GRACE AND PREDESTINATION

Table of Content
Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Topic Introduction What is Predestination The Problematic Predestination in Scripture Predestination in Hinduism Why Predestination should be rejected Concluding remarks Page No. 1 1 2 2 2 3 4

1st year Theology Rajesh Lopes

GRACE AND PREDESTINATION

Introduction
What is the purpose of our existence? Is there an after-life, if so what qualifies us for this after life? These are the questions many thinkers of the past and present have tried to answer. Are we totally programmed, semi-programmed or the absolute masters of our own fate? If there is a specific order that was brought into the chaotic universe by God; then has he fashioned or ordered our lives in a similar manner? It is with the purpose of trying to grapple these mysteries and to understand our destination of life that I have decided to write my article on Grace and Predestination. After having read the literature that was available on this topic, I feel that Predestination deals with mans ultimate destination. However we need to make a distinction between mans ultimate destination and his temporal (of his life on earth) destination. What is Predestination? Predestination is a decree of God an inner decision of the divine wisdom and will whereby God resolves and determines what he himself will bring to pass. It signifies Gods plan for salvation for certain people, by which they are led efficaciously to the attainment of salvation. This divine ordination involves two action. a) An act of the divine intellect by which God infallibly foreknows which person is to saved and the precise means by which he will attain this salvation. b) It includes and act of the WILL OF GOD by the means of which He decrees to save these men in the very fashion He Himself has pre-planned. According to St. Thomas Aquinas Predestination is a plan existing in the divine mind for ordering some person to eternal salvation. John Calvin was also a staunch supporter of the doctrine of predestination in its original understanding. i A great theologian of the past Domingo Banez says: God gratuitously elects a few and confers glory upon them. He decrees for each of them to perform meritorious acts and to those not elected he permits them to sin and lead a malicious life. Gods will is so powerful that he not only causes the act but also the manner of it in such a way that it does not hamper the freedom of the person who commits this act.ii It is the theological version of universal determinism, in which the final or determining factor is the will of God. This doctrine however gives rise to two theological problems a) If God is the cause of everything in our life it rules out human free will. b) Secondly it makes God responsible for sin. iii

The Problematic Scripture empathically declare that God will all people to be saved (1 TIM 2:4) and yet with equal force it asserts that some he has predestined. (ROM 8:30) Whom he has predestined .. them he has called.. also justified .. and glorified. This is the problem that theologians have to grapple with.iv Predestination in the Scripture. In the Old Testament Gods election of Israel, Abraham, Jacob are all pointers to Gods eternal plan for certain people. Similarly certain text in the Bible show Gods rejection of the non-elected in Gods eternal plan of salvation: To Moses God says, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh so that he will not let your people go. Some of the most substantial proof of predestination is found in the writing of St. Paul. The two text which are quoted widely to support this are Romans 8:28-30 and Eph. 1:3-14. Paul saw predestination as a eternal divine act and it took priority over historical working out and human cooperation in the work of salvation. In 2 Thes 2:13 we see that God has chosen us from the beginning; Eph 1:4 tell us that we were chosen before the foundation of the world; 2 Tim 1:9 says that Gods plan of grace was accorded to us ages ago (before time). By choice God focus his attention on one person or one people and makes it his own. By predestination he assigns to this person or people a role determined in his universal plan deciding what the person or nation will do. Choice has to do more with the will of one who loves and predestination with the wisdom of one who orders. In the light of the two Bible text viz. Eph 1:4 and 2 Tim 1:9 we see that God has not only chosen us in Christ, but our destiny has also been predetermined in relation to Christ. Romans 8:29 says: God predestined (them) to be conformed to the image of his Son.v Predestination in Hinduism The ideology of Karma-Samsara recognizes that our deeds require the appropriate retribution. It also says that man is caught in the cycle of birth and rebirth depending on the Karma of his past life. This theory is based on older doctrines and ideas such as the concept of fate (daiva) or time (kala). Later on cosmic powers were reinterpreted in the light of the karma theory and included in the comprehensive notion of (samsara) vi Dr. Radha Krishnan was a strong advocate of the theory of Karma-samsara. He claims that our actions of the past life do condition our present. Humanity can overcome the conditioning through choosing to live a good life. However at the same time he does not reject the class system in the Hindu religion. He argues that the class system is necessary for the ordering of the society. The four classes are necessary for life of the society but these divisions are not bases on birth but on ethical personality types without any one being any higher or more important than other.vii Why Predestination should be rejected? Pelagius was a strong opponent of the doctrine of predestination; according to him man by his mere use of free will and other powers that he has got can attain salvation. He

