Augustine on Efficacious Grace, Part 2 of 3

On Grace and Free Will

Recall from a previous note that Augustine wrote Rebuke and Grace to refute the following principle: “no man ought to be rebuked for not doing God’s commandments” (Retractations). The origin of this idea was a conclusion the monks to whom Augustine was writing had drawn upon consideration of a prior letter from Augustine, On Grace and Free Will.

One can sympathize with Augustine’s struggles. He is trying very hard to demonstrate that “freedom of the will” – which, as has been shown, Augustine regards as “volition” – “is [not] denied whenever God’s grace is maintained” (Retractations), yet at the same time he feels compelled to emphasize in the strongest possible terms God’s sovereignty. I may as well have entitled this particular note “Augustine on God’s Sovereignty,” for those chapters which I suspect comprise that which the monks misunderstood are themselves provocatively labeled:

Chapter 41: The Wills of Men are So Much in the Power of God, that He Can Turn Them Whithersoever It Pleases Him.
Chapter 42: God Does Whatsoever He Wills in the Hearts of Even Wicked Men.
Chapter 43: God Operates on Men’s Hearts to Incline Their Wills Whithersoever He Pleases

As I believe examination of these chapters will provide the framework in which Augustine will more explicitly discuss soteric, efficacious grace, those who refer to themselves as “6 [or 7] pointers” will have to forgive my subsumption.

Prior to these chapters, Augustine briefly anticipated objections to what was to come. He asserted that God works operatively in the hearts of men prior to belief, at which point God co-operates with men. Man is not a “robot,” as some so like to caricature monergists. Robots do not have wills, intellect, emotions, &c. That we have those attributes, however, does not imply we also have the ability to exercise them towards an end we do not desire. As we are born in sin and do not desire to submit to God, one can understand why God must, according to Augustine, operate on us without our assistance. 

What it means for God to co-operate with us when we will, however, is more ambiguous. Despite a clear rejection of synergism elsewhere, in order to demonstrate a consistency within Augustine’s thoughts, it would be best to display from the same work that Augustine is really trying to convey that we who have been regenerated are voluntary and willing persons who desire to come to the Father through faith in Christ:

Chapter 41 – The Wills of Men are So Much in the Power of God, that He Can Turn Them Whithersoever It Pleases Him.

“I think I have now discussed the point fully enough in opposition to those who vehemently oppose the grace of God, by which, however, the human will is not taken away, but changed from bad to good, and assisted when it is good. I think, too, that I have so discussed the subject, that it is not so much I myself as the inspired Scripture which has spoken to you, in the clearest testimonies of truth; and if this divine record be looked into carefully, it shows us that not only men’s good wills, which God Himself converts from bad ones, and, when converted by Him, directs to good actions and to eternal life, but also those which follow the world are so entirely at the disposal of God, that He turns them whithersoever He wills, and whensoever He wills – to bestow kindness on some, and to heap punishment on others – as He Himself judges right by a counsel most secret to Himself, indeed, but beyond all doubt most righteous.
For we find that some sins are even the punishment of other sins, as are those “vessels of wrath” which the apostle describes as “fitted to destruction;” as is also that hardening of Pharaoh, the purpose of which is said to be to set forth in him the power of God; as, again, is the flight of the Israelites from the face of the enemy before the city of Ai, for fear arose in their heart so that they fled, and this was done that their sin might be punished in the way it was right that it should be; by reason of which the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, “The children of Israel shall not be able to stand before the face of their enemies.” What is the meaning of, “They shall not be able to stand”? Now, why did they not stand by free will, but, with a will perplexed by fear, took to flight, were it not that God has the lordship even over men’s wills, and when He is angry turns to fear whomsoever He pleases? Was it not of their own will that the enemies of the children of Israel fought against the people of God, as led by Joshua, the son of Nun? And yet the Scripture says, “It was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that they might be exterminated.” And was it not likewise of his own will that the wicked son of Gera cursed King David? And yet what says David, full of true, and deep, and pious wisdom? What did he say to him who wanted to smite the reviler? “What,” said he, “have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Let him alone and let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who, then, shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so?” And then the inspired Scripture, as if it would confirm the king’s profound utterance by repeating it once more, tells us: “And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more may this Benjamite do it! Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on my humiliation, and will requite me good for his cursing this day.” Now what prudent reader will fail to understand in what way the Lord bade this profane man to curse David? It was not by a command that He bade him, in which case his obedience would be praiseworthy; but He inclined the man’s will, which had become debased by his own perverseness, to commit this sin, by His own just and secret judgment. Therefore it is said, “The Lord said unto him.” Now if this person had obeyed a command of God, he would have deserved to be praised rather than punished, as we know he was afterwards punished for this sin. Nor is the reason an obscure one why the Lord told him after this manner to curse David. “It may be,” said the humbled king, “that the Lord will look on my humiliation, and will requite me good for his cursing this day.” See, then, what proof we have here thatGod uses the hearts of even wicked men for the praise and assistance of the good. Thus did He make use of Judas when betraying Christ; thus did He make use of the Jews when they crucified Christ. And how vast the blessings which from these instances He has bestowed upon the nations that should believe in Him! He also uses our worst enemy, the devil himself, but in the best way, to exercise and try the faith and piety of good men – not for Himself indeed, who knows all things before they come to pass – but for our sakes, for whom it was necessary that such a discipline should be gone through with us. Did not Absalom choose by his own will the counsel which was detrimental to him? And yet the reason of his doing so was that the Lord had heard his father’s prayer that it might be so. Wherefore the Scripture says that “the Lord appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring all evils upon Absalom.” It called Ahithophel’s counsel “good,” because it was for the moment of advantage to his purpose. It was in favour of the son against his father, against whom he had rebelled; and it might have crushed him, had not the Lord defeated the counsel which Ahithophel had given, by acting on the heart of Absalom so that he rejected this counsel, and chose another which was not expedient for him.”

