About reproach and grace

The anti-Pelagian treatise “On Reproach and Grace” (16 chapters) was written by Bl. Aurelius Augustine in 426-427. The essay is addressed to the monks of the monastery in Adrumet and directly to their abbot Valentin. The author talks not only about grace and human free will, but also about the meaning and role of censure. Blzh. Augustine refutes those who argued that if God really gives people a right will and right actions, then sinners should not be blamed. Prayer and love must be combined with reproach. The Bishop of Hippo writes about different actions of grace depending on the receiving party: angels, Adam, Christ, people. For example, the grace that Adam, as well as the angels, possessed was such that if he had deigned to remain in goodness, “in righteousness and freedom from sin,” in which God created him, he would never have become evil. However, Adam's own will, like the will of all his descendants, if not supported by grace, was fit only for evil. Unlike Adam, those who are in Christ receive a “more powerful” grace. They not only perceive the grace of remaining in the good if they desire it, but also the grace of desiring it. Therefore, their will will remain good until the end. Finally, the saints in heaven will have the greatest freedom: they will be unable to sin. Some angels, demonstrating their free will, turned away from God and were excommunicated from Him. Others remained steadfast and were rewarded with the “absolute certainty” that they would never fall. The will, both created by God and fallen, has always been free, but without the help of grace it has never been free for good. Thus, the need for grace is not a consequence of the Fall, but a consequence of creation itself. *The title of the work in Latin is De correptione et gratia ad Valentinum. Contents Chapter 1. It is necessary to pay attention again and again to the issues already considered. People learn from the law about good and evil, but only with the help of grace they do good. Chapter 2. What power does prayer have? We pray to receive from God what we do not yet have. Chapter 3. The apostles commanded, reproached, and prayed. Chapter 4. Objection: “If the will is prepared in advance from the Lord, why reproach someone?” Chapter 5. As a result of the sorrow of reproach, we, by the grace of God, can correct ourselves. We should not reject either reproach or prayer. Chapter 6. In a person who has not yet been spiritually regenerated, reproach relates primarily to original sin. We should not neglect reproach in relation to an already regenerated person if he has not continued in goodness, for God can grant him repentance Chapter 7. Why reproach someone who has not received from God to remain in goodness? From the mass of destruction, people are distinguished not by their merits, but by grace, being justified freely. The elect by grace are certainly saved. None of those foreknown and predestined will perish. The cry of the elect. Many are called, but few are chosen. Chapter 8. Why are those who are not chosen not given abiding in good? All this is very surprising. We cannot explore the unsearchable ways of God. Chapter 9. Those who have not received abiding in goodness are not truly the children of God. Such are not called according to the purpose of God. Those who do not abide in the word of Christ are not His true disciples. Those who are called according to the purpose of God are already glorified. If any of them goes astray or deviates from the path, then God turns this to their benefit. One must reproach, but with love Chapter 10. New question: What do we think about the first person who also did not remain in goodness? God arranged human and angelic life in such a way that it would first become obvious what free decision can do, and then what the gift of grace and the judgment of justice can do. Chapter 11. Adam had God's grace, but it was different from the grace given to the saints. The saints need a stronger grace - the grace that appeared thanks to the Incarnation. In the first Adam, grace contributed to the fact that a person, if he wants, lived righteously. In the second Adam, grace makes a person desire good. Chapter 12. The difference between the expressions: “Be able not to sin” and “not be able to sin” Help, without which it is impossible to do something, and the help by which something is done Help by which the saints overcome the torment of this world God gives abode to the elect, because he is able to fulfill what he has promised God, who always suppresses human pride, is pleased that no flesh should boast before Him Let him who boasts boast in the Lord Chapter 13. The number of the elect is precisely determined, it can neither be reduced nor increased It is usefully hidden who exactly is among the predestined. The predestined also need God's mercy. Those who are not among the predestined abandon good and are themselves abandoned by God Chapter 14. Let people endure when they are reproached, and let those who reproach them act with love. Why, if God wants all people to be saved, not all are saved? If God has power over the will of man, then it is He who makes the reproach salutary Chapter 15. Let the leaders reproach the brethren, but with love God cries and desires in us, urging us to this We must not be lazy and careless in the matter of reproach Chapter 16. Prayer and love must be combined with reproach Chapter 1. It is necessary to return with attention again and again to the issues already considered 1. When your message was read, dear brother Valentin and all those who serve God with him, which your love conveyed through brother Florus and those who came to us with him, I gave thanks to God that from your speech sent to us I came to know your peace in the Lord, agreement in truth and burning in love. And what the enemy raised to overthrow some of you - this, by the mercy of God and His wondrous goodness, turning the machinations [of the enemy] to the advancement of His servants, served most of all to ensure that none of you was cast into the worse, but some received edification for the better. So, we don’t need to continuously repeat everything that we, having analyzed it enough, sent you in the form of a whole book 1; and how you accepted it is shown by your reply letters. However, you should in no way assume that you were able to sufficiently understand what you read once. Therefore, if you want this [reading] to become very fruitful for you, do not let it be a burden to you to refresh it [in your mind] by re-reading, so that you understand quite clearly that in solving and eliminating such issues, it is not human, but Divine authority that must act, from which we should not deviate if we want to achieve where we are striving. People learn about good and evil from the law, but only with the help of grace do good 2. Moreover, the Lord Himself not only shows us what evil to avoid and what good to do (Ps. 37:27) - and only the letter of the law can do this - but also helps us to avoid evil and do good - and no one is capable of this without the spirit of grace; if it is not there, then the law is present for the purpose of making guilty and killing. That is why the apostle says: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). So, the one “who uses” the law lawfully (1 Tim. 1:8) learns from it what is good and evil, and, without relying on his own strength, resorts to grace, thanks to the presence of which he avoids evil and does good. But who will resort to grace if a person’s steps are not directed by the Lord and if he does not desire His ways (Ps. 37:23)? Therefore, to desire the help of grace is already the beginning of grace, as [the Psalmist] says: “And I said: “Today” I have begun; and this is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 77:11). So, it should be recognized that we have a free decision [will] to commit both good and evil; But by doing evil, everyone is free from righteousness and a slave to sin (Rom. 6:20), but no one can be free in goodness unless he is freed by Him who said: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). And this does not mean that if [a person] is delivered from the dominion of sin, he will no longer need the help of his Deliverer; but rather, having heard from Him: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), you must also say to Him: “Become my helper and do not depart from me” (Ps. 27:9). I am glad that I also found such faith - and this is undoubtedly true, prophetic, apostolic and catholic faith - in our brother Flora; it is clear that those who have not understood it must rather be corrected, although I hope that by the grace of God they have already been corrected. Chapter 2. What power does prayer have? 3. After all, you need to understand that the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ is [this is the grace] by which people are only freed from evil and without which they do nothing good at all, whether thinking, desiring, loving or acting; for they not only learn from her instructions what to do, but also thanks to her presence they do with pleasure what they know. The apostle asked for this very inspiration of good will and deeds for those to whom he said: “We pray to God that you do no evil, not in order to appear to us as what we ought to be, but that you do” good (2 Cor 13:7). Who will hear this and not awaken, recognizing that it is given to us by the Lord God to shun evil and do good? After all, the apostle did not say: “We persuade, we teach, we motivate, we rebuke”; but he says: “We “pray to God that you do no evil... but that you do” good. And besides, he told them and did everything that I mentioned: he convinced, taught, encouraged, condemned - but he knew that all that he did, planting and watering openly, was powerless if the One who grows in secret did not hear his prayers for them. For, as the same “teacher” of the “pagans” says (1 Tim 2:7): “And he who plants is nothing, and he who waters is nothing, but [all] is God who makes him grow” (1 Cor. 3:7). We pray to receive from God what we do not yet have 4. Therefore, let them not be deceived when they say: “Why do they proclaim and command us to turn away from evil and do good, if we do not do this, but God works in us to desire and fulfill it?” (Rom. 8:14). Let them better understand, if they are children of God, that they are influenced by the Spirit of God, so that they do what they ought to do; and when they do this, let them give thanks to Him from whom they do it. After all, they experience influence so that they themselves act, and not so that they themselves do nothing; and for this purpose it is shown to them what they should do, so that when they do it the way they should do it, that is, with love and enjoyment of righteousness, they will rejoice that they have accepted the sweetness that the Lord has given, so that the land “gives them its fruit” (Ps. 84:13). But if they don’t do it, either by not doing [anything] at all, or by not doing it out of love, then let them pray to get them what they don’t yet have. For what can they have if they do not receive? Or “what” do they have, “what would they not receive” and? (1 Cor. 4:7) Chapter 3. The apostles commanded, reproached, prayed 5. “Then,” they say, “let only those placed over us command us what we ought to do, and pray for us that we do it, but do not reproach or blame us if we do not do it.” On the contrary, let everything be, because the Teachers of the Churches, the Apostles, did everything: they commanded what should be done, and reproached if they did not do it, and prayed that they should do it. The apostle commands, saying: “Everything with you is done” “with love” (1 Cor. 16:14). He reproaches, saying: “And” it is completely “humiliating” among you, “that you have litigation among yourself. Why would it be better for you not to endure hardships, why would it be better for you not to be offended, but you yourself offend and take away, and, moreover, from your brothers. Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” (1 Cor. 6:7–9). Let us also listen to how he prays: “And you,” he says, “may the Lord fill and fill you with love for one another and for everyone” (1 Thess. 3:12). He commands them to have love, reproaches them because they do not have love, and prays that love will abound. O man, know in the commandment what you must have; in reproach, recognize what you do not have due to your depravity; in prayer, find out where to receive what you want from. Chapter 4. Objection: “If the will is prepared in advance from the Lord, why reproach anyone?” 6. “How is it that I,” says [the sinner], “due to my depravity, do not have what I did not receive from God, because if this is not given from Him, then there is nowhere to acquire such a great gift from?” Be patient a little, my brothers, until I argue not with you who have a right heart before God, but with those who think about earthly things, or even with human considerations themselves; I will argue in defense of the truth of Divine and Heavenly grace. For this is what they say who do not want the preachers of this grace to reproach them for their evil deeds: “Command me what to do; and if I do, give thanks for me to God, who has granted me to do this; If I don’t do it, it’s not me who should be reproached, but He should be prayed to give what He didn’t give, that is, that same faithful love for God and neighbor, through which His commandments are fulfilled. Therefore, pray for me, so that I will receive it and, thanks to it, from the heart and of my own free will, I will do what is commanded. After all, it would be fair to reproach me if I did not have this through my own fault, that is, if I could have given or acquired it for myself and did not, or if I did not want to accept when He gave. And if even the will itself is prepared by the Lord (Proverbs 8:35), then why do you reproach me, seeing that I do not want to fulfill His commandments? Wouldn’t it be better for you to ask God Himself to bring about this will in me?” Chapter 5. Due to the grief of reproach, we, by the grace of God, can correct ourselves. 