Chapter IX: Consideration of Faith is Involved in Election, § 161
CHAPTER IX: CONSIDERATION OF FAITH IS INVOLVED IN THE DECREE OF ELECTION
§ 161. Thus far we have confirmed that the merit of Christ is the cause of our election. Yet because the merit of Christ profits no one without faith, we say that a consideration of faith must also be included in the decree of election. We profess with a loud voice that we claim that God found nothing good in man in electing him for eternal life, that He has not regarded good works nor the use of free will nor even faith itself so as to be moved by these or because of these to elect some. Rather, we assert that it is only and solely the merit of Christ, whose worth God regarded and made His decree of election out of pure grace. Nevertheless, because the merit of Christ has a place in people only through faith, therefore we teach that election happened in view of the merit of Christ which must be apprehended by faith. Therefore we say that all those and only those are elected by God from eternity for salvation whom [God] foresaw would truly believe in Christ the Redeemer by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel and would remain in the faith until life’s end.
The arguments.
§ 162. We shall set forth the proofs for our position very briefly. (I) Election occurred in Christ (Eph. 1:4). We are not in Christ except by faith (Eph. 3:17). Therefore those who “were to believe” (1 Tim. 1:16) are the elect.
(II) Furthermore, election is the eternal decree of God about justifying and saving people. Yet, in time, God justifies and saves people only through faith (Romans 3–4, Galatians 2–3, Ephesians 2, etc.). Therefore He also decreed from eternity to justify and save only those who are going to believe; and, consequently, He chose only and all those who He foresaw would remain in Christ through faith.
(III) Outside of Christ no one is elect. Sinful men, apart from considering faith, are outside of Christ. Therefore sinful men are not elected without a consideration of their faith. So as Paul says, Eph. 1:4: “God has elected us in Christ.” Thus he says, 2 Thess. 2:13: “God has elected us in faith,” because we could not have been elected in Christ except under a consideration of faith, which apprehends Christ.
(IV) Heb. 11:6: “It is impossible to please God without faith.” The elect have been pleasing to God from eternity because a heavenly kingdom was prepared for them before the creation of the world (Matt. 25:34). Therefore it was only under the consideration of faith, which apprehends Christ.
(V) From these flow forth the descriptions of the elect used in the Scriptures. Paul says, 1 Tim. 1:16: “Christ Jesus has displayed in me His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.” Christ says, John 17:20: “I pray for those who shall believe in Me through the preaching of the apostles.” James 2:5: “God has chosen those who are poor [to be] rich in faith.” In Titus 1:1 faith in Christ is called “the faith of the elect.”
§ 163. (VI) Note the apostolic text, 2 Thess. 2:13: “God has elected us from the beginning” (that is, from eternity) “for salvation in the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth.” With this we compare 1 Pet. 1:2: “Election happened according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.” From this we conclude: Whoever God foreknew were going to believe through the preaching of the Gospel (which is that sanctification of the Spirit) and would come to the obedience of faith, those are the ones He elected in Christ.
The objection of Keckermann.
Some counter: “The sanctification of the Spirit denotes the incipient sanctity of life.” Yet that is not the cause of election or salvation. Moreover, that incipient sanctity is the consequence and effect of faith. Therefore it would be more correct if this were placed after it. Therefore we take the “sanctification of the Spirit” to mean the ministry of the Gospel, that is, “the ministry of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:8) which “sanctifies us in the word of truth” (John 17:17). So the instruments which offer and receive salvation are being described most beautifully. God offers salvation in the sanctification of the Spirit. We receive that by true faith, or we are made partakers of sanctification by “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5), because otherwise hearing preaching would be of no benefit if not coupled to faith (Heb. 4:2).
The objection of Piscator of Herborn.
Others counter: “The causes of salvation are being described, not the order of election.” Yet the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth are referred by the apostle to election, not to the word “salvation.”
