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Summary
- Catholics do believe in predestination, and the Catechism says God’s eternal plan has each person’s free response to his grace already inside it.
- The Catholic Church teaches that God predestines no one to hell, and the councils of Orange and Trent both condemned the idea that anyone is foreordained to evil.
- Catholic theologians have long differed on whether God chooses before or after foreseeing our merits, and the Church lets them differ within limits it has set.
- Calvin and the Westminster Confession teach that God chose some for life and foreordained others to death, without looking ahead to their faith or good works.
- Lutherans say God elects only to salvation, and that when people are lost the fault lies with their own wickedness.
- Methodists, Nazarenes, the Salvation Army and most Pentecostals teach that God’s grace is offered to everyone and can be refused.
- Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mennonites and Seventh-day Adventists tie God’s choosing to his foreknowledge of how each of us will freely answer him.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Bible, King James Version: Romans 8:29; 9:11, 16, 21; 11:33; Ephesians 1:4; Philippians 2:12–13; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Peter 1:2; Matthew 23:37; 25:34, 41; John 6:44; Acts 4:28; 7:51; 13:48; Deuteronomy 30:19.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 600 and 1033–1037 (Holy See).
- Council of Trent, Session VI, Decree on Justification (1547), tr. J. Waterworth.
- Canons of the Second Council of Orange (529).
- Predestination (1911) and Congregatio de Auxiliis (1908), Catholic Encyclopedia.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.21, tr. Beveridge (CCEL).
- Westminster Confession of Faith (Orthodox Presbyterian Church); Revision of 1903 (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom).
- Canons of Dort (1618–19) (Christian Reformed Church in North America).
- Formula of Concord, Epitome XI and Solid Declaration XI.
- Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Beliefs.
- Thirty-nine Articles, XVII and XVIII (Church of England).
- Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article V; Second London Baptist Confession (1689), chapter 3; Free Will Baptist statement, Trinity Free Will Baptist Church.
- Lausanne Covenant (1974).
- The Five Arminian Articles (1610) (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom).
- John Wesley, Free Grace (about 1740) (Wesley Center Online).
- United Methodist Articles of Religion; Ask The UMC on universal salvation.
- Church of the Nazarene, Articles of Faith.
- The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine.
- Assemblies of God, The Final Judgment; United Pentecostal Church International, Ministerial Code of Ethics.
- Confession of Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem (1672).
- Orthodox Church in America, Judgment and What about other Christians?
- Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States: Predestination and Salvation.
- Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963); Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, Article 8.
- Evangelical Friends Church Mid-America Yearly Meeting, Faith and Practice; Britain Yearly Meeting, Quaker faith & practice, chapter 27.
- Apologetics Press, What We Believe; Disciples of Christ, Identity Statement and Principles.
- United Church of Christ, God’s plan of salvation and Statement of Faith.
- Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference, Predestination, Foreknowledge and Human Freedom.
- Foreordination and Agency and Accountability, Topics and Questions (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
- Jehovah’s Witnesses, What Does the Bible Say About Free Will?
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