102. The Book of Life and Divine Predestination

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Book of Life as Metaphor #

• The Book of Life is said metaphorically of God according to a likeness taken from human things
• Among men, those chosen for something are written down in books (soldiers, counselors called patres conscripti—fathers written down)
• All predestined are chosen by God to have eternal life; therefore the writing down or conscription of the predestined is called the Book of Life
• What is said metaphorically to be written in someone’s understanding is what is firmly held in their memory
• God’s knowledge by which he firmly retains someone to be predestined to eternal life is called the Book of Life
• God’s knowledge is a sign before him of those who will be led to eternal life

Multiple Senses of “Book of Life” #

• First sense: The writing down of those chosen to life (the primary sense in this question)
• Second sense: The writing down of those things which lead to life—either as things to be done (the New and Old Testament are called the Book of Life) or as things done (the divine power by which deeds are reduced to memory)
• The analogy of liber militiae (military book): can mean either those chosen to military life, the military art itself, or the deeds of soldiers

Book of Life and Life of Glory #

• The Book of Life properly regards only the life of glory, not the life of nature or grace or God’s own life
• Why not natural life? One is not chosen for what belongs naturally; there is no choice for natural things (humans don’t choose to have sense, for example)
• Why not God’s own life? God’s own glorious life is natural to him, so there is no choice regarding it
• Why not grace alone? Grace is not an end but means toward an end; grace has the notion of that which is toward an end, not the end itself

The Distinction: Simply vs. In Some Way (simpliciter vs. secundum quid) #

• Those ordered to eternal life from divine predestination are written in the Book of Life simply (simpliciter) and can never be deleted
• Those ordered to eternal life only from grace (not from divine predestination) are written in the Book of Life only in some way (secundum quid) and can be deleted
• This distinction is foundational throughout philosophy and theology; it derives from the distinction between perfect and imperfect
• The same distinction was used in the previous article: grace is ordered to glory simply through predestination, but only in some way through grace alone

Deletion from the Book of Life #

• First interpretation: Deletion refers to the opinion of men—those appear to be in the Book because of present justice they display, but when they fall away, they are said to be deleted according to human opinion
• Second interpretation: Deletion can refer to the thing itself because the Book of Life is the writing down of those ordered to eternal life
  • If ordered by divine predestination: never deleted (the ordering never fails)
  • If ordered only by grace: can be deleted when they fall away through mortal sin
• The deletion does not refer to God’s knowledge (as if God foreknew something and later became ignorant) but to the thing known, which God foreknew to be ordered to eternal life but afterward to not be ordered when they fell away from grace

Key Arguments #

Against “Book of Life = Predestination” #

Objection 1: Scripture (Ecclesiasticus) calls the New and Old Testament the “Book of Life,” but this is not predestination.

• Response: “Book of Life” has multiple meanings; in this question, it means the writing down of those chosen to life (predestination), but it can also mean the things which lead to life (Scripture)

Objection 2: Augustine says the Book of Life is divine power (by which deeds are reduced to memory), not predestination.

• Response: “Book of Life” can refer to divine power insofar as deeds are reduced to memory, or to predestination insofar as those are chosen to life. These are different senses of the same term.

Objection 3: If Book of Life = Predestination, there should be a “Book of Death” corresponding to reprobation.

• Response: It is not customary to write down those who are repudiated, but those who are chosen. The metaphor takes from human practice where we record the accepted, not the rejected.

Against “Book of Life pertains only to life of glory” #

Objection 1: God knows his own life through his knowledge; the Book of Life is a knowledge of life; therefore the Book of Life concerns divine life, not only the life of glory.

• Response: God’s own glorious life is natural to him; there is no choice regarding it; therefore no Book of Life applies to it

Objection 2: Natural life comes from God as much as the life of glory does; if knowledge of life of glory is the Book of Life, knowledge of natural life should be too.

• Response: One is not chosen for what belongs naturally; there is no choice regarding natural things

Objection 3: Some are chosen for grace who are not chosen for life of glory (e.g., Judas was chosen among the twelve but was “a devil”).

• Response: Those chosen for grace but not for glory are not said to be chosen simpliciter but secundum quid; they are written in the Book only in some way insofar as grace is ordered to glory

Against “No one is deleted from the Book of Life” #

Objection 1: Augustine says God’s foreknowledge (which cannot fail) is the Book of Life; nothing can be subtracted from foreknowledge; therefore nothing can be deleted from the Book of Life.

• Response: Deletion does not refer to God’s foreknowledge (which is unchangeable) but to the thing foreknown, which changes

Objection 2: The Book of Life is eternal and unchangeable in God; therefore whatever is in it is there unchangeably and cannot be deleted.

• Response: Although things in God are unchangeable in an unchangeable way, in themselves they are changeable; deletion pertains to the things, not to God’s knowledge of them

Objection 3: Deletion is opposed to writing; but someone cannot be newly written in the Book of Life; therefore neither can be deleted.

