De Deo uno

¹

514. God freely chose the present order as wholly determinate. Just as each and every thing in this order is determined concretely down to the smallest differences, and all these things are known to God (for example, the number of human beings from the beginning of the world to its end), so too it is wholly determinate and known to God which and how many human beings will be saved, and which and how many will be damned. After God has chosen the present order absolutely, no change is now possible: the predestined will not be damned, the reprobate will not be saved; predestination and reprobation are entirely certain. Hence it is certain that the predestined person, after committing a mortal sin, will receive efficacious grace for conversion, will turn back, and will die in the state of grace. Likewise, it is certain that the reprobate person, if in the state of grace, will not remain in that state, but will commit a mortal sin and die in the state of mortal sin. Since, however, according to the position set out above, these things are so not as a consequence of an absolute decree to save these alone and not to save the rest, the certainty of predestination and reprobation and their immutability give no occasion either for despair or for negligence in God’s service (cf. nr. 465-467).

515. Those who are saved, the predestined, are inscribed in the book of life², and, in the same sense in which predestination is certain, it is also impossible for anyone to be erased from the book of life. In what sense, however, someone can be erased from the book of life, S. THOMAS explains as follows³. The book of life is a record of those ordained to eternal life. This ordination can be by divine predestination, and this ordination never fails; therefore those who are ordained to eternal life by predestination are simply written in the book of life and can no longer be erased from it. Ordination to eternal life can also be had by grace, for whoever has grace is worthy of eternal life; but this ordination to eternal life can fail. Hence those who are ordained to eternal life by grace alone are written in the book of life in a qualified sense, and they can be erased from the book of life.

516. Predestination, then, is objectively entirely certain; the predestined person himself, however, does not by himself have strict certainty of his predestination. CALVIN taught: “No one is truly faithful except the one who, relying on the promises of divine benevolence toward him, confidently anticipates salvation without doubt”⁴. The COUNCIL OF TRENT, session 6, chapter 12: “No one, so long as he lives in this mortal life, ought to presume so far concerning the hidden mystery of divine predestination as to determine for certain that he is altogether among the predestined, as though it were true that one who has been justified either can no longer sin, or, if he has sinned, ought to promise himself certain repentance. For, unless by special revelation, it cannot be known whom God has chosen for himself” (DENZ 805). Canon 15: “If anyone says that a person reborn and justified is bound by faith to believe that he is certainly among the predestined, let him be anathema” (DENZ 825). Canon 16: “If anyone says that he will certainly possess that great gift of perseverance to the end, with absolute and infallible certainty, unless he has learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema” (DENZ 826). This “uncertainty fosters humility and fervor, so that one who stands may take care not to fall, and one who has fallen may rise quickly. Yet it can be well joined with this uncertainty to believe that God sincerely wills our salvation and wills to give perseverance to us when we ask, provided we ask in the proper way, which especially includes indefatigable constancy. There can also be joined the confidence by which we place all our hope in God, who does not abandon us unless he is first abandoned”⁵.