If you follow this blog, you know that I’ve already posted two articles referencing what I regard as the ten best books I read this year. Well, I need to make one addition to that list. Although it technically is stated to be published in 2024, I received my copy a month early. I’m talking about Andy Naselli’s excellent book, Predestination: An Introduction (Wheaton: Crossway). Andy’s volume is one of many in Crossway’s series, Short Studies in Systematic Theology.

I highly recommend this book for both Calvinists and Arminians and anyone who falls somewhere in between and refuses to be defined by any one label. In other words, this book is for everyone! I fully realize that many professing Christians don’t like the doctrine of predestination and election. But I suspect this is largely due to not understanding what those terms mean. This is one reason why Andy’s book is so good. He carefully defines the terms of Scripture and explains both what they mean and don’t mean. In this way he clarifies numerous misconceptions people have about God’s sovereignty in salvation.

I suspect that some of you who have thought about this issue of God’s unconditional election will respond by saying, “I won’t believe it because I don’t like it.” Andy’s response is worth citing:

“We must not be embarrassed about what the Bible teaches. It does not honor God to say, ‘The Bible teaches that, but I don’t like it,’ or, ‘The Bible says that, but it can’t really mean that.’ We do not have the authority to judge what God has revealed. And if we feel the need to apologize for something God has said, then we must repent of our arrogance” (4-5).

“Ok.,” you say, “so what does the Bible actually teach about this topic?” Andy’s book is a careful and comprehensive analysis of all the relevant texts that address the topic of predestination and a wise and thoroughly biblical response to the objections that people bring against it.

He takes up such important topics as: When did God choose some people to be saved. Why did he choose only some. Is it unfair that he chose some and not all? Do we have free will? Is election inconsistent with God’s desire that all be saved? How can I know if God has chosen me? Are those who die in infancy saved? What is reprobation? And he accomplishes all this in only 206 pages!

Let me close with the endorsement I provided for Andy’s book, and in doing so urge you to get it and immerse yourself in its truth:

“Most of us have been advised never to broach two topics at a dinner party: politics and predestination. It’s a sure-fire way of turning a pleasant evening into a verbal brawl. While not intending to provoke a fight, and politics aside, Andy Naselli believes the subject of predestination is far too biblical and much too precious to keep hidden. It speaks of God’s glorious sovereignty and the wonder of his saving grace, as well as his holiness and justice. If you’ve avoided the subject for fear of offending someone or perhaps out of your own ignorance of what the word means, this book is for you. Andy explores in a deeply profound but highly intelligible way what the Bible says about this controversial topic. I loved this book and can’t recommend it too highly.”