100. Foreknowledge of Merits and Divine Predestination

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Question: Whether foreknowledge of merits is the cause of divine predestination
• Divine Will and Causality: The divine will cannot have a cause on the side of the act of willing (God’s substance and will are identical), but can have a reason on the side of the effect
• Merit as Cause: Why merits cannot be the cause of predestination itself, though particular effects of predestination can be causes of other effects
• The Problem with Pelagianism: The Pelagian position (that the beginning of good comes from us, its completion from God) contradicts Scripture and the principle that we cannot even think anything from ourselves
• The Problem with Origen: Pre-existing merits in another life as grounds for predestination is excluded by Romans 9
• Following Merits Cannot Cause Predestination: If merits following the effect of predestination were the reason for predestination, this would be circular—asking why the effect is the reason for the cause
• Divine Goodness as Ultimate Reason: The effect of predestination in general has as its reason the divine goodness, ordered to God as end and proceeding from God as beginning
• Particular vs. General: One effect of predestination can be a cause (or reason) for another effect, in the order of final cause and meritorious cause. But nothing on our side can be the reason for predestination considered as a whole
• Distinction of Causes: Grace (from God) and free will (on our side) are not mutually exclusive; divine providence produces its effects through the operations of secondary causes
• Democratic Mind and Understanding: Democratic customs make it difficult to understand predestination and reprobation, as they emphasize equality

Key Arguments #

The Problem of Divine Will’s Causality #

• God’s act of will is His own substance; if the will had a cause, God Himself would have a cause
• One cannot assign a cause on the side of the act of willing, but one can assign a reason on the side of the thing willed (God wills this on account of that)
• The question becomes: whether God foreorders the effect of predestination for someone on account of some merits

Against Pre-Existing Merits (Origen’s View) #

• Some held that human souls pre-existed and obtained diverse statuses based on their works in that previous life
• Romans 9 explicitly excludes this: “when [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born or done something of good or bad… the greater shall serve the lesser”
• God’s decision cannot depend on something outside this life

Against Pelagianism #

• Pelagians claimed: the beginning of good is from us, the consummation from God
• This contradicts 2 Corinthians 12:3 (“We are not sufficient to think anything from ourselves”)
• Aristotle himself taught that the beginning of thinking comes from outside, from God (Eudemian Ethics)
• Therefore, no beginning in us can be the reason for the effect of predestination

Against Following Merits as the Reason #

• Some claimed God gives grace to someone because He foresees they will use it well (like a king giving a horse to a soldier he knows will use it well)
• This mistakenly distinguishes between what is from grace and what is from free will
• The error: confusing the effect of predestination (grace) with the reason for predestination
• If merits following predestination were the reason for predestination, we would be asking why an effect is the reason for its own cause

The Solution: Proper Understanding of Causality #

• What can be from both grace and free will: These are not mutually exclusive. Divine providence produces effects through secondary causes; predestination is part of providence
• Particular effects: One effect of predestination can be a reason for another effect:
  • The posterior effect by reason of final cause (the end for which something is given)
  • The anterior effect by reason of meritorious cause (the disposition of matter)
• Example from the Hail Mary: “Full of grace, the Lord is with thee”—Is she full of grace because the Lord is with her (efficient cause), or is the Lord with her because she is full of grace (disposition of matter)? Answer: Both, in different ways
• General effect of predestination: The whole effect of predestination considered in general cannot have a cause on our side, because everything ordering man to salvation (even preparation for grace) is included under predestination

The True Reason: Divine Goodness #

• The effect of predestination has as its reason the divine goodness
• God orders all things to themselves as to an end and from which they proceed as from a beginning first moving us toward the sun (Alpha and Omega)
• All created things cannot attain the simplicity of God; thus divine goodness must be represented in diverse forms

Important Definitions #

• Foreknowledge of merits (praescientia meritorum): God’s knowledge of what meritorious acts a person will perform; not the reason for predestination but a way God foresees the effects of His own predestination
• Final cause (causa finalis): The end for which something is done; in predestination, grace is given for the sake of glory
• Meritorious cause (causa meritoria): A disposition of matter or readiness; merits dispose one to receive greater grace, which then merits greater glory
• Efficient cause (causa efficiens): The agent that brings about an effect; God’s will and power
• Divine goodness (bonitas divina): The ultimate reason for all of God’s actions, including predestination and the diversity of creation

Examples & Illustrations #

Lottery Winners #

• Studies show that lottery winners often become less happy than before winning
• They expected money would bring lasting happiness, but external goods do not constitute true happiness
• Illustrates: external goods do not guarantee what we seek

