What Is Predestination? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

That is, all things are working together through the divine hand of providence for the elect, because it is God’s eternal plan to ensure the complete redemption of those whom He has predestined to salvation.

What factor ultimately determines a person’s salvation? Is it the human decision and response, which God knows in advance, or is it God’s sovereign election, in which He brings people to faith in Jesus Christ? That is the essence of the controversy over predestination.

In Romans 9, Paul labors the point that our election is not based on what we do—not on our doing, our willing, our goodness, or our badness. Instead, before we were born—and without any respect to what we would do or not do—God elected some and not others, that His purposes in election might stand. It’s fascinating to note that God didn’t just distinguish between two different people, cultures, lands, and religions; He distinguished between sons of the same father in the same family.

Further, they were not just brothers but twins. Paul uses this illustration to drive home the point that this was done to show the purpose of God’s electing mercy and to make absolutely clear that our election is based “not on human will or exertion” but on the sovereignty of God.

to any who do not at this moment have faith in Jesus Christ, there is no reason whatsoever to assume you are not elect. Every person who has ever come to faith in Christ was at one time an unbeliever. You may very well be numbered among the elect but have not yet realized your election.