Is Double Predestination Biblical?
Double predestination is the concept which claims that God elects some people for salvation and others for eternal damnation. It’s the belief that God has elected or chosen some people for heaven and predestined the rest of humanity to hell.
However, is the concept of double predestination Biblical? When correctly interpreted, the Scriptures do not support the doctrine of double predestination.
Below are 3 reasons why the Bible opposes the doctrine of double predestination
1. God wants Everyone to be Saved
God does not create people whose purpose in existence is to be sent to hell. In 1 Timothy 2:3-4, the Bible reveals that God our Savior wants all people to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 says: This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The Bible reveals that God does not discriminate but desires all humanity to repent and enter heaven.
2 Peter 3:9 says: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”
So we learn clearly from 2 Peter 3:9 that God does not wish for anyone to perish. Instead God desires that everyone would repent and have eternal life.
Jesus Christ died for all sinners. He sacrificed Himself on the cross for the entire world or all humanity – and not for just a few people.
1 John 2:2 says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
2. Salvation is offered to Everyone because God loves all of humanity
The concept of double predestination implies that God saves the people He loves and then condemns the people He hates to hell. However, the love of God is directed unconditionally to all humanity and not just a few.
We are all sinners and undeserving of God’s love (Romans 3:23). However, the Bible reveals that God is gracious, merciful and He loves the world so much that He sent the world the Savior, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
God demonstrated His love for all humanity through Jesus Christ who shed His blood on the cross for all sinners so that we may be forgiven and be saved if we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Romans 5:8 says: But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So God’s love is unconditional and directed to every human being no matter how flawed and sinful we have been. He loves all humanity to the extent that He offers salvation to everyone.
In John 3:16-17 God reveals that He loves the world and that He offers salvation or eternal life to “whoever believes” in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Therefore God’s love does not discriminate.
John 3:16-17 says: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
3. Humans are Accountable for their Choices & Actions
Double predestination contradicts the fact that God has given humans accountability and free will.
Free will is the human ability to choose between alternatives. Humans can choose between good and evil, and these choices have consequences (Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15).
From the beginning of creation, God gave the first humans beings, Adam and Eve free will. In the garden of Eden, God gave them the ability to make a choice between obeying and disobeying when He told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
By giving Adam and Eve a rule, God gave Adam and Eve free will to make their own choice and to experience the responsibility and consequence of making their own choice (Genesis 3:1-24).
Free will enables humans to determine their own actions and decisions by exercising control over their own lives.
The Bible also teaches that we will be judged for our deeds and our choices have consequences (Romans 2:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:10). If people go to hell, it’s because of one’s free will choice to reject Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior.
The reason we will be judged is because free will results in human accountability and responsibility for the individual choices we make.
Therefore if double predestination were true, then God would not be hold anyone responsible for their decisions and actions.
Double Predestination is a Distortion
Double predestination portrays the character of God in several concerning ways. It portrays God as being responsible for human evil, yet evil exists because of mankind’s free will choices which contradict the word of God.
Double predestination also portrays God as being unfair and unjust by selecting a few for salvation whilst damning the rest despite the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory”.
This doctrine also contradicts certain aspects of the Gospel message, namely that Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the “whole world” (1 John 2:2; John 3:16) and not for a select few.
The doctrine also distorts the true nature of the love of God. God’s love is unconditional and directed towards all humanity. God has given humanity free will, but He is a God who desires for all to be saved and for non to perish.
