Grace & Free Will
“And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them.
But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his
army,
and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
Exodus 14, 4
Double predestination is a theological doctrine held by traditional “hyper” Calvinists, which basically means God has willed to create some people to be saved and others to be lost. In other words, human beings cannot freely choose whether they want to be reconciled to God and be saved or to reject God and risk losing their salvation. Their eternal destiny is a predetermined fate beyond their control: spiritual as opposed to biological determinism. This Protestant teaching denies that our salvation partly depends on human desire and effort. It’s grounded on the conviction that no one deserves God’s mercy because of their sins and cannot merit their salvation by any natural means. This part is actual and acknowledged by Catholics, but Reformed Protestants of the classical tradition even deny the idea of supernatural merit through the efficacy of actual and cooperative grace.
These super-extreme Calvinists
believe that, because of our common sinful nature and original fall from grace,
God can act with partiality. God can choose the people He wills to be merciful to and those whose hearts He will deliberately harden so they
cannot be saved. Hence, human free will and supernatural merit within the
system of cooperative grace hold no place in this theological doctrine. Human
beings are either formed of clay for a particular purpose (the glory of
God) or common use (for the glory of God). Salvation is no longer a
merited gift or reward but an undeserved favor (irresistible grace) only so
that God can demonstrate His omnipotence and mercy and consequently flaunt His
divine will on a whim. There is justice insofar as Christ’s alien righteousness
is imputed to the believer only because of their faith in His redeeming merits.
To
support their belief system, hyper-Calvinists usually cite Exodus 14 and Romans
9, which we will examine later since Paul uses Pharaoh as an example for all
the wicked. For now, let’s look at Exodus and see whether it’s true that God
has intentionally created some people for eternal destruction, who, because of
their sinfulness, can’t justly blame God for His choice since God could have
withheld His mercy from everyone if He so chose – all having fallen short of
the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Is the clay in no position to argue with the
potter? The answer is Yes, but in a Catholic sense. Can God justly show or
withhold His mercy from whoever He chooses in His sovereignty? Again, the
answer is Yes, but in a Catholic sense.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,
he hardened his heart and did not heed them,
as the Lord had said.
Exodus 8:15
But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also;
neither would he let the people go.
Exodus 8:32
And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder
had ceased,
he sinned yet more, and he hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Exodus 9:34
Our non-Catholic friends fail to see
what is actually meant by the idea of God hardening one’s heart. They single
out and isolate Exodus 14 to support their preconceived notion formed from their interpretation of other Scriptural passages in the New
Testament. Chapter 14, Verse 4 doesn’t mean that God somehow predetermined or
molded Pharaoh from wanting to release the Israelites from slavery. Instead, it
means that God permitted Pharaoh to remain unyielding to His command freely.
Pharaoh, unfortunately, was obstinate in heart. He refused to be persuaded even
after Egypt had been hit by several devastating plagues. In fact, because of
his pride, he grew even more intransigent after each plague was sent by God.
Pharaoh defied God and became even more defiant. God had hardened his heart,
but only because of the plagues, which resulted in its increased hardening.
Thus, Pharaoh grew defiant and
unheeding with each plague because of his pride. They boosted his ego, which influenced his decision to remain intransigent. In this way, God
hardened his heart by being physically responsible for sending the plagues. On the other hand, Pharaoh was morally responsible for them by his persistent disobedience to the divine command: “Let my people go!” God wouldn’t have commanded Pharaoh if he had no free will and choice in the matter. I’m
afraid God doesn’t mold us so that we should act against His will for the sake
of His pleasure of being merciful to a selected few other than ourselves and
demonstrating how merciful He can be when He wants to be by acting arbitrarily
apart from our desires rendering them moot.
On the contrary, God reveals His true
intentions and what he truly desires for everyone who is made of the same
original clay through the prophet: ‘Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked
should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn from his ways, and
live?’ (Ezek 18:23; cf. 1 Tim 2:3-4; 1 Jn 2:1-3; 2 Pet 3:9). The truth is God
permitted Pharaoh to become more obstinate of his own accord and then
purposefully used his pride and ego to free the Israelites from slavery in such an extraordinary way, as to display His glory and might to the Egyptians.
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By
no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I
will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So
it depends not upon
man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. 17 For the scripture says to
Pharaoh,
“I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you,
so that my name may be
proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy
upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of
whomever he wills. 19 You
will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his
will?” 20 But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say
to its molder, “Why
have you made me thus?” 21 Has the potter no right over the
clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel
for beauty and another for menial
use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known
his power,
has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23 in
order to make
known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he
has prepared beforehand for glory,
Romans 9
The basic principle in Romans
9 is this: Those who will not see and hear shall not see and hear.
Consequently, God has mercy upon whom he wills. He hardens whom he wills
(cf. Jn. 9:41). In Vv. 14-16, Paul is simply affirming that there is no
injustice on God’s part in not granting what another has no natural right to
(the forgiveness of their sins) since all of us who have sinned justly deserve
punishment. God isn’t indebted to showing us His mercy in His justice. If, on
the other hand, God shows His mercy on some people, it is because of His
goodness and liberality despite their sins. If He leaves others in their sins
(Pharaoh or the Pharisees) by withholding his grace because of their
stubbornness, they are punished for their just deserts.
