The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1300, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.

Question

Do you believe in predestination?

Answer

Of course I do! How else can I believe when it says in Ephesians, chapter 1, these wonderful words (and I thank God for these words) and you know them well: “According as He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him. Yes, He chose us before the foundation of the world, in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of our will”--is that what it says? “His will.”

Do I believe in predestination? What else could I believe? It’s in the Bible! In Romans 9, He says, “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated.” He says in that same passage, “There are vessels fitted unto honor, there are vessels that have been fitted to destruction.” Yes, God is a sovereign God, but I believe also that somehow, mysteriously, within the framework of predestination and within the framework of his sovereignty and the framework of election, which I believe in, there is a place for human choice. How that resolves itself is God’s problem; I’m going to leave it with him.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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