Calvin, Institutes, Vol.3, Part 27
(... continued from part 26)
Chapter 22.
22. This doctrine confirmed by proofs from Scripture.
The divisions of this chapter are, - I. A confirmation of the
orthodox doctrine in opposition to two classes of individuals. This
confirmation founded on a careful exposition of our Savior's words,
and passages in the writings of Paul, sec. 1-7. II. A refutation of
some objections taken from ancient writers, Thomas Aquinas, and more
modern writers, sec. 8-10. III. Of reprobation, which is founded
entirely on the righteous will of God, sec. 11.
Sections.
1. Some imagine that God elects or reprobates according to a
foreknowledge of merit. Others make it a charge against God
that he elects some and passes by others. Both refuted, 1. By
invincible arguments; 2. By the testimony of Augustine.
2. Who are elected, when, in whom, to what, for what reason.
3. The reason is the good pleasure of God, which so reigns in
election that no works, either past or future, are taken into
consideration. This proved by notable declarations of one
Savior and passages of Paul.
4. Proved by a striking discussion in the Epistle to the Romans. Its
scope and method explained. The advocates of foreknowledge
refuted by the Apostle, when he maintains that election is
special and wholly of grace.
5. Evasion refuted. A summary and analysis of the Apostle's
discussion.
6. An exception, with three answers to it. The efficacy of
gratuitous election extends only to believers, who are said to
be elected according to foreknowledge. This foreknowledge or
prescience is not speculative but active.
7. This proved from the words of Christ. Conclusion of the answer,
and solution of the objection with regard to Judas.
8. An objection taken from the ancient fathers. Answer from
Augustine, from Ambrose, as quoted by Augustine, and an
invincible argument by an Apostle. Summary of this argument.
9. Objection from Thomas Aquinas. Answer.
10. Objection of more modern writers. Answers. Passages in which
there is a semblance of contradiction reconciled. Why many
called and few chosen. An objection founded on mutual consent
between the word and faith. Solution confirmed by the words of
Paul, Augustine, and Bernard. A clear declaration by our
Savior.
11. The view to be taken of reprobation. It is founded on the
righteous will of God.
1. Many controvert all the positions which we have laid down,
especially the gratuitous election of believers, which, however,
cannot be overthrown. For they commonly imagine that God
distinguishes between men according to the merits which he foresees
that each individual is to have, giving the adoption of sons to
those whom he foreknows will not be unworthy of his grace, and
dooming those to destruction whose dispositions he perceives will be
prone to mischief and wickedness. Thus by interposing foreknowledge
as a veil, they not only obscure election, but pretend to give it a
different origin. Nor is this the commonly received opinion of the
vulgar merely, for it has in all ages had great supporters, (see
sec. 8.) This I candidly confess, lest any one should expect greatly
to prejudice our cause by opposing it with their names. The truth of
God is here too certain to be shaken, too clear to be overborne by
human authority. Others who are neither versed in Scripture, nor
entitled to any weight, assail sound doctrine with a petulance and
improbity which it is impossible to tolerate. Because God of his
mere good pleasure electing some passes by others, they raise a plea
against him. But if the fact is certain, what can they gain by
quarreling with God? We teach nothing but what experience proves to
be true, viz., that God has always been at liberty to bestow his
grace on whom he would. Not to ask in what respect the posterity of
Abraham excelled others if it be not in a worth, the cause of which
has no existence out of God, let them tell why men are better than
oxen or asses. God might have made them dogs when he formed them in
his own image. Will they allow the lower animals to expostulate with
God, as if the inferiority of their condition were unjust? It is
certainly not more equitable that men should enjoy the privilege
which they have not acquired by any merit, than that he should
variously distribute favors as seems to him meet. If they pass to
the case of individuals where inequality is more offensive to them,
they ought at least, in regard to the example of our Savior, to be
restrained by feelings of awe from talking so confidently of this
sublime mystery. He is conceived a mortal man of the seed of David;
what, I would ask them, are the virtues by which he deserved to
become in the very womb, the head of angels the only begotten Son of
God, the image and glory of the Father, the light, righteousness,
and salvation of the world? It is wisely observed by Augustine, that
in the very head of the Church we have a bright mirror of free
election, lest it should give any trouble to us the members, viz.,
that he did not become the Son of God by living righteously, but was
freely presented with this great honor, that he might afterwards
make others partakers of his gifts. Should any one here ask, why
others are not what he was, or why we are all at so great a distance
from him, why we are all corrupt while he is purity, he would not
only betray his madness, but his effrontery also. But if they are
bent on depriving God of the free right of electing and reprobating,
let them at the same time take away what has been given to Christ.
