How does the concept of Predestination and Freewill work?

How does the concept of Predestination and Freewill work?

When Paul writes in Ephesians 1:11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will”, he is not teaching that God predestined who would believe, but rather what He determined beforehand for all who are in Christ. The context of Ephesians 1 is corporate, describing the blessings believers share “in Christ.” Predestination here refers to the inheritance, adoption, and conformity to Christ’s image that God has already planned for those who believe the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). In other words, predestination is about the destiny of the saved, not the selection of the saved.

This distinction becomes clearer when we consider God’s foreknowledge. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…” Calvinism teaches that God unconditionally elects some to salvation and passes over others, but Scripture emphasizes foreknowledge rather than forced choice. God, being all-knowing, knew before creation who would believe the gospel, but His foreknowledge does not mean He overrode their free will. Foreknowledge simply means God knew beforehand; predestination means He determined the destiny of those who believe; and election refers to God choosing the body—the church, “in Christ”—as the vessel of blessing (Ephesians 1:4, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…”).

Romans 8:29-30 lays out the golden chain of salvation: foreknow → predestinate → call → justify → glorify. Notice that the predestination is to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is not about God deciding who will believe, but about what happens to those who do believe. Once a person trusts the gospel, their destiny is fixed: they are called, justified, and ultimately glorified. This passage is about the security of salvation, not the denial of free will.

Follow-up reactions about the FREE WILL of humans

 

The following post is a follow-up from this article. The article produced a response from someone who asked questions and commented on it. I thought these were useful to post as they contain further learning and insights that add more value to the article.

Reactional questions and statements concerning the above post:

• God knows what you will choose it goes against your discussion of free will. … he knew what Adam was going to choose then he knew he was going to set mankind for failure before we even created Adam.

God knowing all things does not influence one iota of the free will of man. As I clearly stated in the post, God knows beforehand what man's choices are, so He knows if man will receive or reject Him in the end. God has done ALL to inform man and provide the choices he can make, but the choices remain in the hands of man to determine his fate.  When God judges men in the end, it is perfectly righteous because men knew what was required to have life versus to have death. 

• It's not valid that God would set this misery up on mankind when he created Adam and he put the tree of life and the tree of knowledge and bad and he told him not to eat of it, but he knew he was going to…

Have you ever been a parent yet? I’ve told my son many times in the past when he was young not to do this or else… Well, I set before him a choice. He knew a spanking would come if he disobeyed. It’s the same here. God disciplines us for the things he has informed us about. And…the thing with choices ensures that we have the free will to choose. Without free will, what is the reason for living!! All we need is just common logic here. This is not an emotional topic.

If our future is determined for us by God, then how do we have free will like the Bible says?

If our future is determined for us by God, then how do we have free will like the Bible says?

QUESTION:

If our future is determined for us by God, then how do we have free will like the Bible says?

ANSWER:

Isaiah confirms the following,

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

This scripture tells us that God has planned and determined the beginning and the end of everything in existence. It tells us that God is outside of the realm of time which He has created. This means that God is omnipresent and can be present in the beginning of time as well as at the end of time, or anywhere in between, simultaneously. In addition, God is omniscient and is not limited in knowledge, knowing the end from the beginning, knowing how all things work out and align up, as these verses prove,

Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 

1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 

With this in mind, let's get back to the details of the question, “Is our future really determined for us by God?”

Can man's free will control or affect the eternal plan of God?

Can man's free will control or affect the eternal plan of God?

QUESTION:

Does our free will in this temporary earth have control over God’s eternal purpose or will?

ANSWER:

From God’s point of view, his eternal purpose is set. Nothing will ever be able to change the outcome of God’s plan because the Word says, “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name”, Ps 138:2, and, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”, Mat 24:35. Thus, God’s word is settled, and from its pages we know that at the end of God’s plan there is a new heaven and a new earth, and we know there is an eternal lake of fire. The plan ends with two final outcomes, salvation and restoration or wrath and destruction.