Commentaria in Primam Partem Summae Theologiae

In the title, note that it does not begin with the question whether it is, but with the question what it is, presupposing from the authority of Scripture that it is the book of life. And on account of its affinity with predestination, it asks what it is, by asking whether it is the same as predestination; insofar as from that diversity it is taken what it is.

II. In the body he does two things: first, he says what the name means; second, what the thing is. – As to the first, he says three things. First, that the book of life is said of God not properly, but metaphorically. Second, that it signifies the writing down of the predestined. Third, the origin of this metaphor, namely that it is taken from human books, in which counselors or soldiers are written down.

III. As to the second, this is the conclusion: The book of life in God is the firm and significative knowledge of the predestined. – This conclusion, as to its two parts, is made manifest. First, as to ly firm, by the authority of Prov. III. Then by reason: because writing in material books is done to assist memory. – Second, as to ly significative. And this from the reason of the metaphor: because just as the writing of a book is a sign of things to be done, so the knowledge of God is a sign representing those who are to be led by Him into eternal life. And it is confirmed by II ad Tim. II.

From these things, however, the question is easily made clear, which is expressed in the response to the fourth objection: since what was principally asked was what the book of life is, and this has been settled in the body of the text.

The title is clear. – In the body there is one conclusion, responsive to the question in the affirmative: The book of life properly regards the life of glory. – It is proved thus. The book of life is the knowledge of the elect unto life: therefore unto life above nature, and final: therefore properly unto the life of glory. – The first consequence is proved: because that unto which some are elected has two conditions, namely both that it does not befit them according to their natures, and that it have the character of an end. And this is declared by the example of a soldier. But the second consequence is proved: because the life of glory is a supernatural end.

Note here that the text, in assigning the first condition of that for which something is chosen, did not say that it is above the power of nature: because this would have been false, since to fight and to take counsel do not exceed the powers of nature. But it stated the negative, namely, it does not belong by nature: for no one receives by nature the fact that he fights or takes counsel for the defense of this republic; rather, this comes from another principle, namely, from the one governing the republic. And through this accommodation it exalted the book of life to a life not only not of nature, but above every power of any created nature whatsoever.

A clear title. - In the body he does two things: first, he treats a certain opinion; second, he answers the question according to his own view¹.

As to the first, he first reports two propositions of certain thinkers holding this opinion. The first is: No one is blotted out of the book of life according to the truth of the thing. The second is: Some are blotted out of the book of life according to the opinion of men. — And the consonance of the second proposition with Sacred Scripture is explained: because in it, a thing is sometimes said to be done when it becomes known; and consequently, to be blotted out, when one appears to be blotted out, on account of the privation of grace.

Then he argues that the first proposition is false, with the greatest modesty: because the reward promised to the saints is to be understood according to the thing itself, and not merely according to opinion, etc.

II. As to the second, he does two things. First he answers the question, thus: To be blotted out of or to remain in the book of life is to be referred not only to the opinion of men, but also to the thing itself. — And this conclusion, as to the last part, which is what he intends, is proved thus. The book of life is the record of those ordained to eternal life; therefore of those ordained by predestination and by present grace; therefore of those ordained indefectibly and defectibly; therefore of those written simply and in a certain respect; therefore of those whose inscription is indelible and of those whose inscription is blottable out according to the truth of the thing: which was what was intended.

The first consequence is proved: because by these two someone is ordered to eternal life. And as regards predestination, this is evident. As regards present grace, however, it is proved: because whoever has grace is, by that very fact, worthy of eternal life. – The second is proved: because the order of grace is defeasible, while that of predestination is indefeasible. – The third: because those written to eternal life in themselves are indefeasible, while those written to eternal life in their cause, namely the meritorious, are defeasible. – The last is evident from the terms.

Second, the sense in which the said conclusion is to be understood is explained, there: so that the deletion not be referred etc. For it can be interpreted in two ways: in one way, on the part of the divine intellect; in the second way, on the part of the thing written, as is clearly evident in the text.

III. Concerning the antecedent, on which the whole argument rests, a doubt arises. For, since the defined does not extend beyond its definition, either the book of life was badly defined in the first article, when it was said to be the inscription of the predestined; or this book of life is badly extended here to those ordained to eternal life, whether predestined or not.

And the doubt is increased. For, if the book of life extends to all who are ordained to eternal life, not only those established in present grace, but all Christians, indeed even all men would be written in the book of life: since all are ordained to eternal life by this very fact that they are rational, according to that saying of Augustine in On the Predestination of the Saints²: to be able to have charity belongs to the nature of men.

IV. To this it is answered that the definition given above was perfect, inasmuch as it expounded the substance of the book of life: for the inscription of the predestined pertains to the substance of the book of life. But the inscription of those ordered according to present justice stands to the book of life as an accident, because as a substantial consequent. For such inscription does not belong to the book of life except from this very fact, that the book of life is the book of glory, to which the predestined alone are inscribed. For, as is said in the response to the third objection of the preceding article, those established in present grace belong to the inscription of the book of life insofar as they in some way participate, for now, in that glorious life. And this is said here (and it comes to the same thing): that they are therefore inscribed because they are going to have eternal life in its cause. For from these things it is clear that the inscription of those having present grace belongs to the book of life by way of consequence; and thus such inscription is outside the substance of the book of life. Nor did it need to be expressed in the definition; but, as is done in the text, it should be deduced afterward.

To the other objection, however, one easily answers from the text that not those ordered to eternal life in any way whatever, but those ordered in such a way that they are worthy of eternal life are written in the book of life. And therefore neither all Christians (if there is anyone who was never in grace, which could happen in one approaching baptism hypocritically), nor all human beings, are in any way written in the book of life, although they possess a certain very remote potency for that life.

V. Concerning those things placed at the end of the letter, know that to be blotted out from among those written does not signify the cancellation of the writing; but a change from being written to not being written. For he who yesterday was in grace, and consequently among those written, having fallen today, has been changed by the stain of sin, and has ceased to be among those written. And this is called being blotted out on the part of the thing known, as is clear in the text.