Book I/Chapter 28: Honest Injun (Part 1)
Last Updated on Sunday, 17 August 2008 21:02
This is a fair and honest question; and I will answer it with Scripture:
“For Amen I say unto you, Till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall IN NO WISE pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
“Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)
These two passages are both quotations attributed to Jesus, Who is God.
God cannot lie, because God cannot deny Himself.
Therefore everything God has said throughout time must come to pass/exist.
[waiting for reader to take this in]
So the real question is: “What is the relationship between predestination/foreordination (which for the time being we will assume to be synonymous) and God's promises, both of which are Acts of God and are therefore immutable?”
(NOTE: The word foreknow in all of its forms will be ignored since everyone (in the Christian community at least) assumes that God by His very Nature foreknows everything. The issue is whether or not God MAKES things happen, not whether or not He KNOWS they're going to happen.)
To answer this, first we want to define some terms. To do this I have traced the origin of these words in our language and then compared them with the Hebrew and Greek words in the original texts of Scripture they were used to translate. That means I'm about to get technical so I need you to put your thinking caps on and follow me carefully. I'm using the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible for my English words, since it's so widely used.
Ready? Here we go...
Predestination. This word dates back to the 14th century, A.D. by way of French and Latin. It refers to:
- the act of predestinating or the state of being predestinated
- to be assigned to an earthly or eternal lot or destiny by Divine Decree
- to destine, decree, determine, appoint, or settle beforehand
Now in the KJV of the Bible a form of the word predestination appears in these Scriptures (the word does not occur in the KJV of the Old Testament):
Romans 8:29, 30
Ephesians 1:5, 11
The Greek word that predestined is translating is “proorizo” which comes from the two words “pro” and “horizo.” “pro” is a primary preposition meaning “before, prior or in front of.” “horizo” is where we get our word horizon from, and means “to mark out, boundary; to appoint, decree, specify, declare, determine or ordain.”
So it becomes plain that what I've been saying—that God preordains for certain events to happen irregardless of human or angelic agency— is supported in the original language of the New Testament.
Promise. This word dates back to the 15th century, A.D. directly from Latin. It refers to:
-
- a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified
- a legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act
- reason to expect something ("little promise of relief"); especially: ground for expectation of success, improvement, or excellence ("shows considerable promise")
- something that is promised
In the KJV of the Bible a form of the word “promise” occurs 111 times; 42 times in the Old Testament and 69 times in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, when you see a form of the word “promise” it could be either of two words in the original Hebrew:
- amar: a primary root which, in different forms and with different words, produces a wide range of meanings; including “to say, answer, appoint, avouch (corroborate or affirm), bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge and charge.”
- dabar: a primary root which, in different forms, means “to arrange, answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, pronounce, rehearse, speak, tell teach, talk, speak, utter.”
In the New Testament, when you see a form of the word “promise” it could be any one of five words in the original Greek (four of them related):
- epaggelia: an announcement (for information, assent or pledge; especially a Divine assurance of good).
- epaggello: to announce upon; by implication to engage to do something, to assert something respecting one's self; to profess.
- epaggelma: a self-committal (by assurance of conferring some good). This word is only used in 2nd Peter 1:4, 3:13.
- exomologeo: to acknowledge (by implication or assent) or to agree fully. This word is only used in Luke 22:6 when Judas Iscariot promises the chief priests and captains to betray Jesus to them when the crowd was not around Him.
- proepaggeliomai: to promise of old. This word is only used in Romans 1:2, referring to the Gospel that was promised beforehand in the Old Testament.
In the next message I will review the basis and foundation for ALL promises: the covenant.
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