Chapter 33.—It is in the Power of Evil Men to Sin; But to Do This or That by Means of that Wickedness is in God’s Power Alone.

Moreover, it was this that he had in view when he said, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”103    Rom. xi. 29. And in that saying also consider for a little what was its purport. For when he had said, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, that ye may not be wise in yourselves, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel should be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion one who shall deliver, and turn away impiety from Jacob: and this is the covenant to them from me, when I shall take away their sins;”104    Rom. xi. 25 ff. he immediately added, what is to be very carefully understood, “As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes: but as concerning the election, they are beloved for their fathers’ sakes.”105    Rom. xi. 28. What is the meaning of, “as concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake,” but that their enmity wherewith they put Christ to death was, without doubt, as we see, an advantage to the gospel? And he shows that this came about by God’s ordering, who knew how to make a good use even of evil things; not that the vessels of wrath might be of advantage to Him, but that by His own good use of them they might be of advantage to the vessels of mercy. For what could be said more plainly than what is actually said, “As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes”? It is, therefore, in the power of the wicked to sin; but that in sinning they should do this or that by that wickedness is not in their power, but in God’s, who divides the darkness and regulates it; so that hence even what they do contrary to God’s will is not fulfilled except it be God’s will. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that when the apostles had been sent away by the Jews, and had come to their own friends, and shown them what great things the priests and elders said to them, they all with one consent lifted up their voices to the Lord and said, “Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein; who, by the mouth of our father David, thy holy servant, hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For in truth, there have assembled together in this city against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, Herod and Pilate, and the people of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and counsel predestinated to be done.”106    Acts iv. 24 ff. See what is said: “As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sakes.” Because God’s hand and counsel predestinated such things to be done by the hostile Jews as were necessary for the gospel, for our sakes. But what is it that follows? “But as concerning the election, they are beloved for their fathers’ sakes.” For are those enemies who perished in their enmity and those of the same people who still perish in their opposition to Christ,—are those chosen and beloved? Away with the thought! Who is so utterly foolish as to say this? But both expressions, although contrary to one another—that is, “enemies” and “beloved”—are appropriate, though not to the same men, yet to the same Jewish people, and to the same carnal seed of lsrael, of whom some belonged to the falling away, and some to the blessing of Israel himself. For the apostle previously explained this meaning more clearly when he said, “That which lsrael wrought for, he hath not obtained; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded?”107    Rom. xi. 7. Yet in both cases it was the very same Israel. Where, therefore, we hear, “Israel hath not obtained,” or, “The rest were blinded,” there are to be understood the enemies for our sakes; but where we hear, “that the election hath obtained it,” there are to be understood the beloved for their father’s sakes, to which fathers those things were assuredly promised; because “the promises were made to Abraham and his seed,”108    Gal. iii. 16. whence also in that olive-tree is grafted the wild olive-tree of the Gentiles. Now subsequently we certainly ought to fall in with the election, of which he says that it is according to grace, not according to debt, because “there was made a remnant by the election of grace”109    Rom. xi. 5. This election obtained it, the rest being blinded. As concerning this election, the Israelites were beloved for the sake of their fathers. For they were not called with that calling of which it is said, “Many are called,” but with that whereby the chosen are called. Whence also after he had said, “But as concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes,” he went on to add those words whence this discussion arose: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance,”—that is, they are firmly established without change. Those who belong to this calling are all teachable by God; nor can any of them say, “I believed in order to being thus called,” because the mercy of God anticipated him, because he was so called in order that he might believe. For all who are teachable of God come to the Son because they have heard and learned from the Father through the Son, who most clearly says, “Every one who has heard of the Father, and has learned, cometh unto me.”110    John vi. 45. But of such as these none perishes, because “of all that the Father hath given Him, He will lose none.”111    John vi. 39. Whoever, therefore, is of these does not perish at all; nor was any who perishes ever of these. For which reason it is said, “They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would certainly have continued with us.”112    John ii. 19.

