📖 Biblical Definition
Foreordination is God's eternal decree by which He determined, before creation, everything that would come to pass. In soteriology, it refers specifically to God's choice of individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world. "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). Peter describes believers as "elect exiles... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Peter 1:1-2). The crucifixion itself was foreordained: Christ was "delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). Foreordination does not negate human responsibility; it establishes God's sovereignty over all things.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Previous ordination or appointment; predetermination; predestination.
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FOREORDINA'TION, n. Previous ordination or appointment; predetermination; predestination. Webster treated foreordination as standard theological vocabulary, reflecting the Calvinist consensus of his New England upbringing.
📖 Key Scripture
• Ephesians 1:4-5 — "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world... In love he predestined us for adoption."
• Romans 8:29-30 — "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."
• Acts 2:23 — "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified."
• Acts 4:27-28 — "To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place."
• Isaiah 46:10 — "Declaring the end from the beginning... saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'"
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Foreordination has been reinterpreted as mere foreknowledge or rejected entirely.
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Arminian theology reduces foreordination to mere foreknowledge -- God saw who would believe and chose them on that basis. But this makes God's choice dependent on human decision, reversing the biblical order. Open theism goes further, denying that God even knows the future exhaustively. Both positions arise from the same root: the insistence that human autonomy must be protected even at the cost of divine sovereignty. Scripture does not share this concern. Paul anticipates the objection: "You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?'" and answers not by defending human autonomy but by asserting God's right: "Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" (Romans 9:19-20).
Usage
• "Foreordination means the cross was not Plan B -- it was the eternal purpose of God decreed before creation."
• "Those who reject foreordination must explain how the crucifixion was 'according to the definite plan of God' while being merely a response to human decisions."