Destiny in Advance

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  Romans 8:29  ESV

 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.  Proverbs 16:4  ESV

Predestined – It shouldn’t be any surprise that Second Temple rabbis adopted a view of omniscience and temporality that produced claims that this:  “ . . . Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark a trial before God, whose verdict determines our fate in the coming year.”[1]  Since they were influenced by Hellenistic thinking, the implications of God’s “all-knowing” attribute meant that there couldn’t be any really “new” events or actions in human history.  If God already knew how things were going to go, and He couldn’t be mistaken in His knowledge, then it just wasn’t possible that future events (from our perspective) might be different than what God knew, and therefore, our destinies are fixed from God’s point of view.  Even ancient scriptures seem to suggest this theological conclusion, for example, Job’s statement that even the wicked were designed for a purpose; the purpose, of course, known to God before they became wicked.  If you recall, John Calvin rightly concluded, based on this idea, that God already selected those who would be saved and those who would be condemned to Hell before the foundations of the world.  All of this might seem logically inevitable, but it doesn’t sit very well with our experience of choice.  When Jack Riemer echoes the rabbinic teaching that our annual destiny is determined by God’s decision at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, he uses the appropriate word, a word that should cause each of us moral shock.  That word is “fate,” most assuredly a Greek idea.

We have a dilemma.  If the Bible really teaches what the rabbis (and some branches of Christian theology) claim, what are we to say about our ubiquitous experience that choice matters?  How are we to reconcile the God who knows it all in advance with our moral and ethical understanding of the necessity of obedience?  If God has already predestined those who will be conformed to the image of the Messiah (and conversely, predestined those who will not be conformed), then what difference does our moral struggle really make?  If we’re chosen, we’re chosen.  If we’re not, no power in this world can ever change that verdict.  Yet the Bible consistently insists, in fact commands, that we chose to obey, and that only makes sense if in fact there is a real choice involved in those commands, a choice that makes a difference in the outcome.  John Calvin resolved this dilemma by claiming that the idea of genuine free choice was a universal human delusion.  God knows but we are seduced into believing that our choices matter.  The delusion is a necessary moral restraint for if we knew what God knows, then those who are ultimately destined for Hell would act without moral restraint now, and society would collapse.  But if you don’t know, if you think that your moral choices matter, then society can be maintained even though the actual divine verdict is already in.  So the argument continues.

What’s important for this moment is to realize that Paul’s statement might in fact reflect Hellenized rabbinic thinking; thinking that would have been accepted by both Judaism and the wider converted pagan world.  On this topic, the Greeks held sway for centuries.  The dilemma that it posed was basically ignored in Judaism as one of those contradictions that had to be embraced despite its logical affront.  Christianity leaned toward what eventually became one of Calvin’s five theological pillars.  Both religions created a divide between God and the actions of men.  They just embraced solutions in opposite directions.

So, what did Paul really mean?  Was he just being Jewish, that is, a first century Hellenized rabbi?  He certainly wasn’t being Christian, although his words were later used to justify Christian views of omniscience and free will.  If you set aside rabbinic influence and you reject the Christian solution, what do you have left?

Or maybe it really doesn’t matter.  After all, we still have to live in this world.

Topical Index: predestination, omniscience, Hellenism, John Calvin, free will, Proverbs 16:4, Romans 8:29

[1] Jack Riemer and Elie Spitz, Duets on Psalms: Drawing New Meaning from Ancient Words (Ben Yehuda Press, 2023), p. 98.