7. To this we can answer this way: “If you do not fulfill the commandments of God known to you, and do not want to be reproached, then you should be reproached because you do not want to be reproached. After all, you do not want your vices to be revealed to you, you do not want them to be struck, so that grief [from this] will benefit you and you will seek the Doctor; you do not want to be presented to yourself, and, seeing yourself ugly, you would rush with desire to the Transformer and fall to Him in prayer, so as not to remain longer in such a disgusting state. For your fault is that you have become evil, and an even greater fault is not wanting to be reproached for being evil, as if you should praise vices or be indifferent to them, without praising them or scolding them. But the fear, shame or sorrow of a reproached person either does nothing or does something, namely, they beneficially encourage [the person] to turn in prayer to the Good, and thereby make [people] good and worthy of praise from those who are evil and deserving of reproach. This is why a person should be reproached, so that he does for himself what, not wanting to be reproached, he offers others to do instead when he says: “You better pray for me.” After all, that sorrow, as a result of which he, feeling the sting of reproach, is unpleasant to himself, prompts him to great prayers, so that by the grace of God, strengthened by the growth of love, he would stop doing what is worthy of shame and sorrow, and would do something worthy of praise and thanksgiving. This is the benefit of reproach, which is salutarily used to a greater or lesser extent, in accordance with the difference of sinners, and then it is healing when the Supreme Physician turns [to a person]. After all, reproach will be beneficial only if [the person] repents of his sin. And who grants this if not the One who saw the Apostle Peter denying and made him weep (Luke 22:61–62)? Therefore, the Apostle Paul, after he says that one should rebuke dissenters with meekness, further adds: “Will God not somehow give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they may be freed from the snares of the devil” (2 Tim. 2:25–26). Neither reproach nor prayer should be rejected 8. And why do those who do not want to be reproached say: “Just command me and pray for me so that I do what you commanded”? Why don’t they, in their wrong opinion, reject these two [actions] and say: “I want you not to command me and not to pray for me”? After all, which of the people prayed for Peter, so that God would give him repentance, in which he mourned his denial of the Lord? Which people instructed Paul in the Divine commandments related to the Christian faith? So, when they heard him preaching the Gospel and saying: “I declare to you, brethren, that the Gospel which I preached to you” is not of men; “For I also received it and learned it, not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12), then they could answer him: “Why do you trouble us, so that we receive and learn from you what you did not receive from people and what you did not learn from them? After all, He who gave to you can give to us in the same way as to you.” And if they do not dare to say so, but tolerate that the Gospel is preached to them by man - although it could not be given to man through man - let them also admit that they must be reproached by their leaders, by whom the Christian teaching is proclaimed, although it should not be denied that God can correct without any human reproach whomever He wills, and lead him, by the secret and most powerful power of His healing, to saving penitential sorrow. And how we should not cease to pray for those whom we desire to correct, although without any man's prayer for Peter the Lord saw him and caused him to mourn his sin; so one should not neglect reproach, although God corrects without any reproach the one whom He wishes. For then reproach benefits a person when He is merciful and helps, who, even without reproach, promotes the success of those whom He wills. But since some are called one way, others another, and all in different ways, in various and innumerable ways, to be transformed, let us not dare to say that this belongs to the judgment of the “clay,” but [we recognize that this refers to the judgment of] the “Potter” (Rom. 9:20-21). Chapter 6. In a person who has not yet been spiritually regenerated, the reproach relates primarily to original sin 9 . “The apostle,” they say, “states: “For who makes you distinguished? What do you have that you wouldn't get? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it? (1 Cor. 4:7). Therefore, why are we reproached, blamed, reproached, condemned? What should we do, having received nothing?” Those who say this want to see themselves free from the guilt of not submitting to God, since even obedience itself is His gift, and it must certainly be in that [person] who has love, and the latter is undoubtedly from God (1 John 4:7), and the Father gives it to His children. “We haven’t received this [love], they say, so why do they reproach us, as if we ourselves are capable of giving it to ourselves and, by our own decision, do not want to give it to ourselves?” And if they are not yet regenerated, they do not understand that first of all they must blame themselves when they are blamed for being disobedient to God, since “God” created “man upright” from the beginning of the creation of man, and there is no unrighteousness with God (Eccl. 7:29; Rom. 9:14). Therefore, the original depravity, because of which [people] do not submit to God, stems from a person who, by his own evil will, departed from the righteousness in which God created him from the beginning, and became vicious. And shouldn’t this depravity in a person be condemned because it is not the personal property of the person being reproached, but is common to everyone? On the contrary, even if in individual people that which is common to all is reproached. After all, the fact that no one is free [from depravity] does not mean that it is not characteristic of anyone. For generational sins are called strangers because everyone acquires them from their parents, but they are also called ours not without reason, since, as the apostle says, in that one [man] (i.e., in Adam) “all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Therefore, let the origin worthy of reproach be reproached, so that out of the sorrow of the reproach the will to rebirth arises; [however, this will only happen if] the one who is reproached is the “son of promise.” After all, then, with the external participation of sounding and scourging words of reproach, God also produces desire within him from within through secret inspiration. If someone who has already been reborn and justified of his own free will returns to an evil life, then, of course, he cannot say: “I did not receive,” since he, by his free decision, turned the received grace of God into evil. And if he, being crushed by reproach, grieves savingly and turns to previous or even better good deeds, then here too the benefit of reproach will be quite obvious. But whether there is a reproach from a person out of love or absent, only God can arrange it so that the reproach can benefit the reproached. One should not neglect to reproach an already regenerated person if he has not continued in goodness, for God can grant him repentance 10. But can’t such a person, who does not want to be reproached, say: “What should I do, since I haven’t received it?” And although it is known that he received and, through his own fault, lost what he received, nevertheless [he can object]: “I can,” he says, “I am quite capable, when you accuse me that I of my own free will turned from a good life to an evil one, still say: “What should I do, since I have not received?” After all, I received faith that works through love, but I did not receive complete abiding in it. Would anyone dare to say that this abiding is not a gift from God? [Will anyone say] that this great good is so inherent in us that the apostle cannot say to everyone who has it: “What have you that you have not received?” (1 Cor 4:7) since he has this [abidence] in such a way that he has not received it?” Here we cannot deny that abiding in goodness, extending until the end [of life], is a great gift of God, and it exists only thanks to Him, about whom it is written: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is coming down from above, from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). But for this reason one should not neglect the reproach in relation to the one who did not continue [in goodness to the end], for God, perhaps, will grant him repentance, and he will escape the snares of the devil. After all, the apostle adds [the thought] about the benefit of reproach to the following saying, saying, as I mentioned above: “With meekness,” instructing those who think the opposite, “whether God will not grant them repentance” (2 Tim. 2:25). And if we say that this so praiseworthy and so blessed abiding [in goodness] is characteristic of man in such a way that it does not [come] from God, then we will immediately destroy what the Lord said to Peter: “I have prayed for you, so that your faith will not fail” (Luke 22:32). For what did He pray for him if not to remain [in goodness] to the end? And it is clear that if this stay was granted to a person by a person, then one should not ask for it from God. Further, when the apostle says: “We pray to God,” “that you do not” anything evil” (2 Cor. 13:7), he is undoubtedly praying to God for their continued [in good]. After all, he commits no small amount of evil who, not remaining in goodness, abandons it and falls into evil, from which he must avoid. Also in another place, where [the apostle] says: “I thank my God whenever I remember you, always in every prayer I offer for you all with joy,” prayer “for your participation in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident that "those among you who have begun a good work will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:3-6), what else does he promise them but to continue [in goodness] to the end [according to the gift of] a merciful God? In the same way, where he says: “Epaphras, your servant of Jesus Christ, greets you, always striving for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect and in all things filled with the will of God (Col. 4:12), what else does “that you stand” mean, if not this: “that you remain”? That is why it is said about the devil: “I did not stand in the truth” (John 8:44); for he was in it, but did not abide. After all, of course, those [about whom the apostle writes] already stood in the faith. And when we pray that the one who stands will endure, we pray for nothing else than that he may remain. In a similar way, the Apostle Jude, when he says: “And to Him who is able to “keep you from falling and present you before” the sight of His glory “blameless with joy” (Jude 1:24) - doesn’t it quite obviously show that remaining in goodness to the end is a gift of God? For what else does He who preserves from falling and places one blameless in joy before the sight of His glory, but good continuance? And what does it mean that it is written in the “Acts of the Apostles”: “When the pagans heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were ordained to eternal life believed!” (Acts 13:48) Who can be provided for eternal life without the gift of abiding [in goodness]? After all, “he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 10:22). What kind of salvation if not eternal? For when in the Lord’s Prayer we say to God the Father: “Hallowed be Thy Name (Matthew 6:9), are we not saying that His Name should be hallowed in us? And if this has already been accomplished through the “washing of “regeneration” (Titus 3:5), then why is it asked daily by believers? Is it not so that what has been accomplished in us may be preserved by us? After all, Blessed Cyprian understood this passage in the same way, for, explaining this very prayer, he says: “We pray: “Hallowed be Thy Name” - not because we desire the sanctification of God with our prayers, but we ask God that His Name may be sanctified in us. Is God, Who Himself sanctifies, sanctified by anyone? But since He Himself said: “Be holy,” just as “I am Holy” (Lev. 19:2), we pray and ask that, sanctified in baptism, we may remain what we began to be in Him.” 2 Behold, the most praiseworthy martyr thinks that with these words the faithful of Christ daily ask that they may remain in Him what they began to be. And there is no doubt that anyone who prays to the Lord to remain in good health considers such abiding to be a gift from God. Chapter 7. Why reproach someone who has not received from God to remain in goodness? 