The perceived tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is particularly felt in the doctrine of predestination (that God has chosen his people for heaven). If God has elected his chosen people ahead of time, then what’s the point in praying for them and encouraging them to become Christians? Moreover, if predestination implies double predestination (that has destined some for heaven and some for hell), then there’s nothing that the non-elect can do, they were doomed before they were born, and so how can God be fair if he doesn’t give them a chance.
This objection misunderstands sin and the first objection misunderstands grace. Double predestination is biblical (Romans 9:18), but it often carries a false assumption that people would otherwise be neutral before God and he moves some up to heaven and some down to hell. The reality is that we moved ourselves down to hell, if anything is undeserved, it’s that God moves some up to heaven. Left to our own devices no one would choose God, we all had our chance in Adam. Just as I came to Australia in my ancestor, so I came to idolatry in Adam. If you’re going to resent Adam for his original sin then you have to ask yourself, where did you get your life from?
Using predestination as an excuse not to pray for people and encourage them to become Christians is often referred to as hyper Calvinism. The false assumption behind this is that either God brings people to Christ or people bring people to Christ. But God has graciously involved us in his redemptive work, God brings people to Christ by the prayers and evangelism of other people. This is evident in the epilogue of Job, God is angry with Job’s friends and he says ‘my servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer’ (Job 42:8). Did Job’s prayer make a difference or was God sovereign over his grace? The question draws a false dichotomy, God was sovereign over his grace in Job’s prayer making a difference.
The difference is one of primary and secondary means. God is the ultimate cause of everything because he created the universe and is sovereign over it, but how he brings things into being is another question, one which often involves the human will. Our will may be for God’s will or against God’s will, but never instead of God’s will. God uses our choices and actions, whether they be good or bad, to achieve his good and perfect will. The answer to why someone had become a Christian is always grace (and why someone hasn’t is always sin), but how that person became a Christian is a different question entirely. The ultimate answer of why any given thing has happened or will happen is either our sin or God’s grace, but from a human perspective we’re often more interested in the secondary means rather than the primary, that is, we’re more interested in the how than the why.
Predestination is often seen as a doctrine that doesn’t really matter. It’s philosophical and complicated and since we’re not saved by our understanding of predestination then why does it matter? After all, isn’t it possible to be wrong about predestination and still be saved? Like a number of difficult doctrines, it’s certainly possible to saved without understanding them fully, but if you do fully understand predestination and reject it, you are effectively rejecting God’s grace. If the ultimate cause of your salvation is anything other than God’s mercy, then you are relying on your works (often in a decision) rather than Christ’s work on the cross. Putting your hope and identity in anything except God is the very definition of sin, but someone who puts it in Jesus is the definition of a Christian.
