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Predestination or Foreordination?

Research by Kerry A. Shirts

I want to concentrate on the scriptures which discuss not only predestination but also premortal existence, something which Calvin was unfamiliar with, but clearly a Biblical doctrine as I will show.

Perhaps the main text as well as the main chapters which Calvinists use to teach predestination is Romans chapters 9-11. These are wonderful and important chapters. All too often we Mormon have remained largely ignorant of the Bible, while our ignorance of the other LDS scriptures is only slightly less so. I don't want to twit Mormons anymore than Calvinists, but it is important to understand what the scriptures mean. Church manuals, as Hugh Nibley has pointed out time and again, too often groom over the scriptures leaving us with too large of gaps in our knowledge of God and His Plan of Salvation. It is time to learn something from the scriptures.

Richard Lloyd Anderson in his most interesting text, Understanding Paul, discusses Romans 9-11 in a remarkably scholarly enlightening way. He notes first off that Joseph Smith claimed that the entire chapter deals with the Priesthood and the house of Israel, and unconditional election of individuals to eternal life was not taught by the apostles. (Anderson, p. 188). If the children of God do not repent and choose God's way God will discard them. They still have their free agency, something which predestination, as Calvin taught it, was done away with. Calvin, following St. Augustine, clearly stated that "We know that the grace of God is not given to all men...human reason is depraved,,,it is therefore a settled matter that man has no free will to do good..." (as found in James L. Barker, Apostasy From the Divine Church, Bookcraft, 1984, p. 751. Interestingly Barker is a direct descendant of the Waldensians) Barker also notes that the Augustinian (hence also Calvinist) system [of predestination] was unknown in the Ante-Nicene age [before 325 A.D.], and was never accepted by the Eastern church. This is a strong historical argument against it. (Barker, p. 753)

Joseph Smith rightly says that Paul discusses the calling of Israel, not of individuals in these chapters. Anderson notes that "Whereas Israel received the covenant and revelation of the Old Testament, it forfeited that relationship for a time by not accepting the new revelations [New Testament, Christ, etc.] (p. 189). And Paul is pained to admit it, but he does. His prayer, we read, is "prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." (Romans 10:1) In the Greek text of the New Testament, Israel is clearly mentioned hence we know Smith was right (see Jay P. Green, Sr., editor, The Pocket Interlinear New Testament, Baker Book House, 1990, p. 435)

Paul's point in Romans 9 is that the promise had passed over Abraham's descendants to rest for a time upon the Gentiles. They had not merited God's call from the point of view of earth life, but Latter day Saints have the added perspective of the premortal existence in understanding God's choices. John Calvin lacked this understanding (p. 189).

Paul does not come to Calvinist conclusion at all here.From Paul's example of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:23) Pauls told the Jews that God could shift the birthright from them to the Gentiles. He simply said that God made the "election...not of works but of Him who calls," for the children were unborn and had not done any good or evil (Romans 9:11, NKJV). Calvin argued that "no good works are taken into account... there being nothing in them, either past or future, to conciliate His favor." (Anderson, p. 190) But, interestingly, two centuries later Origen believed otherwise. He says Jacob must have been loved by God, according to the deserts of his previous life, so as to deserve to be preferred before his brother.

Romans mentions the premortal existence of the righteous and suggests their worthiness by saying that God "prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called" (Rom. 9: 23-24) Calvin developed his doctrine too narrowly. Paul simply insists on God's right to choose Jacob without probing into why he made that choice.

The crescendo of Paul's treatment of election is also the crescendo of stressing agency. Paul uses election as a term of God's conditional selection. It is equivilant to the verb call, which in Paul generally refers to conversion with the implied period afterward of testing for faithfulness. Calling and election refers to Gospel opportunity, not to God's final determination of who is saved and who is damned as Calvinism teaches. Paul testifies that "Israel shall be saved," showing that the "election" or "calling of God" will not fail (Rom 11:26-29). But that is prophecy not predetermination. (Anderson, p. 192).

Realize that most of Israel by then had temporarily failed, suffering blindness in part... until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in (Rom 11:25) God had not given them an election for all time that would not diminish. They had failed because of unbelief (Rom. 11:20) Romans 11:22 clearly says they ought to continue in His goodness otherwise "you shall also be cut off." (Romans 11:22)

Now about the premortal existence. It is very clearly a Mormon doctrine. And did you know that Brigham Yound said that it was this doctrine of premortal existence which led more people to apostatize from the church than any other doctrine?! Moreso than polygamy or new revelation, etc. Now we take the premortal existence in stride, but Christians often wonder where we get this from. Well it clearly is taught in the Bible, but we also get it from new revelation, most clearly in the Pearl of Great Price.

