1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 3.3 The Predestination & Foreordination of God

Table of Contents

• The Text
• The Chapter
• The Confession
  • By the decree of God
  • for the manifestation of his glory
  • some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace
  • others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice

The Text

1 Timothy 1:17 (CSB) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Chapter

By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace; others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice.

The Confession

By the decree of God

1 Timothy 5:21 (CSB) I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism.

So it was in this decree--by his holiness, his most wisdom, his power, his ability, his will, and his faithfulness that some are declared to be his people and some beings are turned over to their sin and wickedness.

for the manifestation of his glory

Matthew 25:34 (CSB) Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Just as God has a prepared a place for his people:

Hebrews 11:16 (CSB) But they now desire a better place — a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

So too has he prepared a place for demons and the wicked:

Matthew 25:41 (CSB) “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace

Ephesians 1:5-6 (CSB) He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

We were saved for one thing: to the praise of the God's glorious grace upon grace that he gives us all we need and want through his Son, Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:4-10 (CSB) For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) — then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.

But the judgment and the punishment and the everlasting wrath of the Son upon the wicked and the cursed and the damn is still to the praise of the glorious grace of God.

Sin is what broke God's good creation. And in the end, it will be eradicated with extreme prejudice, for:

Revelation 21:4 (CSB) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

This was accomplished by Christ because he was hung upon that tree, who bleed and died for me:

Colossians 2:15 (CSB) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.

others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of his glorious justice

Romans 9:22-23 (CSB) And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction? And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory—

Jude 4 (CSB) For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.

The will of God is a powerful thing. We are made in the image of God and we have a will that is made in the image of God. Because of sin, our wills want nothing to do with God--only if God can give us what our wicked hearts desire.

There are two ways in this existence: continue to follow your heart unto death and wrath by the Lord Jesus Christ or God will have to give you his own heart so that you will come into life, joy, and pleasures evermore by our only, only Lord Jesus Christ.