§ 164. (VII) Rom. 11:20, 22–23 says that “the Jews were broken off the olive tree because of their unbelief; the Gentiles would be cut off if they did not continue in His kindness; the Jews would be grafted in again if they did not continue in their unbelief.” From this conclude that it was decreed that people would be reprobated in eternity for the same reason they are reprobated in time. Likewise, it has been decreed from eternity that we would be engrafted into the assembly of the elect through the same means by which we are engrafted in time: because of the most precise harmony of the decree and its execution. But now, people are reprobated in time because of their unbelief and are grafted into the assembly of the elect through faith. Therefore God also made such a decree from eternity, namely, of reprobating those who He foresaw would remain in their unbelief and of electing those who He foresaw would persevere in true faith. (See more on this idea in Disput. Giessens., vol. 1, disp. 14, theses 137ff., and in Schroeder, Analysis, on Romans 9, theses 121f.)
The objection of our adversaries.
§ 165. To these arguments they usually respond: “Faith is considered in the decree of election only as the means through which God decided to draw the elect to salvation.” Yet we have shown that a consideration of faith is involved in the very decree of election. Justification, which occurs in time, is the mirror of an election made outside of time. We are elected, justified, and glorified in a specific order. We are justified by the order of a present faith. We are glorified by the order of a faith which perseveres. Therefore we are also elected by the order of a future faith which not only will be conferred but also has been foreseen by God. Faith is given in time by the grace of God who elects; nonetheless a consideration of faith to be granted in time through the Word is involved in the decree of election made from eternity.
The statements of the fathers about the foreknowledge of faith.
§ 166. As far as the opinion of the fathers is concerned, we know that Augustine writes (De praedest. sanct., ch. 17): “God elected the faithful but that they might be so, not because they already were so. Men do not believe in order to be elected but rather are elected in order to believe.” Chapter 19: “He elected us not because we believed but in order for us to believe, lest we are said to have chosen Him first,” etc. However, these and similar statements were opposed to the Semi-Pelagians or to the other Pelagians, because they used to claim that the beginning of faith came from us and that faith thus was the meritorious cause for our election. That this was their genuine opinion is clear from the letters of Prosper and Hilary to Augustine which are extant in vol. 7. Therefore Augustine rightly opposed them and denied that faith was the cause of election; in fact, he even retracted what he had written in his exposition of some propositions of the Epistle to the Romans, “that God had elected faith in His foreknowledge in order to elect him who He knew would believe in Him” (Retract., bk. 1, ch. 23; and De praedest. sanct., ch. 3). However, if it be added clearly that faith is the gift of God and that the discussion and question do not concern any merit of election but its origin—namely, in what order divine mercy executes its own work in the salvation of men—then neither Augustine nor other fathers avoided those forms of speaking, that God elected to life those who He foreknew were going to believe in Christ. For Ambrose writes (De vocat. gent., bk. 2, ch. 9): “God foreknew before the ages how great a multitude of people of all the world would turn away from the path of truth and life and enter upon the broad road of error and death despite having enjoyed His common gifts or having been aided by special protections. Just so He always foreknew how great a number of the devout would attain to eternal blessedness through the help of grace and service of obedience, so that, not failing in any of His promises (that [the elect] would not be deceived by progress nor be without aid), He glorified them in contrast to all, whom He chose out of all.” Ambrose again, on the words on Rom. 8[:29]: “Whom He foreknew, those He also predestined” (ch. 21): “Those who He foreknew would be devoted to Him He elected to obtain the promised rewards, that those who seem to believe but do not remain in their beginning faith may be denied by God to be elect, because those whom God has elected remain with Him.” Chapter 26, on the words of Rom. 9[:15]: “I shall have mercy on whom I have mercy”: “I shall have mercy on him whom I foreknew, because I was going to give My mercy to him, knowing that he would turn and remain with Me.” Chapter 34, on the words of Rom. 11[:2]: “God has not rejected the people whom He foreknew”: “None of those He foreknew would believe was rejected from His promise, because it happened just as God foreknew it would happen.” Ambrose again (on Ephesians 1): “God, who foreknows all things, knows who would believe in Christ, just as it is said in Romans 8 that He foreknew and called us not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. Therefore those whom God is said to call persevere in the faith; they are the ones whom He elected in Christ before the world.”