In Ephesians we clearly have this premortal existence taught. First we must remember that Christ prayed to His Father thusly: "You loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). The Ephesian saints had that same relationship with the Father. "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4) The same phrase that refers to Christ's premortal life must also refer to the premortal existence of the saints. (Anderson, p. 264) Interestingly when we turn to the Greek, we find the Greek phrase is exactly the same in John 17:24 and Ephesians 1:4, thus demonstrating very clearly the premortal existence of Christ and the saints (see The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament, translator, Robert K. Brown and Philip W. Comfort; editor J.D. Douglas, Tyndale House Publishers, 1990)

Anderson continues: The Greek of Ephesians as well as that of Romans 8 contains a number of words which refer to the premortal existence. Pro before a Greek verb adds the idea of beforehand, a prefix in the borrowed word prognosis which, of course refers to what is known beforehand about the future condition of a patient. The same Greek verb is used of the Father's knowing Christ and men before mortality. This is best seen in the 1881 Revised Version that made the Greek proginosko consistent in the following two passages. Peter taught the clear New Test. doctrine that Christ "was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20; also the same phrase as in Eph. 1:4 and John 17:24 in the Greek). And we find Paul teaching the same doctrine! "For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom he foreordained, them he also called" (Rom. 8:29-30, RV). The "calling" is about conversion of souls here on earth, but there are two stages before that, God's foreknowledge and foreordination. In the case of Christ, Peter's language refers not merely to conceptualizing his future existence but to knowing him personally as a premortal spirit. Does Paul use foreknowledge of God merely preconceiving the future existence of the many brethren? This is an arbitrary switch of ideas. As surely as Peter spoke of Christ's preexistence, Paul spoke of those yet to become earthly Saints as personally alive and known by their Father when he made decisions about their foreordinations. (Anderson, p. 265).

Interestingly, Justin Martyr taught that at death the soul goes back to the place from whence it was taken. The early Christian writing 2 Clement teaches that the first church was created and organized before the sun and the moon. The early Christians as well as the Bible clearly taught and believed in all people's souls having a premortal existence with Christ in heaven.

Orson Pratt's analysis of the biblical teaching of the premortal existence is as clear as anything in print. This is just one more reason why we Mormon state we believe the Bible MORE LITERALLY than most Christians do. We do not allegorize anything and everything in the Bible out of reality.

First, there is nothing unreasonable about the preexistence of souls or spirits. For instance, if spirits can live after death in a state of happiness or misery, is there any reason why they cannot exist before the organization of the body? If the destruction of the body is not the death of the spirit, then it must be admitted that the spirit is in no wise dependent on the body for its existence, and therefore it can exist prior to the body, as well as after it. The disorganization of the body does not deprive the spirit of life, neither does the organization of the body give to the spirit life; it possesses life in itself. Life and intelligence are not the result of organization, but they are the cause; and, therefore, they must exist before the effects can follow.

Our bodies are formed from the dust of the earth, but are our spirits made from the same materials? If they were, then at death, they would return to the dust; but as they are not reduced to dust, like the body, they must be formed of materials far superior to those of the earth. Where did those materials come from? They came from God according to the Bible. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall RETURN unto God who gave it." Interestingly the Hebrew shuwb, (return) means, among other things, to bring back home again, according to Strong's Concordance. The spirit, according to the Bible here, came from God, not the dust of the earth. The spirit also returns (goes back home again) to God, who gave it we are told. Could the spirit return to God if it never were in His presence? (Orson Pratt, The Seer, Feb. 1853, p. 17)

The disciples of Jesus asked him who had sinned in the case of the blind man, him or his parents, that he was born blind (John 9:2). They considered it possible for the man to sin before he was born, and as a result of that sin he was born with the punishment of blindness. In fact they presupposed that in a premortal existence this man possessed intelligence to make choices, was capable of obeying or disobeying, and that the conditions of his present state was the results of his former state. Interestingly, Jesus did not take this opportunity to correct the disciples pressuposition of premortal existence, but went on to teach them that the man's blindness was not the result of him sinning (note Jesus does not deny the premortal existence here). Jesus left the impression upon their minds that the blind man had a premortal existence. This is clearly seen in the Greek. Jesus' answer is using a subordinate conjunction which introduces dependent clauses expressing ideas of cause, result, condition, etc. "neither did this man sin nor his parents, but as a result the works of God shall be made known by him." (Wesley J. Perschbacher, New Testament Greek Syntax, Moody Press, 1995, p. 84)

Jesus himself believed in the premortal existence. He said "I proceed forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." And again he said "Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:42, 58) Jesus also prayed "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:5) Again, the Greek pro with the genitive, indicates time and space, as we have seen: "and now Father, you glorify me, with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed." This is the present active infinitive. (Perschbacher, p. 222; See also Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, World Bible Publishers, 1992, pp. 1212f)

