The Object of Predestination
The Scholastic Reformer explains
why he is an infra and not a supra.
The
Object of Predestination
by Dr. Francis Turretin
NINTH
QUESTION: THE OBJECT OF PREDESTINATION
Whether
the object of predestination was man creatable, or capable of falling;
or whether as created and fallen. The former we deny; the latter we
affirm.
I.
After having spoken of the predestination of angels, we come to that of
men. The first question has respect to its question. object, about which
we must treat a little more distinctly because the opinions even of
orthodox themselves vary. II. The question is not simply
"what" the object of predestination was (as to nature). For it
is evident that here we speak of the human race, not the angelic (of
which we spoke before). Rather the question is "of what kind"
it was (with regard to quality, i.e., how man was considered in the
mind of God predestinating and with what qualities he was clothed;
whether those before the creation and fall or after).
III.
The opinions of theologians can be reduced to three classes. Some ascend
beyond the fall (supra lapsum) and are hence called supralapsarians.
They think that the object of predestination was man either not as yet
created or at least not yet fallen. Others descend below the fall (infra
lapsum) and hold that man not only as fallen, but also as redeemed
through Christ (and either believing or unbelieving) was the object of
predestination. Others, holding a middle ground, stop in the fall (in
lapsu) and maintain that man as fallen was considered by God predestinating.
We will treat the second opinion later; now we will examine the first
and third.
IV.
At the outset, we must take notice that whatever the disagreement of
theologians may be on this subject, yet the foundation of faith remains
secure on both sides and that they are equally opposed to the deadly
error of Pelagians and semi-Pelagians. Both they who ascend higher in
this matter and include the creation or the fall of man in the decree
of predestination, and they who suppose both all agree in this: that men
were considered by God as equal (not unequal) and such that their choice
depended upon God alone (from which foundation all heretics depart).
V.
Not without warrant, a reconciliation of this double opinion is
attempted by some from the broader or stricter use of the word
"predestination:' By the former, it is taken generally for every
decree of God about man in order to his ultimate end (in which sense it
undoubtedly embraces the decree concerning the creation of man and the
permission of his fall). By the latter, it is taken specially for God's
counsel concerning the salvation of men from his mercy and their
damnation from his justice (in which manner it is resolved into election
and reprobation and has for its object man as fallen). Yet because that
former signification is not of Scripture use (and confounds the works of
nature and grace, the order of creation and redemption), we more
willingly acquiesce in the latter opinion (which the Synod of Dort
wisely sanctioned from the word of God) as the more true and better
suited to tranquilize the conscience and repress the cavils of
adversaries. And if anyone doubts that this was the opinion of the
Synod, the words of Article 6 will prove it: "the decree of
election and reprobation revealed in the word of God" is said to be
"the profound, equally merciful and equally just choice of men
lost" ("Primum Caput: De Divina Praedestinationes," 6 in
Acta Synodi Nationalis . . . Dordrechti [1619-20], 1:279). And in
Article 7, election is defined as "the immutable purpose of God,
by which, before the foundations of the world were laid, he chose, out
of the whole human race, fallen by their own fault from their primeval
integrity into sin and destruction, according to the most free good
pleasure of his own will, and of mere grace, a certain number of men,
neither better nor worthier than others, but lying in the same misery
with the rest, to salvation in Christ" (ibid., p. 280).
VI.
That the state of the question may be perceived better, observe: (1)
that it is not inquired whether the creation of man and the permission
of the fall come under the decree of God (for it is acknowledged on both
sides that this as well as that was determined by God). But the question
is whether they stand in the relation (in signo rationis) of the mean
with respect to the decree of salvation and damnation, and whether God
in the sign of reason is to be considered as having thought about the
salvation and destruction of men before he thought of their creation and
fall.
VII.
(2) Again the question is not whether in predestination the reason of
sin comes into consideration. 'They who ascend above the fall (supra
lapsum), do not deny that it is here regarded consequently, so that no
one will be condemned except for sin, and no one saved who has not
been miserable and lost. Rather the question is whether sin holds itself
antecedently to predestination as to its being foreseen, so that man was
considered by God predestinating only as fallen (which we maintain).
VIII.