33. Hanc intuebatur etiam, cum diceret: Sine poenitentia sunt dona et vocatio Dei. Nam et ibi quid agebatur paulisper advertite. Cum enim dixisset, Nolo enim vos ignorare, fratres, sacramentum hoc, ut non sitis vobis sapientes: quia caecitas ex parte Israel facta 0984 est, donec plenitudo gentium intraret, et sic omnis Israel salvus fieret; sicut scriptum est, Veniet ex Sion qui eripiat, et avertat impietatem ab Jacob, et hoc illis a me testamentum, cum abstulero peccata eorum: mox addidit quod diligenter intelligendum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos, secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres (Rom. XI, 25-29). Quid est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos, nisi quod eorum inimicitia qua occiderunt Christum, Evangelio, sicut videmus, sine dubitatione profecit? Et hoc ostendit ex Dei dispositione venisse, qui bene uti novit etiam malis: non ut ei prosint vasa irae, sed ut ipso illis bene utente, prosint vasis misericordiae. Quid enim apertius dici potuit, quam id quod dictum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos? Est ergo in malorum potestate peccare: ut autem peccando hoc vel hoc illa malitia faciant, non est in eorum potestate, sed Dei dividentis tenebras et ordinantis eas; ut hinc etiam quod faciunt contra voluntatem Dei, non impleatur nisi voluntas Dei. Legimus in Actibus Apostolorum, quod cum dimissi a Judaeis Apostoli venissent ad suos, et indicassent quanta eis sacerdotes et seniores dixerunt; levaverunt illi vocem unanimes omnes ad Dominum, et dixerunt: Domine, tu es qui fecisti coelum et terram, et mare, et omnia quae in eis sunt, qui per os patris nostri David, sancti pueri tui, dixisti, Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania; astiterunt reges terrae, et principes convenerunt in unum, adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus? Convenerunt enim in veritate, in civitate ista, adversus sanctum puerum tuum Jesum quem unxisti, Herodes et Pilatus et populus Israel, facere quanta manus tua et consilium praedestinavit fieri (Act. IV, 24-28). Ecce quod dictum est, Secundum Evangelium quidem inimici propter vos. Tanta quippe ab inimicis Judaeis manus Dei et consilium praedestinavit fieri, quanta necessaria fuerunt Evangelio propter nos . Sed quid est quod sequitur, Secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres? Numquid illi inimici, qui in suis inimicitiis perierunt, et adversantes Christo de gente ipsa adhuc pereunt, ipsi sunt electi atque dilecti? Absit: quis hoc vel stultissimus dixerit? Sed utrumque licet inter se contrarium, id est, inimici et dilecti, quamvis non in eosdem homines, tamen in eamdem gentem convenit Judaeorum, et ad idem carnale semen Israel, aliis eorum ad claudicationem, aliis ad benedictionem Israel ipsius pertinentibus. Hunc enim sensum apertius superius explicavit, ubi ait, Quod quaerebat Israel, hoc non est consecutus: electio autem consecuta est, caeteri vero excaecati sunt (Rom. XI, 7). In utrisque tamen idem ipse Israel. Ubi ergo audimus, Israel non est consecutus, vel, caeteri excaecati sunt; ibi intelligendi sunt inimici propter nos: ubi vero audimus, Electio autem consecuta est; ibi intelligendi sunt dilecti propter patres: quibus patribus utique ista promissa 0985 sunt. Abrahae quippe dictae sunt promissiones et semini ejus (Galat. III, 16). Undeet in ista olea oleaster inseritur Gentium. Jam porro electionem quam dicat , quia secundum gratiam, non secundum debitum, debet utique occurrere; quoniam reliquiae per electionem gratiae factae sunt (Rom. XI, 17, 5). Haec electio consecuta est, caeteris excaecatis. Secundum hanc electionem Israelitae dilecti propter patres. Non enim vocatione illa vocati sunt, de qua dictum est, Multi vocati (Matth. XX, 16); sed illa qua vocantur electi. Unde et hic poste aquam dixit, Secundum electionem autem dilecti propter patres; continuo subjecit unde agimus, Sine poenitentia enim sunt dona et vocatio Dei: id est, sine mutatione stabiliter fixa sunt. Ad hanc vocationem qui pertinent, omnes sunt docibiles Dei: nec potest eorum quisquam dicere, Credidi ut sic vocarer; praevenit eum quippe misericordia Dei, quia sic est vocatus ut crederet. Omnes enim docibiles Dei veniunt ad Filium: quoniam audierunt et didicerunt a Patre per Filium, qui evidentissime dicit, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Istorum autem nemo perit, quia omne quod dedit ei Pater, non perdet ex eo quidquam (Joan. VI, 45, 39). Quisquis ergo inde est, omnino non perit: nec erat inde qui perit . Propter quod dictum est, Ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis; nam si fuissent ex nobis, mansissent utique nobiscum (I Joan. II, 19).