1689 Confession of Faith - 3.4

God's Decree of Election and Predestination – Paragraphs 3-7

ELECTION – ἐκλογή ekloge {ek-log-ay'} n. – Divine choice or selection – Rom 9:11-16 … 11:3-5 …

                                 ἐκλέγομαι eklegomai {ek-leg'-om-ahee} v. – to choose – Eph 1:3 … 2 Thess 2:13 … 1 Cor 1:26-31  

‘Election is that eternal act of God whereby He, in sovereign good pleasure, and in account of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients of special grace and of eternal salvation.' – Berkhof

PREDESTINATION – προορίζω proorizo {pro-or-id'-zo} v. to mark out before – Acts 4:27-28) ‘determined beforehand' … Rom 8:28-33 … Eph 1:4-11 … (1 Cor 2:7) “ordained”

‘Predestination is God's pre determined appointment and fore arrangement of all things beforehand, according to His divine and supreme will. God prearranges, predetermines, and supremely rules in all the concerns of our world. He fixes a constellation in the heavens, guides the gyrations of a bird in the air, directs the falling of an autumn leaf in the pathless desert, and conveys the seed, borne upon the wind, to the spot where it should fall… What doctrine is more emptying, humbling, and therefore sanctifying, than predestination? It lays the axe at the root of all human boasting. In the light of this truth, the most holy believer sees that there is no difference between him and the vilest sinner that crawls the earth, but what the mere grace of God has made.' – Octavius Winslow