(3) The question is not whether sin holds the relation of the impulsive
cause with respect to predestination. For they who stop in the fall
acknowledge that it cannot be called the cause, not even with respect to
reprobation (because then all would be reprobated), much less with
respect to election. Rather the question is only whether it has the
relation of quality or preceding condition requisite in the object. For
these two differ widely: What kind of a person was predestinated; and
Why or on account of what? The former marks the quality and condition of
the object, while the latter indicates the cause. So the question
returns to this-whether to God predestinating, man was presented not
only as creatable or created (but not fallen), but also as fallen; not
as to real being, but as to known and intentional being, so that
although the fall was not the cause, yet it might have been the
condition and quality prerequisite in the object? The learned men with
whom we now treat deny this; we affirm it.
IX.
The reasons are: (1) a non-entity cannot be the object of
predestination. Now man creatable (or capable of falling) is simply a
nonentity because by creation he was brought from non-being to being.
The reason of the major appears from this: that the salvation and
destruction which are intended by predestination are the ends which are
introduced into the subject (which moreover is supposed already to
exist). Nor ought it to be objected here that the object of the creation
(or of the decree of creation) was a nonentity; for such also might
equally have been the object of predestination. For the nature of
creation is widely different. It speaks of the production of the
thing. It does not suppose its object from that of predestination (which
is concerned with an object already made) and does not make it simply to
be, but to be in this or that manner. Therefore as the decree concerning
the creation of man ought to have for its object man creatable (to
which it was destined), so the decree concerning the salvation or
damnation of man ought to regard man as fallen (because redemption or
destruction was destined for him). Moreover, every subject is conceived
to be before its adjuncts.
X.
(2) Either all creatable men were the object of predestination or only
some of them. Yet neither can be said: not the former because there were
innumerable possible men who never were to be created and, consequently,
neither to be saved, nor damned; not the latter because if only some
from all those creatable, they were not indefinitely foreknown, but
definitely as about to be (for no other reason can be given why the
other creatables were not predestinated than because they were not about
to be). To no purpose is the retort that all creatable men were not
absolutely the object of predestination because all would not be
creatable in time. For besides the absurdity of saying they were
creatable (if they could not be created), no reason can be brought why
as many as were creatable did not fall under the object of
predestination (if man creatable as such was its object). Therefore that
a discrimination may be found between those who could be presented to
God predestinating or not, we must descend to the decree of creation
and suppose them as really to be created and not only as creatable.
XI.
(3) The object of the divine predestination ought to be either one
eligible through mercy or reprobatable through justice. This cannot be
said of man creatable and liable to fall, but only man as created and
fallen. Nor is there any force here in the distinction between
"elicit and imperate acts:" as if man was not eligible or
reprobatable as to imperate acts (i.e., as to actual mercy), but
properly as to elicit acts (i.e., as to the intention of pitying and of
punishing). For it assumes that the elicit acts extend more widely than
the imperate (since the latter are the effects of the former), and that
the effects of the mercy or justice of God can be destined to creatures,
neither miserable nor guilty (which is repugnant to the nature of these
respective attributes which suppose an object clothed with certain
qualities).
XII.
(4) If predestination regards man as creatable or apt to fall, the
creation and fall were the means of predestination; but this cannot be
said with propriety. (a) The Scripture never speaks of them as such, but
as the antecedent conditions while it passes from predestination to
calling. (b) The mean has a necessary connection with the end, so that
the mean being posited, the end ought necessarily to follow in its time.
But neither the creation nor the fall has any such connection, either
with election or with reprobation, for men might be created and fall and
yet not be elected. (c) The means ought to be of the same order and
dispensation; but the creation and fall belong to the natural order and
dispensation of providence while salvation and damnation belong to the
supernatural order of predestination. (d) If they were means, God
entered into the counsel of saving and destroying man before he had
decreed anything about his futurition and fall (which is absurd).
XIII.
To no purpose would you say that God could not arrive at the
manifestation of his glory in the way of justice and mercy, unless on
the position of the creation and fall (and therefore both can have the
relation of means). For although sin and creation are required
antecedently to the illustration of mercy and justice, it does not
follow that they were means, but only the requisite conditions. All
those things (without which we cannot accomplish something) are not
necessarily means. Thus existence and ductility are supposed in clay
as the condition for making vessels for honor or for dishonor, but it is
not the mean. Disease in the sick is the previous condition without
which he is not cured, but it is not the mean by which he is cured.
XIV.
(5) This opinion is easily misrepresented (eudiabletos), as if God
reprobated men before they were reprobatable through sin, and destined
the innocent to punishment before any criminality was foreseen in them.
It would mean not that he willed to damn them because they were sinners,
but that he permitted them to become sinners in order that they might be
punished. And it would imply he determined to create that he might
destroy them.
XV.
Hence it appears that they speak far more safely and truly who, in
assigning the object of predestination, do not ascend beyond the fall.
The Scripture certainly leads us to this. It says that we are chosen out
of the world; therefore not as creatable or capable of falling only, but
as fallen and in the corrupt mass: "Because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you" (Jn. 15:19). Nor does he escape who says that eternal
predestination is not meant here, but calling (which is made in time).
These are not to be opposed, but brought together. For from what mass in
time God calls a man, the same he elected him from eternity. The kind of
man that was considered by him in the execution of the decree, such he
ought to be considered by him in the decree itself£ For that cause, it
was not necessary that there should be the same order of intention and
execution, but only that there should be the same object of calling and
election. From this, it may be gathered that man as a sinner was elected
because he is called as such.
XVI.
Next, the election of men is made in Christ (Eph. 1:4) Therefore, it
regards man as fallen because they cannot be elected in Christ except as
to be redeemed and sanctified in him.
Therefore
they are chosen as sinners and miserable. Nor ought it to be replied
that to be "chosen in Christ" is nothing else than to be
chosen "by Christ" (not as Redeemer, but as God) to denote not
the means, but the principal cause of election. For although it is not
to be denied that Christ, as God, is the author of our election, yet it
is plain that it cannot be so understood in this place. ( 1 ) We are
said to be chosen in Christ in the same way as we are said to be blessed
and redeemed in him (Eph. 1:3, 7). But this ought to be understood of
Christ not as God simply, but as Redeemer. (2) It is confirmed by the
parallel passage where grace is said to have been given us in Christ
before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9)-surely not as God simply, but as
Mediator (3) The whole order of things in the chapter (in which are
recounted the saving benefits of God bestowed upon us through Christ)
proves that it treats of Christ under that aspect (schesei). Nor does
Beza himself disavow this (although wedded to the first opinion). He
holds that "in him" means "to be adopted in him" (Annotationum
Maiorum in Noveum Testamentum [1594], Pars Altera, p. 349 on Eph. 1:4).
Since then no one can be elected to the salvation to be obtained by
Christ except as lost and miserable, the object of this election must
necessarily be man as fallen.
XVII.
Third, the mass of which Paul speaks (Rom. 9:21) is the object of predestination.
However it is no other than a "corrupt mass.” (1) That mass is
meant from which are made the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath;
the former to honor, the latter to dishonor (Rom. 9:21-23)-for wrath and
mercy necessarily suppose sin and misery. (2) That mass is meant from
which were taken Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau who are proposed as
examples either of gratuitous election or of just and free rejection.
But such is the corrupt mass because it speaks of twins conceived in the
womb (Rom. 9:11) and consequently sinners. (3) That mass is meant lying
in which men can be hated of God, as Esau. But such ought to be the
corrupt mass because God could not hate a pure and innocent creature.
(4) That mass is meant from which Pharaoh was raised by God to manifest
his power in his destruction, but no one would say that Pharaoh was
raised from a pure mass. Such is the opinion of Augustine who calls it
"the mass of perdition" (Enchiridion 25 [99*] and 28 [107] [FC
3:450-53, 460; PL 40.278, 282]). "Because that whole mass was
condemned, justice renders the due contumely, grace gives the undue
honor''; and afterwards, "they were made of that mass, which, on
account of the sin of one, God deservedly and justly condemned"
(Augustine, Letter 194, "To Sixtus" [FC 30:304, 315; PL
33.876, 882]). He asserts the same thing in Against Tun Letters of the
Pelagians 2 (NPNFI, 5:391-401) and Against Julian 5.7 (FC 35:269-75).
XVIII.
It is vainly alleged: (1) that the pure mass is here meant because the
children had done nothing good or evil (Rom. 9:11). The answer is that
they are not said absolutely to have done nothing good or evil (since it
treats of them as conceived in the womb, therefore already sinners), but
in comparison with each other (i.e., having done nothing good or evil by
which they might be distinguished from each other). Jacob did nothing
good on account of which he should be elected in preference to Esau.
Esau did nothing evil before Jacob on account of which he should be
reprobated, for they were equal as to all things. So that the
distinction of one from the other could arise from nothing else than the
good pleasure (eudokia) of God: "that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth"
Romans 9:11. 2) It is vainly alleged that the mass from which vessels
are made to dishonor is meant; thus not corrupt, but pure because man
would be already a vessel of dishonor. The answer is that atimia here
does not denote sin, but the punishment of sin (as honor indicates the
crown of glory for which man is prepared).
So to be “made a vessel unto dishonor” is not to be created
fro destruction but to be reprobated and prepared for destruction (which
agrees with no one but the sinner). Paul does not say of the vessels of
wrath that God prepared (katertisen) then (as he says of the vessels of
grace), but that they were prepared (katertismena) for destruction
because God finds some as vessels fitted for destruction by their own
fault; others he makes vessels of grace by his mercy. (3) It is vainly
alleged that the mass, not of sin, but of clay from which Adam was
formed, is intended. The answer is that whatever reference Paul had in
the comparison of the potter (whether to Jer. 18:6 or Is. 45:9), no
other than the corrupt mass can be meant because from no other clay
could vessels of mercy and of wrath be made by God. Nor does the
comparison have any other object than to show the highest liberty of God
in the election to reprobation of men. (4) It is vainly alleged that the
corrupt mass cannot be meant because then all the objections proposed by
Paul (Rom. 9:14, 19) would easily be removed. The answer is we deny it.
For the objections always remain in election and reprobation when made,
since no reason can be given why he should elect or reprobate this
rather than that one. No answer can be given other than that of the
apostle, "O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the
thing. formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me
thus?" (Rom. 9:20). (S) It is vainly alleged that thus Adam and Eve
would be excluded from predestination because they were not formed from
the corrupt mass. The answer is that we deny it. That formation is not
to be understood physically by creation, but ethically by
predestination. In this manner, our first parents themselves could also
be formed from the corrupt mass because as miserable and sinners they
were elected to salvation, not indeed in the mass of original sin originated
(which exists only in their posterity), but of original sin originating
(with which they were infected).
XIX.
Fourth, the manifestation of God's glory by the demonstration of his
mercy in the elect and of his justice in the reprobate was the end of
predestination according to the apostle (Romans 9:22-23).
But this requires the condition of sin in the object, for neither
mercy can be exercised without previous misery, nor justice without
previous sin. If God has predestined man to glory before the fall, it
would have been a work of immense goodness indeed, but could not be
properly called mercy (which regards not only the not-worthy, but the
unworthy and the one meriting the contrary). So if God had reprobated
man free from all sin, it would have been a work of absolute and
autocratic (autokratorikon) power, but not a work of justice. For he
mercifully frees and justly condemns man, as Augustine says. Therefore
he ought to consider the fall both in election and in reprobation. To no
purpose does the very subtle Twisse take exception saying that the
exercise of mercy and justice (effectively considered) supposes men to
be miserable and guilty, but not equally the intention of pitying.
Otherwise it would follow from the equality that since the object of
salvation is the believer, he is also the object of eternal destination
(which no one but an Arminian would say). For whether mercy and justice
are considered effectively (by reason of their exercise and the external
act in man) or affectively (by reason of the internal act of God), they
demand the same object. Although predestination places nothing (as they
say) in the predestinated (and so the purpose of pitying is not mercy itself
effectively considered communicated to the creature), it does not follow
that it is not an act of mercy (which accordingly ought to suppose
misery and the fall); just as a prince, who decrees to pardon the
criminal, by that very thing exercises an act of mercy towards him,
although he has not as yet in fact made known to him the absolving
sentence. Nor does the learned man's reason from equality avail
concerning the decree of salvation because the previous condition is
confounded with the subsequent mean. The former (as is the fall) ought
indeed to precede as much in intention as in execution; but the latter
(as is faith with respect to salvation) ought indeed to precede the
execution-not equally in intention, but rather as the means, it ought to
follow the intention of the end. So the sick man is the object of the
physician's deliberation about his cure, but in that he cannot be
considered as already purged because purgation is the means for
obtaining the cure.
XX.
Thus the end of predestination with respect to man (to wit, salvation
and damnation) supposes necessarily creation and fall in the object. The
means also prove that very thing: in election in Christ, calling,
justification, sanctification (which demand the previous condition of
the fall and sin, for Christ is the Savior from sin, Mt. 1:21). Calling
is of sinners, justification of the guilty, sanctification of the
unholy. And in reprobation the means are the abandonment in sin, separation
from Christ, retention of sin, blinding and hardening (which apply only
to the sinner).
XXI.
The creation and fall are not ordered as means by themselves subordinate
to the end of predestination, but solution. are the condition
prerequisite in the object(as existence and ductility in clay are not
the means which the potter strews under his purpose of preparing vessels
for honor and dishonor, but only the condition or quality prerequisite
in the object and the cause sine qua non). For unless man were created
and fallen, it could not come into execution.
XXII.
Although predestination did not precede the decree to create man and
permit his fall, it does not follow that God made man with an uncertain
end. For if God did not have the manifestation of mercy and justice in
salvation and damnation as an end, it must not straightway be said
that he had no end at all. Why may God not have willed to manifest his
glory in both by the exercise of other attributes (i.e., of power,
wisdom and goodness) although he might not have looked to his mercy and
justice because their object had not as yet been constituted?
Therefore the end on account of which God decreed to create man and to
permit his fall was not the manifestation of his justice and mercy in
their salvation and damnation from the decree of predestination (which
in the order of nature and in the sign of reason [in signo rationis] is
posterior to it [unless we wish God to have first thought about
refitting his work before he thought about constructing it; and about
the cure of the sick before he determined anything about the disease]).
Rather it was the communication and (as it were) the spreading out (ektasis)
of the power, wisdom and goodness of the Creator which shone forth both
in the creation of man (Ps. 8:5, 6) and in his fall in different ways
(which was the last within the bounds of nature and in such an order of
things). But after sin had corrupted and disturbed this order entirely,
God (who elicits light from darkness and good from evil) instituted the
work of redemption for no other end than to display more magnificently
and (as it were) in the highest degree in another order of things, the
same attributes and together with them his mercy and justice. To this
end the means serve, not creation (which belongs to another kind and
order), not the fall (which was only the occasion and end from which God
began the counsel of salvation), but the covenant of grace, the mission
of the Son and the Holy Spirit, redemption, calling, etc. (which belong
not to the order of nature, but to the higher supernatural order of
grace).
XXIII.
The common axiom which supralapsarians like to use here (and with which
Twisse makes himself hoarse and on which alone he seems to build up the
artfully constructed fabric of his disputation on this argument) is:
"That which is last in execution, ought to be first in intention:'
Now the illustration of God's glory through mercy in the salvation of
the elect and through justice in the damnation of the reprobate (as
the last in execution, therefore it ought to be the first in intention)
admits of various limitations. First, it holds good, indeed, as to the
ultimate end, but not as to the subalternate ends. Otherwise it would
follow as well that what is next to the last in execution is the second
in intention, and what is next to that is the third and so on. In the
execution, he (1) creates, (2) permits the fall, (3) redeems, (4) calls,
sanctifies and glorifies. Thus it behooved God first to intend the
glorification and redemption of man before he thought about his
production or the permission of his fall (which everyone sees to be
absurd). Now the illustration of mercy and justice in the salvation and
damnation of men is not the ultimate end simply and absolutely (as to
the government of man in general), but in a certain respect and
relatively (as to the government of the fallen). For the ultimate end
(as I have said already) was the manifestation of God's glory in common
by the creation and fall of man. Hence the decree of election is called
the first in intention, not absolutely (as if it was the first of all
the decrees in order, even before the creation and fall), but both in
the class of decrees concerning the salvation of sinful man and with
respect to the means subordinate to it. Second, it holds good only in
the same order of things and where a necessary and essential
subordination of things occurs. They, with whom we treat, do not disavow
this but maintain that it only holds good in things subordinated by
nature. But no necessary connection and subordination can exist between
the creation and fall and redemption. Rather all must see between them
rather a gap and great abyss (mega cluuma) (on account of sin) which has
broken up the order of creation and given place to the economy of
redemption. Sin is against nature. It is not the means either with
respect to salvation (unless accidentally, i.e., the occasion) or with
respect to damnation (for damnation is on account of sin, not sin on
account of damnation). Therefore God's ways in nature and grace, and his
economies of providence and predestination must not be confounded here.
Since the end is different, the means must also necessarily be so.
Therefore the axiom can have place in the same order-as what is last in
execution in the order of nature or of grace, is also first in
intention. However it does not hold good concerning disparates where a
leap is made from one dispensation to another, from the natural order of
providence to the supernatural order of predestination (as is the case
here).
XXIV.
Moreover that subordination is so to be conceived as not to be understood
subjectively and on the part of God. Since all things are decreed by one
and a most simple act (which embraces the end and means together), not
so much subordination has place here as coordination. By coordination,
these various objects are presented together and at once to the divine
mind and constitute only one decree. Rather that subordination is to be
conceived only objectively and on our part, inasmuch as for more easily
understanding, we conceive of them subordinately according to the varied
relations (schesin) and dependence which the things decreed mutually
have to each other (which, however, are united in God).
XXV.
God did not make the wicked as wicked by a physical production,
instilling a bad quality into him. Rather whom he apprehended as wicked
by his own fault "he made" (i.e., "ordained" by a
moral and judicial destination) for “the day of evil” (i.e. for the
day of calamity and destruction). To
this condemnation Jude says the wicked are ordained.
The word poiein is often used in the Scriptures for ordination.
XXVI.
Although the object of predestination is determined to be man as fallen,
it does not follow that predestination is made only in time.
Fallen man is understood as to his known and foreseen being, not
as to his real being. Also
the prescience of the fall and its permissive decree is no less eternal
that the predestination itself.
XVII:
~Although God is said to have raised Pharaoh up for this same purpose
that he might show his power in him (Rom. 9:17), it does not follow in
his reprobation that he was considered before his creation and fall. He
does not speak of the first creation, but of his production from an
unclean seed or his elevation to the kingdom which God brought about by
his providence, that in him (whom he foresaw would be rebellious, and
hardened by his miracles and plagued by his just judgment) he might have
the material upon which to exercise power in his destruction.
XXVIII.
Although the apostle speaks of the absolute power and right of God in
the predestination of men by the comparison of the potter (Rom. 9:21,
22), it does not follow that it preceded the creation and fall of man.
For that most free power and absolute right of God sufficiently appears
in the executed reprobation of fallen men, since that separation of men
from each other can have no other cause than his good pleasure alone.
XXIX. Although the creation and fall come under
the decree of God and so can be said to be predestinated, the word
"predestination" being taken broadly for every decree of God
concerning the creature; yet no less properly does predestination
taken strictly begin from the fall because in this sense the decree of
creation and the fall belong to providence, not to predestination.
XXX.
That Calvin followed the opinion received in our churches about the
object of predestination can be most clearly gathered from many
passages, but most especially from his book Concerning the Eternal
Predestination of God (trans. J.K.S. Reid, 1961). "When the subject
of predestination comes up," he says, "I have always taught
and still teach that we should constantly begin with this, that all the
reprobate who died and were condemned in Adam are rightly left in
death" (ibid., p. 121). And afterwards, "It is fit to treat
sparingly of this question not only because it is abstruse and hidden in
the more secret recesses of God's sanctuary; but because an idle
curiosity is not to be encouraged; of which that too
lofty speculation is at the same time the pupil and nurse. The other
part, that from the condemned posterity of Adam, God chooses whom he
pleases, and reprobates whom he will, as it is far better fitted for the
exercise of faith, so it can be handled with the greater fruit. On this
doctrine which contains in itself the corruption and guilt of human
nature I more willingly insist, as it not only conduces more to piety,
but is also more theological" (ibid., p. 125; cf. ICR 3.22.1 and 7,
pp. 932-34, 940-41). "If all have been taken from a corrupt mass,
it is no wonder that they are subject to condemnation" (ICR 3.23.3,
pp. 950-51). So too he thinks that Paul speaks of a corrupt mass where,
among other things, he says, °it is true that the proximate cause of
reprobation is because all are cursed in Adam" (New Testament
Commentary on Romans and Thessalonians [trans. R. Mackenzie, 1961], p.
200 on Rom. 9:11). In this judgment of the celebrated theologian
(answering to Article 12 of the French Confession [Cochrane, pp. 148-49]
as also to the decree of the Synod of Dort), we entirely acquiesce and
think it should be acquiesced in by all who are pleased with prudent
knowledge.
XXXI.
Besides these two opinions about the object of predestination, there is
a third held by those who maintain that not only man as fallen and
corrupted by sin, but men also as redeemed by Christ (and either
believing or disbelieving in him) was considered by God predestinating.
This was the opinion of the semi-Pelagians and is now held by the
Arminians and all those who maintain that Christ is the foundation of
election, and foreseen faith its cause (or, at least, the preceding
condition). But because this question is involved in that which will
come up hereafter (concerning the foundation and impulsive cause of
election), we add nothing about it now. For if it can once be proved
that neither Christ nor faith precede election, but are included in it
as a means and effects, by that very thing it will be demonstrated that
man as redeemed and, as believing or unbelieving, cannot be the object
of predestination. |
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