however ruled out Grace in the life of a person. This was as very extreme view, which his followers later on modified. They said that a fallen man truly needs the grace of God to be saved. However if God truly desires that all men be saved He must will the salvation of all with complete equality and indifference. The life of Jesus and his teaching is a witness to his rejection of the doctrine of predestination on the contrary he makes a choice for the sinners and the marginalized to be included in his heavenly kingdom Jesus had a strong opposition to the established socio-religious set up of his time. He associated with the outcast, sinners, and prostitutes, which at that time was scandalous. Jews were proud of being the chosen people of God and the Gentiles were destined to damnation. The crowd who does not know the law are accursed. John 7:49. Jesus rejects this belief of the self proclaimed righteous Jews and asserts: I have come to call the sinners and not the self-righteous. In Mt. 2:17 Jesus sets up the Samaritan as a model of love.viii In his book on predestination John Farrelly says: God loves no good more that his won goodness; he cannot will sin even accidentally since this is a privation of the right order to his goodness. God wants all men to be save his plan for salvation is universal. A moral adult should fulfil certain conditions to be save: love God, hope in him, and be open to accept his saving Grace.ix The Vatican Council II in its document Dei Verbum says: Ever since the beginning of time God calls humanity to full communion. It entails concourse and collaboration with him. Though sin radically changes the human condition it does not modify Gods original call. Concluding Remarks. The Church in its official teaching says: a) God does not predetermine any one to evil. b) He wills the salvation of all people. c) Christ died for all and not for just a chosen few. d) Grace is sufficient to save a person and it is offered for the conversion of sinners as well.x Moreover we have seen that the doctrine of predestination confers salvation to a select which means God is partial in his dealings with the human race. Regarding the Banezs understanding on predestination one could argue that how could God who is inherently Good permit Evil; this would make God eventually responsible for everything and undermine human free will. We can conclude that God does not have any eternal plan for any individual or a nation for its salvation. However in my introduction I had made a distinction between ultimate and temporal destination. I feel that God has no special plans for the salvation of any particular person. But I feel that in our earthly existence God does choose people for special missions and he treats them in a special manner. For example in God specially called Abraham and chose to make him the father of faith for an entire nation. In spite Easu being the elder son God preferred to chose Jacob; even his own son Jesus was preordained to be crucified and to die for the sins of mankind. Even in our lives

we observe that even after putting in same amount of effort into a certain project or business success comes to a select few; whereas thousands of others fail. This makes one wonder does God pre-ordain our earthly lives.

END NOTES

B.MARTHELER. Predestination in Catholic Theology Catholic Encyclopedia Thomson Gale, Vol 11, pg. 650
ii

J. FARRELLY . Predestination, Grace and Free Will , Burns and Oates London 1962, Pg 27-28. E. CRAIG . Predestination , Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge-London, Vol 7 pg. 655

iii

iv

J. FARRELLY. Predestination, Grace and Free Will Burns and Oates London 1962, pg. 39

vi

H. DION . Predestination in St. Paul , Theology Digest Vol 15/2 , pg. 144-146. E CRAIG. Concepts of Karma and Rebirth, Encyclopedia of Philosophy Routledge London, Vol 5, pg. 212 Ibid, Vol 8, pg. 212 H. CRUZ Conflict Spirituality of Jesus, Jeevdhara 23, Pg 79

vii

viii

ix

J.FARRELLY. Predestination, Grace and Free will, Burns and Oates-London 1962, Pg.273 B. MARTHELER. Predestination in Catholic Theoogy, Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomson Gale, Vol 11, pg. 651