DialecticSkeptic said:
He has not revealed to us why he created those he knew would never be saved.
I believe He has:
Romans 9:22-24 -- What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
I think you are missing something here, possibly. The question is, "Why did God create people he knew would never be saved?"
And you're pointing to this passage as if to say, "He created them for the purpose of destroying them" (because they were "prepared for destruction").
Well, given what I've learned about God over the years, I am compelled to reject the idea that God would be so wasteful and indifferent. Although I firmly believe that God patiently endures the sinful reprobate who are prepared for destruction—because I take this passage at its word—I just can't believe that he created them for the purpose of destroying them. God's purposes always reach much deeper. As I said earlier, I believe that God creates the redeemed and the damned for the same reason, namely, "the glory of his name"—but each in different ways. With respect to the damned, God is glorified in them because everything about their lives will serve to demonstrate God's immeasurable mercy, wisdom, and justice (made especially evident on the day of judgment).
As an aside, notice a subtle but interesting difference in the English translation of this passage. The reprobate are "prepared" for destruction, whereas the elect are "prepared beforehand" for glory. This kind of language strikes me as rather infralapsarian, such that the context of election and predestination was a fallen humanity. In other words, God elected and predestined his people from eternity out of a fallen humanity that is already condemned on account of sin.
DialecticSkeptic said:
The only answer we can confidently assert is that God creates them both, the redeemed and the damned, for the glory of his name. We may not know how that fleshes out, but one day we will.
Seems you just don't want to think on a certain part. And, that's okay.
That is an uncharitable characterization, mate. A more generous and fair conclusion is attainable if you broaden your interpretation of my writing. Observe: There are a variety of possible answers that we could think about, from stronger to weaker—and I just demonstrated above that I do think on them—but there is only one that we can "confidently" assert.
Calvin believed that God's eternal decree determines the fate of each person, and that some are predestined to eternal life while others are predestined to eternal damnation.
Do you agre/disagree?
I disagree with Calvin, but it's because we are working with different definitions of predestination. He is working with a broader definition, setting predestination in the theological context of providence, as part of God's government of the cosmos. I am working with a narrower definition, setting it in the soteriological context of redemption—wherein "the doctrine of predestination is a branch, so to speak, of the doctrine of election; God's predestinating activity is a function of his existence as the electing God" (
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary [1996], s.v. "Predestination").
Since all are in a state of condemnation, Augustine taught, it is by grace that any are delivered. "Predestination is the preparation for grace" (
On the Predestination of the Saints x.19; NPNF1, 5:507). That is a soteriological context not enjoyed by the damned. They may be ordained or appointed to some end, but they are not predestined.
The doctrine of predestination has both a wider and a narrower aspect. In its wider reference it refers to the fact that the triune God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:11, 22; cf. Ps. 2). From all eternity God has sovereignly determined whatsoever shall happen in history.
The narrower aspect or use of the term is that God from all eternity has chosen a body of people for himself, that they should be brought into eternal fellowship with him, while at the same time he has ordained that the rest of humanity should be allowed to go their own way, which is the way of sin, to ultimate eternal punishment.
— Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (1984), s.v. "Predestination." Observe that on the narrower definition Walter Elwell distinguishes between being predestined to eternal life and being ordained to eternal punishment.
As I said earlier, "Any time scripture refers to predestination, it is only with the redeemed in view." Ergo, I stick to the narrower definition.
Reprobation is the predestination of certain men so that the glory of God's justice may be shown in them.
Food for thought: Reprobation is a kind of predestination only under a supralapsarian soteriology.
The evidence IMO ...