11. But despite the fact that all this is so, we reproach, and rightly reproach those [people] who, although they lived well, did not continue in this. For they changed from a good life to a bad life of their own free will and therefore deserved reproach, and if this reproach does not help them, and they remain in a ruined life until [the day of] death, then they will also [deservedly receive] Divine condemnation forever. And they will not excuse themselves if, as here they said: “Why do they reproach us?”, so they will say there: “Why are we condemned for turning from good to evil, if we did not receive a stay, thanks to which we would remain in good?” In no way will they save themselves from just condemnation by this apology. After all, if, as the truth says, no one is freed from the condemnation that occurred through Adam, except by faith in Jesus Christ (and those who can say that they have not heard the Gospel of Christ will not be delivered from this condemnation, since “faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17)), then much less will those who intend to say: “We have not received abiding [in good]” be delivered [from it]. For it seems fairer to excuse those who say, “We have not received hearing,” than those who say, “We have not received abiding,” since it is possible to say, “O man, if you had willed, you would have continued in what you heard and knew,” but it is impossible to say, “Had you willed, you would have believed in what you did not hear.” From the mass of destruction men are distinguished not by their own merits, but by grace, being justified freely 12. Therefore, those who did not hear the Gospel, and those who, having heard it and changed for the better, did not receive a stay in goodness, and those who, having heard the Gospel, did not want to come to Christ, that is, to believe in Him (after all, He Himself said: “No one” will come “to Me unless it is given to him from My Father” (John 6:65), and those who, because of their small age, could not believe, but could have been freed from the original guilt through the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), but they died without receiving this [washing] and perished - all of them were not separated from that “confusion (Rom. 9:21), which is undoubtedly condemned, for because of one [Adam] all go into condemnation. For [from this confusion] they are distinguished not according to their own merits, but by the grace of the Mediator, that is, being. justified freely by the blood of the second Adam. So, when we hear: “For who” distinguishes “you? What have you that you have not received? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it?” (1 Cor. 4:7) - we must think that from the mass of destruction that occurred through the first Adam, no one can be singled out except the one who has that gift, which everyone who has it received by the grace of the Savior. And this apostolic testimony is so important that Blessed Cyprian, when he wrote to Quirinus, placed it in the chapter where he says that one should not boast about anything, for nothing is ours 3 . Those Elect by Grace Are Surely Saved 13. So, there is no doubt that all, separated from the generational curse by the generosity of Divine grace, are worthy of hearing the Gospel, and when they hear it, they believe, and until the end they continue in “faith that works through love” (Gal. 5:6), and if they turn aside, they are corrected by reproaches. Some of them are not even reproached by people, but still return to the abandoned path; some, having received grace, at different ages are delivered from the dangers of this life by the speed of death. And He does all this in them, Who made them “vessels of mercy” (Rom.9:23), Who chose them by the election of grace in His Son “before the foundation of the world” (Eph.1:3-4). “But if it be grace, then” it is no longer of works, “or else grace... is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). After all, they are not so called that they are not chosen, as it is said: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16, 22:14), but since they are called according to [God’s] intention, then, of course, they are chosen, as was said, by the election of grace, and not by their previous merits; For all their merit is by grace. None of the foreknown and predestined will perish 14. Of such [people] the apostle says: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God,” to those who are called according to [His] purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28–30). None of these will perish, since they are all chosen. And they are chosen because they are called according to intention, and not according to their own, but according to God, about which in another place [the apostle] says: “So that the purpose of “God” would be manifested “in election, not from works, but from Him who calls, it was said to her” (i.e., Rebekah) that the elder would serve the younger” (Rom. 9:11-12); and again: “Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace” (2 Tim. 1:9). Therefore, when we hear: “Whom He predestined, them He also called,” we must consider this to refer to those who are called according to [Divine] purpose, since [the apostle] begins thus, saying: “All things work together for good to those who are called according to [His] purpose,” and then adds: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many.” brothers,” and, having prefaced all this, adds: “And whom He predestined, them He also called.” So, the apostle wants us to understand here those whom God has called according to His purpose, and not to assume that among them there are some called and not chosen, in accordance with the following saying of the Lord: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16, 22:14). For all who are chosen are undoubtedly also called, but not all who are called are therefore chosen. So, those are chosen, as has often been said, who are called according to [God's] purpose; they are also both predestined and foreknown. If any of them perishes, then God sins, but none of them perishes, because God is infallible. If any of them perishes, then God is defeated by human depravity, but none of them perishes, for no thing can defeat God. And they were chosen to reign with Christ; not as Judas was chosen for the work for which he was fit. For he was chosen by the One who knows how to use even the evil for good, so that through the accursed work of [Judas] He accomplished that most honorable work for which He came. So, when we hear: “Have I not chosen twelve of you, but one of you is the devil?” (John 6:70) - we must consider that the first were chosen by mercy, and the second by judgment; He chose the first for the acquisition of His Kingdom, the second for the shedding of His blood. 15. Rightly follows the cry of those chosen for the Kingdom: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him give us all things? Who will accuse God's elect? God" who "justifies"? “Who is judging? Christ”, who “died, but also rose again,” and is “at the right hand of God, and makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:31–34). And since they have accepted such a powerful gift of continuing [in faith] to the end, they can continue and say: “Who will separate us from the love” of Christ? "Sorrow? Or cramped? Or persecution? Or hunger? Or nudity? Or danger? Or a sword? As it is written, “For Your sake we are killed all the day long,” and we are counted as sheep of the slaughter.” “But” in all this we overcome “by the power of Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, can separate us from the love of God, which is “in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35–39). Many are called, but few are chosen 16. Similar [people] are also identified in the Epistle to Timothy, where, after it is said that Hymenaeus and Philetus destroy the faith of some, [the apostle] immediately adds: “But the sure foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). Their faith, “working through love” (Gal. 5:6), either lacks nothing at all, or, if there are some of them who lack it, it is restored before the end of life, and together with the removal of the iniquity mixed in, they are granted to continue [in goodness] to the end. And those who do not continue [in goodness] and so fall away from the Christian faith and way of life that the end of this life will find them as such [i.e. i.e. fallen away] - there is no doubt that such people should not be considered among the first [i.e. e. the elect] even when they live well and piously. For they were not singled out by the foreknowledge and predestination of God from the mentioned mass of destruction, and therefore were not called according to [God’s] intention, and as a result were not chosen. They are called among those about whom it is said: “Many are called,” and not among those about whom it is said: “but few are chosen.” And yet who will deny that they are chosen if they believe, are baptized and live according to God? It is clear that they are called elect by [people] who do not know what they will become, but not by the One who knows that they do not have abiding [in goodness], which leads the elect to a blessed life; Who knows that although they stand, He Himself has already foretold them as those who are about to fall. Chapter 8. Why are those who are not chosen not given abiding in goodness? 17. And if they ask me here why God did not grant abiding to those to whom he gave that love thanks to which they live like a Christian, then I will answer that I don’t know. After all, not arrogantly, but knowing my measure, I listen to the words of the apostle: “O man, who are you that you object to God?” (Rom 9:20) and: “Oh,” the height “of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and His ways unsearchable! (Rom 11:33) So, if He deigned to reveal His judgments to us, let us thank Him, and if He decided to hide them, let us not grumble against His decision, but believe that this is also extremely salvific for us. And you, the enemy of His grace, asking in such a way, what will you say yourself? It is clear that you do not deny that you are a Christian, and boast that you maintain the Catholic faith. So, if you confess that remaining to the end in goodness is a gift of God, then, I believe, you do not know with me why one receives it and the other does not, so that both of us are unable to penetrate these incomprehensible judgments of God. Or, if you say that someone will or will not remain in goodness - this refers to the free decision of a person, which you defend not in accordance with the grace of God, but contrary to it, so that whoever remains in goodness will remain in it not by the gift of God, but by the action of human will - then what will you do against the words of the One who speaks: “I have prayed” for you, Peter, “so that faith will not fail?” yours"? (Luke 22:32) Do you really dare to say that even though Christ prayed that Peter’s faith would not become impoverished, it would have become impoverished if Peter had wanted it to become impoverished, that is, he would not have wanted to remain in it to the end? It was as if Peter somehow desired something other than what Christ prayed for him to desire. For who does not understand that in that case Peter’s faith would perish if the will through which he was faithful became impoverished; and in that case would [faith] be preserved if the same will remained? But since “the will is prepared in advance by the Lord” (Proverbs 8:35), Christ’s prayer for him could not be in vain. Therefore, when the Lord asked that Peter’s faith not become weak, what else did he ask if not that he should have a completely free, firm, invincible and abiding will in faith? This is how free will should be defended in accordance with the grace of God, and not in spite of it. After all, the human will does not receive grace through freedom, but rather through grace [receives] freedom, the desired constancy and irresistible firmness for remaining [in good]. This is all quite surprising. 