100. Wetzel, Augustine and the Limits of Virtue, 9.
Against the Pelagians 431
Predestination
Few elements of Augustine's teaching would be more controversial in his time—and ever since—than his views on predestination. Predestination is hardly Augustine's invention. It is, first and foremost, biblical and appears explicitly in Pauline letters. Both opponents (such as Pelagians) and sympathizers (such as Prosper) had their own speculative theories. Here Augustine gives his classic articulation. As James Wetzel has noted, "predestination, to hear Augustine tell of it, is simply grace from God's point of view."100 From On the Predestination of the Saints: (10.19) If it is discussed and is asked how anyone can be worthy, there is no lack of those who will say: "by the human will." But we say: it is by grace or by divine predestination. And between grace and predestination the only difference is this: that predestination is the preparation for grace, while grace is the gift itself. Thus, when the Apostle says, "It is not from works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph 2:9–10), he speaks of grace, but when he says what follows, "which God has prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10), he speaks of predestination. Predestination cannot exist without foreknowledge, though there can be foreknowledge without predestination. By predestination God indeed foreknew that which He Himself was going to do; for this reason, it was said, "He has made that which shall be" (Is 45:11, LXX). Furthermore, He can foreknow even those things that He Himself does not do, such as whatever sins there may be. For even though there are certain things that are sins and at the same time punishment for sins, so that it is written, "God delivered them up to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not fitting" (Rom 1:28). This is not the sin of God, but the judgment of God. Therefore, the predestination of God, which has goodness as its goal, is, as I have said, the preparation for grace, and grace in turn is the effect of that predestination. Hence, when God promised Abraham that the faith of the nations was in his seed, saying, "I have established you as a father of many nations" (Gn 17:5)— and this is the basis on which the Apostle says, "For this reason, it depends on faith that according to grace the promise might be firm for every descendant" (Rom 4:16)—such a promise was based not upon the power of our will, but upon [God's] predestination. For He promised what He Himself would do, not what human beings would do. For even though human beings do good works which pertain to honoring God, it is He who brings it about that they do what He has ordered. It is not they who bring it about that He does what He has
100. Wetzel, Augustine and the Limits of Virtue, 9.