Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 02:2 (Jul 2010)
Article: Handling A High Mystery: The Westminster Confession On Preaching Predestination
Author: Daniel R. Hyde

PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 235

Handling A High Mystery: The Westminster Confession On Preaching Predestination

Daniel R. Hyde

Predestination is a topic shrouded in mystery as well as misunderstanding. No less than the Apostle Peter wrote concerning the letters of his colleague, the Apostle Paul, saying, “[I]n which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). We can see the “wresting” of Paul’s writings on the doctrine of predestination exemplified in Romans 9. When Paul located the reason why his “kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3) did not believe in Jesus as their Messiah in the doctrine of predestination, he had to go on to answer several twists of his teaching. One was, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid” (Rom. 9:14), while another was, “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” (Rom. 9:19).

These questions the apostle faced were not unique to him or even to the first century. Through the ages of church history, these and other objections to the doctrine of predestination have existed. As a result, the assembly of “divines” (theologians) at Westminster in the mid-seventeenth century (1642-1652) also dealt with predestination and how it ought to be handled by preachers.1 These divines exposited the doctrine “Of God’s Eternal Decree” (De aeterno Dei Decreto)

PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 236

in chapter three of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647). In paragraphs 1-2, they dealt with God’s decree in its all-embracing scope; in paragraphs 3-4, they dealt with the decree as it respects men and angels; and, in paragraphs 5-7, they dealt with the decree as it applies to men.2 But they did not stop at expositing the doctrine of predestination. The assembly also spent paragraph 8 applying this doctrine vis-à-vis the preaching and teaching of it:

The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending the will of God revealed in his Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely o...