I. The Terms
The words ‘predestine,’ ‘predestinate,’ ‘predestination’ seem not to have been domiciled in English literary use until the later period of Middle English (they are all three found in Chaucer: “Troylous and Cryseyde,” 966; “Orisoune to the Holy Virgin,” 69; translation of “Boethius,” b. 1, pr. 6, 50:3844; the Old English equivalent seems to have been ‘forestihtian,’ as in Ælfric’s “Homilies,” 2:364, 366, in renderings of Rom. 1:4, 8:30).
‘Predestine,’ ‘predestination’ were doubtless taken over from the French, while ‘predestinate’ probably owes its form directly to the Latin original of them all. The noun has never had a place in the English Bible, but the verb in the form ‘predestinate’ occurs in every one of its issues from Tindale to the Authorized Version. Its history in the English versions is a somewhat curious one. It goes back, of course, ultimately to the Latin prædestino (a good classical but not pre-Augustan word; while the noun prædestinatio seems to be of Patristic origin), which was adopted by the Vulgate as its regular rendering of the Greek προορίζω, and occurs, with the sole exception of Acts 4:28 (Vulgate decerno), wherever the Latin translators found that verb in their text (Rom. 1:4, 8:29, 30, I Cor. 2:7, Eph. 1:5, 11).
But the Wyclifite versions did not carry ‘predestinate’ over into English in a single instance, but rendered in every case by ‘before ordain’ (Acts 4:28 ‘deemed’). It was thus left to Tindale to give the word a place in the English Bible. This he did, however, in only one passage, Eph. 1:11, doubtless under the influence of the Vulgate. His ordinary rendering of προορίζω is ‘ordain before’ (Rom. 8:29, Eph. 1:5; cf. I Cor. 2:7, where the ‘before’ is omitted apparently only on account of the succeeding preposition into which it may be thought, therefore, to coalesce), varied in Rom. 8:30 to ‘appoint before’; while, reverting to the Greek, he has ‘determined before’ at Acts 4:28 and, following the better reading, has ‘declared’ at Rom. 1:4.
The succeeding English versions follow Tindale very closely, though the Genevan omits ‘before’ in Acts 4:28 and, doubtless in order to assimilate it to the neighbouring Eph. 1:11, reads ‘did predestinate’ in Eph. 1:5. The larger use of the word was due to the Rhemish version, which naturally reverts to the Vulgate and reproduces its prædestino regularly in ‘predestinate’ (Rom. 1:4, 8:29, 30, I Cor. 2:7, Eph. 1:5, 11; but Acts 4:28 ‘decreed’). Under this influence the Authorized Version adopted ‘predestinate’ as its ordinary rendering of προορίζω (Rom. 8:29, 30, Eph. 1:5, 11), while continuing to follow Tindale at Acts 4:28 ‘determined before,’ I Cor. 2:7 ‘ordained,’ as well as at Rom. 1:4 ‘declared,’ in margin ‘Greek determined.’
Thus the word, tentatively introduced into a single passage by Tindale, seemed to have intrenched itself as the stated English representative of an important Greek term. The Revised Version has, however, dismissed it altogether from the English Bible and adopted in its stead the hybrid compound ‘foreordained’ as its invariable representative of προορίζω (Acts 4:28, Rom. 8:29, 30, I Cor. 2:7, Eph. 1:5, 11), — in this recurring substantially to the language of Wyclif and the preferred rendering of Tindale.
None other than a literary interest, however, can attach to the change thus introduced: ‘foreordain’ and ‘predestinate’ are exact synonyms, the choice between which can be determined only by taste. The somewhat widespread notion that the seventeenth century theology distinguished between them, rests on a misapprehension of the evidently carefully-adjusted usage of them in the Westminster Confession, 3:3 ff. This is not, however, the result of the attribution to the one word of a ‘stronger’ or to the other of a ‘harsher’ sense than that borne by its fellow, but a simple sequence of a current employment of ‘predestination’ as the precise synonym of ‘election,’ and a resultant hesitation to apply a term of such precious associations to the foreordination to death. Since then the tables have been quite turned, and it is questionable whether in popular speech the word ‘predestinate’ does not now bear an unpleasant suggestion.
That neither word occurs in the English Old Testament is due to the genius of the Hebrew language, which does not admit of such compound terms. Their place is taken in the Old Testament, therefore, by simple words expressive of purposing, determining, ordaining, with more or less contextual indication of previousness of action.
These represent a variety of Hebrew words, the most explicit of which is perhaps ( ָיַצ רPs. 139:16, Isa. 22:11, 37:26, 46:11), by the side of which must be placed, however, ( ָיַעץIsa. 14:24, 26, 27, 19:12, 19:17, 23:9, Jer. 49:20, 50:45), whose substantival derivative ( ֵעָצ הJob 38:2, 42:3, Jer. 23:19, Prov. 19:21, Ps. 33:11, 107:11, Isa. 14:26, 46:10, 11, Ps. 106:13, Isa. 5:19, 19:17, Jer. 49:20, 50:45, Mic. 4:12) is doubtless the most precise Hebrew term for the Divine plan or purpose, although there occurs along with it in much the same sense the term ( ַמ ֲחָׁש ָב הJer. 18:11, 29:11, 49:30, 1. 45, Isa. 55:8, Jer. 51:29, Mic. 4:12, Ps. 92:6, a derivative of ( ָח ַׁש בGen. 50:20, Mic. 2:3, Jer. 18:11, 26:3, 29:11, 36:3, 49:50, 50:45, Lam. 2:8).
