Predestination and the Bible

Does the Bible teach that God predestines some people to go to heaven and others to go to hell?
Is this fair?
How could a loving God predetermine which people are saved and lost?

If you have read the Bible, you have likely wondered about these questions, since they naturally arise when reading certain Bible verses. For instance, Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:3-5). In Romans 8:29-30, the Bible says: “For whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Skeptics use verses such as these to demand that the God of the Bible shows favoritism and is unjust for arbitrarily saving some and condemning others. Certain branches of Christianity claim that God does, indeed, choose whoever He wants to be saved or lost before they are born, but since He is God, He can do whatever He wants. The fact is, however, that neither of these positions accurately represents the Bible’s teaching on predestination. The Bible teaches that God has predetermined and predestined which people are going to be saved and lost, but it is a group selection based on behavior, not an arbitrary individual selection.

What is the difference between group selection based on behavior and arbitrary individual selection? Individual selection would be if God were to create people and say, before He created them, “I am choosing Jane Smith to be saved no matter what she does. She is elect and chosen. She will go to heaven. I am rejecting John Jones, no matter what he does. He is reprobate. He will be lost.” Group selection based on behavior would be if God were to say, “From this point on, I am choosing all those people to be elect and saved who behave in a certain way, and I am rejecting all those who behave the opposite way.”

Let us look at a simple illustration of this principle. Suppose a teacher wants her class to read the book Gulliver’s Travels. She states that all those students who read the book by the end of the week will get a 100% test grade, and all those who do not will get a failing grade. At the end of the week, 25 of her students have read the book. They receive a test grade of 100%. Ten of her students did not read the book, and they fail. This is an example of group predestination based on behavior. The teacher predetermined who would be rewarded based on each person’s behavior. It is fair, and once the criteria for reward are decided, it is not something that changes. The rules have been set, and the destinies of those involved are based on their decisions. The teacher did not go down the list of students and arbitrarily decide to give some 100s and others 0s. She based their “destiny” on their compliance with her request.

There is a very clear Bible verse that shows us that God’s predestination of His human creatures involves a group determination based on behavior. When Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, he told them: “God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). Thus, we can see that before time began, God chose the group that would be saved under the New Covenant that was established by Jesus Christ—those who believe in and obey the Gospel. He also predestined the group that would not be saved, “those who do not know God” and those “who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

God is not an unfair tyrant who arbitrarily decides who will and will not be saved based on His whims. He has predestined a group, based on behavior, and informed us exactly how to be in that group. Sadly, even though God has gone to great lengths to admonish and encourage all those who are lost to choose to be in the group that is predestined to be saved, most refuse God’s offer. Indeed, God has called all people to Him through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Those who are not chosen are simply those who refuse the Gospel call. Will you decide today that you will be one of God’s chosen, predestined, elect?1

Endnotes

1 For more information about what the Bible teaches about salvation, see Receiving the Gift of Salvation at https://apologeticspress.org/issue/receiving-the-gift-of-salvation/.

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CHRISTIAN

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Thursday, March 26, 2026