99. Predestination, Reprobation, and Divine Choice

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Article 2: Predestination and What It Places in the Predestined #

Core Thesis: Predestination does not place something in those predestined, but rather exists as a reason or knowledge in God’s mind.

• Predestination is part of divine providence, which is a reason (ratio) in God’s understanding, not a passive effect in creatures
• The execution of predestination (called governing or gubernatio) is passive in creatures but active in God
• Distinction between transitive actions (going out to external matter, like cutting or heating) and immanent actions (remaining in the agent, like understanding and willing)
• Predestination is an immanent action in God; therefore it does not require a passive effect in the predestined
• Only the carrying out or execution of predestination places effects in creatures (calling and magnifying, as in Romans 8:30)

Key Responses to Objections:

• Every action does not necessarily infer a passion in something external; immanent actions remain in the doer
• The words of Origen and Augustine about “destination” can mean either real sending of something already existing, or a mental purpose of the one proposing (destinare). Predestination can be of things not yet existing by the second meaning
• Preparation has two senses: preparation of the one who will undergo (in the preparer) and preparation of the agent for acting (in the agent). Predestination is the second kind
• Grace is not in the definition of predestination as something existing in its nature, but as an effect to which predestination relates

Article 3: Does God Reprobate Some Men? #

Core Thesis: God does reprobate some men; reprobation is part of divine providence.

Definition of Reprobation: The will of permitting someone to fall into guilt and inferring the punishment of damnation for that guilt.

• Reprobation belongs to divine providence insofar as providence permits defects in things subject to it
• It does not pertain to divine providence to eliminate all evil from the world
• Reprobation concerns those who fail from the end of eternal life through their own sin

Critical Asymmetry Between Predestination and Reprobation:

• Predestination: An active cause of salvation; causes grace in the present and glory in the future
• Reprobation: Permits falling into guilt; is not a cause of guilt itself (which comes from free will), but a cause of being abandoned by God (derelictio); causes punishment as an effect of guilt
• The terminology reflects this: predestination “directs,” reprobation “allows” or “permits”

Key Responses to Objections:

• God loves all creatures insofar as He wills some good to all, but does not will eternal life to all. Not willing this particular good is what reprobation means
• Reprobation is not a cause of damnation in the way predestination is a cause of salvation. Guilt comes from free will; reprobation causes only abandonment and subsequent punishment
• The scriptural text “Your perdition, Israel, is from you” (Osee/Hosea 13:9) confirms that perdition originates in the creature’s own will, not in divine reprobation
• Reprobation does not take away the power or ability of the reprobated. The conditional necessity of those reprobated not attaining grace (“cannot” in a conditional sense) does not destroy human freedom
• One becomes guilty through one’s own free will, and merits that guilt be imputed to them

Important Caveat: Berquist suggests Calvin exaggerated the likeness between predestination and reprobation, leading to deterministic errors. The two are related but fundamentally asymmetrical.

Article 4: Are the Predestined Chosen by God? #

Core Thesis: Predestination presupposes choice, which presupposes love.

The Reversal in God:

• In creatures: Pre-existing good causes us to love; we choose whom we love. Choice follows love.
• In God: His will to love causes the good to exist. God’s loving will is the cause that the good is had by someone before others. Love precedes choice in definition.

God’s Choice and Goodness Communication:

• If one considers the communication of divine goodness in general without specification, it occurs without choice (like the sun emitting light on all bodies)
• But if one considers the communication of specific goods (grace, glory), it does occur with choice
• God chose Mary to be the Mother of God, which is why she is “full of grace” (gratia plena)

The Role of Divine Will: Predestination presupposes that God wills the salvation of the predestined, which involves both love (willing good to them) and choice (willing this good to some before others).

Key Arguments #

Against Predestination Placing Something in the Predestined #

Objection: Every action proceeding from an agent infers some passion or undergoing in the recipient. If predestination is an action in God, it must involve an undergoing in the predestined.

Berquist’s Response:

• This principle applies only to transitive actions that go out into external matter
• Immanent actions like understanding and willing remain in the agent and do not require external effects
• Predestination is an immanent divine action; only its execution produces effects in creatures
• Using an analogy: planning to kick someone is in the planner; the actual kick is in the kicked. The plan itself places nothing in the recipient.

Against God Reprobating Anyone #

Objection 1: God loves all things He has made; therefore He reprobates none.

Response: God wills some good to all creatures. Not willing eternal life to someone is what reprobation means. God’s will is not arbitrary but ordered to the divine goodness.

Objection 2: Reprobation would be the cause of damnation, contradicting “Your perdition, Israel, is from you.”

Response: Reprobation is not the cause of guilt. Guilt arises from free will. Reprobation causes only abandonment by God (derelictio). Punishment follows from guilt merited through free choice.

Objection 3: If God reprobates someone, they cannot avoid damnation, so damnation cannot be justly imputed to them.