It will now be proper to attend to what Scripture declares
concerning each. When Paul declares that we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, (Eph. 1: 4,) he certainly shows
that no regard is had to our own worth; for it is just as if he had
said, Since in the whole seed of Adam our heavenly Father found
nothing worthy of his election, he turned his eye upon his own
Anointed, that he might select as members of his body those whom he
was to assume into the fellowship of life. Let believers, then, give
full effect to this reason, viz., that we were in Christ adopted
unto the heavenly inheritance, because in ourselves we were
incapable of such excellence. This he elsewhere observes in another
passage, in which he exhorts the Colossians to give thanks that they
had been made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints,
(Col. 1: 12.) If election precedes that divine grace by which we are
made fit to obtain immortal life, what can God find in us to induce
him to elect us? What I mean is still more clearly explained in
another passage: God, says he, "has chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without blame
before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will," (Eph. 1: 4, 5.) Here he opposes the good pleasure of
God to our merits of every description.
2. That the proof may be more complete, it is of importance to
attend to the separate clauses of that passage. When they are
connected together they leave no doubt. From giving them the name of
elect, it is clear that he is addressing believers, as indeed he
shortly after declares. It is, therefore, a complete perversion of
the name to confine it to the age in which the gospel was published.
By saying they were elected before the foundation of the world, he
takes away all reference to worth. For what ground of distinction
was there between persons who as yet existed not, and persons who
were afterwards like them to exist in Adam? But if they were elected
in Christ, it follows not only that each was elected on some
extrinsic ground, but that some were placed on a different footing
from others, since we see that all are not members of Christ. In the
additional statement that they were elected that they might be holy,
the apostle openly refutes the error of those who deduce election
from prescience, since he declares that whatever virtue appears in
men is the result of election. Then, if a higher cause is asked,
Paul answers that God so predestined, and predestined according to
the good pleasure of his will. By these words, he overturns all the
grounds of election which men imagine to exist in themselves. For he
shows that whatever favors God bestows in reference to the spiritual
life flow from this one fountain, because God chose whom he would,
and before they were born had the grace which he designed to bestow
upon them set apart for their use.
3. Wherever this good pleasure of God reigns, no good works are
taken into account. The Apostle, indeed, does not follow out the
antithesis, but it is to be understood, as he himself explains it in
another passage, "Who has called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began," (1 Tim.
2: 9.) We have already shown that the additional words, "that we
might be holy," remove every doubt. If you say that he foresaw they
would be holy, and therefore elected them, you invert the order of
Paul. You may, therefore, safely infer, If he elected us that we
might be holy, he did not elect us because he foresaw that we would
be holy. The two things are evidently inconsistent, viz., that the
pious owe it to election that they are holy, and yet attain to
election by means of works. There is no force in the cavil to which
they are ever recurring, that the Lord does not bestow election in
recompense of preceding, but bestows it in consideration of future
merits. For when it is said that believers were elected that they
might be holy, it is at the same time intimated that the holiness
which was to be in them has its origin in election. And how can it
be consistently said, that things derived from election are the
cause of election? The very thing which the Apostle had said, he
seems afterwards to confirm by adding, "According to his good
pleasure which he has purposed in himself," (Eph. 1: 9;) for the
expression that God "purposed in himself," is the same as if it had
been said, that in forming his decree he considered nothing external
to himself; and, accordingly, it is immediately subjoined, that the
whole object contemplated in our election is, that "we should be to
the praise of his glory." Assuredly divine grace would not deserve
all the praise of election, were not election gratuitous; and it
would not be gratuitous did God in electing any individual pay
regard to his future works. Hence, what Christ said to his disciples
is found to be universally applicable to all believers, "Ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you," (John 15: 16.) Here he not only
excludes past merits, but declares that they had nothing in
themselves for which they could be chosen except in so far as his
mercy anticipated. And how are we to understand the words of Paul,
"Who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
again?" (Rom. 11: 35.) His meaning obviously is, that men are
altogether indebted to the preventing goodness of God, there being
nothing in them, either past or future, to conciliate his favor.
4. In the Epistle to the Romans, (Rom. 9: 6,) in which he again
treats this subject more reconditely and at greater length, he
declares that "they are not all Israel which are of Israel;" for
though all were blessed in respect of hereditary rights yet all did
not equally obtain the succession. The whole discussion was
occasioned by the pride and vain-glorying of the Jews, who, by
claiming the name of the Church for themselves, would have made the
faith of the Gospel dependent on their pleasure; just as in the
present day the Papists would fain under this pretext substitute
themselves in place of God. Paul, while he concedes that in respect
of the covenant they were the holy offspring of Abraham, yet
contends that the greater part of them were strangers to it, and
that not only because they were degenerate, and so had become
bastards instead of sons, but because the principal point to be
considered was the special election of God, by which alone his
adoption was ratified. If the piety of some established them in the
hope of salvation, and the revolt of others was the sole cause of
their being rejected, it would have been foolish and absurd in Paul
to carry his readers back to a secret election. But if the will of
God (no cause of which external to him either appears or is to be
looked for) distinguishes some from others, so that all the sons of
Israel are not true Israelites, it is vain for any one to seek the
origin of his condition in himself. He afterwards prosecutes the
subject at greater length, by contrasting the cases of Jacob and
Esau. Both being sons of Abraham, both having been at the same time
in the womb of their mother, there was something very strange in the
change by which the honor of the birthright was transferred to
Jacob, and yet Paul declares that the change was an attestation to
the election of the one and the reprobation of the other.
The question considered is the origin and cause of election.
The advocates of foreknowledge insist that it is to be found in the
virtues and vices of men. For they take the short and easy method of
asserting, that God showed in the person of Jacob, that he elects
those who are worthy of his grace; and in the person of Esau, that
he rejects those whom he foresees to be unworthy. Such is their
confident assertion; but what does Paul say? "For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth; it was said unto her, [Rebecca,] The elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated," (Rom. 9: 11-13.) If foreknowledge had anything to do with
this distinction of the brothers, the mention of time would have
been out of place. Granting that Jacob was elected for a worth to be
obtained by future virtues, to what end did Paul say that he was not
yet born? Nor would there have been any occasion for adding, that as
yet he had done no good, because the answer was always ready, that
nothing is hid from God, and that therefore the piety of Jacob was
present before him. If works procure favor, a value ought to have
been put upon them before Jacob was born, just as if he had been of
full age. But in explaining the difficulty, the Apostle goes on to
show, that the adoption of Jacob proceeded not on works but on the
calling of God. In works he makes no mention of past or future, but
distinctly opposes them to the calling of God, intimating, that when
place is given to the one the other is overthrown; as if he had
said, The only thing to be considered is what pleased God, not what
men furnished of themselves. Lastly, it is certain that all the
causes which men are wont to devise as external to the secret
counsel of God, are excluded by the use of the terms purpose and
election.
5. Why should men attempt to darken these statements by
assigning some place in election to past or future works? This is
altogether to evade what the Apostle contends for, viz., that the
distinction between the brothers is not founded on any ground of
works, but on the mere calling of God, inasmuch as it was fixed
before the children were born. Had there been any solidity in this
subtlety, it would not have escaped the notice of the Apostle, but
being perfectly aware that God foresaw no good in man, save that
which he had already previously determined to bestow by means of his
election, he does not employ a preposterous arrangement which would
make good works antecedent to their cause. We learn from the
Apostle's words, that the salvation of believers is founded entirely
on the decree of divine election, that the privilege is procured not
by works but free calling. We have also a specimen of the thing
itself set before us. Esau and Jacob are brothers, begotten of the
same parents, within the same womb, not yet born. In them all things
are equal, and yet the judgment of God with regard to them is
different. He adopts the one and rejects the other. The only right
of precedence was that of primogeniture; but that is disregarded,
and the younger is preferred to the elder. Nay, in the case of
others, God seems to have disregarded primogeniture for the express
purpose of excluding the flesh from all ground of boasting.
Rejecting Ishmael he gives his favor to Isaac, postponing Manasseh
he honors Ephraim.
6. Should any one object that these minute and inferior favors
do not enable us to decide with regard to the future life, that it
is not to be supposed that he who received the honor of
primogeniture was thereby adopted to the inheritance of heaven;
(many objectors do not even spare Paul, but accuse him of having in
the quotation of these passages wrested Scripture from its proper
meaning;) I answer as before, that the Apostle has not erred through
inconsideration, or spontaneously misapplied the passages of
Scripture; but he saw (what these men cannot be brought to consider)
that God purposed under an earthly sign to declare the spiritual
election of Jacob, which otherwise lay hidden at his inaccessible
tribunal. For unless we refer the primogeniture bestowed upon him to
the future world, the form of blessing would be altogether vain and
ridiculous, inasmuch as he gained nothing by it but a multitude of
toils and annoyances, exile, sharp sorrows, and bitter cares.
Therefore, when Paul knew beyond a doubt that by the external, God
manifested the spiritual and unfading blessings, which he had
prepared for his servant in his kingdom, he hesitated not in proving
the latter to draw an argument from the former. For we must remember
that the land of Canaan was given in pledge of the heavenly
inheritance; and that therefore there cannot be a doubt that Jacob
was like the angels ingrafted into the body of Christ, that he might
be a partaker of the same life. Jacob, therefore, is chosen, while
Esau is rejected; the predestination of God makes a distinction
where none existed in respect of merit. If you ask the reason the
Apostle gives it, "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion" (Rom. 9: 15.) And what pray, does this mean? It is just
a clear declaration by the Lord that he finds nothing in men
themselves to induce him to show kindness, that it is owing entirely
to his own mercy, and, accordingly, that their salvation is his own
work. Since God places your salvation in himself alone, why should
you descend to yourself? Since he assigns you his own mercy alone,
why will you recur to your own merits? Since he confines your
thoughts to his own mercy why do you turn partly to the view of your
own works?
We must therefore come to that smaller number whom Paul
elsewhere describes as foreknown of God, (Rom. 11: 2;) not
foreknown, as these men imagine, by idle, inactive contemplations
but in the sense which it often bears. For surely when Peter says
that Christ was "delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God," (Acts 2: 23,) he does not represent God as
contemplating merely, but as actually accomplishing our salvation.
Thus also Peter, in saying that the believers to whom he writes are
elect "according to the foreknowledge of God," (1 Pet. 1: 2,)
properly expresses that secret predestination by which God has
sealed those whom he has been pleased to adopt as sons. In using the
term purpose as synonymous with a term which uniformly denotes what
is called a fixed determination, he undoubtedly shows that God, in
being the author of our salvation, does not go beyond himself. In
this sense he says in the same chapters that Christ as "a lamb" "was
foreordained before the creation of the world," (1 Pet. 1: 19, 20.)
What could have been more frigid or absurd than to have represented
God as looking from the height of heaven to see whence the salvation
of the human race was to come? By a people foreknown, Peter means
the same thing as Paul does by a remnant selected from a multitude
falsely assuming the name of God. In another passage, to suppress
the vain boasting of those who, while only covered with a mask,
claim for themselves in the view of the world a first place among
the godly, Paul says, "The Lord knoweth them that are his," (2 Tim.
2: 19.) In short, by that term he designates two classes of people,
the one consisting of the whole race of Abraham, the other a people
separated from that race, and though hidden from human view, yet
open to the eye of God. And there is no doubt that he took the
passage from Moses, who declares that God would be merciful to
whomsoever he pleased (although he was speaking of an elect people
whose condition was apparently equal;) just as if he had said, that
in a common adoption was included a special grace which he bestows
on some as a holier treasure, and that there is nothing in the
common covenant to prevent this number from being exempted from the
common order. God being pleased in this matter to act as a free
dispenser and disposer, distinctly declares, that the only ground on
which he will show mercy to one rather than to another is his
sovereign pleasure; for when mercy is bestowed on him who asks it,
though he indeed does not suffer a refusal, he, however, either
anticipates or partly acquires a favour, the whole merit of which
God claims for himself.
7. Now, let the supreme Judge and Master decide on the whole
case. Seeing such obduracy in his hearers, that his words fell upon
the multitude almost without fruit, he to remove this
stumbling-block exclaims, "All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me." "And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of
all which he has given me I should lose nothing," (John 6: 37, 39.)
Observe that the donation of the Father is the first step in our
delivery into the charge and protection of Christ. Some one,
perhaps, will here turn round and object, that those only peculiarly
belong to the Father who make a voluntary surrender by faith. But
the only thing which Christ maintains is that though the defections
of vast multitudes should shake the world, yet the counsel of God
would stand firm, more stable than heaven itself, that his election
would never fail. The elect are said to have belonged to the Father
before he bestowed them on his only begotten Son. It is asked if
they were his by nature? Nay, they were aliens, but he makes them
his by delivering them. The words of Christ are too clear to be
rendered obscure by any of the mists of caviling. "No man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him." "Every man,
therefore, that has heard and learned of the Father comes unto me,"
(John 6: 44, 45.) Did all promiscuously bend the knee to Christ,
election would be common; whereas now in the small number of
believers a manifest diversity appears. Accordingly our Savior,
shortly after declaring that the disciples who were given to him
were the common property of the Father, adds, "I pray not for the
world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine,"
(John 17: 9.) Hence it is that the whole world no longer belongs to
its Creator, except in so far as grace rescues from malediction,
divine wrath, and eternal death, some, not many, who would otherwise
perish, while he leaves the world to the destruction to which it is
doomed. Meanwhile, though Christ interpose as a Mediator, yet he
claims the right of electing in common with the Father, "I speak not
of you all: I know whom I have chosen" (John 13: 18.) If it is asked
whence he has chosen them, he answers in another passages "Out of
the world;" which he excludes from his prayers when he commits his
disciples to the Father, (John 15: 19.) We must, indeed hold, when
he affirms that he knows whom he has chosen, first, that some
individuals of the human race are denoted; and, secondly, that they
are not distinguished by the quality of their virtues, but by a
heavenly decree. Hence it follows, that since Christ makes himself
the author of election, none excel by their own strength or
industry. In elsewhere numbering Judas among the elect, though he
was a devil, (John 6: 70,) he refers only to the apostolical office,
which though a bright manifestation of divine favor, (as Paul so
often acknowledges it to be in his own person,) does not, however,
contain within itself the hope of eternal salvation. Judas,
therefore, when he discharged the office of Apostle perfidiously,
might have been worse than a devil; but not one of those whom Christ
has once ingrafted into his body will he ever permit to perish, for
in securing their salvation, he will perform what he has promised;
that is, exert a divine power greater than all, (John 10: 28.) For
when he says, "Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of
them is lost but the son of perdition," (John 17: 12,) the
expression, though there is a catachresis in it, is not at all
ambiguous. The sum is, that God by gratuitous adoption forms those
whom he wishes to have for sons; but that the intrinsic cause is in
himself, because he is contented with his secret pleasure.
8. But Ambrose, Origin, and Jerome, were of opinion, that God
dispenses his grace among men according to the use which he foresees
that each will make of it. It may be added, that Augustine also was
for some time of this opinion; but after he had made greater
progress in the knowledge of Scripture, he not only retracted it as
evidently false, but powerfully confuted it, (August. Retract. Lib.
1, c. 13.) Nay, even after the retractation, glancing at the
Pelagians who still persisted in that error, he says, "Who does not
wonder that the Apostle failed to make this most acute observation?
For after stating a most startling proposition concerning those who
were not yet born, and afterwards putting the question to himself by
way of objection, 'What then? Is there unrighteousness with God?' he
had an opportunity of answering, that God foresaw the merits of
both, he does not say so, but has recourse to the justice and mercy
of God," (August. Epist. 106, ad Sixtum.) And in another passage,
after excluding all merit before election, he says, "Here,
certainly, there is no place for the vain argument of those who
defend the foreknowledge of God against the grace of God, and
accordingly maintain that we were elected before the foundation of
the world, because God foreknow that we would be good, not that he
himself would make us good. This is not the language of him who
says, 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' (John 15: 16.)
For had he chosen us because he foreknow that we would be good, he
would at the same time also have foreknown that we were to choose
him," (August. in Joann. 8, see also what follows to the same
effect.) Let the testimony of Augustine prevail with those who
willingly acquiesce in the authority of the Fathers: although
Augustine allows not that he differs from the others, but shows by
clear evidence that the difference which the Pelagians invidiously
objected to him is unfounded. For he quotes from Ambrose, (Lib. de
Praedest. Sanct. cap. 19,) "Christ calls whom he pities." Again,
"Had he pleased he could have made them devout instead of undevout;
but God calls whom he deigns to call, and makes religious whom he
will." Were we disposed to frame an entire volume out of Augustine,
it were easy to show the reader that I have no occasion to use any
other words than his: but I am unwilling to burden him with a prolix
statement. But assuming that the fathers did not speak thus, let us
attend to the thing itself. A difficult question had been raised,
viz., Did God do justly in bestowing his grace on certain
individuals? Paul might have disencumbered himself of this question
at once by saying, that God had respect to works. Why does he not do
so? Why does he rather continue to use a language which leaves him
exposed to the same difficulty? Why, but just because it would not
have been right to say it? There was no obliviousness on the part of
the Holy Spirit, who was speaking by his mouth. He, therefore,
answers without ambiguity, that God favors his elect, because he is
pleased to do so, and shows mercy because he is pleased to do so.
For the words, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
show mercy on whom I will show mercy," (Exod. 33: 19,) are the same
in effect as if it had been said, God is moved to mercy by no other
reason than that he is pleased to show mercy. Augustine's
declaration, therefore, remains true. The grace of God does not
find, but makes persons fit to be chosen.
9. Nor let us be detained by the subtlety of Thomas, that the
foreknowledge of merit is the cause of predestination, not, indeed,
in respect of the predestinating act, but that on our part it may in
some sense be so called, namely, in respect of a particular estimate
of predestination; as when it is said, that God predestinates man to
glory according to his merit, inasmuch as he decreed to bestow upon
him the grace by which he merits glory. For while the Lord would
have us to see nothing more in election than his mere goodness, for
any one to desire to see more is preposterous affectation. But were
we to make a trial of subtlety, it would not be difficult to refute
the sophistry of Thomas. He maintains that the elect are in a manner
predestinated to glory on account of their merits, because God
predestines to give them the grace by which they merit glory. What
if I should, on the contrary, object that predestination to grace is
subservient to election unto life, and follows as its handmaid; that
grace is predestined to those to whom the possession of glory was
previously assigned the Lord being pleased to bring his sons by
election to justification? For it will hence follow that the
predestination to glory is the cause of the predestination to grace,
and not the converse. But let us have done with these disputes as
superfluous among those who think that there is enough of wisdom for
them in the word of God. For it has been truly said by an old
ecclesiastical writer, Those who ascribe the election of God to
merits, are wise above what they ought to be, (Ambrose. de Vocat.
Gentium, lib. 1, c. 2.)
10. Some object that God would be inconsistent with himself, in
inviting all without distinction while he elects only a few. Thus,
according to them, the universality of the promise destroys the
distinction of special grace. Some moderate men speak in this way,
not so much for the purpose of suppressing the truth, as to get quit
of puzzling questions, and curb excessive curiosity. The intention
is laudable, but the design is by no means to be approved,
dissimulation being at no time excusable. In those Again who display
their petulance, we see only a vile cavil or a disgraceful error.
The mode in which Scripture reconciles the two things, viz., that by
external preaching all are called to faith and repentance, and that
yet the Spirit of faith and repentance is not given to all, I have
already explained, and will again shortly repeat. But the point
which they assume I deny as false in two respects: for he who
threatens that when it shall rain on one city there will be drought
in another, (Amos 4: 7;) and declares in another passage, that there
will be a famine of the word, (Amos 8: 11,) does not lay himself
under a fixed obligation to call all equally. And he who, forbidding
Paul to preach in Asian and leading him away from Bithynia, carries
him over to Macedonia, (Acts 16: 6,) shows that it belongs to him to
distribute the treasure in what way he pleases. But it is by Isaiah
he more clearly demonstrates how he destines the promises of
salvation specially to the elect, (Isa. 8: 16;) for he declares that
his disciples would consist of them only, and not indiscriminately
of the whole human race. Whence it is evident that the doctrine of
salvation, which is said to be set apart for the sons of the Church
only, is abused when it is represented as effectually available to
all. For the present let it suffice to observe, that though the word
of the gospel is addressed generally to all, yet the gift of faith
is rare. Isaiah assigns the cause when he says that the arm of the
Lord is not revealed to all, (Isa. 53: 1.) Had he said, that the
gospel is malignantly and perversely condemned, because many
obstinately refuse to hear, there might perhaps be some color for
this universal call. It is not the purpose of the Prophet, however,
to extenuate the guilt of men, when he states the source of their
blindness to be, that God deigns not to reveal his arm to them; he
only reminds us that since faith is a special gift, it is in vain
that external doctrine sounds in the ear. But I would fain know from
those doctors whether it is mere preaching or faith that makes men
sons of God. Certainly when it is said, "As many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name," (John 1: 12,) a confused mass is not set
before us, but a special order is assigned to believers, who are
"born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God."
