What About Predestination?

"What is Election: Thiessen says that, in its redemptive sense, Election is: ‘That sovereign act of God in grace whereby He chose in Christ Jesus for salvation all those whom He foreknew would accept Him.

"Election is a sovereign act of God.... All men have sinned, and are guilty before God, so He was not under any obligation whatsoever to provide salvation for any... It is ‘in Christ Jesus,’ because He alone could provide the Righteousness which Man needed. God could not choose man in himself so He chose him in Christ.

"Election is always said to be according to God’s Foreknowledge (Romans 8:28-30; I Peter 1:1,2) …We must clearly distinguish between God’s Foreknowledge and His Foreordaining. It is not right to say that God foreknew all things because He arbitrarily determined to bring them to pass. God in His Foreknowledge looks ahead to events much as we look back upon them. Foreknowledge no more changes the nature of future events than afterknowledge can change a historical fact.

"Ephesians 1:3-5 makes it very clear that believers were chosen ‘in Christ Jesus.’ Having chosen His own ‘in Christ,’ God was not looking at man in himself, but as he is in Christ. Those who were chosen are those who were in Christ. By His Foreknowledge God already saw them there when He made the choice. Those who are in Christ are sinners who have believed in the redeeming blood of Christ, through which they have been united with Him as members of His body.  The Bible does not teach selection, but election. Nowhere does the Bible teach that some are predestined to be damned. This would be unnecessary inasmuch as all are sinners and on their way to eternal condemnation (Ephesians 2:1-3, 12). It is not a man’s non-election that leads to eternal ruin; it is his sin and failure to accept Jesus Christ. Every man is free to accept Christ as his personal Savior, if he will. Not only is he invited, he is urged to do so. Christ has made every provision for him (Hebrews 2:9; Acts 17:30).