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reprobate. But since man is always in crisis, unconditional pardon and complete rejection
continue to apply to every one simultaneously. Esau may become Jacob, but Jacob may also
become once more Esau. Says McConnachie: “For Barth, and as he believes, for St. Paul, the
individual is not the object of election or reprobation, but rather the arena of election or
reprobation. The two decisions meet within the same individual, but in such a way that, seen
from the human side, man is always reprobate, but seen from the divine side, he is always
elect. . . . The ground of election is faith. The ground of reprobation is want of faith. But who is
he who believes? And who is he who disbelieves? Faith and unbelief are grounded in God. We
stand at the gates of mystery.”[The Significance of Karl Barth, pp. 240f.]
B. Scriptural Terms for Predestination.
The following terms come into consideration here:
1. THE HEBREW WORD yada’ AND THE GREEK WORDS ginoskein, proginoskein, AND
prognosis.
The word yada’ may simply mean “to know” or “to take cognizance” of someone or
something, but may also be used in the more pregnant sense of “taking knowledge of one with
loving care,” or “making one the object of loving care or elective love.” In this sense it serves
the idea of election, Gen. 18:19; Amos 3:2; Hos. 13:5. The meaning of the words proginoskein
and prognosis in the New Testament is not determined by their usage in the classics, but by the
special meaning of yada’. They do not denote simple intellectual foresight or prescience, the
mere taking knowledge of something beforehand, but rather a selective knowledge which
regards one with favor and makes one an object of love, and thus approaches the idea of
foreordination, Acts 2:23 (comp. 4:28); Rom. 8:29; 11:2; I Peter 1:2. These passages simply lose
their meaning, if the words be taken in the sense of simply taking knowledge of one in advance,
for God foreknows all men in that sense. Even Arminians feel constrained to give the words a
more determinative meaning, namely, to foreknow one with absolute assurance in a certain
state or condition. This includes the absolute certainty of that future state, and for that very
reason comes very close to the idea of predestination. And not only these words, but even the
simple ginoskein has such a specific meaning in some cases, I Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:9; II Tim. 2:19.[Cf.
Article of C. W. Hodge on “Foreknow, Foreknowledge” in the International Standard Bible
Encyclopaedia.]
2. THE HEBREW WORD bachar AND THE GREEK WORDS eklegesthai AND ekloge.
These words
stress the element of choice or selection in the decree of God respecting the eternal destiny of
sinners, a choice accompanied with good pleasure. They serve to indicate the fact that God
selects a certain number of the human race and places them in a special relation to Himself.
Sometimes they include the idea of a call to a certain privilege, or of the call to salvation; but it