18. After all, it is surprising, and very surprising, that God does not allow some of His children, whom He revived in Christ, to whom He gave faith, hope and love, to continue [in goodness], while He forgives very great crimes to other people’s children and, having granted them grace, makes them His children. Who wouldn't be surprised by this? Who would not be extremely amazed at this? But it is no less surprising - and, moreover, true and so obvious that even the enemies of God's grace are not able to find how to reject it - that some of the children of His friends (that is, the children of regenerated and good believers), children who die here as infants without Baptism, children whom He, in Whose power contains everything, if He wanted, would undoubtedly have vouchsafed the grace of this washing, God alienates from His Kingdom, where sends their parents. On the other hand, He forces some of the children of His enemies to fall into the hands of Christians, and through washing He introduces them into the Kingdom from which their parents are alienated. But neither the first children have good merits, nor the second children have evil ones, so that they stem from their own will. Here it is clearly seen that the judgments of God, being righteous and high, can neither be blamed nor be known. Among these judgments is the judgment related to abiding [in goodness], which we are now discussing. So, let us exclaim about both [judgment]: “Oh,” the height “of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are the judgments of “His!” (Rom. 11:33) We cannot search the unsearchable ways of God 19. And let us not be surprised that we cannot explore His unsearchable ways. For, in order to keep me silent about the countless number of things that are given to some people, but are not given to others from the Lord God, with whom there is “no partiality” (Rom. 2:11), and are not distributed depending on the merits of the will (such as speed, strength, good health and beauty of the body, wonderful inclinations and natural abilities of souls for various things, or what comes from outside, such as wealth, nobility, honors and other things of the same kind, and has or [man] does not have this - he is entirely in the power of God); so as not to dwell on the baptism of infants (and none of them 4 can call this, like the previous one, not related to the Kingdom of God), [so as not to explain] why it is given to one baby and not to another (after all, both are in the power of God, and without this Sacrament no one will enter the Kingdom of God), - so, in order for me to remain silent and leave all this [aside], then, let us examine those themselves, who are we talking about? After all, we were talking about those who do not remain in goodness, but perish because their good will turns from good to evil. Let them answer, if they can: when they lived faithfully and piously, why did not God then snatch them away from the dangers of this life, “so that malice did not change their minds” and flattery “deceive their souls”? (Wis.4:11) Was it not in His power, or did He not know about their impending evil deeds? After all, nothing like this can be said except [thought] in a completely perverted and insane way. So why didn't you do it? Let those answer who ridicule us when, when considering such things, we exclaim: “How incomprehensible are His judgments and His ways unsearchable!” (Rom. 11:33). For God grants this to whom He wishes, otherwise the Scripture is a lie, which speaks of the seemingly premature death of a righteous man: “He” was “caught up, so that malice did not change his mind, and “flattery” “deceive his soul” (Wis. 4:11). So, why does God give this such a great benefit to some, but not to others, from God, who has no injustice or partiality and in whose power is how long a person will stay in this life, which is called temptation on earth? ( Job 7:1 ) And, just as they are forced to admit that the gift of God is for a person to end his life before he changes from good to evil, and why this is granted to some and not to others, they do not know; so let them admit with us that abiding in goodness is a gift of God, according to the Scriptures, from which I have already offered many evidences, and let them, without complaining against God, be rewarded with us not to know why this [abidence] is granted to some and not to others. Chapter 9. Those who have not received continuation in goodness are not truly children of God 20. And let them not ask us why God does not give this continuation [in goodness] to some of His children. For this would not have happened if they had been of those predestined and called according to [God's] purpose, for such are truly the sons of promise. So, if they live piously, they are called children of God, but since in the future they will live wickedly and die in this wickedness, the foreknowledge of God does not recognize them as children of God. After all, those too are children of God who, not yet belonging to us [Christians], already belong to God. The Evangelist John speaks about them this way: [Caiaphas predicted] “that Jesus would die for the people, and not only for the people, but that he might also gather together the scattered children of God” (John 11:51–52). Truly, they were to become one, believing through the preaching of the Gospel, and yet even before this happened, they were already children of God, being written with unshakable firmness in the book of remembrance of their Father. And on the contrary, there are some whom we call children of God because of the grace they received, as it were, for a time, but they are not such for God. The same John says about them: “They went out from us, but were not” from us”; “for if they had been” from us, they would have remained” “with us” (1 John 2:19). He does not say: they went out from us, and since they did not remain with us, they are no longer from us. On the contrary, he says: “They went out from us, but were not” from us; and this means that even when it seemed as if they were with us, they were not from us. And as if answering to the question: “How will you prove this?” - he says: “For if they had been” from us, “they would have remained with us.” This is the voice of the children of God, for John speaks, occupying an exceptional place among the children of God. Therefore, when the children of God say about those who do not have abiding [in goodness]: “They went out from us, but were not” from us, and add: “For if they had been” from us, “then they would have remained with us,” unless they say something else, and not this: “They were not children, even when they were one by name or by occupation”? And this is not because they pretended to be righteous, but because they did not continue in righteousness. After all, he did not say: “If they were from us, they would have kept true, and not illusory, righteousness with us.” But he says: “For if they had been from us, they would have remained with us.” Undoubtedly, he wanted them to remain well. So, they were in goodness, but since they did not remain in it, that is, they did not remain to the end, then he says: “They were not” from us, even when they were with us. This means: they were not from among the children even when they were children in the faith, for those who are truly children, foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, were both called according to [God's] purpose and chosen. After all, it is not the son of promise who perishes, but the “son” of “perdition” (John 17:12). Such are not called according to the intention of God 21. Therefore, they were from the many called, but from the small number chosen, they were not. So, God, without a doubt, gave continuity [in goodness] to His predestined children, and they have it, if only they belong to the number of children. And do they have “whatever” they “have not received” (1 Cor 4:7), in accordance with the true apostolic saying? And thus these children are given to the Son of Christ, just as He Himself says to the Father: “So that all”, “that” You have “given to Me,” may not perish, “but have eternal life” (John 3:15, 6:39). So, those should be considered given to Christ who are prepared for eternal life. And these are the predestined and called according to [God’s] purpose, and none of them will perish. And therefore none of them will will end this life, turning away from good to evil, for he was determined in this way and was given to Christ so that he would not perish, but have eternal life. On the other hand, if those whom we call His enemies, or the little children of His enemies, those of them whom He intends to regenerate [in baptism], end this life in faith, “working love” (Gal. 5:6), then even before this happened, in [His] predestination they were already children of God, given to Christ His Son, so that they would not perish, but have eternal life. Those who do not abide in the word of Christ are not His true disciples 22. Finally, the Savior Himself says: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples” (John 8:31). Should Judas really be counted among them, who did not continue in His word? Should we count among the disciples those who are so named in the Gospel, when the Lord commanded to eat His flesh and drink His blood, and the evangelist says the following: “This he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.” Therefore, “many” who heard “of His disciples” said: “This is a strange speech; “who can listen” to it? “But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were murmuring about this, said to them: Does this offend you? And if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? For “the Spirit gives life,” but “the flesh” brings no benefit. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who did not believe. “For Jesus knew from the beginning who those who did not believe were, and who would betray Him, and said: “Therefore I told you that no one” would come “to Me unless it was given to him from My Father.” From that time on, many of His disciples went away and walked no more with Him (John 6:59-67). Were not these also called disciples, according to the word of the Gospel? And yet, truly, they were not disciples, since they did not abide in His word, in accordance with what was said: “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples.” Therefore, since they did not have [the gift of] abiding [in goodness], they were neither true disciples of Christ, nor true children of God, even when it seemed that they were such, and when they were called so. So, we call [people] both the elect, and the disciples of Christ, and the children of God, since this is what we should call those who, in our opinion, live piously after regeneration; but only if they truly become what they are called, if they remain in that for which they are called so. But if they do not continue [in goodness], that is, they do not remain in what they began, then they are incorrectly called what they are only called and are not; after all, they are not like that for the One who knows what they will become, namely, from good to evil. Those who are called according to the purpose of God are already glorified 23. Therefore, when the apostle said: “For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,” knowing that some love God, but do not remain in this good to the end, he immediately added: “To those who are called according to [His] purpose” (Rom. 8:28). After all, the latter will remain in love for God to the end, and if they deviate from the right path for some time, they will return to complete the stay in goodness that they began. And showing what it means to be called according to the purpose of [God], [the apostle] immediately adds to what I have already given above: “For whom He foreknew” before “he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,” so that “He might be the firstborn” among many “brethren; so, “those whom he predestined, them he also called,” namely, according to [His] intention, “and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30). This has all already happened: “foreknew, predestined, called, justified,” since everyone has already been foreknown and predestined, and many have already been called and justified. And what he put at the end: “those he also glorified” (and glory should be understood here as that about which the same apostle says: “When Christ your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4)), this has not yet happened. Although the other two [works], that is, “called” and “justified,” have not yet been accomplished for all those about whom this is said, for many must still be called and justified before the end of the age. However, here the apostle uses verbs of the past tense, even when speaking about the future, for God, as it were, had already created what he had intended to happen from eternity. That is why the prophet Isaiah says about Him: “He who created what will happen” (Is. 45:11). So, all who are foreknown, predestined, called, justified and glorified in the foreknowledge of God - I do not say not yet regenerated, but not even yet born - [all of them] are already children of God and cannot perish at all. They truly come to Christ, for they come exactly as He Himself said: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Also, a little lower, he says: “The will of the Father who sent Me” is “that” I should not destroy “anything that He has given Me” (John 6:39). From Him is also given to remain in goodness to the end, and is given only to those who do not perish, for [all] who do not remain [in goodness] will perish. If any of them goes astray or deviates from the path, then God turns this for their good. 24. God works for the good of those who love Him in everything, even to the point of everything in general; so that even if one of them goes astray and deviates to the side, then through this He allows them to improve in goodness, for they return more humble and knowledgeable. After all, they learn that, even being on the righteous path, they should rejoice with trepidation, not attributing to themselves, as if from their own strength, the certainty of abiding [in goodness] and not saying in their abundance: “We will not” move “forever” (Ps. 29:7). That is why it is said to them: “Serve the Lord” in fear, “and rejoice in Him” “with trembling, lest the Lord suddenly become angry, and you do not stray from the righteous path (Ps. 2:11-12). After all, [the psalmist] does not say: “And you will not enter into the righteous path,” but: “And you