Augustine (on John, tractate 24):
Therefore the Lord says, “He who is of God hears the words of God” [John 8:47], because He had foreknown those who would believe. He said that they were of God because they were born of God by the regeneration of adoption, which follows. Furthermore, “You do not hear because you are not of God” [John 8:47] is said to those who not only had been flawed by sin, for this evil was common to all, but also because it was foreknown that they were not going to believe with the faith by which alone they could be freed from the bondage of their sins. Consequently, He foreknew those to whom He was speaking, that they would remain in it because they were of the devil; that is, they would remain in their sins and wickedness, etc. The Lord spoke according to this predestination.
[Augustine] (De praedest. et grat., ch. 5): “Before God created us, He foreknew us and elected us in that foreknowledge when He had not yet created us.” De dono perseverant., ch. 14: “Will anyone dare to say that God did not foreknow those to whom He would grant believing or whom He would give to His Son that He not lose any of them? Surely, if He foreknew these things, He just as surely foreknew His own gifts with which He would deign to set us free. This predestination of the saints is nothing else than the foreknowledge and the preparation of the gifts of God by which they most certainly are set free.” They believe and write the same thing about the foreknowledge of faith. (See Jerome, commentary on Rom. 8:28; 9:10; 11:5 and 7; Fulgentius, Ad Monim., bk. 1; Theophylact, on Romans 8 and 11, Ephesians 1–2, 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Timothy 2; Theodoret, on Romans 8; Sedulius, on Titus 1; Haimo, on Ephesians 1; etc.)
The antithesis of our adversaries.
§ 167. Our adversaries reject this position and claim: “God first elected some specific people to eternal life by an absolute decree, and then He decreed that He would grant faith to those He had elected absolutely” (Beza, Resp. ad colloq. Mompelg., part 2, p. 233). Bucanus says (De praedest., p. 399): “The third means of election is faith in Christ,” etc. Tossanus even accuses our position of Pelagianism. Piscator (De praedest.): “Away with those who imagine for themselves that faith is the cause for election! God did not play the spectator with man to see whether or not he would show faith in the Gospel.” Polanus (De praedest., p. 26): “Faith is not an instrumental cause1 for election as it is for justification because it is wholly the effect of election, because it is not from eternity, because it follows election in its own time, and because justification and election are not constituted the same way,” etc.
Arguments against the foreknowledge of faith: First, [that] faith is given in time.
§ 168. Let us see some arguments with which they battle us. (I) “Faith is given in time. Therefore it is not involved in the decree of election.”
We respond. (1) The following are not opposed to each other: that faith is given to the elect in time and that consideration for faith is involved in the decree of election. The fall of Adam happens in time, and yet regard for that has a place in election. The satisfaction of Christ was provided in time, and yet consideration for it is involved in the decree of election.
(2) On the contrary, by force of this argument there could not have been a regard for the elect people themselves, because they were born in time, though election occurred from eternity.
(3) Therefore we repeat what the apostle says, that we were elected “according to foreknowledge” (1 Pet. 1:2). Here this foreknowledge applies to the sprinkling of Christ’s blood which takes place through faith. Accordingly, though faith is given through ordinary means in time, nevertheless it was included in the decree of election made from eternity, according as God knew precisely who were going to believe through the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. He even determined from eternity that He would save all and only those who truly and perseveringly believe in Christ.
Second, Acts 13[:48]: “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”
§ 169. (II) Their second argument is: “Acts 13:48: ‘As many as were appointed to salvation believed.’ Therefore faith depends upon election as an effect depends upon its cause.”
We respond. (1) If the faithful have been appointed [ordinati] to salvation—that is, if they have been elected by a certain order [ordine]—then election is not absolute nor did it occur by an absolute decree.
(2) So these words are describing a manifestation in time of a decree made outside of time. The question is: Who believed? Luke answers: Those who were appointed to salvation in the eternal decree and who had been included in the ordinary means through which God decreed from eternity to draw men to salvation. How they were appointed is shown by the preceding words: “When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and were glorifying the Word of the Lord” [Acts 13:48]. From this we construct the following theorem: They are appointed from eternity to eternal life and believe in time who do not reject the benefits of the Gospel offered through the Word but hear the Word and give it the glory of truth.
