What Is Predestination? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

Martin Luther affirmed the central place of predestination and the importance of teaching it. He called it the core ecclesia, meaning “the heart of the church.” While Luther was at times given to overstatements and hyperbole, this is not such an instance. No other doctrine more clearly demonstrates our utter dependence on divine grace and mercy than the doctrine of predestination. No other doctrine is more comforting to the personal struggle of faith than the doctrine of election.

Virtually all of the errors that plague the church and her doctrine relate to one of two errors: either an underestimation of the greatness of God or an overestimation of the greatness of man.

When we think about this difficult question of election and God’s choosing, we must understand that when God makes His decision, when He is contemplating those whom He will save or not save, He is contemplating them as fallen people. God’s question is not, “Am I going to rescue some innocent people and allow other innocent people to perish?” Rather, His question, like the governor’s question, is, “Am I going to exercise grace and mercy to some guilty people and allow others to receive My justice?” The beauty in this is that in God’s sovereign election, His marvelous grace and mercy are manifested, and His relentless commitment to justice is also revealed.

The moment we begin to think that God owes us, or anyone, mercy is the moment we should have a bell go off in our brains. We need a warning that we are no longer thinking about mercy, because again, mercy that is required is not mercy. If we think that God owes us grace, we’ve stopped thinking about grace and have started thinking about justice. The worst thing that could happen to us is for us to ask God for justice. The only way we can draw a breath in this world, and the only way we can hope of going to heaven, is by His sovereign grace alone.

The prescient view is ultimately a very pessimistic perspective to hold. In this view, God leaves everyone to themselves. He merely issues an outward call without granting a direct, gracious change to people’s hearts. The Augustinian view more highly exalts the mercy and grace of God as He sovereignly changes sinners’ hearts, enabling them to see the beauty and truth of Christ and His gospel and compelling them to respond in faith and obedience.

However, the first objection remains: If predestination is true, why evangelize? One answer is simple: God, in His Word, has commanded us to evangelize. How can a person believe in election but not believe in the sovereignty of God? More specifically, how can a person believe in the sovereignty of God and despise the mandate of a sovereign God? God is sovereign not only in His grace but also in His commands, and He commands us to preach the gospel to every living creature. This command is not based on the assumption that we are desperately needed by God, and that without our contribution, His salvific purposes couldn’t come to pass. Rather, the efforts we employ in the preaching of the gospel and the work of evangelism can only be fruitful by His sovereign grace. The Apostle Paul made that clear when he said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). Of course, God could have brought the growth without Paul’s planting or Apollos’ watering, but with respect to predestination, God not only foreordains ends, He also foreordains the means to that end. What is the chief means that God uses to bring about salvation for His elect? According to Scripture, God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save the world. Paul himself, the great advocate of predestination, declared, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). He later says that “fai...

This is a classic text for missions. The word mission comes from the Latin missio, which means “to send.” A missionary is sent by the church for a purpose: to proclaim the gospel so that people may hear and come to faith. God has not put in our hands the power to change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, but we do have the ability to open our mouths, confess our faith, and proclaim the Scriptures, which God uses to bring faith to His people.

In the ancient world, there were no cell phones and no internet. The only way to spread news was to have someone carry it. So, for instance, when a great battle was going on, the only way for the people at home to know how the battle was going was to have someone run back to the city and deliver the news. This is why we have races today called marathons. According to tradition, after the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, a runner traveled 26.2 miles back to Athens to tell of the Athenians’ victory over the Persians. Cities would post lookouts on their walls who would scan the distance for the approach of a runner. Before they could see the look on the runner’s face, they could tell by his footfalls in the distance whether he was bringing good news or bad news. The bearer of bad news would not have his feet flying in great joy. When the Battle of Marathon runner approached the city gates, his feet kicking up the dust, they could tell by his feet alone that the news was good news. The prophet Isaiah borrows that imagery, for the custom of bearing news by messenger was the custom in the Old Testament as well. Isaiah says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace.”