Revelations 3:14 calls Jesus "the beginning of the Creation of God" while Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God - the FIRST BORN of every creature (Colossians 1:15). Romans 8:29 says Jesus is the First Born among many brethren. And Hebrews 2:11 says that He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of One: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. The brethren here are sons of God begotten by the same Father that Jesus was, as is seen at Hebrews 12:9, We have had fathers of our flesh... shall we not rather be in subjection unto the FATHER OF SPIRITS and live? Now Jesus clearly was NOT the FIRST BORN among many brethren here on earth. This is clearly talking about a premortal existence with Christ and all of us among the children of God. (Pratt, The Seer, p. 19)

Now when we understand that God promised eternal life before the world began (Titus 1:2) and that Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), and that He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3,4) is in not rather obvious that we all were in a premortal existence with God and Christ? The Bible so teaches.

Many early Church leaders taught the premortal existence from the Bible.

Daniel H. Wells said: "Jesus told the Jews that Abraham saw his day and rejoiced in it. They queried with Him as to how he - not fifty years old - could know anything about Abraham, who had been dead so long. Jesus said "Before Abraham was I am." This seemed to puzzle the Jews; they did not understand the principle of pre-existence and that Jesus who was then clothed with flesh, had possessed an existence in the spirit world, that he was the first born among many sons, and had been born before Abraham in the spirit." (Journal of Discourses, Liverpool, 1869, Vol. 12, p. 134.)

George Q. Cannon commenting on the scripture "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Psalms 45:7) He asks Who were his fellows? His faithful Apostles and followers in the pre-existence. If Christ descended from the Heavens and took upon himself a mortal body and be born of a woman in the shape of an infant, is it not equally possible that we all did the same? Jeremiah was told by the Lord that the Lord knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah was in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5). Clearly Jeremiah was somewhere and knowable before he came into his mother's womb. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 26, pp. 185f)

Orson Pratt has an entire discourse on the pre-existence of spirits which anyone wanting to know about ought to read. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 15, pp. 241-253 - using the Bible; see also JD, vol. 18, pp. 286-297 for much New Testament material).

John Morgan used Jeremiah 1:5 for pre-existence, as well as Job, and Jesus and the blind man, and Peter. (JD, vol. 20, pp. 279-281).

Brigham Young taught that predestination is not foreordination, since predestination does away with free will, while foreordination is based upon free will. (JD, vol. 10, pp. 324f; see also JD, vol. 6, p. 97; for excellent discussion of election, foreordination, etc., see Joseph Fielding McConkie, Journal of Discourses Digest, Bookcraft, 1975, pp. 307-319; for superb ideas on foreordination, and free agency, Daniel Ludlow, Latter-Day Prophets Speak, Bookcraft, 1951, pp. 151-161; The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible steered away from the doctrine of predestination also, see Robert J. Matthews, "A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, BYU Press, 1975, pp. 187f, 317f; also Monte S. Nyman, Robert L. Millet, The Joseph Smith Translation, Vol. 12 of the Religious Studies Monograph Series, Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1985, pp. 115f, 232).

Gleason L. Archer (Who I have been told knows 29 languages!?) in his text Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Zondervan Publishing, 1982, pp. 392-395 discusses the problem of predestination and free will. Calvin was clearly incorrect since the scriptures certainly teach that men and women have the free will to choose life, so that we may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). Man is clearly responsible for his own choice, all we can be sure of, according to Archer, is that God, "who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9), has not made their choice for them. (p. 395) So the idea that some are chosen for heaven and other for hell irregardless denies Christ's teaching that all who come unto Him may be saved, sinner or saint. The very idea of repentance is that we can change our ways, our thinking, our actions, and come unto Christ. John 6:37 teaches that "All that the Father gives me shall come to me I will certainly not cast out". Archer says "This means that there is nothing in the principle of election or predestination that will keep any repentant sinner from coming to Christ and receiving salvation." (p. 395)

John L. Price in his excellent article "Qumran and Johannine Theology" in James H. Charlesworth, editor, John and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Crossroad Pblsh., 1991, p. 25 says that at both Qumran and in John that men are confirmed in the truth as they do and practise truth. (p. 25)

And of course, Robert Eisenmann and Michael Wise's text The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, discuss the welter of Dead Sea Scroll texts that have to do with righteous works and leading a Christian type life of love and doing good and having charity, all of which were Christ's teachings. Alms giving, charity and love for enemies, etc., temple service, all in the scrolls with the idea of living righteous lives not just mouthing it that you are.

Our testimonies are that Joseph Smith brought back the true knowledge of God's Plan of Salvation from the foundation of the world. Some of these doctrines are reflected in the Bible, not brought out because they are in the Bible. Our religion is based on new and continuing revelation from God to man, as in the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi (early Christian) codices, etc. The doctrines are coming out now very powerfully, and we see Mormon doctrine is clearly early Christian as well as Bible doctrine.