will not stray from the righteous path. What does he show here, if not the duty to convince those who are already walking along the path righteous, so that they serve God in fear, that is, not to be arrogant, but to be afraid? (Rom. 11:20) And this means not to be proud, but to be humble, therefore in another place [the apostle] says: “Not being arrogant, but following the humble” (Rom. 12:16). Let them rejoice in God, but with trembling, not boasting in anything, for nothing is ours; Therefore, if anyone boasts, let him boast in the Lord (Jer 9:23–24; 1 Cor. 1:31, 2 Cor. 10:17). For if they attribute to themselves that they are on the righteous path along which they began to walk, then they will leave this path. The apostle uses similar words when he says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” And explaining why with fear and trembling, he says: “For God is at work in you both to desire and to do of his own free will” (Phil. 2:12-13). After all, the one who says in his abundance: “I will never move” (Ps. 29:7) does not have such fear and trembling. But since he was the son of promise and not of destruction, when God left him for a while, he realized that he was himself, and said: “Lord, in Your will You have established strength for my dignity; You turned Your face away from me, and I became embarrassed” (Ps. 29:8). Now, having come to his senses and therefore becoming more humble, he keeps the path, already seeing and confessing that God has placed in His will the power of his dignity. And when he attributed this to himself and exalted himself in such abundance, and not God, who gave this abundance, then he said: “I will never move.” So, for this purpose he became confused, so that he would come to his senses and, thinking humbly, learn in whom he should place his hope, not only of eternal life, but also of pious behavior and stay in this life. This voice could have belonged to the Apostle Peter, because he too said in his abundance: “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37), hastily attributing to himself what was later to be given to him by the Lord. But the Lord turned His face away from him, and he became embarrassed, so that, fearing to die for Him, he denied Him three times. However, the Lord turned His face to him again, and he washed away his guilt with tears. After all, what else does it mean: “I saw him” (Luke 22:61), if not that [the Lord] again turned his face to him, which he had briefly turned away from him? So, he became confused, but since he learned not to rely on himself, even this served him for good, according to the action of the One who “works for good” in all things “for those who love” Him (Rom. 8:28). [And so it happened] because he was called according to the purpose of [God], so that no one had the power to snatch him from the hand of Christ, to whom he was devoted. You need to reproach, but with love 25. Therefore, let no one say that one should not reproach one who has departed from the path of the righteous, but one should only pray to the Lord for his return and for his continuance [in goodness]; Let no one prudent and faithful speak like that. After all, if he is called according to [God’s] intention, then even when he is reproached, God, without any doubt, turns it for his good. And whether this is how he is called - since this is unknown to the one who reproaches, let him do with love what he knows should be done; after all, he knows that such a person should be reproached. And God will show either mercy or justice; mercy, if the one who is reproached is taken out of the mass of destruction by the generosity of grace and is not among the “vessels of wrath” ready “for destruction”, but among the “vessels of “mercy” prepared by God “for glory” (Rom. 9:22–23); and justice - if he is condemned with those with whom he is not predestined. Chapter 10. New question: What do we think about the first person who also did not remain in goodness? 26. Here another question arises, which should not be neglected at all, but must, with the help of God, in whose hand we and our speeches are (Wis. 7:16), be approached and resolved. For they ask us what we think about the first man in relation to the mentioned gift of God, that is, remaining in goodness to the end. After all, he was undoubtedly created without any defect in the right. And I will not say: “If he did not have abiding [in goodness], then how could he be without vice, since he lacked the much-needed gift of God?” For this objection can easily be answered [this way]: he did not remain [in good], since he did not remain in that good, by virtue of which he was without vice, because he began to have vice from the moment he fell; and if he started, then before he started, of course, he was without blemish. After all, not having vice is one thing, but not remaining in that goodness in which there is no vice is another. For by the very fact that they do not speak of him as having never been without blemish, but as having never been without blemish, they undoubtedly show that he was without blemish, and they reproach him that he did not remain in such goodness [to the end]. However, it is rather necessary to raise another question and carefully analyze it, namely, how to answer us to those who say: “If he had the gift of remaining in that righteousness in which he was created without defect, then, undoubtedly, he would have continued in it, and if he had remained, then, of course, he would not have sinned and would not have departed from this righteousness of his and from God. But the truth proclaims that he sinned and became an apostate from goodness. This means that he did not possess [the gift of] being in this good, and if he did not possess it, then it is clear that he did not receive [this gift]. After all, how could he both receive abiding [in goodness] and not remain? Further, if he did not have [abiding] because he did not receive, then did he who did not receive the abiding sin by not remaining? After all, it is impossible to say: “Because I did not receive it, because I was not separated from the mass of destruction by the generosity of grace.” For there was not this mass of destruction in the human race before the one from whom the vicious origin originated sinned.” God arranged human and angelic life in such a way that it would first become obvious what a free decision can do, and then what the gift of grace and the judgment of justice can do. 27. We, in response to this, very savingly confess what we orthodically believe, namely, that God and the Lord of all, who created everything very good, who foreknew that evil would come from good, and who found it more becoming of His almighty goodness to make good out of evil than simply not to allow evil to arise, so arranged human and angelic life that first he showed in it what their free decision is capable of, and then what they can do. the gift of His grace and the judgment of justice. So, certain angels, whose head is the one called the devil, by their free decision became apostates from the Lord God. However, having retreated from His goodness, thanks to which they were blessed, they could not evade His judgment, as a result of which they became most miserable. And the rest [angels], with the help of the same free decision, stood in the truth and were honored to know the completely reliable truth that their fall would never happen again. After all, even if we can learn from the Holy Scriptures that the holy angels will never fall, how much more is this known to those to whom the truth is revealed to a higher degree? For we are promised a blessed life without end and equality with the angels (Matthew 22:30), and on the basis of this promise we are confident that when after the judgment we achieve such a life, we will no longer fall away from it; and if the angels do not know this about themselves, then we would not be equal to them, but more blessed than them. And the Truth promised us equality with them. So it is clear that they know by contemplation what we know by faith, namely, that there will no longer be a fall of any holy angel. The devil and his angels, although they were blessed before they fell, and did not know that they were about to fall into misfortune, their bliss could have increased even more if, with the help of a free decision, they had stood in the truth until they received this fullness of the highest bliss, so that, having accepted as a certain reward for remaining [in the truth] the great abundance of God’s love given by the Holy Spirit, in the end they could not fall and would know this about themselves with all certainty. They did not have this fullness of bliss: but since they did not know about their impending misfortune, they enjoyed, although less, bliss without any vice. After all, if they knew about their impending fall and eternal punishment, they could not be happy at all, for the fear of such evil would force them to be unhappy even then. 28. So [God] created man with a free decision, and although he did not know about his future fall, he was nevertheless blessed, since he understood that it was in his power not to die or become unhappy. And if [a person] wished to remain in this righteous and blameless state with the help of the mentioned free decision, completely without any experience of death and misfortune, he would receive as a reward for such constancy the fullness of bliss, thanks to which the holy angels are blessed, so that he would not be able to fall at all and would certainly know about it. After all, he could not even be blessed in paradise and stay where it was not proper for him to be unhappy, if the foreknowledge of his fall would make him unhappy due to the fear of [suffering] such evil. However, since by free decision he left God, he was subjected to the righteous judgment of God and was condemned along with his entire family, which, still contained in him alone, all sinned with him. After all, those of this kind who are delivered by God's grace are undoubtedly delivered from the condemnation with which they were originally bound. Therefore, even if no one were freed, still no one could rightfully censure the fair judgment of God. So, when few in comparison with those who are perishing, but many in number are delivered, this is done by grace, it is done freely, and we must thank [the Lord] that this is done, so that no one is exalted by his own merits, but “every mouth will be shut” (Rom. 3:19), and the one who boasts will boast in the Lord. Chapter 11. Adam had God's grace, but different from the grace given to the saints 29. So what shall we say? Did Adam not have God's grace? On the contrary, it was great, but different. He remained in the good received from the goodness of his Creator, because he did not prepare for himself by his merits such good, [being] in which he would not have suffered any evil at all. And those saints to whom the grace of deliverance applies, in this life remain in evil, from which they cry to God: “Deliver us” from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Adam, for his good, did not need the death of Christ, and they were freed from hereditary and personal guilt by the blood of the Lamb. Adam had no need of His help, which they plead for, saying: “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin” that is “in my members.” The unfortunate “I am a man, who will deliver me from the body” of this “death?” The grace of God through Jesus Christ Our Lord" (Rom 7:23–25). After all, “the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Gal. 5:17), and they ask, working and being tested in such a struggle, that they be given the strength to fight and overcome through the grace of Christ. And Adam, not tempted or disturbed by any such struggle against himself, in a place of bliss enjoyed peace with himself. The Saints need a stronger grace - the grace that came through the Incarnation 30. That is why they need, if not more abundant grace, then at least a stronger one - and what grace is stronger than the Only Begotten Son of God, equal and co-eternal with the Father, who became man for their sake and was crucified by sinful people, although He Himself had no sin - neither generic nor personal? Although He rose again on the third day, never to die again (Rom. 6:9), He nevertheless suffered death for mortals, giving life to the dead, so that, redeemed by His blood, having received such a great guarantee, they would say: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own “Son, but delivered Him up for us all,” did not “with Him” also give “to us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32) God therefore perceived our nature, that is, the rational soul and flesh of the man Christ, with a perception exclusively miraculous or miraculously exceptional, and [this man] from the very moment he began to be a man, without any previous merits of his righteousness, was thus the Son of God, that [this man] and the Word, having no beginning, are one Person. After all, no one, no matter how blinded he may be by ignorance of this thing and [lack of] faith [in it], will dare to say that although the Son of Man was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, yet [only] thanks to a free decision, living well and doing good deeds without any sin, He was worthy to become the Son of God. For the Gospel itself opposes this, saying: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). And where did this happen, if not in the virgin womb, where does the man Christ originate? And when the Virgin Herself asked how what was announced to Her by the angel would be accomplished, the angel replied: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You,” therefore: and the Holy One born of You will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). “Because,” he says, “that is, not because of deeds that the unborn has not at all, but because “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and the Holy One that is born” of you will be called the Son of God.” This truly gracious birth united the person of man with God, the flesh with the Word, in unity. Good deeds follow this birth and do not cause it. And there was no reason to fear that human nature, perceived in such an inexpressible way by God the Word into the unity of person, would sin through the free decision of the will, since this perception itself was such that human nature, similarly perceived by God, could not allow any movement of bad will in itself. So, God, through that Mediator, whom He accepted in such a way that [this Mediator] was never evil and was always good, and did not become so from evil, showed that those whom He redeemed with His blood He would make from evil forever good. In the first Adam, grace enabled man to live righteously if he chose. 