John Calvin's Predestination Essay

Calvin approached the doctrine of predestination from the viewpoint of practical Christianity. According to Leith, “For him it was an article of faith, not merely a matter of dogmatic or historical interest” (120). Calvin’s point was not the departure of the doctrine of God, but the practical problems involved that existed in the church; so, predestination for Calvin was intimately tied up with the everyday experience of Christian faith. To Leith, “the position Calvin gave to predestination in his theology is an important factor in interpreting its relationship to the Christian life” (121). Predestination undercuts all confidence in work-righteousness and lays bare the source of human salvation. It is the negation of all merit and places salvation

For all are not created in equal conditions but rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. There, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or death.”” Election on the other hand, is unconditional, pre-temporal, to salvation and not merely service. Election takes place in Christ, and it has for its security the eternal will of god. According to William C. Placher who wrote A History of Christian Theology, has this to say regarding Calvin’s doctrine of election, first, he asks this question “So, how can one be certain of salvation?” He explains, “It is a question Calvin never really answered. For many of his followers the search for a way to identify the elect, or at least to be certain for oneself, became crucial. It is remarkable that Calvin himself so focused on the glory of God that he could leave even his own salvation a matter of secondary importance” (190). For Calvin, only God knows who stands among the