ipl-logo

God's Predestination Or Free Will?

1922 Words8 Pages

The question of if humans have free will or if our whole life is predestined by God is a question all humans have been asking forever. At some level, Christians know that God is in control of the future and he has a plan for every person, but it also seems like we have the ability to make our own choices. The bible has many passages that talk about free will and predestination that can help us try and make sense of the balance between humans' free will and God's predestination. Paul's writing on this topic in Ephesians 1 is one of the most looked at passages when talking about predestination. In this passage, Paul states that God "chose us in him before the foundation of the world" and that "he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus …show more content…

The ESV study bible notes say that "God's decision to redeem believers from sin and death was planned all along" (1567). This is parallel to the thinking of predestination. God has a plan for everyone and that plan will happen no matter what humans do in this life because God has already planned everything out. Ephesians 1 goes on to say in verse 11 that "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him" (1568). The ESV study notes state that the word predestined here means that "God is firmly in control of history" and that "everything that occurs is in some sense predestined by God" (1567). So according to Ephesians 1, all humans have been predestined by God because God has planned everything and is ultimately in control of everything that happens in history. This passage does not touch on the idea that humans have free will to choose anything, but rather everything is already planned by …show more content…

Luther talked about predestination throughout many of his teachings, but he mainly focused on it in his book The Bondage of Free Will. During the time of his book, many of the beliefs of the church were in question as a result of the reformation. Because of this, the belief of free will or predestination arose and was highly disputed. Luther's theories of predestination can be interpreted a few ways, but after extended research Brain Mattson believes that Luther's main belief was in double predestination. Double predestination is the idea that God chooses the elect who are to be saved, but he also chooses the non-elect who will not be saved. Luther's main reason for believing this is because of God's sovereignty. If God is sovereign, that means he knows everything. Therefore, if God only chooses the elect and does not know if the non-elect are going to be saved or not, it would mean God is not sovereign. Mattson summarized Luther's words by saying, "the principle is indeed 'double or nothing.' Either God is sovereign over all things which comes to pass, or He is not sovereign at all" (qdt. in Mattson n.pag.). God either knows all the people that will be saved and all the people that won't, which means he is sovereign, or God only knows the people that will be saved, which means he does not know everything and is not sovereign. Luther strongly believed that

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Letter From Birmingham Jail By Socrates, And MLK Jr.

    2030 Words  | 9 Pages

    This is to clarify to the people the exact knowingness of their religion. When he went around visiting various churches he began to notice that no matter where he went most everyone had been baptized and were receiving the body and blood of Christ, yet they didn’t even know the Our Father, the Ten Commandments, or the Creed. This was very hurtful to Luther. He knew that all of these people were taking their Christian liberty for granted, and he wanted to put an end to this. It was not the peoples fault per say, but they weren’t able to get help.

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq

    1050 Words  | 5 Pages

    Luther believed that the church did not have any power over the bible. For example, in the 22nd and 23nd statement he says “As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very Few” (Martin Luther: Ninety-Five Theses). In the 95 Theses Luther challenges common beliefs about purgatory.

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq Essay

    1281 Words  | 6 Pages

    As Luther is fighting the corrupt Papacy he writes this, “Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.” Luther writes this to show what true religion is, to show what a truly faithful person should do, believe in their God and give him every bit of faith from someone's person. The Papacy hates Luther not because he is wrong, but because he is right, which means if Luther was right and the masses believed him all the power that was held by the church would crumble into nothing; most importantly though the Papacy members personal power would crumble into nothing. During the early phases of the Reformation, Luther wrote the 95 Theses, which described everything he found wrong with the church at this time. The Theses was the catalyst, which set off the ticking time bomb of corruption and irreverence.

