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On the Predestination of the Saints

St. Augustine of Hippo

4h 7m read
Post-Nicene

Addressed to Prosper and Hilary in 428–429, this treatise defends the gratuity of grace against the "Semi-Pelagian" view that the beginning of faith comes from ourselves.

Table of Contents

1Book I1To What Extent the Massilians Withdraw from the Pelagians2Even the Beginning of Faith is of God’s Gift3Continuation of the Preceding4To Believe is to Think with Assent5Presumption and Arrogance to Be Avoided6Augustin Confesses that He Had Formerly Been in Error Concerning the Grace of God7What Augustin Wrote to Simplicianus, the Successor of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan8The Purpose of the Apostle in These Words9It is God’s Grace Which Specially Distinguishes One Man from Another10That Some Men are Elected is of God’s Mercy11Why the Apostle Said that We are Justified by Faith and Not by Works12The Effect of Divine Grace13Why the Father Does Not Teach All that They May Come to Christ14It is Believers that are Taught of God15Why the Gift of Faith is Not Given to All16His Argument in His Letter Against Porphyry, as to Why the Gospel Came So Late into the World17The Preceding Argument Applied to the Present Time18In What Respects Predestination and Grace Differ19Did God Promise the Good Works of the Nations and Not Their Faith, to Abraham?20It is to Be Wondered at that Men Should Rather Trust to Their Own Weakness Than to God’s Strength21God’s Promise is Sure22Remarkable Illustrations of Grace and Predestination in Infants, and in Christ23That No One is Judged According to What He Would Have Done If He Had Lived Longer24Possibly the Baptized Infants Would Have Repented If They Had Lived, and the Unbaptized Not25Reference to Cyprian’s Treatise 'On the Mortality.'26The Book of Wisdom Obtains in the Church the Authority of Canonical Scripture27Cyprian’s Treatise 'On the Mortality.'28God’s Dealing Does Not Depend Upon Any Contingent Merits of Men29The Most Illustrious Instance of Predestination is Christ Jesus30Christ Predestinated to Be the Son of God31The Twofold Calling32It 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 Alone33The Special Calling of the Elect is Not Because They Have Believed, But in Order that They May Believe34Election is for the Purpose of Holiness35God Chose the Righteous; Not Those Whom He Foresaw as Being of Themselves, But Those Whom He Predestinated for the Purpose of Making So36We Were Elected and Predestinated, Not Because We Were Going to Be Holy, But in Order that We Might Be So37What is the View of the Pelagians, and What of the Semi-Pelagians, Concerning Predestination38The Beginning of Faith is God’s Gift39Apostolic Testimony to the Beginning of Faith Being God’s Gift40Further Apostolic Testimonies41Old Testament Testimonies42Conclusion2A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance1Introduction2Of the Nature of the Perseverance Here Discoursed of3Faith is the Beginning of a Christian Man. Martyrdom for Christ’s Sake is His Best Ending4God is Besought for It, Because It is His Gift5Three Leading Points of the Pelagian Doctrine6The Second Petition in the Lord’s Prayer7The Third Petition. How Heaven and Earth are Understood in the Lord’s Prayer8The Fourth Petition9The Fifth Petition. It is an Error of the Pelagians that the Righteous are Free from Sin10When Perseverance is Granted to a Person, He Cannot But Persevere11The Gift of Perseverance Can Be Obtained by Prayer12Effect of Prayer for Perseverance13Of His Own Will a Man Forsakes God, So that He is Deservedly Forsaken of Him14Temptation the Condition of Man15It is God’s Grace Both that Man Comes to Him, and that Man Does Not Depart from Him16Why God Willed that He Should Be Asked for that Which He Might Give Without Prayer17Why is Not Grace Given According to Merit?18The Difficulty of the Distinction Made in the Choice of One and the Rejection of Another19But Why Should One Be Punished More Than Another?20Why Does God Mingle Those Who Will Persevere with Those Who Will Not?21Ambrose on God’s Control Over Men’s Thoughts22Instances of the Unsearchable Judgments of God23It is an Absurdity to Say that the Dead Will Be Judged for Sins Which They Would Have Committed If They Had Lived24Why for the People of Tyre and Sidon, Who Would Have Believed, the Miracles Were Not Done Which Were Done in Other Places Which Did Not Believe25It May Be Objected that The People of Tyre and Sidon Might, If They Had Heard, Have Believed, and Have Subsequently Lapsed from Their Faith26God’s Ways, Both in Mercy and Judgment, Past Finding Out27The Manicheans Do Not Receive All the Books of the Old Testament, and of the New Only Those that They Choose28Reference to the 'Retractations.'29God’s Goodness and Righteousness Shown in All30God’s True Grace Could Be Defended Even If There Were No Original Sin, as Pelagius Maintains31Augustin Claims the Right to Grow in Knowledge32Infants are Not Judged According to that Which They are Foreknown as Likely to Do If They Should Live33Chapter 32 [XIII.]—The Inscrutability of God’s Free Purposes.34God Gives Both Initiatory and Persevering Grace According to His Own Will35The Doctrine of Predestination Not Opposed to the Advantage of Preaching36What Predestination is37The Preaching of the Gospel and the Preaching of Predestination the Two Parts of One Message38Ears to Hear are a Willingness to Obey39Against the Preaching of Predestination the Same Objections May Be Alleged as Against Predestination40Chapter 39 [XVI]—Prayer and Exhortation.41When the Truth Must Be Spoken, When Kept Back42Predestination Defined as Only God’s Disposing of Events in His Foreknowledge43The Adversaries Cannot Deny Predestination to Those Gifts of Grace Which They Themselves Acknowledge, and Their Exhortations are Not Hindered by This Predestination Nevertheless44Further Development of the Foregoing Argument45Exhortation to Wisdom, Though Wisdom is God’s Gift46Exhortation to Other Gifts of God in Like Manner47A Man Who Does Not Persevere Fails by His Own Fault48Predestination is Sometimes Signified Under the Name of Foreknowledge49Practice of Cyprian and Ambrose50Further References to Cyprian and Ambrose51Obedience Not Discouraged by Preaching God’s Gifts52Predestination Must Be Preached53Previous Writings Anticipatively Refuted the Pelagian Heresy54Augustin’s 'Confessions.'55Beginning and End of Faith is of God56Testimony of His Previous Writings and Letters57God Gives Means as Well as End58How Predestination Must Be Preached So as Not to Give Offence59The Doctrine to Be Applied with Discrimination60Offence to Be Avoided61The Application to the Church in General62Use of the Third Person Rather Than the Second63Prayer to Be Inculcated, Nevertheless64The Testimony of the Whole Church in Her Prayers65In What Sense the Holy Spirit Solicits for Us, Crying, Abba, Father66The Church’s Prayers Imply the Church’s Faith67Recapitulation and Exhortation68The Most Eminent Instance of Predestination is Christ Jesus69Conclusion