31. The first man did not have this grace, with the help of which he could never have wished to become evil, but truly had another, so that if he had wished to remain in it, he would never have become evil. Without her, even having a free decision, he could not be kind, but at the same time he could, by virtue of his free decision, leave her. So, God did not want to leave him without His grace, which he left in the power of his free decision. After all, a free decision is sufficient for evil, but not enough for good, if it is not supported by the Almighty Good. And if that person had not lost this support by [his] free decision, he would always have been good; but he left and [therefore] was abandoned. For this support was such that he could leave it whenever he pleased, and remain in it if it pleased him, but it did not produce the desire itself. This is the first grace given to the first Adam, but the other, which is in the second Adam, is stronger. For thanks to the first, a person could have righteousness if he wanted, and the second can do more, because thanks to it, the desire itself occurs, and the desire is so great, the burning of love is so strong that a person overcomes the will of the flesh, which desires what is contrary to the will of the spirit. But the first [grace] was also not small, which showed the power of free decision, since it helped so much that without this help it was impossible for [a person] to remain in goodness, although this help, if desired, could be rejected. The second grace is so much greater that a person not only regains his lost freedom thanks to it, not only cannot without it either perceive goodness or, having desired, remain in it - it [does much more], producing in him desire itself. In the second Adam, grace causes man to desire good 32. So, then God gave man good will, for He created him [to dwell] in it, Who created him upright; bestowed help, without which [man], even if he wished, could not remain in this [will to good]; and left the desire itself to his free decision. Therefore, [a person] could remain [in goodness] if he wanted: after all, there was an abundance of help, thanks to which he was capable of this and without which he could not consistently adhere to goodness, even desiring it. But since he did not want to remain [in good], undoubtedly his fault is what could have been his merit if he had wished to remain. After all, this is exactly what the holy angels did, who, when others [angels] fell by their free decision, thanks to the same free decision they stood and were worthy to receive the reward due for such constancy, namely, such a fullness of bliss, thanks to which they know for sure that they will always abide in it. If either an angel or a person lacked this help when they were first created, then, since nature was not created in such a way that without Divine help it could, if it wanted, remain [in goodness], they would have fallen through no fault of their own: after all, there was a lack of help, without which they were unable to remain [in goodness]. If today someone does not have this help, then the punishment for sin is already manifested in this; and if it is given to someone, it is given by grace, and not by duty, and to those to whom God wishes to give it, it is given through Jesus Christ our Lord with such great abundance that not only does it help us to remain [in goodness], which we cannot do without it, even if we desire it, but it is so great that it [produces in us] the desire itself. For through this grace of God it is given to us, in the perception of good and constant abiding in it, not only to be able to do what we want, but also to desire what we can. The first man did not have this, because he had the first of these, but the second did not. After all, he did not need grace to accept the good, since he had not yet lost it; and in order to remain in it, he needed the help of grace, without which he was completely incapable of this. He would have had the opportunity if he wanted, but he did not have the desire for what he could, for if he had the desire, he would have remained [in good]. After all, he could have remained if he wanted, and the fact that he did not want this is a consequence of [his] free decision, which was then free in such a way that he could will both good and evil. And what would be freer than a free decision if it could not serve sin - and a similar reward for merit stood before a person, just as it happened with the holy angels? Now, when good merit is destroyed by sin, for those who get rid of [sin], what should have been a reward for merit has become a gift of grace. Chapter 12. The difference between the expressions: “Be able not to sin” and “Not be able to sin” 33. Therefore, one must diligently and carefully distinguish between these two different [states]: being able not to sin and not being able to sin, being able not to die and not being able to die, being able not to leave good and not being able to leave good. For the first man could not sin, could not die, could not leave good, but do we say: “He could not sin” if he had such a free decision, or: “He could not die,” if it was said to him: “If you sin, you will die” (Gen. 2:17), or: “He could not leave good,” if he left it, having sinned, and therefore died? So, the first free will was - to be able not to sin, and the last will be much greater - not to be able to sin; the first immortality was - not being able to die, the last will be much greater - not being able to die; the first possibility of staying was - not being able to leave the good, and the last bliss of staying will be - not being able to leave the good. And that, since the latter goods will be stronger and better, were the former therefore small and insignificant? Help, without which something cannot be done, and help, thanks to which something is done 34. In the same way, one must distinguish between [types of] help itself. One is help, without which nothing is accomplished, and the other is help, thanks to which something is accomplished. For without food we cannot live, and yet when food is present, it does not happen that it gives life to someone who is about to die. And therefore the help of food is something we cannot live without, but not something thanks to which we live. On the contrary, when a person is given bliss that he did not have, he immediately becomes blessed. After all, [it] is not only such a help, without which the thing for which it is given does not happen, but also such a help, thanks to which this happens. Therefore, such help is both that thanks to which [something] is done, and that without which it is not done: after all, if bliss is given to a person, he will immediately become blessed, and if it is never given, then he will never become blessed. The fact that a person lives is not at all due to the action of food, but at the same time he cannot live without it. So, the first man, who, being created right, received as a certain good the opportunity not to sin, the opportunity not to die, the opportunity not to abandon this good, was given help in remaining, and not in such a way that he remained in goodness thanks to it, but in such a way that without it, through [mere] free decision, he could not remain. And now the saints, predestined by God's grace to the Kingdom of God, are not given such help in abiding, but abiding itself is given to them as help, so that not only can they not abide without this gift, but they also abide no other way than thanks to this gift. After all, [the Lord] said not only this: “Without Me you can do nothing,” but also something else: “You did not choose Me,” but “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:5, 15:16). With these words He showed that He gave them not only righteousness, but also abiding [in it]. After all, if Christ appointed them so that they would go and bear fruit, and their fruit remained, who dares to say: “It will not remain”? Who dares to say: “Perhaps it will not remain”? “For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29), but the calling of those who are called according to [God’s] purpose. So, since Christ prays for them so that their faith does not weaken, then, undoubtedly, it will not weaken to the end, and because of this it will remain to the end, and will remain in them until the very end of their lives. Help by which the saints overcome the torment of this world 35. And truly great freedom is needed against so many and great temptations that did not exist in paradise, and it must be protected and strengthened by the gift of abiding, so that this world with all its desires, fears and delusions can be defeated: the martyrdom of the saints taught us this. After all, Adam, without any intimidation and, moreover, taking advantage of a free decision against the command of the intimidating God (Gen. 2:17), did not resist in great happiness, in great ease not to commit sin; and they, I will not say - when the world was frightening, but - when it was raging, so that they would not stand, they nevertheless stood in faith, although Adam saw the present blessings, which he later abandoned, and they did not see the future ones, which they were supposed to receive. How did this happen, if not by the gift of Him, thanks to whose mercy they became faithful (1 Cor 7:25), from whom they received not the spirit of fear in order to submit to those who persecuted, but “the Spirit of power and love” and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7), with whose help they overcame all threats, all compulsions, all torments? So Adam was given free will without any sin; he was created with her and forced her to serve sin, and their will, although enslaved by sin, was freed by Him who said: “If the Son sets you free,” then truly “you will be free” (John 8:36). And they receive such great freedom thanks to this grace that although they struggle with sinful attractions while they live here, some of these attractions creep into them, which is why they pray daily: “Forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12); however, they no longer serve the sin that leads to death, about which the Apostle John speaks: “There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that it should be prayed for” (1 John 5:16). Many and different things can be thought about this sin (since it is not shown what kind of sin it is), but I will say that this sin is to abandon faith that works through love until the very hour of death. They no longer serve this sin, being (unlike Adam) not free by virtue of their original position, but freed by the grace of God through the second Adam. And thanks to this liberation, they have a free decision, one with which they serve God, and not one with which they are ensnared by the devil. For, having been freed from sin, they became “slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18), in which they will stand to the end, since this continued existence was granted to them by the One who foreknew them, predestined them, called them according to [His] purpose, justified and glorified (Rom. 8:28–29). After all, what He promised about them, even what was to come, He had already done: “Abraham believed” Him who promised, “and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). For he, as it is written, “gave glory to God, being fully confident that he was able to perform what he had promised” (Rom. 4:20–21). God grants abiding to the chosen ones because He is able to fulfill what He has promised 36. So, God Himself makes them good so that they do good. After all, He promised them 5 to Abraham not at all because He foreknew that they would become good in themselves. For if this is so, then He did not promise His own, but theirs. But that is not how Abraham believed; for he “failed not” “in faith... giving glory to God, and being fully confident that he was able to perform what he had promised” (Rom. 4:19–21). [Scripture] does not say: “He is able to promise what is