Definition
Predestination (Greek: προορίζω proorizo = to predetermine; Latin: praedestinatio) is the doctrine that God has determined from before the foundation of the world who will be saved or receive a specific calling. The classical debate is between Calvinism (double predestination: some to salvation, others to damnation) and Arminianism (conditional predestination based on God’s foreknowledge). The corpus offers distinct critical-constructive variants from Jones, Nee/Lee, and Noordzij.
Usage in the Corpus
Stephen Jones
Jones reformulates predestination as “saved first” vs. “saved later” — God has foreordained some to belong to the firstfruits (first resurrection, Manchild), others to be redeemed later. No one is predestined to eternal damnation. This is his “third way” beyond Calvin and Arminius. Eph. 1:5 (“predestined to adoption as sons”) refers in his reading specifically to the firstfruits, not to the only ones ever saved. [Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, Ch. 11]
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
Lee regards the predestination debate as a dangerous distraction from the living Christ: the question “am I elect?” leads the believer away from the direct experience of Christ as life. He neither programmatically rejects the Calvinist nor the Arminian position, but sets both aside as outside the soteriological focus: the priority is appropriating Christ, not working through the predestination schema. [Nee/Lee, The Economy of God]
Cees Noordzij
Noordzij defends sovereign election without double predestination: God chooses who receives which task and timing within a universally inclusive plan of salvation. Election is to calling and responsibility, not to exclusive salvation.