1. The description of predestination. 4. Two considerations calculated to guard the doctrine from abuses. I. The Description of Predestination. Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. There have been from time to time various theories held with regard to predestination, and various schemes and systems have been formed by Christians. Of these, the most important are the following, which it will be convenient to consider in the order in which they are here enumerated, rather than in accordance with a more strictly chronological arrangement: (a) Ecclesiastical predestination. (a) Ecclesiastical Predestination. According to this, predestination is not necessarily to life, but to privilege, i.e. to the opportunity of obtaining eternal life in the way of God's covenant. On this view, the "elect" are to be identified with the "called," and include all baptized persons. As Bishop Harold Browne puts it: "Some have held that as the Jews of old were God's chosen people, so now is the Christian Church; that every baptized member of the Church is one of God's elect, and that this election is from God's irrespective and unsearchable decree. Here, therefore, election is to baptismal privileges, not to final glory; the elect are identical with the baptized, and the election constitutes the Church."1 That this doctrine is taught in Holy Scripture admits of no doubt whatever. Throughout the Old Testament God is said to have "chosen" the whole people of the Jews, and not a select few out of their number. The "children of Jacob" were His "chosen ones or "elect " (Ps. cv. 6).3 And when we pass from the Old Testament to the New, we find that the members of the Christian Church are regarded as having succeeded to the privileges of the Jews, and that the language used of the Israelites is applied by the Apostles to them. So S. Paul, in writing to different Churches, addresses his readers indiscriminately as "called" (λnToi); and S. Peter in a similar way writes to the "elect" (EKλEKTO) who are "sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, 1 On the Articles, p. 393. 2 'Ekλéyew is used frequently of this "choice." See, e.g., Deut. iv. 37, vii. 7, x. 15, xiv. 2; Ps. cxxxiv. (cxxxv.) 4, etc. 3 'ExλEKTÓS is used very widely in the LXX., and represents no fewer than twenty different Hebrew words. This is of itself significant, and should prevent us from attempting to fix too hard and fast a meaning upon it in the New Testament. It is used of the whole nation in Ps. civ. (cv.) 6, 43, cv. (cvi.) 5, and elsewhere; but also of individuals, as Moses, Ps. cv. (cvi.) 23; Joshua, Num. xi. 28; and David, Ps. lxxxviii. (lxxxix.) 19. 4 With Ex. xix. 5, ἔσεσθέ μοι λαὸς περιούσιος ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἔθνων: ἐμὴ γάρ ἐστι πᾶσα ἡ γὴ, ὑμεῖς δὲ ἔσεσθέ μοι βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα καὶ ἔθνος ἅγιον, cf. Tit. ii. 14 (λαός περιούσιος) and 1 Pet. ii. 9 : γένος ἐκλεκτὸν, βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, ἔθνος ἅγιον, λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν (this last phrase is the LXX rendering of the same phrase a in Mal. iii. 17); and of. also Eph. i. 14 : εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς περιποιήσεως. 5 Rom. i. 6, 7; 1 Cor. i. 2; cf. S. Jude, ver. 1. "1 Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia," and elsewhere charges them to "make their calling and election sure" (2 Pet. i. 10). Such language can only be used of an election to privilege. Among the Apostles' converts were many who were in danger of falling away, and of committing grievous sins, and yet they are all alike regarded as "called" and "elect," or chosen. Clearly, then, the "called" and "elect " are identical; and the Apostles, in using this language, are writing to their converts as chosen and called by God to the high privilege of being His people. The same kind of language is found in the writings of many of the early Fathers,2 indicating that they also held that the Christian Church had stepped into the place of the Jews, and that therefore its members could 11 Pet. i. 1. Cf. ii. 9 (ékλektdv yévos), v. 13 (σuvekλektý), and Col. iii. 12; and note that it was of an election to privilege that our Lord spoke when He said, "Have I not chosen (éžeλeğáμny) you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" S. John vi. 70. See Clement of Rome, c. lxiv., where he speaks of God as having elected our Lord Jesus Christ, and us by Him, to els λady Teplovσiov. ékλEKTÓS is a "favourite word" with Clement (Lightfoot). It occurs at least eight times in his Epistle (see cc. i. ii. vi. xlvi. xlix. lii. lix.), but there is nothing that is absolutely determinative of his use, though it is probable that he uses it of the Church generally, as he certainly does κλητός. See the salutation: Ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ παροικοῦσα Ῥώμην τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῇ παροικούσῃ Κόρινθον, κλητοῖς, κ.τ.λ. But it is possible that exλexTÓS sometimes slides into a further meaning, e.g. in ii.: els tò σώζεσθαι μετὰ δέους καὶ συνειδήσεως τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ ; xlix.: ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἐτελειώθησαν πάντες οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ; lix. : ἱκεσίαν ποιούμενοι ὅπως τὸν ἀριθμὸν τὸν κατηριθμημένον τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτοῦ . . . δια φυλύξῃ. Ignatius of Antioch certainly uses εκλεκτός in the sense of ecclesiastical election. See the salutation to the Epistle to the Trallians: ἐκκλησίᾳ ἁγίᾳ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Τράλλεσιν τὴς Ασίας, ἐκλεκτῇ καὶ ἀξιοθέῳ, κ.τ.λ. Cf. also the salutation to his Epistle to the Ephesians (ékλeλeyμévnv). Hermas uses it several times of the Church. See Vis. i. 3, iii. 5, iv. 2. Justin Martyr speaks of Christians being "called" as Abraham was, Dial. c. cxix. ; and to the same effect Irenæus says that "the Word of God, which formerly elected the patriarchs, has now elected us" (Adv. hær. IV. lviii.). ... rightly be addressed as "elect." And there can be no doubt that this view of election is recognised in our own formularies. Not only is the Church described in the Homily for Whitsunday as "an universal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful and elect people," but in three out of the four passages where the word "elect" occurs in the Book of Common Prayer, it is used of the Church or body of Christians generally. Thus, in the Collect for All Saints' Day, God is said to have "knit together His elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body" of His Son. In the Catechism the catechumen is taught to speak of "God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God"; and in the Baptismal Service, before the child is baptized, we pray that "he may receive the fulness of God's grace, and ever remain in the number of His faithful and elect children," an expression which implies the possibility that he may fail and lose his election.1 the fourth passage in which the word occurs in the Book of Common Prayer, the exact meaning to be given to it may be a matter of doubt. It is in the prayer which follows the Lord's Prayer in the order for the Burial of the Dead, where we pray God "shortly to accomplish the number of His elect, and to hasten His kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of His holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal and everlasting glory." It is scarcely natural to take the word here as practically equivalent to the baptized; and the probability seems to be that something further is intended here, and in the Article before us, In 1 To these three passages may be added the versicle, "Make thy chosen people joyful;" cf. Ps. cxxxii. 9, from which the words are taken. 2 The phrase seems to have been originally suggested by the language of S. Clement, quoted in the note on the previous page. where predestination is described as God's "purpose to deliver those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour." And if this is so, if, that is, the formularies of the Church while accepting "ecclesiastical election" point also to something beyond it as well, it would appear that in this they faithfully reflect the teaching of Holy Scripture. For while, as we have seen, ecclesiastical election is distinctly taught therein, yet there are some passages the language of which is not really satisfied by this theory. Although it is true that in the Epistles the "called" and the "elect" are identified, yet in our Lord's words in the Gospel, "Many are called («λŋτoí), but few are chosen " (èλEKтOί), they are expressly distinguished. Moreover, while it is admitted that S. Paul's language in Rom. viii. and ix. is primarily intended to refer to nations, and to the election of the Christian Church to privilege, yet it is impossible to exclude from his thought something further. The use of the words "prepared unto glory," "fitted unto destruction" (ix. 22, 23), and of the phrase "them He also glorified," as the crown of the series of blessings enumerated in viii. 28-30, "prove conclusively that he is looking . . . to the final end and destination of man."1 It appears, then, that the theory of ecclesiastical election, though perfectly scriptural, does not cover the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject; and that we must recognise that there is a further truth, if not definitely revealed, at least implied, in the passages just referred to. 1 Sanday and Headlam On the Romans, p. 266; cf. p. 347: "It is quite true to say that the election is primarily an election to privilege; yet there is a very intimate connection between privilege and eternal salvation, and the language of ix. 22, 23, 'fitted unto destruction,' 'prepared unto glory,' cannot be limited to a mere earthly destiny." |