The Professor and the Class #

• “I want you all to pass the course” (antecedent will)
• After correcting exams: “I will not that you all pass” (consequent will)
• Illustrates the distinction between simple willing and willing given all circumstances

The Hail Mary Prayer #

• “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”
• Question: Is she full of grace because the Lord is with her, or is the Lord with her because she is full of grace?
• Answer: The Lord being with her is the efficient cause of her being full of grace; her fullness of grace is the disposition of matter (suitability of the vessel)
• Illustrates: How the same reality can be understood through different causal relationships

The Artist and the Stone #

• An artist places stones in different parts of a wall
• There is a reason for the art that some parts should have stones and others should not
• But why this particular stone goes in that particular place depends on the simple will of the artist
• The stones themselves cannot complain of injustice
• Illustrates: God’s freedom in predestination is not unjust, even though we cannot fully comprehend it

The King’s Gifts #

• A king gives a horse to a soldier whom he knows will use it well
• Illustrates the confusion in some accounts of predestination: this is about the effect (the gift), not the cause (why it is given)

Clay Vessels #

• St. Paul: In a great house, there are vessels of gold and silver (for honor) and wooden vessels of clay (for dishonor—chamber pots)
• Can the clay say to the potter, “Why have you made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)
• Illustrates: The asymmetry of the relationship between God and creatures; creatures have no standing to complain

Natural Things and Prime Matter #

• Prime matter is uniform in itself; one part comes under the form of fire (most noble of the elements in ancient chemistry), another under the form of earth
• There is a reason (the diversity of species in natural things), but not why this particular part receives that particular form
• Illustrates: Even in nature, there is a limit to rational explanation; some things depend on the will of the creator

Notable Quotes #

“God’s act of will is his own substance. So if there is a cause of the act of the will of God, then there will be a cause of God himself.” — Aquinas, as explained by Berquist

“We’re not enough to, what? Think anything from ourselves, huh? As it were, from ourselves.” — 2 Corinthians 12:3, cited by Berquist

“The beginning of this [good thinking], it’s from outside from God.” — Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics, cited by Berquist

“He gives to his beloved in sleep.” — Psalm 126:2, cited by Berquist to show God is entirely before any human activity

“Convert us, Lord, to you and we will be converted.” — Lamentations 5:21, cited to show God’s movement comes first

“Wherefore he draws this one and does not draw that one, I do not wish to judge.” — Augustine, cited by Berquist

“Can the clay say to the potter, ‘Why have you made me thus?’” — Romans 9:20, cited to illustrate why creatures have no standing to complain

“I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” — Revelation 22:13, cited as illustration of God as both beginning and end

Questions Addressed #

1. Is foreknowledge of merits the cause of predestination?

   • No. Merits cannot be the cause of what they are effects of. The divine goodness is the ultimate reason for predestination

2. What about pre-existing merits from another life?

   • Excluded by Romans 9: God chose Jacob over Esau before they were born or had done anything good or bad

3. What about merits acquired in this life before predestination?

   • The Pelagian view that we can begin good on our own contradicts Scripture and reason; we cannot even think from ourselves

4. What about merits that follow after predestination?

   • These are effects of predestination, not its cause. They can be ordered to other effects as final cause (the end) or meritorious cause (disposition of matter)

5. How can grace from God and free will both be true?

   • Divine providence produces effects through secondary causes. What comes from grace and what comes from free will are not mutually exclusive

6. What is the ultimate reason for predestination?

   • The divine goodness, toward which all predestination is ordered as to an end, and from which it proceeds as from the first moving cause

7. Why the diversity of predestination and reprobation?

   • God’s simple goodness must be represented in diverse forms in creation. Some are predestined to show God’s mercy, others reprobated to show His justice

8. Is this unjust?

   • No. God subtracts from no one what is owed him. In things freely given from grace, the giver can distribute as he wishes. Creatures have no claim against the Creator

Pedagogical Notes #

• Berquist emphasizes the importance of careful distinctions (e.g., cause on the side of the act of willing vs. reason on the side of the effect)
• He repeatedly returns to the principle that God’s will is His substance, which prevents any external cause of God
• He notes that democratic customs make the concept of predestination and reprobation difficult to understand, as democracy emphasizes equality
• He uses concrete contemporary examples (lottery winners) and classical examples (the artist, the potter) to illustrate abstract principles
• He clarifies common errors systematically: Pelagianism, Origen’s view, and the confusion of effect with cause
• He emphasizes that this is not about God’s injustice but about God’s absolute freedom and the creature’s absolute dependence