Augustine: Earlier Writings
TO SIMPLIGIAN—ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS 387 eternal life. None of these beginnings is without the grace of God's mercy. And good works, if there are any, follow and do not precede that grace, as has been said.
3. This is the truth the apostle wanted to urge; just as in another passage he says, "By the grace of God we are saved, and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2 :8, 9) . And so he gave a proof from the case of those who had not yet been born. No one could say that Jacob had conciliated God by meritorious works before he was born, so that God should say of him, "The elder shall serve the younger." So "Not only so," he says, was Isaac promised in the words, "At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son" (Rom. 9:9). Now Isaac had not conciliated God by any previous meritorious works so that his birth should have been promised, and that in Isaac "Abraham's seed should be called" (Gen. 21:12). That means that those are to belong to the lot of the saints in Christ who know that they are the sons of promise; who do not wax proud of their merits, but account themselves co-heirs with Christ by the grace of their calling. When the promise was made that they should be this they did not as yet exist and so could have merited nothing. "Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac ..." He is most careful to note that it was by one act of coition that twins were conceived so that nothing could be attributed to the merits of the father, as if someone might say the son was born such as he was because his father had such or such a disposition when he lay with his wife; or that his mother was disposed in such a way when she conceived a son. Both were begotten and conceived at one and the same time. And for another reason he stresses this fact, so as to give no opportunity to astrologers or to those who are called calculators of nativities, who conjecture the characters and destinies of those who are born from their natal hours. They can find absolutely no explantion why there was so great a diversity in these twins when they were conceived at one moment of time, and under the same position of the stars and the heavens, so that it was quite impossible to discover any thing wherein the one differed from the other. They can easily learn if they will that the replies they sell to poor deluded folk have no basis in any kind of scientific knowledge, but only in chance guess-work. But to return to the matter in hand, these things are related to break and cast down the pride of men who are not grateful for the grace of God but dare to glory in their own merits. "For the children being not yet born and having done nothing either good or evil, not of work's but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger." Grace is therefore of him who calls, and the consequent good works are of him who receives grace. Good works do not produce grace but are produced by grace. Fire is not hot in order that it may burn, but because it burns. A wheel does not run nicely in order that it may be round, but because it is round. So no one does good works in order that he may receive grace, but because he has received grace. How can a man live justly who has not been justified? How can he live holily who has not been sanctified?
Or, indeed, how can a man live at all who has not been vivified? Grace justifies so that he who is justified may live justly. Grace, therefore, comes first, then good works. As he says in another place, "To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt" (Rom. 4:4). There is, of course, the passage where he speaks of immortality after good works, as if he really demands it as his due, for he says: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown ofrighteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall render to me at that day" (H Tim. 4:7-8). Do you think, perhaps, that because he said "shall render" he meant that it was his due? But when "he ascended on high and took captivity captive, he" did not render but ^^gave gifts to men." How could the apostle speak presumptuously as of a debt being paid back to him, unless he had first received grace which was not due to him, being justified by which, he fought the good fight? For he was a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious; but he obtained mercy as he testifies himself, believing in him who justifies, not the pious, but the ungodly, in order that by justifying him he may make him godly.
4. "Not of works but of him that calleth it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger." The point of this is made clear by the preceding words, "When they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or evil." Clearly it was not of works but of him that calleth. But here we must inquire why he says, "That the purpose of God according to election might stand." How can election be just, indeed how can there be any kind of election, where there is no difference? If Jacob was elected before he was born and before he had done anything at all, for no merit of his own, he could not have been elected at all, there being nothing to distinguish him for election. If Esau was rejected for no fault of his own because he too was not bom