Predestination
Is it possible for a person to be saved but not predestined?”
According to the Catholic Church, God predestines no one to go to hell, and walking away from mortal sin is necessary until the journey ends. We will not encourage every believer to guess the will of God without being adequately supported by His word. A heretical sect within Roman Catholicism during the early centuries of its existence that preached the doctrine of double predestination and that salvation can be lost by sinful acts and the un-repentance of wicked works. Ezekiel 18:21–28
“Salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all.”— Pope John Paul II (1999)
Grace comes from Christ, the result of his Sacrifice, and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the grace of God, our extension in this life to attain salvation before it becomes only available to people who have a change of heart. God’s eternal plan of predestination is to give way to His purpose and will so that everyone will be with Him.
Someone can’t be saved without being elected by God for salvation. This is the doctrine in which many people of interest build their interpretation and encourage them to join their newfound faith. There was an experience in Galatia during Paul’s time when Proselytes was rampant. Paul made his way by introducing that there was no need to be circumcised to be saved. Peter could not make any argument with Paul because, during that time, the apostles were afraid of Paul for being a very influential person because of his status as a citizen of Rome and also known as the persecutor of the followers of Jesus. Peter resisted this issue, but the bible became silent for some reason.
Who will not be disappointed if you learn that after you work hard to develop your faith, it goes to nothing without further explanation and know that only the elect would be saved? But, of course, it feels unfair, biased, and unjustified the way it is arranged. The biblical doctrine of election teaches that God chooses to save some and not choose everyone; these are the elect.—Mark 13:20.
God chooses the elect with His saving grace to show love, especially to undeserving sinners and unbelievers. This love involves those not elected who will be drawn to Christ— Ephesians 1:4–6 supports this act of God according to Paul; “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, by his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”
God’s elect has nothing to do with us being left out. God’s act of predestination is an act of love. God’s foreknowledge that we will never choose Him over a luxurious lifestyle. We are all sinners and have no rights at all to be disgusted. The wages of sin are death; sinners are technically separated from God. What is our right then? Do we have the right to question God? I don’t think so! We rebel against His love, power, and authority when we sin.
If we are not part of the elect, then we could be part of the chosen ones He will send to Jesus. And Jesus, in response, as stated in John 6, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them”—John 6:44. This is the love of the Father with the Son. No one can be saved unless they are elected. God wants the non-elect to come to faith with Jesus Christ. Those not selected have the free will to choose their destiny or desires. To continue or not to continue the rejection against Christ could be the end of the discussion.
God has a choice that anyone who comes to faith in Christ to be saved, an individual must make a choice. We can surrender in trust; if not, the bottom line is that we cannot be dedicated. When we seriously read about the process of salvation, even before we read this article, we are already dedicated because we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Therefore, eventually, our confidence works and finds God’s hand is at work all along the way. The Holy Script saves your day. If you are disgusted earlier and are now relieved, say sorry! We can experience at this moment that the conviction of the Holy Spirit to our soul will make us realize that God’s love is immeasurable, and He changes our unregenerate hearts to enable us to believe.
Our relationship with God is already a choice, and God wants us to pursue that relationship with Him to win us over. God does this with everyone to shake up and wake up for some reason so that people will believe in Him more genuinely, be spiritually attuned, and be physically and morally sensitive to His grace. If people will only contribute their goodness to salvation and walk by faith to share that goodness, we may no longer have a saving problem.
The Scripture is God’s breath and teaches us that God has chosen it to save some people and chooses them based on His purpose. Confusing as it may seem, the message is obvious as Paul describes God: “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:4–6
“In him we had obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13, In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:11-14.
Whether called, chosen or elect, we will all be equally the same in spirit. We could be in the same heaven, but we will not know it until then. As I say, I’m not being dogmatic about it, but that is probably the reason we have heavens.
Christians, Jews, and Islam are alike for this purpose. We could be living in the same celestial body but in different dimensions. There are many possibilities for how we create the everlasting joy we face after this life, and God will not mind if we use the gift of imagination.
Predestination is biblical teaching. Numerous other New Testament passages also refer to believers being called, chosen, or elected to salvation (Matthew 24:22, 31; Mark 13:20, 27; Romans 8:33; 9:11; 11:5–7, 28; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1–2; 2:9; 2 Peter 1:10). There is no escaping the fact that God predetermines who will be saved.
To the Trinity, we dedicate this article.
To God be the glory