Is the following from the Geneva Study Bible a proper understanding of predestination from Romans 8:29? For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine.
“To foreknow and to predestine are not the same thing. One is an act of foreknowledge, or knowing something before it occurs; the other is to decree something. We only have knowledge of the past, but God foresees the future even as he sees the past; foresees it, not because he has decreed it, but because there are no limitations on his knowledge. Augustine says:
‘There can be no predestination without foreknowledge; but there can be foreknowledge without predestination.’
Whom does God foreknow ? Those who shall love God. As he looked into the future these were present to his mind; foreknown. What did he predestine of them? Not that they should love God. Not that they should believe; nor that some should be saved and others damned; but that those who he saw beforehand would love God, should be
conformed to the image of his Son. The only thing predestined, or foreordained, is that those who love God as revealed in Christ shall become Christlike in life, and like Christ in eternity. This is the only decree in the passage.”
What do you think?
Yes, I think that sums it up pretty well. Salvation is our choice, God foreknew that we would make the choice, and predestined things according to our choice.
Sometimes God says that he’ll make something happen in the future, but most often He just says that He knows what will happen. In Romans 8:29 both are evident. First He knew that we would love Him (foreknowledge), then He appointed us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son (predestination).