foretold,” or: “He is able to demonstrate what is foretold,” or: “He is able to foreknow what is promised,” but: “He is able to fulfill what he has promised.” So He makes them to be in goodness, Who makes them good. And those who fall and perish were not among the predestined. Therefore, although the apostle speaks of all those who are regenerated and live godly, exclaiming: “And who are you, judging “someone else’s servant?” For his Master, “stands or falls,” but immediately turns to the predestined and says: “And he will rise,” and so that no one considers this his business, he adds: “For God is able to raise him up” (Rom. 14:4). So, it is He who gives abiding, who is able to establish those who stand, so that they stand more steadfastly, or to raise up those who have fallen; for “The Lord raises up those who are bowed down” (Ps. 145:8). It pleases God, who always suppresses human pride, that no flesh should boast before Him 37. So, the first man did not receive this gift of God, that is, to remain in goodness, but to remain or not to remain was left in his decision, and his will, which was created without any sin, had the corresponding powers, and nothing within itself passionately opposed it, so that such goodness and such ease of remaining in the good life would worthily correspond to its decision to remain. Moreover, God knew in advance that [Adam] would commit unrighteousness, but the fact that He foreknew does not mean that He forced it; for at the same time He knew that He would make righteousness out of all this. And now, after this great freedom has been lost due to sin, weakness needs to be supported by great gifts. For it pleases God, who suppresses the pride of human exaltation as much as possible, “so that no flesh should boast before Him” (1 Cor. 1:29), which means: no man. And on what basis can the flesh boast before Him, if not because of its own merits? She could well have had them, but she neglected this, and by means of which she could have them, she neglected them, that is, through a free decision, which is why nothing remains for those subject to deliverance except the grace of the Deliverer. And because of this, no flesh can boast before Him. For the unrighteous, who have nothing to boast about, do not boast, neither do the righteous, since the reason for their praise is in Him, and they have no other praise than Him to whom they say: “You are my glory, and You lift up my head” (Ps. 3:4). And therefore what is written applies to every person: “So that no flesh should boast before Him” (1 Cor. 1:29). And to the righteous it also applies. This is: “Whoever boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” And this is quite clearly shown by the apostle, who, after saying, “Let no flesh boast before Him,” not wanting the saints to think that they were left without praise, immediately adds: “By Him are you in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, he who boasts may boast in Him.” Lord" (1 Cor 1:30-31). That is why in this place of suffering, when human life on earth is nothing more than temptation (Job 7:1), “power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9); and what power is there but that “he who boasts should boast in the Lord!” Let him who boasts boast in the Lord 38. Therefore, God desires that His saints, because of their continuance in goodness, should boast not in their own strength, but in Him, for He not only gives them the help that He gave to the first man, without which they cannot stand if they wish, but also produces desire in them. So, since they will not persevere [in goodness] if they are not both able and willing, then both the desire and the ability to remain are granted to them by the generosity of Divine grace. For their will is so inflamed by the Holy Spirit that they can, because they desire it, and therefore they desire it because God produces the desire in them. After all, if in such weakness of this life (and it was necessary that strength should be made in this life in order to curb exaltation) their will were left to themselves, so that they would remain, if they wished, in the help of God, without which they cannot stand, and if God did not produce desires in them, then among such numerous and great temptations, due to their weakness, the will would fall, and they would not be able to resist, because due to weakness, suffering a lack [strength], they wouldn’t even want it, or, due to weakness of will, they wouldn’t want it enough to be able to. Therefore, the weakness of the human will needs help in order to be steadily and inseparably led by Divine grace, and therefore, although weak, it does not lack, and nothing contrary defeats it. It is arranged in such a way that the feeble and weak human will can withstand the still small good by the power of God; whereas the strong and healthy will of the first man did not stand in the best good, having the power of free decision; and although he was not deprived of God’s help, without which he could not resist if he wanted, this was not the help with which God produces desire in a person. For He has permitted and left the strongest to do what he wishes; and for the weak He preserved this, so that by His gift they would invincibly desire good and invincibly would not want to leave it. Therefore, when Christ says: “I have prayed” for you, “so that your faith does not fail” (Luke 22:32), then we think this was said to the one who built the house on the rock (Matthew 7:24, 16:18). So, when a man of God boasts, let him boast in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31), not only because he has inherited charity in order to become a believer, but also because he has an abundance of this faith itself. Chapter 13. The number of the chosen ones is precisely determined; it can neither be reduced nor increased 39. We are talking about those who are predestined to the Kingdom of God (and their number is so precise that no one is added to them or taken away from them), and not about those who, as [the psalmist] proclaimed and said, “have multiplied beyond their number” (Ps. 39:6). For the latter can be called called, but not chosen, since they were not called according to [God’s] intention. But the number of the elect is certain, and it is not fitting for it to decrease or increase. John the Baptist also shows this when he says: “So, “produce fruit worthy of repentance,” and do not want to “say” to yourselves: “we have Abraham as our father”; “For God is able to raise up the “children” of Abraham “from” these “stones” (Matthew 3:8-9). With these words he reveals that they will be cut off if they do not bear fruit, but the number promised to Abraham will not fail; But it is said more openly about this in “Revelation”: “Hold what you have, lest anyone take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). After all, if the other will delight only in the case when the first one first loses, then the number is accurate. It is usefully hidden who exactly is among the predestined 40. And that these words are also addressed to the saints, who will remain [to the end in goodness], and are addressed as if their abiding was not exact, then they too should listen to them, since it is useful for them not to be arrogant, but to be afraid (Rom. 11:20). For who among the multitude of the faithful, while he lives in this mortality, can suppose that he is among the predestined? After all, it must be hidden [while we are] in that place where we should so beware of exaltation that even the great apostle was oppressed by the angel of Satan, so that he “would not be conceited” (2 Cor. 12:7). That is why it was said to the apostles: “If you abide in Me” (John 15:7), although He spoke who, of course, knew that they would abide. And through the prophet [it was said]: “If you desire and listen to Me” (Is. 1:19), although God Himself knew in whom He would make the desire (Phil. 2:13). And many things are said in the same way. For, taking into account the usefulness of this secret so that no one would become arrogant, but everyone, even those who strive well, would be afraid, since it is hidden who will achieve [the goal], - therefore, taking into account the usefulness of this secret, it must be recognized that some of the sons of perdition, who have not accepted the gift of abiding to the end, begin to live in faith, working through love, and live faithfully and righteously for some time, and then fall and are removed from this life only when it happens to them. If this had not happened to any of them, then people would only have had that saving fear, which suppresses the vice of exaltation, until they reached the grace of Christ, thanks to which they live piously, and then they would be confident that they would never fall away from Him. But such anticipation is not useful in this place of temptation, where weakness is so great that confidence can produce pride. Then this will also happen, but then people will also have what the angels already have, when any pride will become impossible. So, the saints, predestined by the grace of God to the Kingdom of God, having received their stay to the end, are all, without exception, transported there intact and are preserved there with the highest integrity, being infinitely blessed. And the mercy of their Savior always accompanies them - both when they turn, and when they fight, and when they are crowned. The predestined also need God's mercy 41. And the fact that even then they need God’s mercy is evidenced by the Holy Scriptures, when the saint [David] speaks to his soul about the Lord God: “He crowns you with mercy and mercy” (Ps. 102:4). Likewise, the Apostle James says: “Judgment without” mercy to those who have not shown mercy” (James 2:13). With these words he shows that even at that Judgment in which the righteous are crowned and the unrighteous are condemned, some will be judged with mercy, and others without mercy. Therefore, the mother of the Maccabees says to her son: “so that” in “that mercy” “I” accept “you” together “with the brothers” (2 Mac. 7:29). “For when a righteous king,” as it is written, “sits” on the throne, no evil will “resist” him. Who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will boast that he is “pure from sin?” ( Proverbs 20:8–9 ). Therefore, there, too, God’s mercy is necessary, thanks to which the one to whom the Lord does not impute sin will be “blessed” (Ps. 31:2). But then, at the righteous Judgment, mercy itself will be given as a reward for the merits of good deeds. For when it is said: “Judgment without mercy to those who have not shown mercy,” it is revealed that for those in whom good deeds of mercy are found, judgment is carried out with mercy, and therefore even mercy itself is rewarded as a reward for the merits of good deeds. Nowadays, it is not so, for although not only no good [preceded], but, on the contrary, many evil deeds preceded, God’s mercy precedes man in order to deliver him from evil: both the evil that he created, and that which he would have created if he had not been guided by the grace of God, and that which he would have endured forever if he had not been plucked “from the power of darkness and” transferred “to the Kingdom” of love “Son” of God” ( Col. 1:13 ). However, since eternal life itself, which, undoubtedly, should be rewarded for good deeds, is called by such a great apostle the grace of God (Rom. 6:23), although grace is not rewarded for works, but is given freely, then without any doubt it should be admitted that eternal life is called grace because it is rewarded for the merits that grace provides to a person. This is exactly how it will be correct to understand what is read in the Gospel: “Grace for grace” (John 1:16), which means [grace is rewarded] for the merits that grace has provided. Those who are not among the predestined leave the good and are themselves abandoned by God 42. So, this whole host of predestined people is led by the grace of God into the Kingdom [of God], despite the fact that they either do not yet have any free decision of their will, or [act] with a decision of the will, which is therefore truly free, because it is liberated by this grace itself. And those who do not belong to this precise and most blessed number of the predestined are quite rightly condemned according to [their] merits. After all, they either fall under sin, which by origin they bear from birth, and with this hereditary debt, not left through rebirth, they leave here, or through a free decision they add more sins on top of this. A decision, I say, free, but not liberated, free from righteousness, but enslaved to sin, because of which they are carried away by various criminal desires, some greater, others less, but all evil, and because of this difference it is fitting for them to be condemned to various punishments. Or they perceive the grace of God, but for a while, and do not abide in it, but leave it and are themselves abandoned. For they, who have not accepted the gift of abiding, because of their free decision, are subject to the secret and fair judgment of God. Chapter 14. Let people endure when they are reproached, and let those who reproach them act with love. 43. So, let people endure being reproached when they sin, and let them not, because of this reproach, speak out against grace or because of grace against reproach, since for sin a just punishment is due, which includes reproach, which is used as a medicine, even if there is no confidence in the healing of the sick person. And if the one who is reproached is one of the predestined, then the reproach will become a means to his recovery, but if not, then the reproach will be an executing torment for him. Because of this uncertainty, one should lovingly apply reproach, the outcome of which is unknown, and pray that the one to whom it is applied will be healed. And if people come or return to the path of righteousness due to rebuke, then who works salvation in their hearts if not God, who grows regardless of who planted, watered or labored in the field and garden (1 Cor 3:6-7)? If He wants to save, then no human decision can resist this. For desire or unwillingness lies within the power of the willing or unwilling person in such a way that they do not interfere with the Divine will and do not exceed the [Divine] power. For even among those who do what is displeasing to Him, God does what pleases Him. Why, if God wants all people to be saved, are not all saved? 