(3) Do not infer that it follows from our position that people appoint themselves to eternal life. We attribute such appointing to God alone. If God Himself had not thus appointed some people to eternal life, no one would believe and no one would be saved. It is God who established this order from eternity: that those who hear and learn the Word may come to faith and be saved through this very hearing of the Word. Were it not for this order of God, no one would hear (because He antecedes our every hearing by opening the way with His Word) or believe (because if God had not decided to be effective in the hearts of men through the Word, no one would come to faith, even if he listened for a hundred years) or be saved (because election to salvation depends solely on the grace of God, who shows mercy).
(4) Our explanation can be shown with the antithesis which the text provides in the example of the Jews, Acts 13:45: “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, blaspheming.” Just as they revealed by their contradictions, blasphemies, and rejection of the Word that they were not appointed to salvation and that they were not in the number of the elect, so the Gentiles who listened with gladness and glorified the Word of the Lord believed. By this it was truly shown that they had been appointed to eternal life.
(5) We also add from v. 46 that, because the Jews rejected the Word, “they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life.” Therefore they had not been excluded from the kingdom of heaven by an absolute decree but because they continued rejecting the Word, the means of salvation. God had not judged them unworthy of eternal life with an absolute hatred. Rather, they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life because of their own stubborn contempt. Therefore we take “appointing to eternal life” simply as a reference to election, as if the words had said: “As many as had been elected to eternal life believed.”
Nevertheless it does not follow that election, absolutely and properly speaking, is the cause of faith. For: (a) They are said to have been appointed not to faith but to eternal life. (b) That appointing or election is not absolute. (c) Because another cause of faith is assigned in the same passage, namely, the hearing of the Word. (d) The evangelist does not intend with this phrase to provide the reason these believed and others did not, but to show how God determined to execute His appointing in those who believed and to show what fruit would follow their faith by the power of His divine appointing, namely, eternal life.
Third, John 15[:16]: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”
§ 170. (III) Their third argument is: “John 15:16: ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you.’ Therefore we do not anticipate the election of God with our faith.”
We respond. (1) None of us is saying that we anticipate the election of God with our faith. Faith is given in time out of the grace of God who elects, while election was done from eternity.
(2) However, it does not follow that if consideration for faith is involved in the act of election, then God does not elect us but we elect ourselves. You see, we are not saying that faith is the meritorious or efficient cause of election, nor that God has elected us because of our faith.
(3) Accordingly, as we are not permitted to infer in the article of justification: “God justifies those who believe in Christ, and therefore God does not do it, but they justify themselves,” so also in the decree of election this syllogism does not follow: “God elects us in view of our faith in Christ; therefore it is we who elect ourselves.”
(4) We say expressly that we do not have our faith by virtue of our own powers but solely because of the grace of God who shows mercy, who kindles it in our hearts by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit through the Word. Therefore we ascribe that faith to the operation of God who elects, but we do not assign the merit or accepted operation of election to faith.
(5) On the contrary, we do not even ascribe to our hearing such power that we conceive faith by its merit or virtue, but rather we acknowledge in [this hearing] the great mercy of God, for “it pleased Him through foolish preaching to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). Take away the mercy of God and no one would conceive faith or be saved. Briefly, in this and in similar statements the cause of election and justification is removed from human powers and merits and a gracious election is declared, yet the order of that divine decree is not removed.
Fourth, John 10[:26]: “You do not believe because you are not of My sheep.”
§ 171. (IV) Their fourth argument is: “John 10:26: ‘You do not believe because you are not of My sheep.’ Therefore the heavenly Father wants to give faith only to those who have been elected by His absolute decree, but not to the rest.”
We respond. (1) Here is the whole context: Christ says to the Jews: “You do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice,” etc. [John 10:26–27]. Therefore with these words Christ is calling the Jews back to what He had said in v. 3: “His sheep hear His voice,” that is, the voice of their Shepherd. Because they do not have this mark, they do not belong to the number of His sheep.