In the Aramaic portion of Daniel (4:14 (17), 21 (24) the common later Hebrew designation of the Divine decree (used especially in an evil sense) ְּג ֵזָר הoccurs: and ֹח קis occasionally used with much the same meaning (Ps. 2:7, Zeph. 2:2, Ps. 105:10 = I Chron. 16:17, Job 23:14). Other words of similar import are ( ָזַמ םJer. 4:28, 51:12, Lam. 2:19, Zech. 1:6, 8:14, 15) with its substantive ( ְמ ִזָּמ הJob 42:2, Jer. 23:20, 30:24, 51:11); ( ָח ֵפץPs. 115:3, 135:6, Prov. 21:1, Isa. 55:11, Jon. 1:14, Judg. 13:23, Isa. 2:25, Isa. 53:10) with its substantive ( ֵח ֶפץIsa. 46:10, 44:28, 48:14, 53:10); ( ָח ַר ץJob 14:5, Isa. 10:22, 23, 28:22, Dan. 9:26, 27, 11:36); ( ָח ַת ְךDan. 9:24); ( הֹוִא ילI Sam. 12:22, I Chron. 17:27, II Sam. 7:29).
To express that special act of predestination which we know as ‘election,’ the Hebrews commonly utilized the word ( ָּב ַח רof Israel, Deut. 4:37, 7:6, 7, 10:15, 14:2, Isa. 41:8, 9, 43:10, 30, 44: l, 2, Jer. 33:24; and of the future, Isa. 14:1, 65:9, 15, 22; of Jehovah’s servant, 42:1, 49:7; of Jerusalem, Deut. 12:14, 18, 26, 14:25, 15:20, 16:7, 15, 16, 17:8, 10, 18:6, 31:11, Jos. 9:27, I Kings 8:44, 48, 11:13, 32, 36, 14:21, II Kings 21:7, 23:27) with its substantive ( ָּב ִח ירexclusively used of Jehovah’s ‘elect,’ II Sam. 21:6, I Chron, 16:13, Ps. 89:4, 105:6, 43, 106:5, 23, Isa. 42:1, 43:20, 45:4, 65:9, 15, 22), and occasionally the word ָיַד עin a pregnant sense (Gen. 18:19, Amos. 3:2, Hos. 13:5, cf. Ps. 1:6, 31:8(7), 37:18, Isa. 58:3); while it is rather the execution of this previous choice in an act of separation that is expressed by ( ִה ְב ִּד ילLev. 20:24, 20:26, I Kings 8:53).
In the Greek of the New Testament the precise term προορίζω (Acts 4:28, I Cor. 2:7, Rom. 8:29, 30, Eph. 1:5, 11) is supplemented by a number of similar compounds, such as προτάσσω (Acts 17:26); προτίθημι (Eph. 1:9) with its more frequently occurring substantive, πρόθεσις (Rom. 8:28, ix: 11, Eph. 1:11, 3:11, II Tim. 1:9); προετοιμάζω (Rom. 9:23, Eph. 2:10) and perhaps προβλέπω in a similar sense of providential pre-arrangement (Heb. 11:40), with which may be compared also προεῖδον (Acts 2:31, Gal. 3:8); προγιγνώσκω (Rom. 8:29, 11:2, I Pet. 1:20) and its substantive πρόγνωσις (I Pet. 1:2, Acts 2:23); προχειρίζω (Acts 22:14, 3:20) and προχειροτονέω (Acts 10:41).
Something of the same idea is, moreover, also occasionally expressed by the simple ὁρίζω (Luke 22:22, Acts 17:26, 31, 2:23, Heb. 4:7, Acts 10:42), or through the medium of terms designating the will, wish, or good-pleasure of God, such as βουλή (Luke 7:30, Acts 2:23, 4:28, 13:36, 20:27, Eph. 1:11, Heb. 6:17, cf. βούλημα Rom. 9:19 and βούλομαι Heb. 6:17, Jas. 1:18, II Pet. 3:9), θέλημα (e. g., Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, Heb. 10:7, cf. θέλησις Heb. 2:4, θέλω, e. g., Rom. 9:18, 22), εὐδοκία (Luke 2:14, Eph. 1:5, 9, Phil. 2:13, cf. εὐδοκέω Luke. 12:32, Col. 1:19, Gal. 1:15, I Cor. 1:21).
The standing terms in the New Testament for God’s sovereign choice of His people are ἐκλέγεσθαι, in which both the composition and voice are significant (Eph. 1:4, Mark 13:20, John 15:16 twice, 19, I Cor. 1:27 twice, Jas. 2:5; of Israel, Acts 13:17; of Christ, Luke 9:35; of the disciples, Luke 6:13, John 6:70, 13:18, Acts 1:2; of others, Acts 1:24, 15:7), ἐκλεκτός (Matt. [20:16] 22:14, 26:22, 24, 31, Mark 13:20, 22, 27, Luke 18:7, Rom. 8:33, Col. 3:12, II Tim. 2:10, Tit. 1:1, I Pet. 1:1, [2:9], Rev. 17:14; of individuals, Rom. 16:13, II John 1:13; of Christ, Luke 23:35, John 13:18; of angels, I Tim. 5:21), ἐκλογή (Acts 9:15, Rom. 9:11. 11:5, 7, 28, I Thes. 1:4, II Pet. 1:10), — words which had been prepared for this New Testament use by their employment in the Septuagint — the two former to translate ָּב ַח רand ָּב ִח יר. In II Thes. 2:13 αἱρέομαι is used similarly.