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self exclude the doctrine of Theological Deter- minism as taught by Calvin. The advocates of this view can appeal plausibly to a considerable number of NT passages.
Thus there are texts which teach that the general course of events is predetermined from eternity (Kph 1-* S'l, 2 Ti 1^, Tit 1'-, 1 P 120 etc.), and otliers which seem to deny hmnan freedom of choice. Most of these are in the Fourth Gospel ; see, ('.»/., .In 6-*'' 'AH that tlie Father giveth me shall come unto me ' (i-f. 6''^') ; G^ ' No man can come unto me, except the Fatlier draw him ' {IXxiia-n kutcv) ; lO^S ' they shall never'perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand'; 12-W 'for this cause they could not believe, for tliat Isaiah saith again, He liath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart'; 17" 'I pray for them, I pray not for the world ' ; 171- ' not one of them perislied, but the son of perdition, that the scripture miglit be fulfilled' (cf. 131S 1712, Mt 262-1). Kven in the Synoptics we have Mt lliHiT- ' unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given,' etc. ; 187 ' it must needs be that offences come ' (avccyxr, yap iirriv Ixtisiv TO. crxayiaKa) ; see also 248 and 26--1.
But these passages of deterministic tendency are balanced by others of opposite import.
Thus Chi-ist's invitation to be saved is addressed not to selected individuals, but to all men : ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden ' (Mt 112S) ; ' it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of tliese little ones should perish ' fl8i-*) ; ' And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men nnto myself (Jn 12'*2) ; cf. 1 Ti 2^ ' God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.'
Since, however, some reject God's benevolent pur- pose, and refuse to be saved (Mt 25-*i 26-\ Jn 17'-), it follows that the human will is free, and that the apparently deterministic passages of Scripture must be so interjjreted as to leave room for human freedom. We are led, therefore, to some such view as this, fhnt onlij the main events of human history are absolutch/ determined beforehand. The persons by whom, and the times when, the Divine ptcrposes are to be realized, are 7iot predetermined absolutely, but only conditionally. Thus God willed condi- tionally that the Chosen People should play tlie leading part in winning tlie world to the gospel of Christ (Is 60-62, etc.), but, \vhen tliey proved unfaithful, tlie Gentiles were called (Mt 2\*^ 8"- ^^ etc.). Similarly the time of tlie Last Judgment is not fixed absolutely, but only conditionally (Mk 13^^ compared with 2 P 3'- RVm). Applying the same principle to the interpretation of the ap- parently deterministic passages quoted above, we conclude that Ej)h I'* 3'^ etc. refer mainly to con- ditional predetermination ; that ' all that the Father giveth me ' (Jn 6^'^) are simply those whom the Father foresaw would be genuine believers ; that the statement tiiat 'no one (i.e. no hostile power) shall snatch them out of my hand' (\QP^) does not preclude the possibility that they may snatch themselves out of Christ's hand by unfaith- fulness ; that the ' drawing ' of the Father (6-''*) is the attraction of Divine Love, not the Irresistible Call of Calvinism; that the 'I pray not for the world' of Jn 17" is to be read in the light of 17^^, that the 'blinding' and 'hardening' of 12* are a penalty for past sin ; and that even the case of Judas was not one of individual predestination. The general principle bearing upon the case of Judas is laid down in ]Mt 18' ' Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling ! for it must needs be that the occasions come ; Ijut woe to that man through whom the occasion cometli.' That is to say, in a wicked world great crimes are morally certain to be committed, but there is no need for any individual to commit them, therefore woe to that individual by whom they are committed. To apply this to the case of Judas — the world being what it was, alienated from God and full of treachery and malice, some one was morally certain to betray Jesus to death. But that some one need not have been Jialas. He freely undertook the evil business, and therefore his condemnation is just (Mt 262^).
5. The predetermination of the events of Christ's life.— Much stress is laid by the Fourth Evangelist on the predetermination of the events of Christ's life, even with regard to such details as their precise dates and incidental circumstances.
See, e.r/., Jn 2^ ' Mine hour (for changing the water into wine) is not yet come ' [it came a few minutes later] ; 7** ' I go not [yet] up unto this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled ' [it was fulfilled a few days afterwards] ; 7'*" ' no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not yet come' (cf. 82"); 1223 ' the hour is come that the Son of .Man should be glorified' [by death] ; 1227 'for this cause came I unto this hour' [of my death] ; 13' ' knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father ' ; 171 ' Father, glorif,\- tliy Son [by death and resurrection], tliat thv .Son mav glorifv thee.' Cf. Mt 2G«i- ■«, Lk 13:«, whicli imply that tlie length of Christ's ministry and the time of His death were predetermined ; also th- very strong expression in Lk 22-2 ' the Son of man indeed goeth as it hath been determined ' (y.a.To. ri> upio-i^ivoM). In all these passages the language is strongly predestinarian, but, for tlie reasons given in the preceding section, the present writer holds that conditional predestination is, for the most part, meant.