(2) So this is the meaning of Christ’s words: “You do not believe because, by rejecting My words, you in fact are showing that you lack the true and proper mark of My sheep and that you therefore are not of My sheep.” Erasmus (Parap.): “You do not recognize My voice because you do not belong to the number of My sheep who have a teachable simplicity, whereas you have minds swollen with ambition, seething with hatred, corrupted with spite, infected with greed, and flawed with the various corruptions of this world.” Lyra: “‘You are not of My sheep, that is, you are not innocent and humble but proud and wicked, and therefore blinded by the judgment of God.”
(3) The following verses also prove this interpretation: “You do not believe because you are not of My sheep” [John 10:26]. [John 10]:27: “My sheep hear My voice.” John 6:45: “Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to Christ and becomes a sheep of Christ.” Therefore because the Jews were not listening to the Word and were unconcerned with His miracles, Christ says that they were not of His sheep.
(4) For the sake of comparison John 8:47 can be cited here: “The reason you do not hear is that you are not of God.” For just as Christ proves there that, though the Jews boasted that God was their Father, they did not belong to God since they were not listening to the Word of God, so also in this passage He proves that the Jews do not belong to His sheep because they do not listen to the voice of their Shepherd.
Fifth, Romans 9[:16]: “Not of him who wills nor of him who runs.”
§ 172. (V) Their fifth argument is: “Rom. 9:16: ‘It is not of him who wills nor of him who runs.’ 1 John 4:10: ‘In this is love, not that we loved God,’ etc. Therefore consideration of faith is not involved in the decree of election.”
We respond. (1) From this and similar statements only this follows: God did not elect us because of our effort nor because of our good works nor even because of our faith. Every merit or power for justification, salvation, and election is removed from our works and is attributed completely to the mercy of God. But from these [verses] one cannot infer that election did not occur under a consideration of faith.
(2) After all, just as in the doctrine of justification one may not infer: “Every merit and power to justify is removed from us; therefore we are not justified by faith,” so also one cannot infer: “Election is free; therefore it is absolute.”
(3) But neither can Pelagianism be attributed to our position, because we say that such faith is granted solely by the grace of God who shows mercy and is not conceived by the powers of free choice. We do not teach that we are elected because of the worthiness of our faith, but we do teach from Scripture that the mercy of God who elects in Christ is apprehended only by faith. We ascribe to the grace of God all and every good thing within us and all our powers in spiritual matters, and, contrary to the Pelagians, we wholeheartedly embrace the words of Fulgentius [Ad Monim., bk. 1] about these words of Ps. 23[:6]: “Your mercy will follow me all the days of my life”: “[His mercy] precedes the ungodly, so that he is made righteous. It follows the righteous person, lest he become wicked. It precedes the blind person, so that he sees. It follows the person who sees to preserve the light which has been given him. It precedes the fallen, so that he stands up. It follows the one who stands, lest he fall. It precedes, giving man a good will. It follows the one with a good will and works in him the power to do good.” Therefore this mercy of God in man follows that which His prevenient grace bestowed, and thus it not only calls back the wanderer to life by justifying him but also guards and helps him in walking aright to bring him to the gift of eternal glorification.
Sixth, Ephesians 1[:5]: “God predestined us to adoption.”
§ 173. (VI) Their sixth argument is: “Eph. 1:5: ‘God predestined us to adoption.’ This is as if it said that He predestined us to faith, because such adoption consists of faith. If God predestined us to faith, that is, so that we would believe, then it was not because of foreseen faith [praevisam fidem], that is, because we were going to believe.” Thus writes Piscator of Herborn (on Romans 9, p. 194).
