Ephesians 1:11: "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,"

 

Determinism is the metaphysical view that all events within the universe can occur only in one possible way.

 

The deterministic interpretation of this verse understands it to mean that God causes all things that happen, such that all events are part of his plan and they always unfold precisely according to his will. This is a plausible way of understanding this verse, but it may not be the most accurate interpretation given the context. 

 

For example, imagine a scenario where my wife tells me she has an unexpected meeting and can no longer prepare dinner for the guests coming over later. When she explains the issue and asks for my help, I might respond by saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.” In that context, do I mean that I will take care of every task in the world, or do I simply mean that I’ll take care of everything having to do with dinner preparation and hosting guests? When I use the word “everything”, does that literally mean all things, or is the scope constrained by the context of the specific issue we are discussing? 

 

One crucial question related to Ephesians 1:11 is whether the phrase “works all things” refers to all events in a meticulously deterministic way, or whether it might be constrained in some way by the context. For example, is it possible that it refers specifically to the things related to God predestining and preparing an inheritance for the Elect? 

 

While this might be a plausible interpretation, my view is that the language used implies something much more comprehensive than just a reference to the immediate context. I believe that this verse is making a universal statement about God’s actions, emphasising the purposeful, wise, and strategic nature of all that He decides and does.

 

But does this require the conclusion that God meticulously and deterministically causes all events? 

 

Consider what I mean if I say, “My wife is very careful in all things” or “My wife does all things well.” When I say that my wife does “all things” well, do I mean to include all the things done by other people? Do I mean all the things that have occurred in the history of the universe? Or is my statement naturally limited exclusively to the things my wife does? 

 

The most natural understanding of the sentence, “He does all things according to his wise plan,” refers exclusively to the things “He” does.

 

We would never hear a sentence like, “My wife, who does all things very strategically…” and assume I was referring to any actions other than those carried out by my wife. The most natural and typical way of understanding the phrase, “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” is to say this refers to the things that God does, not to the actions of others or to every event in history. Nothing in the grammar of this verse requires that the phrase “all things” refers to the sinful actions of humans or to every interaction of every atom in the universe. The meticulous determinism interpretation would never even be suggested as grammatically plausible under normal circumstances, and it only emerges as a possibility because God is the subject. Because God is the one “working all things”, advocates of meticulous divine determinism can plausibly interpret this verse as supporting the idea that God actively causes all events. But it is also perfectly natural and grammatically legitimate to understand the phrase: “[God], who works all things according to the counsel of his will” as referring specifically to the things God plans and does. 

 

Advocates of absolute meticulous divine determinism may point to words like “predestined”, “purpose,” and “counsel of his will” to support the idea of fixed, inevitable outcomes. It is worth noting that non-Calvinist traditions also affirm predestination as well as the idea that God always acts according to His sovereign plan and the counsel of His will. The disagreement is specifically related to the claim that God’s purposes and the counsel of his will are deterministically and inevitably fixed without any reference to human decision and without the possibility of alternate outcomes.

 

The question is: Is the counsel (boulēn) of his will something that must necessarily come to pass, or is it possible for it to be contingent on human decisions? It seems clear from Scripture that God’s purposes can be rejected (Luke 7:30: “The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purposes (boulēn) of God for themselves”) and that his desires may not always come to pass (2 Peter 3:9: [The Lord is] “not wishing (boulomenos) that any should perish, but that all should reach repentence.”)

 

Thus, it is not necessary to interpret Ephesians 1:11 as supporting a meticulously deterministic view of God’s sovereignty. Indeed, none of the verses listed above were interpreted as supporting divine determinism prior to Augustine.

 

While there may be ambiguity in the interpretation of these specific passages, the rest of the testimony of Scripture should lead us away from deterministic interpretations.