Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (204).

1. God’s will is always fulfilled with respect to a human being, wherever that person turns. For God’s will is always effective, so that everything he wills happens and nothing he does not will happens; and it is always fulfilled with respect to a human being, wherever that person turns. “For nothing,” Augustine says, “placed in free choice surpasses God’s will; and even if it acts against his will”—that is, against the will that is himself—“nothing should be thought to happen as though he willed it to happen and it did not, or did not will it to happen and it did.” That will, Augustine says in the Enchiridion, is always fulfilled either concerning us or by us. It is fulfilled concerning us, though we do not fulfill it when we sin. It is fulfilled by us when we do good, for we do so because we know that it pleases God. Thus God always fulfills his will with respect to a human being, because there is nothing a human being does from which God does not bring about what he wills. fulfills his will, because there is nothing a human being does from which God does not bring about what he wills. — Augustine, on a Psalm: “For God does not will that any human being sin; but if someone has sinned, he wills to spare the penitent so that he may live, and to punish the one who persists in sins, lest the obstinate escape the power of justice.” Just as from eternity he prepared some for punishment and others for glory.

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2. Augustine in the Enchiridion. “These are the great works of the Lord, sought out in all his wills, and sought out so wisely that, when the angelic and human creature had sinned—that is, had done not what he willed but what it itself willed—even through that creature’s will by which what the Creator did not will was done, he himself fulfilled what he willed: using even evil things well, as supremely good, for the damnation of those whom he justly predestined to punishment and for the salvation of those whom he mercifully predestined to glory. For as far as they themselves were concerned, they did what God did not will; but as far as God’s omnipotence was concerned, they were in no way able to do it. By the very fact that they acted against his will, his will was accomplished through them. For this reason the great works of the Lord are sought out in all his wills: so that in a wondrous and ineffable way nothing happens apart from his will, even what happens against his will; for it would not happen if he did not permit it. He certainly permits it willingly, not unwillingly; and he, being good, would not permit evil to be done unless he were omnipotent and able to make good even out of evil.” These words plainly show that God’s eternal will is always fulfilled with respect to a human being, even when that person acts against God’s will.

3. He investigates the meaning of the foregoing words. But we must carefully consider how the preceding words say that something happens against God’s will and yet not apart from it, and how we should understand the statement: “As far as they themselves were concerned, they did what God did not will; but as far as God’s omnipotence was concerned, they were in no way able to do it.” These statements seem to conflict with what was said above, that nothing resists his will.

4. Here he explains that God’s will was understood in different senses above. Yet, as we said above, “God’s will” is used in different senses. If this difference is carefully observed in the words just quoted, no contradiction will be found there. When he says that something does not happen “apart from his will,” he uses “will” differently: he means not the will that God himself is and that is eternal, but the signs of that will mentioned above, namely prohibition or command, and permission.

Chapter 2 (205).

1. In what sense some things are said to happen against God’s will, though not apart from it; and in what sense it is true that nothing happens against his will. Many things happen against God’s command or prohibition, yet not apart from his permission. For by his permission all evil things happen, and yet they happen apart from his eternal will, which is what he himself is, as Augustine says on the Psalm verse “That my mouth may not speak the works of men.” By “works of men” he means evil deeds, which happen apart from God’s will that is himself, though not apart from his permission, which is not himself. Permission is nevertheless called “God’s will” because God willingly allows evils to happen. They happen against his command or prohibition, but not against his will that is himself—unless they are said to happen against it because they happen apart from it. For nothing happens against it in such a way that he wills something to happen and it does not, or does not will it to happen and it does.

2. Augustine clearly made this point there. “As far as they themselves were concerned, they did what God did not will; but as far as God’s omnipotence was concerned, they were in no way able to do it”—as if he said: They acted against God’s command, which is called “will,” but did not act against God’s omnipotent will, because they were able to do the former, but not the latter. Thus, by acting against God’s will—that is, his command—his will was accomplished through them: that is, his eternal will was fulfilled, by which he willed them to be damned. — Hence Gregory, on Genesis: “Many carry out God’s will by the very means through which they strive to change it, and while resisting his plan they serve it; for what comes about through human effort works in favor of his disposition.” This plainly shows that while the wicked resist God’s plan and command, which is called “God’s will,” they do what fulfills his will that is himself, which is called his disposition or good pleasure.

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3. For, as Augustine says in the Enchiridion: “However great the wills of angels or human beings, good or evil, whether they will what God wills or something else, the will of the Omnipotent is always unconquered. It can never be evil; even when it inflicts evils, it is just, and what is just is certainly not evil. God, therefore, the Omnipotent, whether he has mercy on whom he wills through mercy or hardens whom he wills through judgment, does nothing unjustly, does nothing except willingly, and does everything whatever he wills.”

Chapter 3 (206).

He briefly summarizes the foregoing teaching, adding why God commands everyone to do good and avoid evil, although he does not will everyone to obey. From what has been said it is clear that God’s will, which is God himself, is always unconquered and is never frustrated in any respect, but is fulfilled in all things. His plan, command, and prohibition, however, are not fulfilled by everyone to whom they have been proposed and given. He did not command all people to do good, prohibit evil, or counsel what is best because he willed everyone to do the good he commands or avoid the evil he prohibits—for if he willed it, it would indeed happen, since no human being can overcome or impede his will in any respect—but so that he might show his justice to human beings and the wicked might be without excuse; and, finally, so that the good might receive glory for obedience and the wicked punishment for disobedience, as he prepared for both from eternity. Thus he commanded or prohibited all these things, but willed them to be done or avoided by some, not by all. He also gave particular commands, under both the Old and the New Law, which he did not will to be carried out by those to whom he gave them: for example, Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, and, in the Gospel, his command to some whom he had healed not to tell anyone.