It is said that this doctrine of predestination is a “high mystery,” and “to be handled with special prudence and care.” This strange advice is unwarranted. The Bible itself does not call this doctrine a mystery, let alone a “high” mystery. Rather, it is one of the least complex, least difficult, and most fully explained teachings in Scripture. Jesus did not hesitate to throw it around either as a teaching in itself or as an explanation to something else. And Paul offered explicit expositions that addressed all general issues about the topic. There is not one broad question on predestination that we lack the answer to. The doctrine is completely and obviously consistent, so there is nothing to harmonize. There is no paradox, no antinomy, no contradiction, no mystery. There is just plain and glorious truth shining in our face like the noonday sun.

Thus to urge “special prudence and care” is prejudicial. Why not say the same about the Trinity, the nature of Christ, the atonement, and justification by faith without works? Many doctrines can become dangerous if distorted, but then it is not the doctrines themselves that are dangerous, but man’s wickedness and incompetence that are injurious to souls. Unless there is biblical reason to do so, to single out this doctrine for “special care” is to insult the clarity of divine revelation. Predestination is not a toxic doctrine. It is not dangerous. The doctrine is nothing other than a “Yes, really” to the idea that God is God. Even a child in the kingdom should handle it with freedom and abandon. It is a doctrine of power, healing, and assurance. It is to be learned well like other doctrines, and then to be preached and lived out boldly, and compared to what is urged by the tradition, outright recklessly.