Predestination
Predestination is the view that our ultimate fate, that of heaven or hell, has already been predestined by God. If true, this would mean that good works are not what save us.
Predestination is typically a variant of the view that salvation is by faith, however theologians like Augustine claim that faith is only possible for those who God has predestined.
St Paul’s justification of predestination. Romans 8 & 9 contain an exposition by St Paul on predestination and how it links with God’s justice in judging us. In Romans 8, Paul writes that “God works for the good of those who love him … For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son … And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified”. Paul seems to be saying that God has predestined some people to be saved.
In Romans 9, Paul remarks on the prophecy God made to Rebekah when pregnant with twins, that “The older will serve the younger”. God said he loved the younger (Jacob, whose descendants became Israel) and hated the older (Esau, whose descendants became an opposing tribe). Paul remarks that what is striking is that this prophecy was made before the twins were born or had done anything “good or bad”. This looks like Paul is saying that God predestines some to be loved by him and others to be hated.
Additionally, Paul references the example of the Pharaoh to whom God sent ten plagues in an attempt to free the Jews from slavery in Egypt. The Pharaoh wanted to free the Jews before the final plague, but God hardened his heart, making the Pharaoh refuse to let the Jews go, upon which God sent the final plague which killed the first born son of all Egyptian families.
Paul acknowledges that, given such examples, some might find it strange and unjust for God to hold us accountable for our actions if we are simply controlled in this way. Paul then responds: “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” Paul also points to something God said to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”. Paul seems to be suggesting that predestination is not unjust because God has the right to do what he wants.
N. T. Wright argued for an alternative interpretation of Paul. Wright claims that from Augustine onwards the Church has used terms like ‘justification’ in a way different from the specific meaning it has in Paul.
Wright argues that Romans 8 is a ‘compressed telling of the story of Israel as the chosen people whose identity and destiny is then brought into sharp focus on Jesus and in a sense Jesus is the one chosen one … that identity is then shared with all those who are in Christ … he isn’t surprisingly talking primarily there about salvation, he’s talking primarily about the way God is healing the whole creation … [theologians] romans 8:18 to around 27 which is about the renewing of creation when humans are glorified, i.e. put in charge. That’s the actual subject of the passage.
Regarding Romans 9, Paul does describe God electing people in relation to individuals – but Wright claims that Paul is not talking about election for salvation, but election to having a significant role in God’s plan to redeem the world after the fall. It’s not about election in the sense of being saved but election to God’s purpose. We should understand Paul as claiming that some of Abraham’s family, like Jacob, are predestined to play an important role in God’s plan, and others like Esau are not.
Wright concludes that Paul simply “does not address … the ultimate predestinarian question: does God actually before all time determine that certain persons will be elected, chosen, predestined for salvation. He seems determined to stick with his question that he’s much more interested in which is how God’s redemptive historical plan is being carried forward through the people of Israel.”
Augustine on Original sin, Grace & Predestination
Original Sin is the idea that the first sin of Adam and Eve disobeying God’s command resulted in a corruption in all humanity. Original sin is a corruption in human nature which makes people want to sin. All humans have inherited Original Sin from Adam and Eve according to Augustine as we were all ‘seminally present in the loins of Adam’. Augustine thought that the biological basis for procreation was “some sort of invisible and intangible power … located in the secrets of nature” yet then goes on to argue that all future generations of people are “in the loins of the father”. Augustine claims “We were all in [Adam] … we all were that one man who fell into sin” We existed in merely a “seminal nature from which we were to be begotten” but when that became “vitiated through sin” it became impossible for anyone to be born without original sin.
Augustine’s exclusivism holds that we are so corrupted by original sin that genuine persevering faith in Jesus is only possible with God’s help: his gift of grace, which predestines some people to have and keep faith in Christ and thus be one of the ‘elect’ who will be saved.
Grace is what saves humans and thereby allows them into heaven. Election refers to God’s choosing to grant grace. St Paul calls grace a “gift” which we cannot ‘take credit’ for earning (Ephesians 2:8). That suggests that getting into heaven is not something that human beings have the power to achieve. Augustine thinks this is because of original sin. We are so corrupted by it that we are unable by ourselves to be good enough to deserve salvation. Only with God’s granting of undeserved grace can we possibly be saved.
In Romans 8, St Paul seems to hold to predestination, which is the view that our fate in the afterlife, i.e. whether we will go to heaven or hell, is already unalterably fixed. Augustine thought this view of election followed logically from the doctrine of original sin and grace. If we cannot get ourselves into heaven then God has either predestined us for heaven, or he hasn’t and our original sin damns us to hell. This view is called double predestination: that heaven is predestined for some and hell for others.
Pelagius
Pelagius and Augustine were contemporaries who had a significant disagreement over the issue of original sin and free will. In the end Augustine managed to persuade the Pope to declare Pelagius’ ideas heretical but the debate continues to this day. Pelagius claimed that the doctrine of original sin was false. He claims humans are born “without virtue or vice”, with no innate morally good nor bad inclinations in our nature, which means that we have free will.
Pelagius: God’s commanding of moral action presupposes free will. The bible is full of cases of God commanding humans to do morally good actions and avoid morally bad actions. It’s difficult to see why God would make these demands if original sin meant that humans did not have the ability to obey those commands. Furthermore, it’s hard to see what the point of even trying to be good is, if we are so corrupted that we are unable, which Pelagius thought led to a fatalistic and lazy attitude towards morality. Pelagius said that to claim that we cannot follow God’s commands due to our fallen nature amounts to accusing God of ignorance as if God were “unmindful of human frailty” such that he “imposed commands upon man which man is not able to bear”. The fact that God commands moral action therefore presupposes that we have the free will to do them, which means that original sin does not inhibit us.
