ourselves and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15871,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-know-before-he-created-the-world-that-his-son-would-be-sacrificed\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":4},"title":"Did God know before He created the world that His Son would be sacrificed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings and God bless, I just read your answer: Could you explain \"foreknew\" and \"predestined\" to me? Concluding the article, you said: \"The idea of predestination in the scripture can be summarized bysaying that God predetermined (or predestined) before the beginning of the world to set up a church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":89822,"position":5},"title":"The Sovereignty of God (Frost)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gene Frost Sovereignty is the state of being sovereign, which is to be \"above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme.\" We illustrate: In all the realm, the king was sovereign. There was no one holding\u00a0 greater rank, with greater authority, or greater power. He willed that on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}