We respond. We do not claim that we have been elected because of our foreseen faith but that a consideration of faith is involved in the decree of election. The statement of the apostle, that God predestined us “to adoption as sons,” does not conflict with this, which we shall now demonstrate: God made a decree to receive some of the lost human race to be His sons and actually to save them (for eternal life is intimately connected with that adoption, Rom. 8:17). The execution of this decree reveals its nature. Just as people become participants of this adoption in time through faith, so also one cannot exclude a consideration of faith from the decree of adoption and salvation. Those whom God adopts in time to be His children He has determined to adopt from eternity, and God has determined to adopt them from eternity in the same way as He adopts them in time. Consequently, respect for faith, both that which is to be granted and that which has been foreseen, is involved in the decree of election. The apostle says carefully, [Eph. 1:]5: “God predestined us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ into Him,” and v. 4: “He elected us in Him.” But now, God could not have elected people in Christ without a consideration of faith; in fact, faith alone connects us to Christ and unites us with Him. Hence to these words we compare the statement of the apostle, John 1:12: “But to all who did receive Christ, to them God gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Therefore as God offers the benefit of adoption through faith to people in time, so also from eternity He made His decree about adopting them as sons and establishing them as heirs of eternal life. He foresaw that they would persevere in their faith in Christ through the Word by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit.
Seventh, Romans 8[:29–30]: Calling and justification are the effects of election.
§ 174. (VII) Their seventh argument is: “Calling and justification are the effects of election, Rom. 8:29–30. Therefore faith, too, depends on His calling and, consequently, is not a cause of election.”
We respond. (1) We repeat again that faith is not a meritorious or efficient cause of election. Rather, we maintain that election was carried out according to the foreknowledge of faith.
(2) The very statement of the apostle (which is cited in the argument as proof) confirms this. The apostle says, “Those whom God foreknew He also predestined” [Rom. 8:29]. Therefore predestination presupposes the foreknowledge of God, and that foreknowledge looks to Christ, who is to be grasped through faith; for Christ is the one who was foreknown and in whom God foreknew His own people (1 Pet. 1:20) and in whom He predestined them (Eph. 1:4). They usually respond that “foreknowledge” here means nothing else but the intent and decree to save. However, we have shown earlier that this explanation cannot stand [§ 153].
(3) Those whom God foreknew in Christ and predestined He also called. Here “calling” is understood to be connected with the assent and obedience of the person called.
(4) Those whom He foreknew and predestined in Christ and whom He called and converted He also justified (namely, through faith) and glorified. Anselm explains this glorification as referring to the increase of virtues, and Chrysostom explains it as referring to the bestowal of gifts. Others explain it more suitably as a reference to participation in eternal glory and blessedness, so that the apostle used the past tense because of its certainty.
(5) In this gradation used by the apostle there are described both the decree of election made according to foreknowledge and the execution of that decree. This is because God calls, justifies, and glorifies in time those whom He has predestined according to His foreknowledge.
The arguments of Zanchi against the foreknowledge of faith.
§ 175. Zanchi is particularly hostile to our position (De nat. Dei, bk. 5, ch. 2, p. 630). He uses the following arguments in favor of an absolute election:
(I) “When Scripture speaks about predestination, it never adds any condition but simply and absolutely declares that God loved Jacob but hated Esau (Rom. 9:13) and that God predestined us according to the plan and intent of His will (Eph. 1:5). Therefore no condition outside of Scripture should be added.” We respond. We have already spoken about the predestination of Jacob and Esau in its own place [§§ 87–90]. Scripture says clearly that God chose us in Christ and that the election took place according to foreknowledge. That good-pleasure of God’s will includes Christ, because God did not decree from eternity to save people in a way different from the way He saves them in time.
(II) “Predestination is not the result of foreseen merits nor of any works. Therefore it is not the result of foreseen faith.” We respond. We are not claiming that predestination is the result of a foreseeing of faith, but that a consideration of faith is involved in the decree of election. There is a great difference between these propositions. The first expresses a meritorious or an external impulsive [προκαταρκτικὴν] cause, while the latter denotes only the order. That there is a great difference between faith and works in this matter is clear from the single example of justification. Our works are excluded from the act of justification, but faith is not excluded.
(III) “Predestination is certain. Therefore it [happens] not with the condition of faith.” We respond. What is this inference? Our salvation is certain, but only if we stay faithful unto death. Surely one must not assert an absolute certainty of election and salvation, for then the gates to carnal security would be wide open. But neither should one go to battle for uncertainty and doubt, for thus the gates to despair would be opened. Rather, one must take the middle path. God makes us sure of our salvation, but He does not make us secure (in the sense of carnal security).