Pelagius says, “That we are able to do good is of God, but that we actually do it is of ourselves”. God gave us free will and thereby gave us the ability to do good, but our actual doing of a good action is thus the result of our free choice. Pelagius concludes that humans are “to be praised for their willing and doing a good work”.
Pelagius: predestination and Augustinian original sin makes punishment unjust. Pelagius argued that if we have original sin and are thus completely unable to avoid doing evil, it would surely be unjust for God to punish us for our sinful behaviour. It’s not ethical for all humanity to be blamed for the actions of Adam and Eve. This suggests an indefensible view of moral responsibility – that people can be responsible for actions committed by others which is of special absurdity in this case since the action occurred before they were even born. Pelagius concludes that only our having free will and thus being without coercion from original sin makes sense of the prevalent biblical theme of God’s judgement and punishment.
Punishment is just for sinful beings: Augustine is not actually arguing that God himself blamed all humanity for Adam’s sin, he’s merely pointing out that it was a factual consequence of Adam’s sin that all future humanity, in Adam’s loins, became infected with original sin. It’s not God’s fault, it’s Adams’. So, Augustine argues that predestination is not unjust of God, since we are corrupted by original sin and so if we go to hell it is deserved.
This might seem unfair, but Augustine puts it down to the “secret yet just judgement of God”, indicating that it is inscrutable – impossible for us to understand – but we should have faith it is just. Augustine points to Psalm 25:10: ‘All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,’ and concludes: neither can his grace be unjust, nor his justice cruel”.
It’s not our fault that we have original sin, so it still seems unfair and thus incompatible with omnibenevolence to suggest that we deserve punishment for it. Especially when considering cases like a child with cancer, it’s difficult to maintain that a child deserves cancer because it has original sin. Augustine would have to say that it is God’s justice for a child to get cancer and that God is still omnibenevolent despite allowing it. That seems to contradict the idea that God is omnibenevolent.
Augustine could be defended on the grounds that it would only seem a contradiction to those who have a 21st century hippie interpretation of love.
Alternatively, Augustine insists that God’s reasons and justice are beyond our understanding. We should not try to use our limited human minds to judge God.
Pelagius: Augustine’s observations reflect his society, not human nature.
“The long habit of doing wrong which has infected us from childhood and corrupted us little by little over may years and ever after holds us in bondage and slavery to itself, so that it seems somehow to have acquired the force of nature”. – Pelagius
Although it might appear that we have strong forces within us that incline us toward evil, Pelagius argues that could simply be because of the way we are raised and it only appears to be our nature because of how thoroughly corrupted we are by our upbringing, which Pelagius refers to as being “educated in evil”.
We could add contemporary historical and sociological evidence to Pelagius’ point. Humans have progressed since Augustine’s time. Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. Steven Pinker attributes to the power of human reason that violence has decreased, even considering the 20th century. The average human life seems more secure than at any prior point in history. If Augustine were correct that original sin caused an irresistible temptation to sin that predestined us to Hell (unless we recieved undeserved grace), then human behaviour could not have improved, yet it has.
Defence of Augustine: Although violence and crime has decreased in modern times compared to Augustine’s time, it could still be that we still have just as sinful a nature as he thought we did. The explanation for the decline in sinful actions could be that it’s so much harder to get away with crime in modern times. We could just be much better at controlling ourselves.
Nonetheless, Augustine thought that concupiscence meant that we couldn’t control ourselves. So even if he was right that we have a natural desire to sin, it still looks like he was wrong that we couldn’t control that desire.
Augustine: biblical evidence against Pelagian free will. Augustine responds that humans can desire and accomplish good actions, but not without the help of God’s grace. Augustine points to Paul: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Paul seems clear that human ability to will and do good acts are the result of God’s power working in us, not our own.
Pelagius praises humans for their good actions and praises God for the help of divine grace to the granting of free will. Augustine responds that good acts come from love, which Paul claims is greater than knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge is associated with free will. So, love is greater than free will, but then the consequence of Pelagius’ view is that the praise due to humans for their good actions is greater than is due to God for giving us free will, which lacks theological credibility. Augustine points out that Paul states: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit” (Romans 5:5). So, it seems that love is a gift from God, so our good actions made out of love are really thanks to God. In that case, Pelagius is giving praise to humans which is due to God.
If we receive love by divine grace, that suggests our good loving actions resulted from that gift of the ability to love, not from human free will. Without love we cannot do good, and with love we cannot help but do good. There is no room for Pelagian free will.
Pelagius responded to such arguments in a letter to the Pope, where he explained that it was his view that all humans had free will but that when choosing good works, human will was “always assisted by divine help”.
Augustine responded that Pelagius’ explanation was “inadequate” to solve the criticisms made against him, because he did not explain exactly what God’s help consists of. Pelagius could have meant that divine help was merely the God’s revelation of the Bible, which ‘always’ assists good human actions merely because all Christians are somewhat familiar with the commands in the Bible. Augustine’s point is that the biblical evidence clearly shows that ‘divine help’ explicitly involves God directly intervening in our will, providing us with the love required for us to do good works without which we would be unable to do.
Pelagius responds that there were good people that did good actions in the old testament, such as Noah and Lot, who existed before Jesus came and dispensed God’s grace. Pelagius also points to the example of ancient ‘pagan philosophers’ who were commendable in their personal virtue and were “lovers of justice no less than knowledge”. “When, I ask you, do these good qualities pleasing to God come to men who are strangers to him … unless it be from the good of nature”. Our nature is thus not corrupted with original sin but contains the gift of free will from God.