44. And what is written: “He wants all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4), taking into account the fact that not everyone is saved, can be understood in many ways, of which we have mentioned some in our other writings; and here I will give one. It is said this way: “He “wants all people to be saved,” so that we understand by this: “all the predestined,” for among them there are people of all kinds. In the same sense, it was said to the Pharisees: “You “give tithe” on all the “vegetables” (Luke 11:42), and it should be understood here: “on all that you have” - after all, they did not tithe on all the vegetables that are around the world. In accordance with the same way of speaking, it is said in another place: “Even so I please everyone in everything” (1 Cor 10:33). After all, can anyone say that the apostle pleased his very numerous persecutors? But he pleased people of all kinds whom he gathered into the Church of Christ - either those already in it, or those who were to be brought into it. If God has power over the will of man, then it is He who makes the reproach salutary 45. So, it is not appropriate to doubt that human wills cannot resist the will of God, who “has created in heaven and on earth everything that He willed” (Ps. 134:6), and has already created what is yet to be (Is. 45:11), - to resist so that He does not do what He wants. After all, even from human wills themselves, when He desires, He does what He desires. I will recall only a few testimonies out of very many: was it possible that when God wished to give Saul the kingdom, it was so much in the power of the Israelites to obey this man or not (and this, of course, was in their will) that they could resist God? However, He fulfilled this only through the will of these people, without a doubt, having the omnipotent power to incline human hearts wherever He pleases. For it is written thus: “And Samuel sent the people away,” and each one went to his own place, “and Saul went to his house to Gibeah; and the “mighty ones, the hearts” “that God had touched,” went with Saul. And the sons of destruction said: Who will save us? He? “And they despised him, and did not give him gifts” (1 Samuel 10:25–27). Will anyone say that none of those whose hearts were touched by God should have gone with Saul so that they would go with him, and who of the evil ones, whose hearts God had not touched, should have gone so that they would do so? In the same way, about David, whom God placed as king with greater success [than Saul], it is said this way: “And” “David” prospered, “and was exalted, and the Lord was with him” (1 Chronicles 11:9). After this was foreshadowed, a little further down it is said: “And the Spirit came upon Amasai, the head of the thirty, and he said: “We are yours, David, and we will be with you, son of Jesse.” Peace, “peace to you, and peace to your helpers,” for “God helps you” (1 Chronicles 12:18). Could he resist the will of God and would he not rather fulfill the will of Him who, through His Spirit, with whom he was filled, brought about [such a movement] in his heart that he desired it, and said and did so? Also, a little lower, the same Scripture says: “All these” men of “warrior,” holding formation, with a calm heart, “came to Hebron,” to set “David over all Israel” (1 Chronicles 12:38). Of course, they made David king of their own free will. Who doesn't see this? Who will deny this? After all, they did from the heart and of their own free will what they did “with a calm heart,” and yet He did it in them, Who does what He wishes in people’s hearts. That is why the Scripture says above: “And” “David” walked, “prospering, “and was exalted, and the Lord” Almighty “was with him.” From this it is clear that the Lord Almighty, who was with him, moved them to install David as king. And how is the feat? Was he bound by some kind of bodily ties? He acted from within, embraced hearts, moved hearts and attracted them with those wills that He Himself produced in them. So, if God, when he wants to establish kings on earth, has more power over the will of people than they themselves, then who else makes it so that a reproach can be salutary and correction appears in a reproachful heart, so that a person can acquire the Kingdom of Heaven? Chapter 15. Let the primates rebuke the brethren, but with love 46. So, let the primates reproach the brethren entrusted to them with reproaches stemming from love; with various reproaches, greater or lesser, in accordance with the difference in guilt. For even what is called condemnation, which is pronounced by the episcopal court - and there is no greater punishment than this in the Church - can, if God pleases, turn into a saving reproach and bring benefit. After all, we do not know what will happen the next day, and we should not lose hope in relation to anyone before the end of this life, for God may well turn, grant repentance and, having accepted a broken spirit and a grieving heart as a sacrifice (Ps. 50:19), free [a person] from the state of even just condemnation, but not condemn the condemned. But the duty of the shepherd is, so that the harmful infection does not spread to many, to separate the sick from the healthy sheep, who through this very separation, perhaps, will be healed by Him for whom nothing is impossible. After all, not knowing who is among the predestined and who is not, we must be so drawn by the movement of love that we desire salvation for everyone. And this happens if, as soon as those in relation to whom we are able to do this appear before us, we immediately try to lead them all so that, having been justified by faith, they have “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). The apostle also preaches this peace when he says: “So we” are appointed to the embassy of Christ, “and as if God Himself exhorts through us: “We ask for Christ’s sake: “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). And what does it mean to be reconciled to Him, if not to have peace with Him? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaks about this peace to His disciples: “Whatever house you enter, first say: “Peace to this house.” And if the son of peace is there, then your peace will rest on him, but if not, then he will return to you” (Luke 10:5-6). And when this peace is proclaimed by those about whom it is predicted: “How beautiful are the feet” of those who proclaim “peace,” who proclaim good things” (Is. 52:7), for us then someone begins to be a son of peace when he obeys, believes in this gospel and, being justified by faith, begins to have peace with God; and according to God’s predestination, he [before] was already the son of the world. After all, it is not said: “On whom your peace rests, he will become the son of peace,” but it says: “If the son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him.” Therefore, even before this peace was announced to him, the son of peace was here, for he was recognized and foreknew not by the evangelist, but by God Himself. So, since we do not know who is the son of peace and who is not, our business is not to make any exception and not to distinguish anyone, but to desire that everyone to whom we proclaim this peace may be saved. After all, we should not be afraid that we will waste it in vain, if the one to whom we preach is not the son of peace, and we do not know about it - peace will return to us, that is, this preaching will benefit us, and not him. And if the preached peace rests on him, then both to us and to him. God calls and desires in us, urging us to this 47. So, since God commands us, who do not know who will be saved, to desire that all to whom we proclaim peace should be saved, and He Himself works this in us, pouring out “love ... into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us” (Rom. 5:5), then what is said: “God wants all people to be saved,” can also be understood in the sense that He encourages us to desire this. After all, the words: “God sent the Spirit of His Son,” crying: “Abba, Father!” (Gal.4:6), we understand that [God sent the Spirit] causing us to cry out. And about this Spirit [the apostle] says in another place: “We have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry: Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). So we cry, but He who causes us to cry is called the one who calls. Therefore, if Scripture correctly calls the One who prompts us to cry the calling Spirit, then it is fair to consider the One who wills in us to be the willing God. And therefore, - after all, when reproaching, we should not do anything other than [convince a person] so that he does not retreat from the world with God, and if he retreats, so that he returns to it, we will do what we do without despondency. If the one whom we reproach is the son of peace, then our peace will rest on him; and if not, he will return to us. We must not be lazy and careless in reproaching 48. So, even when one's faith is suddenly shattered, the solid foundation of God stands, for the Lord knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2:19). However, this does not mean that we should be lazy and careless in reproaching those who need to be reproached. It is not for nothing that it is said: “Bad communities corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33), and: “Because of your knowledge the weak brother for whom Christ died will perish” (1 Cor. 8:11). Let us not speak out against these injunctions and saving fear, saying: “What do we care if bad communities corrupt good morals and that the weak perish? The firm foundation of God stands, and no one will perish except the son of perdition.” Let it not happen that, chatting like this, we decide that we should be careless, [resting] in such frivolity. For truly no one will perish except the son of perdition; but God says through the prophet Ezekiel: “He will die in his sin, and his blood will I require at the hands of him who sees” (Ezek. 3:18). Prayer and love must be combined with reproach 49. Therefore, as for us, who are unable to distinguish the predestined from the non-predestined, and who, as a result, should desire the salvation of all, we must apply strict rebuke as a medicine to everyone, so that they do not perish or destroy others. And to make it useful for those “whom He foreknew and” whom He “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29) is God’s work. After all, if sometimes we do not reproach out of fear that someone will die because of this, then why don’t we also [start] reproaching out of fear that someone will most likely die because of the lack of this? For we cannot be shown a greater depth of love than that of the blessed Apostle, who says: “Rebuke the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient with everyone: see that no one repays evil for evil” (1 Thess. 5:14-15). From this it should be understood that then they repay evil for evil to a greater extent when they do not reproach the one who should be reproached, but neglect this out of crafty hypocrisy. For [the apostle] says: “Reprove those who sin before everyone, so that others also may have fear” (1 Tim. 5:20). This must be considered to be said about those sins that do not remain hidden, so as not to think that he is saying something contrary to the saying of the Lord: “If your brother sins against you...convict him between you and him alone” (Matthew 18:15). However, the Lord extends the severity of his reproach to such an extent that he says: “If he does not listen to the Church, let him be as a pagan and a publican” (Matthew 18:17). And who loved the weak more than He who became weak for the sake of all and was crucified for the sake of all because of this weakness? And if all this is so, then neither grace forbids reproach, nor does reproach reject grace. Therefore, righteousness must be commanded in such a way that at the same time grace is asked from God in faithful prayer, with the help of which what is prescribed can be accomplished. Moreover, this must be done in such a way that a fair reproach is not neglected. And let all this be done with love, for love does not create sin and “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Those. books "On Grace and Free Decision". St. Cyprian of Carthage. Those. Augustine's opponents. You might be interested in: