Does God Predestine People to Sin (Acts 4:27-28)?
“For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and purpose predestined to occur.” (Acts 4:27-28, NASB).
Calvinists say this passage teaches that God predestines people to sin. After all, God predestined these people to crucify Jesus, which was a sin. Therefore, God must predestine all people’s sins.
Is the Calvinist interpretation correct?
First, even if God had predestined these specific individuals to crucify Jesus—and that’s a big IF—that still would not mean God predestines everyone’s sins. All it would mean is that God predestined this specific event because of its importance.
Anyone who’s taken a logic and critical thinking class knows that one event does not make a universal truth. God did many things in biblical times that are not normative. For example, he parted the Red Sea to save his people from their enemies; and he gave someone (Peter) the ability to walk on water; and he made an iron ax head float in water. But just because God did these things at certain times (for specific reasons) does not mean they are normative.
For this passage (Acts 4:27-28) to prove the Calvinist point, it would need to say something like: “God predestined these specific people to crucify Jesus, as God predestined all people’s sins.” But the passage says no such thing.
Second, nothing in the context suggests God predestined specific individuals to kill Jesus. What God determined was to use evil people—whoever they may be—to kill Jesus. God knew that Jesus’ message would offend the powers that be (the Jewish establishment and political leaders of that day) and lead to violence, so God determined beforehand to allow the offended people of that day—whoever they may be—to crucify Jesus in order to bring about his plan of redemption. But nothing in the context suggests God predestined specific individuals to kill Jesus.
Even an ordinary person can get people to act violently without having predestined them. The conservative Charlie Kirk could get liberals riled up to violence simply by giving a speech at a college campus. But this obviously doesn’t mean Kirk predestined these people to act violently.
In Jesus’ day, God knew that Jesus’ message would rile up the powers that be because it opposed their way of life. So God simply determined beforehand to allow these riled up people to do what they wanted to do, which is to kill Jesus. But this does not mean God predestined them to do it. Any number of people in Jesus’ day would have gladly killed him (Matt. 27:20-25).
Third, sin was not God’s plan. God’s plan was that people live in a faithful obedience to him, and in turn, God would bless them immensely. But his people chose to rebel, which grieved God (Gen. 6:5-6). Why would God grieve over something that he wanted/predestined?
The reason Jesus came was to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8). Jesus didn’t come to destroy the works of God (the works that God had predestined to happen); he came to destroy the works of the Devil.
“Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil [sin]…Christ didn’t come because sin was God’s plan. Christ came because sin was not God’s plan, and he wanted to destroy the sin that was not God’s plan. Calvinism has it backwards.”[1]
The Calvinist interpretation of Acts 4:27-28 is simply unwarranted!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, please visit Answering Calvinism (.org).
By Alex Polyak, founder of Answering Calvinism, 11/3/25
[1] Jesse Morell, “Jesse Morrell Destroys Gnostic James White | Radio Free Geneva Exposed for Gnostic Heresy,” Open Air Outreach YouTube channel, Feb. 24, 2022, 2:57.