The perspicuity of God’s word has, Augustine believed, revealed God not only works all men’s actions for good, but also “turns” man’s will to do His purposes. God is proactive in creation, not reactionary. One important point Augustine makes immediately is that our volition is not taken away by the necessity of acting in accordance with God’s desires. It would seem that it was indeed the case the co-operation to which he referred was that between beings willing with identical purposes rather than allusion to some form of synergism. The many examples he specifies in Scripture in which God is confirmed to have inclined even evil men’s wills to do that which, as in all other things, is ultimately to the “praise and assistance of the good.” Augustine further develops the idea God ordains even the evil will of fallen men, which some may have found shocking, in the next chapter:

Chapter 42 – God Does Whatsoever He Wills in the Hearts of Even Wicked Men.

“Who can help trembling at those judgments of God by which He does in the hearts of even wicked men whatsoever He wills, at the same time rendering to them according to their deeds? Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, rejected the salutary counsel of the old men, not to deal harshly with the people, and preferred listening to the words of the young men of his own age, by returning a rough answer to those to whom he should have spoken gently. Now whence arose such conduct, except from his own will? Upon this, however, the ten tribes of Israel revolted from him, and chose for themselves another king, even Jeroboam, that the will of God in His anger might be accomplished which He had predicted would come to pass. For what says the Scripture? “The king hearkened not unto the people; for the turning was from the Lord, that He might perform His saying, which the Lord spake to Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” All this, indeed, was done by the will of man, although the turning was from the Lord. Read the books of the Chronicles, and you will find the following passage in the second book: “Moreover, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were neighbours to the Ethiopians; and they came up to the land of Judah, and ravaged it, and carried away all the substance which was found in the king’s house.” Here it is shown that God stirs up enemies to devastate the countries which He adjudges deserving of such chastisement. Still, did these Philistines and Arabians invade the land of Judah to waste it with no will of their own? Or were their movements so directed by their own will that the Scripture lies which tells us that “the Lord stirred up their spirit” to do all this? Both statements to be sure are true, because they both came by their own will, and yet the Lord stirred up their spirit; and this may also with equal truth be stated the other way: The Lord both stirred up their spirit, and yet they came of their own will. For the Almighty sets in motion even in the innermost hearts of men the movement of their will, so that He does through their agency whatsoever He wishes to perform through them, even He who knows not how to will anything in unrighteousness. What, again, is the purport of that which the man of God said to King Amaziah: “Let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, even with all the children of Ephraim: for if thou shalt think to obtain with these, the Lord shall put thee to flight before thine enemies: for God hath power either to strengthen or to put to flight”? Now, how does the power of God help some in war by giving them confidence, and put others to flight by injecting fear into them, except it be that He who has made all things according to His own will, in heaven and on earth, also works in the hearts of men? We read also what Joash, king of Israel, said when he sent a message to Amaziah, king of Judah, who wanted to fight with him. After certain other words, he added, “Now tarry at home; why dost thou challenge me to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?” Then the Scripture has added this sequel: “But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might be delivered into their hands, because they sought after the gods of Edom.” Behold, now, how God, wishing to punish the sin of idolatry, wrought this in this man’s heart, with whom He was indeed justly angry, not to listen to sound advice, but to despise it, and go to the battle, in which he with his army was routed. God says by the prophet Ezekiel, “If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet: I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” Then there is the book of Esther, who was a woman of the people of Israel, and in the land of their captivity became the wife of the foreign King Ahasuerus. In this book it is written, that, being driven by necessity to interpose in behalf of her people, whom the king had ordered to be slain in every part of his dominions, she prayed to the Lord. So strongly was she urged by the necessity of the case, that she even ventured into the royal presence with out the king’s command, and contrary to her own custom. Now observe what the Scripture says: “He looked at her like a bull in the vehemence of his indignation; and the queen was afraid, and her colour changed as she fainted; and she bowed herself upon the head of her delicate maiden which went before her. But God turned the king, and transformed his indignation into gentleness.” The Scripture says in the Proverbs of Solomon, “Even as the rush of water, so is the heart of a king in God’s hand; He will turn it in whatever way He shall choose.” Again, in the 104th Psalm, in reference to the Egyptians, one reads what God did to them: “And He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal subtilly with His servants.” Observe, likewise, what is written in the letters of the apostles. In the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to the Romans occur these words: “Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts;” and a little afterwards: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections;” again, in the next passage: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” So also in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle says of sundry persons, “Inasmuch as they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; therefore also God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Piling on case after case of God sovereignly leading men to do what He pleases, Augustine – even at this point in history – introduces the concept of secondary causes. God sends spirits (angels too, as said in the next chapter) to do that which is necessary to effect evil actions. God does not “force” man to sin, as if men were unwilling objects. Instead, the desires upon which our will and deeds are predicated can even be determined – by whatever intermediate cause, according to His just yet secret counsel – such that we actually do evil, so Augustine can consistently maintain that we do indeed exercise our volition. In the first half of chapter 43, Augustine summarizes his thoughts:

Chapter 43 – God Operates on Men’s Hearts to Incline Their Wills Whithersoever He Pleases

“From these statements of the inspired word, and from similar passages which it would take too long to quote in full, it is, I think, sufficiently clear that God works in the hearts of men to incline their wills whithersoever He wills, whether to good deeds according to His mercy, or to evil after their own deserts; His own judgment being sometimes manifest, sometimes secret, but always righteous. This ought to be the fixed and immoveable conviction of your heart, that there is no unrighteousness with God. Therefore, whenever you read in the Scriptures of Truth, that men are led aside, or that their hearts are blunted and hardened by God, never doubt that some ill deserts of their own have first occurred, so that they justly suffer these things. Thus you will not run counter to that proverb of Solomon: “The foolishness of a man perverteth his ways, yet he blameth God in his heart.” Grace, however, is not bestowed according to men’s deserts; otherwise grace would be no longer grace. For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously. Now if God is able, either through the agency of angels (whether good ones or evil), or in any other way whatever, to operate in the hearts even of the wicked, in return for their deserts – whose wickedness was not made by Him, but was either derived originally from Adam, or increased by their own will – what is there to wonder at if, through the Holy Spirit, He works good in the hearts of the elect, who has wrought it that their hearts become good instead of evil?"

In the climax of the exposition, Augustine’s thoughts are unmistakable: God works immediately in the hearts of the elect to become flesh instead of stone, which proves the relevance of the three chapters to soteriology, He uses secondary causes to work in the hearts of the reprobate to do evil, and He is righteous throughout. In his subsequent letter, Rebuke and Grace, one should observe that Augustine dispels the monks’ false notion of what is the purpose of rebuke and continues to state concisely the very point he made in his first letter:

“It is not, then, to be doubted that men’s wills cannot, so as to prevent His doing what he wills, withstand the will of God, “who hath done all things whatsoever He pleased in heaven and in earth,” and who also “has done those things that are to come;” since He does even concerning the wills themselves of men what He will, when He will.” (Chapter 45)

Summary

Augustine believed the sovereignty of God is such that:

1. “…the human will is not taken away, but changed from bad to good, and assisted when it is good… [and] that it is… the inspired Scripture which has spoken to you, in the clearest testimonies of truth…”

2. “…He turns them whithersoever He wills, and whensoever He wills...”

3. “…not by a command [does] He bade [man], in which case… obedience would be praiseworthy; but He inclined… man’s will, which had become debased by his own perverseness, to commit… sin, by His own just and secret judgment.”

4. “…God uses the hearts of even wicked men for the praise and assistance of the good.”

5. “…the Lord both stirred up [man’s] spirit, and yet [men act] of their own will. For the Almighty sets in motion even in the innermost hearts of men the movement of their will, so that He does through their agency whatsoever He wishes to perform through them...”

6. “…God, wishing to punish [sin, can wrought it in] man’s heart...”

7. “…His own judgment [is] sometimes manifest, sometimes secret, but always righteous.”

8. God “…is able, either through the agency of angels (whether good ones or evil)… to operate in the hearts even of the wicked…”

9. “…through the Holy Spirit, He works good in the hearts of the elect, who has wrought it that their hearts become good instead of evil…”

10. “…men’s wills cannot… withstand the will of God… since He does even concerning the wills themselves of men what He will, when He will.”