Don’t Be Offended at Scriptural Predestination
Orientation
Offense at the biblical doctrine of predestination often reveals a heart unwilling to receive God's sovereign grace and the inheritance He freely gives.
- You once were alienated and hopeless, but God in rich mercy made you alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:6-8).
- Taking offense exposes a rebellious posture against the goodness of God's finished work.
- This is not about theological systems but about receiving the scriptural reality of your adoption.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:6-8)
— Ephesians 2:6-8
Clarification
Predestination is not about God arbitrarily choosing some for wrath, but about His sovereign grace in granting inheritance to those once dead in sins.
- The error of 'double predestination' (electing some to wrath) arises from a hardened disposition, not from the gospel.
- Pharaoh is shown as a vessel of wrath tolerated in God's longsuffering; he hardened his own heart, and God confirmed him in it.
- God's foreknowledge encompasses your entire history with Him; it is not a cold calculation but an eternal, personal knowledge.
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: (Romans 9:22)
— Romans 9:22
Structure
Scripture presents a 'both-and' logic: God's absolute sovereignty operates together with full human responsibility to believe the gospel.
- Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not mutually exclusive; scripture demands we hold both.
- God's grace is extended to all who thirst and come to Christ; none who come will be rejected.
- Your place in Christ is according to His foreknowledge and eternal purpose, which encompasses your personal faith.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)
— John 7:37
Weight-Bearing Prose
The offense taken at predestination is a spiritual symptom. It can manifest as Arminian rebellion, which exalts human choice apart from grace, subtly denying God’s sovereignty. It can also manifest as Calvinist rebellion, which clings to a system of self-righteousness while rejecting the gospel’s radical implication that our righteousness is Christ alone. Both errors distort the gospel.
Pauline categories are essential here. Justification is by faith alone, apart from works. The inheritance—being seated in heavenly places—is granted by God’s rich mercy to those who were dead in sins (Ephesians 2:5-6). Predestination, in its scriptural sense, pertains to this sonship and inheritance (Ephesians 1:5). It is not a selective mechanism for salvation but the declaration of God’s purpose in grace.
The counter-position of double predestination must be named and rejected. It misreads texts like Romans 9, turning Pharaoh—a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction by his own persistent unbelief—into a pawn of arbitrary decree. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his own (Exodus 8:32, 9:12). This demonstrates the complex interplay of sovereignty and responsibility, not a decree of reprobation.
The core assertion is balance: God’s sovereign grace supersedes everything, yet humans are held accountable for believing the gospel. To lose this tension is to lose the gospel itself.
Integration
You are called to rest here, in the assurance of Christ. The purpose of seeing God’s sovereignty is not to launch a theological debate, but to anchor your heart in the certainty that your place with Him was secured by His grace, not your choice. Your inheritance is safe because He gives it.
Do not feel pressure to resolve the mystery or to pick a side in a human argument. The tension between God’s sovereignty and your responsibility is a scriptural reality designed to humble us and point us back to Christ. He is the one who extends grace to all who thirst. If you have come to Him, you have done so according to His eternal foreknowledge. Your assurance is found in Him, not in your understanding of decrees.
Let this be a landing place of peace. You are a child of God, seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is the unshakable truth. Any doctrine that stirs up fear, offense, or a hardened heart toward others is not serving the gospel of grace. Look to Christ. He is your righteousness, your sanctification, and your reward. In Him, all these things find their rest.