(IV) [He argues:]
There could not be a good or bad condition because of which God chose us. There could not have been a bad condition, because no one is chosen to life because of evil; nor could it have been good, because all good things, including faith and the works of faith, are the effects of predestination. As Augustine says, “Predestination is the preparation of the future benefits of God by which those who are freed are freed most certainly.” How, then, could predestination presuppose anything in us, if it is the preparation for all the benefits of God? Consequently, these ideas oppose each other: that we are predestined not only to the end but also to all the means by which we can be led to the end; and that we are predestined to the end, namely, to eternal life, by some law and condition, namely, if we believe.
We respond. We do not deny that God out of pure grace has predestined people to be saved to the end and to the means, but the heart of the controversy consists in this: Did God first predestine to the end certain people by some absolute good-pleasure and decide to give these absolutely elected people the means to draw them thereby to the end? Here we say that one must pay attention to the order which Scripture presents to us. First, God created Adam, and in him all human beings, after His own image and thus for eternal life. Then, voluntarily and by his own fault, Adam turned away from God and delivered up himself and his descendants to eternal death. Third, of these lost and condemned people God elected some to eternal life, but did He do so absolutely? Certainly not, but just as He saves those in time who receive the means of salvation through faith kindled by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit by means of the Word and who persevere in true faith unto the end, so also from eternity He has decided to save—that is, He elected—all those who He foreknew would persevere in their faith in Christ. Therefore, as you can see, we are not denying predestination to the means and to the end, but the question is about the order of these things, namely, whether God has absolutely elected some people and determined to offer the means of salvation to them alone. (This is what the Calvinists affirm.) Or, on the other hand, whether He determined to offer His grace and the blessings of Christ to all people in the Gospel, and then only reprobated those who He foresaw would reject those means and judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. This is what Holy Scripture affirms, as do we, based upon it.
(V) “God has predestined us solely according to the intent of His will and therefore not on the basis of any condition of our goodwill or faith or works. For if it depends solely on the will and intent of God, then it cannot depend on anything which is done by us.” We respond. That very intent of the will of God concerning our salvation includes Christ and accordingly also faith, from which election happened in Christ. It is indeed true that salvation does not depend on any condition which lies within our powers of free choice; yet consideration of faith still cannot be excluded from His intent to save, as we showed in greater detail in its own place [§§ 161–64].
(VI) Lastly, Zanchi concludes: “This opinion is more blasphemous than that of the Pelagians and sophists” (Scholastics) “who contend that predestination happened on the basis of faith and works which God had foreseen. For though those people destroy the grace of God with their doctrine, they at least leave foreknowledge to God; however, these people remove both grace and foreknowledge. For what else is it [to say] that God has predestined us to eternal life on the condition that we believe except [to say] that [predestination] is by our faith—a faith which is uncertain and unknown to God? For a conditional [proposition] asserts nothing as being in existence.” We respond. On the contrary, what is slander if not this? We confess—or, rather, we assert with our whole heart—that faith is the work of God and not of our powers. We confess that it was clear to God from eternity who would believe in Christ. So how, then, do we deny the grace or foreknowledge of God? We have shown sufficiently in what sense and in what way we say that a consideration of faith is involved in the decree of election. We are deservedly surprised that Zanchi calls us “neither wicked nor unskilled” ([De nat. Dei], p. 629) when he declares that our position here is wicked and blasphemous.
That here persevering faith is meant.
§ 176. To be sure, what we have said about the consideration of faith being involved in election must be understood as a reference to faith which perseveres until the end. For only those who believe perseveringly are and are said to have been elected to eternal life (Matt. 24:13). Mark 13:13: “He who perseveres until the end will be saved.” Rev. [2:10]: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Therefore those who do not persevere in true faith, who do not keep “faith and a good conscience” (1 Tim. 1:[19])—that is, who slide into errors against the foundation [cf. 1 Cor. 3:11] and into sins against conscience so that they do not rise up again through true repentance before life’s end—are not in the number of the elect. After all, “regenerate” and “elect” are not interchangeable terms because many who are reborn fall again in the end, as we shall show clearly in our article on sin.
1 See above, p. 58 n. 6.