I have a question on predestination. Are some people born predestined to do something and still have free will? What about Judas ? The betrayal had to take place for things to come to pass but does that mean he had no free will and was born to go to Hell for enternity no matter what ? Did he have a choice or was it made for him?
God predestines the ends and the means to those ends since time, and therefore the future, is His creation. “Free will” is a term loaded with all kinds of philosophical baggage, and since the Bible nowhere defines it, I think we’d be better off using “human responsibility” instead. The Bible teaches that human beings are fallen, that they are slaves of sin and that their most dominate inclination is toward evil. Fallen man, therefore, chooses in accordance with his most natural and strongest inclinations–that is–according to his fallen nature. That said, your questions presuppose that there is a necessary either/or between human responsibility and Divine Sovereignty, when in fact God can and does use the choices of human beings to accomplish His divine purposes. In the case of Judas or Pharaoh or anybody, for that matter, God can use them for His own purposes without violating their autonomy.
So, yes, Judas had a choice. No one one forced him to betray Jesus. He did this quite on his own and quite consistently with his strongest inclinations which were in accordance with his fallen nature. But it is also true that God ordained that this should happen in order that his “purpose of election might stand” (to borrow the language of Romans 9). Joseph’s brothers intended evil in selling him into slavery. But God intended this for good (cf, Genesis 50:20). In the same way, Judas intended evil, but God meant this for a far greater good.
I am wondering if he had a choice and if not then it seems pretty sad and depressing to think a human being was created just for the purpose of going to Hell for eternity. I know prophecy had to be fullfilled but this still seems harsh.
It’s not that simple. You make it sound as if God perversely creates in order to damn irrespective of the willing sinfulness of those he creates. There are two problems with your objection. On the one hand you are implicitly holding God to a very subjective standard of goodness. But if you think about it, there is no standard higher than God himself and we would do well not to put Him on the hot seat and hold Him accountable to our notions of justice (Romans 9, the entire book of Job). The second problem is that you’re overlooking the highest good that God is working out–namely the proclamation of His own glory throughout all the earth! According to Paul, he does this in two ways: By giving mercy to some and justice to all the rest. Consider these words from Paul:
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion,but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills (Romans 9:14-18).
This is undoubtedly the most difficult teaching of Scripture. It’s why some of Jesus’ disciples left him in John 6:66. For consider what Jesus said one verse earlier: “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” No one wants to hear that salvation is entirely up to God. The objection–the very one you’re hinting at–is quite understandable. Consider how Paul deals with it:
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—(Romans 9:19-23).
It is passages like this that remind us that we are mere creatures. God is the potter and can do whatever He wants with the clay. If He chooses to glorify Himself by showing mercy to some and justice to the others, that is entirely up to Him. But don’t think for a second that Paul is saying that the “vessels” are merely mindless automatons who therefore cannot be held responsible for their actions. In fact God “endures with much patience” those who will finally be lost.
God did not want Judas to betray Jesus. He did not want Josephs brothers to sell their annoying sibling into slavery. He did not want Pharaoh to oppress the children of Israel. But there was something God wanted even more than this–namely that his Name would be glorified in all the earth. For this reason He ordained that all of these sinners and their sins would serve an even higher purpose, and so in this sense, it was His will that all these evils should come to pass.
At the end of the day, God says, “buck stops here.”
For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name…
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God…
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:4-7)
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