[using] the Westminster Confession and the London Baptist Confession of 1689 and the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742. I found the following on God's eternal decree which I have cut & pasted here adding only the three numbers found in parentheses to aid in the breaking down and understanding of it. The wording varies only slightly from one document to the next.I hope you enjoyed this. I for one need to go now to thank God for His great mercy in choosing ... I truly did not deserve it.
God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby (1) neither is God the author of sin, (2) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; (3) nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.
... think about the nature of God for a minute. He is omniscient. His knowledge is infinite and unchangeable because it is perfect. He never learns for he has always known it all. God is also omnipotent. He has all power and that power is infinite so that his power can never be increased nor diminished. There is no limit to what he can do. God is also all-wise. His wisdom is perfect. He never takes even a second-best path. All of his choices, decisions, decrees are eternal and they are perfectly wise. In fact, his decrees are the wisest of all choices.
Omniscience + omnipotence + all-wisdom = complete sovereignty
So this God of whom we speak has decreed all things, according to historic Calvinist (I would say "Christian") teaching, whatever comes to pass. He has done so freely. He has done so unchangeably. That he has done so freely and unchangeably are necessary conclusions stemming from those three atributes of God which I noted above. The all-wise God never has to re-consider and the all-knowing God never receives new information which he has to process and the almighty God does nothing by outside compulsion. All this leads us to the inevitable conclusion that his decrees are eternal.
Does this decree, this sovereignty, this predestination, extend to who is saved and who is not? The answer: Yes, it does. Does this mean God predestines people to hell? Yes, it does. But let's look at that in the light of the statement and see what it is we mean by that.
I noted in the above statements three clauses that I call "exception clauses" though that might not be an accurate name for them. Whatever you want to call them, they help head off many common objections to the stated doctrine and add clarity to what is meant by it.
1. God Not the Author of Sin
The first one is this: ". . . yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin . . ."
However God is sovereign, it is in such a way as to not make God the author of sin. Let us say that the relation of God and his decree to sin is not efficient, but permissive. God does not commit sin, nor force anyone to sin. God does allow free creatures to sin, but that only for his greater purpose, and God will punish that sin—justly.
2. No Violence Done to the Creature's Will
Now to the second clause. However God is sovereign, it is in such a way as to do no violence to the will of the creatures. ". . . nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; . . ."
Those individuals, then, who we say are predestined to hell, are predestined to go there in such a way as to do no violence to their will. Let's make that clear. God does not force them or coerce them to sin. He does not make them evil, nor does he make them commit evil. Their evil choices and actions are free.
3. Liberty and Contingency of Second Causes Established
Now, let's look at the third clause. However God has decreed all things, whatever comes to pass, it is in such a way as not to take away the liberty of secondary causes. ". . . nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."
Those individuals, then, who we say are predestined to hell, are not predestined to go there without sufficient cause. If they are to go there, and if God has decreed from eternity that they will go there, he has done so because there is a cause or a reason for them to go there. The cause is their sin and their guilt. Their liberty in sinning and in accruing that guilt is not taken away from them. I say again, their liberty is not done away with. In fact, quite the opposite, it is established. God decreed that those who go to hell would do so freely and with sufficient cause—because they are guilty.
However God has decreed all things, whatever comes to pass, it is in such a way as to not take away the contingency of secondary causes.
Contingent means dependent on or upon something uncertain. What is uncertain in this context is only uncertain to us, for nothing is uncertain to God.
Those individuals, then, whom we say are predestined to hell, are not predestined to go there "no matter what." Rather, God has decreed that they should go there because they are guilty and because they reject Christ. Their liberty in rejecting Christ is not taken away from them (again) but rather established in the decree. God's decree that they should be sinners, guilty, and condemned, was passive, not active. It was permissive. He allowed it to happen. He allowed them to do it to themselves.
In other words, God decreed that they would go there because they freely sin and reject Christ, and for that reason. In fact, all those who freely reject Christ, God has decreed from before time that they will spend eternity in hell. Rather than undermine God's justice, this establishes God's justice. The causes of their being damned (that of freely sinning and freely rejecting Christ) are just as necessary (and just as certain) as the end result.
Once again, this is true, even if we just take into consideration God's omniscience and God's omnipotence. Does God know the end from the beginning? Yes, he does.
Is God able to choose the end, working it any way he wants? Yes. God chooses the beginning, the middle, and the end and works it all after the counsel of his own will—any way he wants to.
If God has chosen this universe, out of an infinite number of possibilities, including its past, present, and future, and in his wisdom decreed that it should be, should we question that wisdom?
Once again, nothing about God's decree makes him the author of sin, does violence to the will of free creatures, or takes away the liberty or contingency of secondary causes.
Now, didn't we already know this?
So man falls by divine appointment, but he falls by his own fault. We can then say that it happens because God allows it. God permits it. God is the first cause in that it would not happen without his permission and that leaves God as first cause, but man at fault.
So the damnation of the wicked depends upon the decree of God, the predestination of God, in such a way that the cause and matter of it are found in the wicked themselves. It is by divine appointment, but it is so by man's fault.
So let's ask and answer the question: Does God predestine some people to hell, no matter what? No. God predestines those to hell who sin and reject him. Their damnation is just and the fault of it is their own.
Let us repeat that the relation of God and his decree to sin is not efficient, but permissive. God does not commit sin, nor force anyone to sin. God does allow free creatures to sin, but that only for his greater purpose, and God will punish that sin—justly.
Does God predestine some people to heaven, no matter what? Again, no. God does predestine some to heaven, but only through means.
1 Corinthians 1:21 (KJV) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Romans 10:14-17 (KJV) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
God has predestined no one to heaven in a way which does violence to the individual's will.
God has predestined no one to heaven in a way that takes away the liberty of secondary causes, or the contingency of secondary causes. In fact, the opposite, God has decreed that a multitude which no man could number would go to heaven and that they would go there through the means of the death of Christ, the preached gospel, their faith in Christ and that gospel, and the finishing work of the Holy Spirit in them. Without those things, they would not go to heaven.
In the final analysis—those who go to hell, do so according to God's decree and because they reject Christ. Those who go to heaven, do so according to God's decree and because they come to Christ for mercy (by God's grace alone).
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