Response: “Cannot” applies only conditionally. Reprobation does not destroy freedom of will. The reprobated fall through their own free choice, and thus merit the guilt imputed to them. The conditional necessity (if God reprobates, they will not attain grace) is compatible with freedom.

Against Divine Choice in Predestination #

Objection 1: God is like the sun, emitting goodness without choice.

Response: General communication of divine goodness occurs without specification. But specific goods (grace, glory) are communicated with choice.

Objection 2: Choice concerns things that are; predestination concerns things that are not yet.

Response: In God, the will itself (by loving) causes the good to exist, so God can choose those who do not yet exist.

Objection 3: God wills all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), so predestination cannot involve choice.

Response: God wills the salvation of all antecedently (as His general will), but not consequentially (considering the whole order of things). Predestination involves God’s consequent will, which does make choices about who will receive specific goods.

Important Definitions #

Predestination (Praedestinatio) #

• A part of divine providence concerning rational creatures ordered to an end (eternal life)
• Exists as a ratio (reason, knowledge, or rational plan) in the divine mind, not as a passive effect in creatures
• Includes the divine will and presupposes both choice (electio) and love (amor)
• Related to but distinct from foreknowledge (praescientia): foreknowledge extends to all things; predestination only to those ordered to eternal salvation

Reprobation (Reprobatio) #

• Part of divine providence that permits some to fail from the end of eternal life
• Comprises two elements: (1) the will of permitting someone to fall into guilt, and (2) the will of inflicting punishment for that guilt
• Does not cause guilt (which comes from free will) but causes being abandoned by God (derelictio)
• Fundamentally asymmetrical to predestination in its mode of operation

Gubernatio (Governing/Execution) #

• The active carrying out of providence in creatures
• Distinguished from the knowledge or reason of providence itself
• Occurs passively in the creatures being governed, actively in God the governor

Transitive vs. Immanent Actions #

• Transitive (actiones transientes): Actions that go out into external matter (cutting, heating); they produce effects outside the agent
• Immanent (actiones immanentes): Actions that remain in the agent (understanding, willing, sensing, imagining); they do not require external passive effects

Electio (Choice) #

• An act of the will involving discrimination or discretion
• In God: presupposes love and is ordered to communicating specific goods
• Differs from mere foreknowledge; involves active willing

Derelictio (Abandonment) #

• God’s withdrawal or non-bestowal of grace
• The passive effect in the reprobated of divine reprobation
• Not the cause of guilt, but the cause of being left without the grace needed for salvation

Examples & Illustrations #

The Planner and the Kicked Person #

Berquist illustrates the distinction between immanent and transitive action:

• My plan to kick you is entirely in me; it places nothing in you until executed
• When I actually kick you, the action is passive in you (you are being kicked) and active in me (I am kicking)
• Similarly, predestination (God’s eternal plan) is in God; the execution (calling and magnifying) produces effects in the predestined

The Sun’s Light (From Dionysius) #

• The sun emits light without choice on all bodies that receive it
• This illustrates that God communicates goodness generally to all creatures without discrimination
• But specific goods (grace, glory) require God’s choice, just as a craftsman chooses which materials get which form

Mary, Full of Grace #

• Mary was chosen by God to be the Mother of God (colatio), receiving special grace as a consequence
• This illustrates that God’s love and choice precede the gift of specific grace
• God loved Mary first (in eternity), chose her for this dignity, and thereby made her “full of grace”

The Dinner Preparation #

Berquist uses the example of preparing a dinner:

• The preparation (cutting, cooking) is in the food being prepared
• But the preparation in the mind of the preparer (the plan) is in the planner
• Predestination is the second kind: a mental purpose in God, not a passive state in creatures

The Proportion of Ratios (From Aristotle) #

Berquist emphasizes the danger of false likeness:

• One might say: “4 is to 6 as 2 is to 3” and then draw false conclusions about their similarities
• But the actual likeness consists in: “4 is the same proportion of 6 as 2 is of 3” (both are 2/3)
• Similarly, one cannot simply say “predestination is to the predestined as reprobation is to the reprobated” without specifying in what way the proportion holds
• The danger: one might incorrectly conclude that reprobation actively causes damnation as predestination actively causes salvation

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Does predestination place something in the predestined? #

Answer: No. Predestination is a reason or knowledge in God’s mind. Only its execution (the actual conferring of grace and calling) places effects in the predestined.

Q2: Does God reprobate some men? #

Answer: Yes. Reprobation is part of divine providence, permitting some through their own free will to fall from salvation. However, reprobation does not cause guilt; it permits guilt and inflicts the punishment that guilt merits.

Q3: Are the predestined chosen by God? #

Answer: Yes. Predestination presupposes choice, which presupposes love. In God (unlike in creatures), love causes the good to exist, and choice follows from this willing of good to some before others.