What does predestinate (proorizo) mean in the Bible?
Proorizō (προορίζω) means to mark out a boundary beforehand, to determine in advance. "He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). It is a destiny appointed, and Scripture always names the destination.
What the text states
The word is horizō (to set a boundary, our “horizon”) with pro (before): to draw the line ahead of time. The crucial point is what Scripture predestines people to. Every use names a destiny for those already His: conformed to Christ (Rom 8:29), adopted as sons (Eph 1:5), to an inheritance (Eph 1:11). Predestination is God marking out the future of the believer, not selecting individuals for salvation apart from Christ.
It never says God predestined some to be saved and others to be lost.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 45 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. Every Strong's number in the wave-3 notes resolved against our own strongs_greek / strongs_hebrew and the lemma matched the form in the file. Wave 3. 45 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table, all pass. 21 Greek and 3 Hebrew Strong's entries cross-checked against strongs_greek (5,523 rows) and strongs_hebrew (8,674). Three notes, none a form mismatch: (1) G2434 hilasmos is glossed in our table as 'atonement... an expiator', usage 'propitiation', so Strong's own wording is softer than the answer's 'not merely expiation'; Thayer and BDAG carry the propitiation sense and the KJV renders it so. (2) G728 is spelled arrhabon in our table (double rho) against the file's arrabon; the same word, a transliteration convention. (3) our table derives skenoo (G4637) from skenos (G4636), while the answer says it is built on skene (G4633); the three are cognate and skene is the LXX's tabernacle word. One reference in the wave-3 verification notes did not exist: Rev 22:24 (Revelation 22 ends at verse 21). Ruled by Darren 2026-09-29 a typo for Rev 22:17 and corrected in the source file. The hilasmos gloss discrepancy was ruled the same day: the answer stands and is not softened.
This answer is the short form. The argument is made at length in No Calvinist Reprobation.