At the beginning of time, the eternal counsel of the trinity meets to plan and discuss the creation of the world and those that will inhabit it. Father, Son and Holy Ghost. One God in three persons, in communion existing within the Godhead. God plans to create man in his own image, sinless and good. Yet before creation he knows that Adam and Eve will sin. In spite of their unblemished creation, Adam rejects God’s authority by his own free will. Sin infects mankind and death enters the world. Of course, God knows all this having perfect foreknowledge of all events and knowing deeply each person even before their creation. God could have created Adam with the inability to sin. God could have stopped Adam from sinning. Adam had the opportunity to resist temptation and not sin. God, knowing Adam’s future actions at the eternal counsel, allowed Adam to sin. God therefore predestines Adam to sinfulness without directly causing Adam to sin.
Similarly, each individual is considered at the eternal counsel prior to creation. God knows us individually, deeply, intimately before he makes us. He knows every action we will take, every thought that we will think, every occurrence that will influence us over our lives. God in his great mercy offers grace to all men sufficient to lead to the knowledge of himself. He offers faith and salvation to each person. Each person is given by God the ability to reject his gift and offer. God knows what each individual will do in response to his grace. If an individual rejects him, he could over ride his decision and save him. If a man receives Christ, God could intervene and prevent this reception, damning that person. Ultimately, God sovereignly decides who will be saved, allowing the salvation of all who believe after those persons are given the chance to receive faith and salvation or reject it. In the same way, God ultimately allows the damnation of all who reject his free grace by not intervening to save the individual after his/or her rejection. All of this thought happens prior to creation within the Godhead at the eternal counsel. It is ordained from the beginning. This is the ordinary way of salvation but God in his great power can in power over ride this ordinary salvific formula and save someone in a way that is irresistible. I believe Paul’s conversion probably was as such. Because God ultimately decides the final outcome before the creation of each individual, all persons that are saved are chosen, predestined and elect for salvation. In fact, every action is predestined by God at the eternal counsel. This however does not mean God causes every action. Because he has allowed free will in man, man can choose to murder someone for example with God allowing it and predestining it from the beginning (because he could have decided to intervene at the beginning of time and prevent the murder) without directly causing it.