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq

    917 Words  | 4 Pages

    Theses, posted in 1517, criticized the sale of indulgences and called for a debate on issues of faith and authority within the Church. He emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith, rejecting the Catholic Church's teaching on the necessity of good works for salvation. Luther also advocated for the priesthood of all believers, asserting that all believers have direct access to God and the ability to interpret the Bible for

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq

    1066 Words  | 5 Pages

    A large portion of this pertained to the Catholic church selling indulgences which were, as described by the Church, a full or partial pardoning of sin that could be used to free anyone of transgression, especially late friends and family. One reading explains that a huge problem in Luther’s eyes was that people no longer felt that they had to go any further for forgiveness once an indulgence was purchased because they saw it as a “catch-all” system. People could pay for salvation instead of relying on faith. Luther believed sola fida, that Christ’s salvation should be achieved through faith alone, and not by giving the church money (moodle reading April

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq

    607 Words  | 3 Pages

    Instead, Luther went for the roots of the theological aspect of the church. He claimed that the church was not teaching the correct materials and that he was. In his book “95 Theses,” Martin Luther attacked the theory of the selling of indulgences, stating that only God had control of souls in Purgatory, and no human figure himself. It was Luther’s statement about how scripture and faith were the only assets needed to attain Heaven that really put the church authority over the edge. He was not planning on breaking from the church with thus statement, but the pope had enough and finally decided to excommunicate his from the church

    Read More

  • Luther's Attitude Towards Jews

    1306 Words  | 6 Pages

    Therefore, Luther appealed to the Christian community to preach Jews and thought that the attitude of Christian missionaries toward Jews should be changed so that Jews could trust their sermons. Bainton also considers Luther’s kindness to Jews is only because of Luther’s religious reformation by stating that “Luther was sanguine that his reform, by eliminating the abuses of the papacy, would accomplish the conversion of the

    Read More

  • What Is The Puritans Fault For The Crucible

    1429 Words  | 6 Pages

    This belief is often referred to as "election" or "double predestination," because it holds that God not only predetermines who will be saved, but also who will be damned. An example from The

    Read More

  • The Reformation Dbq

    1299 Words  | 6 Pages

    On October 31, 1517, Luther posted Ninety-Five Theses on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg Germany (Sayre 561-562). Luther believed that the Church had abused its power and position by manipulating the common people for their own gain. He believed that salvation is

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq Essay

    798 Words  | 4 Pages

    In document 7 Selections from Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis, it described how Martin Luther said that one cannot buy forgiveness or their way into heaven, and that God will give them salvation for free if they ask. He also said that the Church only wants money and does not care about god. The Church was being immoral by selling the indulgences which led to the corruption of the Church. The people realized the Church was wrong and started to question their

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Protestant And English Reformation

    1085 Words  | 5 Pages

    Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole

    Read More

  • Examples Of Fate Over Free Will In Dante's Inferno

    644 Words  | 3 Pages

    Destiny over Free will Free will is a term unheard of nowhere days because of how much the media portrays that we have to do what other people say such as politicians. Some people are destined to think that everything we say and do has already been written out in a script somewhere in heaven and that God already knows what we are going to do before we even do it. People do not possess free will but are governed by fate because in Dante's Inferno the people who were brought down to hell were brought down because they were destined to go down the wrong path and that's why they are in hell and there are special places for people whose fate was a little too heinous and they were forced to go in the middle of heaven and hell and sometimes other people are also destined to lead us to our fate such as Virgil in Dante's inferno. People do not possess free will but are governed by fate because we think we have a choice to change our decisions but what if

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Luther's Table Talk

    1401 Words  | 6 Pages

    What made Luther different from previous reformers was that while the others attacked the church and its corruption, he argued based on the root of the problem. The church 's doctrine of salvation and God 's free gift of grace. His opinion can also be considered reliable because of this. The words of God cannot be touched, changed of wronged, therefore as a source, the Bible is quite reliable. And what if Luther tried to change the scriptures?

    Read More

  • Boethius Boethius Free Will

    1532 Words  | 7 Pages

    However, Boethius’s views on God’s knowledge more strongly illustrate this point because they place a greater distinction between God’s knowledge and our will, by placing God outside of the temporal world, changing the conception of foreknowledge. Both theories are successful in accounting for human free will and the excellence of God, blending the two idea to allow human beings to determine their own live within the space provided by the all powerful

    Read More

  • St. Augustine On Free Will

    1088 Words  | 5 Pages

    Humans have free will because in the everyday lives on an individual they are presented with multiple choices, none of which render the need for a divine power. Saint Augustine states this in the text that individuals are aware of the presence of God, but know they can voluntarily act on the own choices. However, God has the power of foreknowledge. This is because the Lord created everything, meaning he must be aware of what is yet to happen. Augustine again asserts in Book V that God cannot exist without the ability for him to know the future.

    Read More

More about God's Predestination Or Free Will?

Open Document