• Response: One can be said to be written in the Book of Life either according to human opinion (newly appearing to have justice) or according to newly having grace ordered to eternal life

Important Definitions #

Book of Life (Liber Vitae) #

• Metaphorically, God’s knowledge by which he firmly holds someone to be predestined to eternal life
• Literally, the writing down or conscription (conscriptio) of the predestined
• A sign in God’s knowledge of those who will be led to eternal life

Predestination (Praedestinatio) #

• The divine ordering of someone to eternal life
• Never fails when truly present; cannot be impeded by creatures
• Creatures cannot escape the order of the first universal cause but rather carry it out

Simpliciter vs. Secundum quid #

• Simply (simpliciter): Without qualification; absolutely and perfectly
• In some way (secundum quid): With qualification; imperfectly or conditionally
• Applied to the Book of Life: those ordered by predestination are written simply; those ordered by grace alone are written only in some way

Examples & Illustrations #

The Military Book Analogy #

• A military book (liber militiae) can be understood as:
  • Those chosen to military life
  • The military art itself
  • The deeds of soldiers
• Similarly, the Book of Life can refer to those chosen to eternal life, things leading to life, or deeds recorded in God’s knowledge

The Wedding Garment Parable #

• A student group discussing the parable without guidance thought the king was “mean” to cast out the guest without a wedding garment
• Church Fathers explain that the wedding garment represents charity (caritas)
• The guest lacks charity and does not belong in heaven
• This shows how without proper interpretation, even students misunderstand Scripture; the Fathers’ exegesis provides the correct meaning

The Coin of Caesar and God #

• Christ asks to see the coin and identifies whose image is on it
• Church Fathers develop the proportion: “Give to Caesar what bears Caesar’s image; give to God what bears God’s image”
• God’s image is the soul; therefore give your soul to God
• Shows how the Fathers develop scriptural meaning through proportion and ratio

The Water into Wine Miracle #

• The miracle shows Christ’s power to change substance while preserving accidents (accidents of wine remain visible)
• This prepares the mind for belief in the Eucharist, where a greater change occurs (wine becoming the blood of Christ)
• The visible accidents of wine provide evidence that the miracle occurred, just as the accidents of wine in the Eucharist provide evidence of Christ’s power

Questions Addressed #

Is the Book of Life the Same as Predestination? #

• Answer: The Book of Life is predestination, but expressed metaphorically according to human practice of writing down those chosen for something
• The metaphor works because all predestined are chosen by God for eternal life, and writing down the predestined is called the Book of Life

What Is the Book of Life a Knowledge Of? #

• Answer: The Book of Life is God’s knowledge by which he firmly retains or holds someone as predestined to eternal life
• This knowledge is a sign in God of those about to be led to eternal life
• God knows those who are his through this knowledge, which the Scripture calls written in heaven

Does the Book of Life Concern Only the Life of Glory? #

• Answer: Yes, properly and simply
• The life of glory is above nature and is the end chosen for the predestined
• Natural life and grace (which is toward an end, not an end itself) are not properly the subject of the Book of Life
• Divine life itself is natural to God, so there is no choice regarding it

Can Someone Be Deleted from the Book of Life? #

• Answer: Yes and no, depending on how one is written in it
  • Simply: If one is written through divine predestination, they cannot be deleted; the ordering never fails
  • In some way: If one is written only through grace (not predestination), they can be deleted when they fall away through mortal sin
• The deletion does not change God’s knowledge but refers to the reality of things, which change

Pedagogical Points #

The Fallacy of Equivocation #

• The first two objections in the initial article commit the fallacy of equivocation (fallacia aequivocationis), taking different senses of “Book of Life”
• Understanding the multiple senses of a term is essential to resolving apparent contradictions

The Importance of the Simpliciter/Secundum quid Distinction #

• This distinction appears throughout philosophy and theology
• In logic: knowing something in some way vs. knowing it simply (from Plato’s Meno)
• In ethics: a pleasant act is good in some way; a reasonable act is good simply
• In metaphysics: something comes to be in some way (in a location) vs. comes to be simply (is generated)
• Understanding what makes something true simpliciter vs. secundum quid is crucial for avoiding logical and theological errors

The Role of Church Fathers in Scriptural Interpretation #

• The Church Fathers develop scriptural meaning through allegorical and proportional interpretation
• Their exegesis goes beyond surface meanings to reveal deeper theological truths
• Even educated people without patristic guidance can misunderstand Scripture
• The Dominican commentaries on the Gospel (before Vatican II) provided selections from the patristic tradition to aid priests in preaching

Structural Notes #

Relationship to Surrounding Questions #

• This lecture covers questions 23-24 on the Book of Life
• These follow questions on divine knowledge, will, and predestination
• The next topic will be divine power (question 25), which Berquist notes begins with a brief review of the overall structure of the divine attributes