A Collection of Predestination Passages
People commonly talk about destiny in popular culture. On shows like American idol the contestants commonly talk about belonging on the stage, as if it was written in the stars. There’s a fascination with fortune tellers and horoscopes in order to discover our destiny. In a more common way, when we run into people in the most unlikely of places we have a heightened sense of a God who is able to orchestrate such things to happen.
The Scripture talks about destiny; the theological term used to describe this is predestination. God has predestined that people will follow a particular path of redemption. This is knowledge that is uniquely in the mind of God. We cannot open a fortune cookie and see that we are on that path; but for all that are on that path there comes a particular time that you are aware that you are on that path. There comes a time when the Jesus on the pages of the Bible is no longer simply a good teacher. For those who God has predestined, there comes a time when Jesus becomes your personal Lord and Saviour; a time when you are born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.
It is very powerful to look at a collection of Scripture on a particular subject in order to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the Bible teaches about a particular subject. I’ve gathered here a collection of passages that speak about predestination. The Bible is full of God’s sovereign work of predestination; there are Scripture passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The collection here shows passages from the New Testament, some of them are interpreting events in the Old Testament. There are also passages of Jesus words that he spoke and taught during his earthly ministry.
New Testament Scripture on Predestination
“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. ” (Acts 4:27–28)
“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. ” (Acts 13:17)
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ” (Acts 13:48)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” (Romans 6:23)
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. ” (Romans 8:29–30)
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ” (Romans 8:33)
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ” (1 Corinthians 1:27–28)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ” (Ephesians 1:3–12)
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ” (Philippians 1:29)
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ” (Colossians 3:12)
“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ” (1 Thessalonians 1:4–5)
“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. ” (2 Timothy 2:10)
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, ” (Titus 1:1)
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ” (1 Peter 1:1)
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ” (1 Peter 2:4)
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ” (1 Peter 2:9)
“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ” (2 Peter 1:10)
Jesus Teaching on Predestination
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” ” (Matthew 22:14)
“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ” (John 13:18)
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ” (Matthew 24:24)
“And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. ” (Matthew 24:31)
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ” (Luke 18:7)
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ” (John 5:21)
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ” (John 6:37–39)
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ” (John 15:16)
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ” (John 15:19)
Endnotes
The collection of verses appears in Mark Driscoll, Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions (Re:Lit) (Crossway Books, 2009), Appendix A. I recompiled and reformatted these verses for viewing here.
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