1523–1559

Predestination among the Reformers: Zwingli and Calvin

Luther, Zwingli and Calvin were united in teaching the absolute dependence of humanity on God's mercy; Melanchthon, according to Berkhof, under the pressure of opposition taught synergism and avoided the question of predestination. Zwingli derived predestination from providence: God is the sole first cause of everything, and anything less than absolute predeterminism would diminish his sovereignty. Calvin defined predestination as "the eternal decree of God by which he determined with himself what he willed to become of each man," and taught a double predestination independent of foreknowledge. But, unlike Zwingli, he placed this doctrine not in the section on providence but at the end of the third book of the Institutes, as a practical doctrine supporting justification by faith and giving the elect assurance through Christ. González, McGrath and Lane agree that predestination became the center of Calvin's theology only in the eyes of later controversies and of his disciples.