But it is said, there is a mutual agreement between faith and
the word. That must be wherever there is faith. But it is no new
thing for the seed to fall among thorns or in stony places; not only
because the majority appear in fact to be rebellious against God,
but because all are not gifted with eyes and ears. How, then, can it
consistently be said, that God calls while he knows that the called
will not come? Let Augustine answer for me: "Would you dispute with
me? Wonder with me, and exclaim, O the depth! Let us both agree in
dread, lest we perish in error," (August. de Verb. Apost. Serm. 11.)
Moreover, if election is, as Paul declares, the parent of faith, I
retort the argument, and maintain that faith is not general, since
election is special. For it is easily inferred from the series of
causes and effects, when Paul says, that the Father "has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,"
(Eph. 1: 3, 4,) that these riches are not common to all, because God
has chosen only whom he would. And the reason why in another passage
he commends the faith of the elect is, to prevent any one from
supposing that he acquires faith of his own nature; since to God
alone belongs the glory of freely illuminating those whom he had
previously chosen, (Tit. 1: 1.) For it is well said by Bernard, "His
friend hear apart when he says to them, Fear not, little flock: to
you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Who are these?
Those whom he foreknew and predestinated to be conformed to the
image of his Son. He has made known his great and secret counsel.
The Lord knoweth them that are his, but that which was known to God
was manifested to men; nor, indeed, does he deign to give a
participation in this great mystery to any but those whom he
foreknew and predestinated to be his own," (Bernard. ad Thomas
Praepos. Benerlae. Epist. 107.) Shortly after he concludes, "The
mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that
fear him; from everlasting through predestination, to everlasting
through glorification: the one knows no beginning, the other no
end." But why cite Bernard as a witness, when we hear from the lips
of our Master, "Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which
is of God"? (John 6: 46.) By these words he intimates that all who
are not regenerated by God are amazed at the brightness of his
countenance. And, indeed, faith is aptly conjoined with election,
provided it hold the second place. This order is clearly expressed
by our Savior in these words, "This is the Father's will which has
sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing;"
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees
the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life," (John 6:
39, 40.) If he would have all to be saved, he would appoint his Son
their guardian, and would ingraft them all into his body by the
sacred bond of faith. It is now clear that faith is a singular
pledge of paternal love, treasured up for the sons whom he has
adopted. Hence Christ elsewhere says, that the sheep follow the
shepherd because they know his voice, but that they will not follow
a stranger, because they know not the voice of strangers, (John 10:
4.) But whence that distinction, unless that their ears have been
divinely bored? For no man makes himself a sheep, but is formed by
heavenly grace. And why does the Lord declare that our salvation
will always be sure and certain, but just because it is guarded by
the invincible power of God? (John 10: 29.) Accordingly, he
concludes that unbelievers are not of his sheep, (John 10: 16.) The
reason is, because they are not of the number of those who, as the
Lord promised by Isaiah, were to be his disciples. Moreover, as the
passages which I have quoted imply perseverance, they are also
attestations to the inflexible constancy of election.
11. We come now to the reprobate, to whom the Apostle at the
same time refers, (Rom. 9: 13.) For as Jacob, who as yet had merited
nothing by good works, is assumed into favor; so Esau, while as yet
unpolluted by any crime, is hated. If we turn our view to works, we
do injustice to the Apostle, as if he had failed to see the very
thing which is clear to us. Moreover, there is complete proof of his
not having seen it, since he expressly insists that when as yet they
had done neither good nor evil, the one was elected, the other
rejected, in order to prove that the foundation of divine
predestination is not in works. Then after starting the objection,
Is God unjust? instead of employing what would have been the surest
and plainest defense of his justice, viz., that God had recompensed
Esau according to his wickedness, he is contented with a different
solution, viz., that the reprobate are expressly raised up, in order
that the glory of God may thereby be displayed. At last, he
concludes that God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will he hardeneth, (Rom. 9: 18.) You see how he refers both to the
mere pleasure of God. Therefore, if we cannot assign any reason for
his bestowing mercy on his people, but just that it so pleases him,
neither can we have any reason for his reprobating others but his
will. When God is said to visit in mercy or harden whom he will, men
are reminded that they are not to seek for any cause beyond his
will.
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 3, Part
(continued in part 28...)
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