6.1.1 Predestination and Election

Chapter 6: Salvation
6.1 Predestination and Election
6.1.1 The Rule of Faith

• Christians believe that God is sovereign. God is in control.
• Views of God that either 1) see him determining everything, including Satan and Adam's fall (hyper-Calvinism), or 2) see him determining nothing, as if he only tries to woo and influence the world (certain forms of open theology) both stand outside historic orthodoxy.
• Mainstream Christian views thus believe in both a directive and a permissive will of God, although they differ in the degree to which God wills each.
• At the very least, Christians believe in common that God has predestined the plan of salvation. He has predestined 1) that Christ would die for sins, 2) that those with faith (the "elect") would be justified, 3) that those who are justified would be resurrected and conformed to the image of the resurrected Son, and 4) that those who are resurrected would be glorified (Rom. 8:29-30).
• There is thus a group we know as the "elect," the chosen ones, although Christians disagree on the process by which one is part of the chosen.

Previous "chapters"
Chapter 1: What is Biblical Theology?
Chapter 2: Theology of God
Chapter 3: Creation and Consummation
Chapter 4: Sin and Atonement
Interlude: A Theology of Israel
Chapter 5: Jesus the Christ