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is a mistake to think, as some do, that this exhausts their meaning. It is perfectly evident that
they generally refer to a prior and eternal election, Rom. 9:11; 11:5; Eph. 1:4; II Thess. 2:13.
3. THE GREEK WORDS proorizein AND proorismos.
These words always refer to absolute
predestination. In distinction from the other words, they really require a complement. The
question naturally arises, Foreordained unto what? The words always refer to the
foreordination of man to a certain end, and from the Bible it is evident that the end may be
either good or bad, Acts 4:28; Eph. 1:5. However, the end to which they refer is not necessarily
the final end, but is even more frequently some end in time, which is in turn a means to the
final end, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29; I Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5,11.
4. THE GREEK WORDS protithenai AND prothesis.
In these words attention is directed to the
fact that God sets before Him a definite plan to which He steadfastly adheres. They clearly refer
to God’s purpose of predestinating men unto salvation in Rom. 8:29; 9:11; Eph. 1:9,11; II Tim.
1:9.
C. The Author and Objects of Predestination.
1. THE AUTHOR.
The decree of predestination is undoubtedly in all its parts the concurrent act
of the three persons in the Trinity, who are one in their counsel and will. But in the economy of
salvation, as it is revealed in Scripture, the sovereign act of predestination is more particularly
attributed to the Father, John 17:6,9; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; I Pet. 1:2.
2. THE OBJECTS OF PREDESTINATION.
In distinction from the decree of God in general,
predestination has reference to God’s rational creatures only. Most frequently it refers to fallen
men. Yet it is also employed in a wider sense, and we use it in the more inclusive sense here, in
order to embrace all the objects of predestination. It includes all God’s rational creatures, that
is:
a. All men, both good and evil. These are included not merely as groups, but as individuals, Acts
4:28; Rom. 8:29,30; 9:11-13; Eph. 1:5,11.
b. The angels, both good and evil.
The Bible speaks not only of holy angels, Mark 8:38; Luke
9:26, and of wicked angels, which kept not their first estate, II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; but also makes
explicit mention of elect angels, I Tim. 5:21, thereby implying that there were also non-elect
angels. The question naturally arises, How are we to conceive of the predestination of angels?
According to some it simply means that God determined in general that the angels which
remained holy would be confirmed in a state of bliss, while the others would be lost. But this is
not at all in harmony with the Scriptural idea of predestination. It rather means that God
decreed, for reasons sufficient unto Himself, to give some angels, in addition to the grace with