God’s mercy shines upon His elect,
those willing to receive His grace and open themselves to His word, but
the divine justice is handed out to the wicked and the reprobate according to
what they deserve through their moral liberty and obstinacy of heart. There is
no just reason why God must show His compassion to those who refuse it. We
cannot force our will on God and expect Him to be merciful to us while
remaining in sin. Nor can we blame God for being sinful and punished for our
sins by how we choose to act against His will. No command of God is impossible
for us to obey because we have all received sufficient grace in our fallen
condition. God’s efficacious grace assists us in being righteous once we have
directed our will to His goodness. If we draw near to God, He will draw near to
us and shower us with His grace, not by any natural merit of ours because of
our sinful state, but through the sacrificial work of Jesus who has merited
grace for us (Jas 4:8; Heb 10:2, etc.). There are at least thirty-five Bible
verses about drawing near to (not being drawn by) God, which presuppose we have
free will and can either accept or reject God’s merciful gift of salvation.
In v. 19, Paul responds to the
objection that if God rules over faith through the principle of divine
election, God cannot accuse unbelievers of sin. The apostle, however,
shows that God is far less arbitrary than what might appear at first glance. He
suggests in v. 22 that God does endure with much patience people like Pharaoh
who obstinately resist His will. He reiterates why God might, without any
injustice, have mercy on some and not on others, grant particular graces and
favors to His elect and not equally to everyone. All humankind is liable to
damnation, composed of sinful clay, the state of original sin. No
single soul has a just claim on the Divine Mercy by any natural merit outside
the system of divine grace.
So, those whom God chooses to remove
from this sinful lump to bestow His graces and favor are to display His justice and hatred for sin. This is the underlying meaning in
v. 23. God is glorified by leading any of us to repentance by the riches of His
kindness and His mercy, which we mustn’t disregard if we hope to be saved
according to the divine plan (Rom 2:4). The “vessels of mercy” are those who by
the grace of God acknowledge their sins and repent with a firm desire for
amendment with the help of divine grace.
By leaving others as “vessels of wrath” lost in their sins, Paul simply means that God has endured patiently
as much as He could, thereby abandoning them in their obstinate sinfulness and
withholding His grace and favor from them through their own intransigence and
willfulness. God knows the hearts of everyone, and so He knows who to touch and
how to touch their hearts so that they come to accept His will for them. Those fettered by pride and selfishness are less likely to be drawn by divine
persuasion. God coerces no one, so He might decide to leave some people alone and in their sins while patiently waiting for them to change their hearts. He has already granted them the sufficient grace they need. Only those humbly willing to align their wills with God benefit from His mercy by
answering the call and cooperating with his helping grace. These are the ones
who make every feeble effort to draw near to God with the help of His grace
that He will draw near to them. We can do nothing without God despite our
desire to be reconciled to Him, so we must ask for the graces we need and
will receive just by asking (Mt 7:7).
Hence, the allegory of the Potter and the Clay is by no means intended to show that human beings are destitute of free will and liberty, and so are utterly passive in God’s plan of redemption, unable to decide whether they want to be saved. It is used only to stress that we are not to question God why He confers his graces and favors on some and not on others since we are no better than each other in our sinfulness. If there is any difference among us, some of us are humbler and less proud by the grace of God and thereby most likely to acknowledge our sins and be saved.
It is owing to the divine goodness and mercy that God wills to create vessels of honor by His grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit. And it is just that others, because they refused to repent and convert, should be given up as vessels of wrath undeserving of God’s mercy. Meanwhile, Paul’s point is that God sovereignly decides whatever purpose He has for His elect when bestowing His gifts of the Holy Spirit on them. God has a unique plan for those who choose to love and obey Him, just as He has a plan for those who choose to reject Him. It’s God and not any of us who takes the initiative. But our collaboration is called for if we truly want to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth as God desires everyone to be (1 Tim 2:1-4).
Early Sacred Tradition
“And
pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of
the repentance, that they may attain to God. For ‘cannot he that falls arise
again, and he may attain to God.’”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 10
( A.D. 110)
“And
this is your condition, because of the blindness of your soul, and the
hardness of your heart. But, if you will, you may be healed. Entrust yourself
to
the Physician [God], and He will couch the eyes of your soul and of you heart.”
St. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 7.
(inter A.D. 168-181)
“Now,
in the beginning, the spirit was a constant companion of the soul, but the spirit
forsook it because it was not willing to follow. Yet, retaining as it were a spark
of its power,
though unable by reason of the separation to discern the perfect,
while seeking for God it
fashioned to itself in its wandering many gods, following
the sophistries of the demons.
But the Spirit of God is not with all, but,
taking up its abode with those who live justly,
and intimately combining with
the soul, by prophecies it announced hidden things to other
souls.”
St. Tatian the Syrian, To the Greeks, 13
(A.D. 175)
“That
eternal fire has been prepared for him as he apostatized from God of his
own free-will, and likewise for all who unrepentant continue in the apostasy,
he now blasphemes, by means of such men, the Lord who brings judgment [upon
him] as being already condemned, and imputes the guilt of his apostasy to his
Maker, not to his own voluntary disposition.”
St. Justin Martyr
Fragment in Irenaeus’ Against Heresies,
5:26:1
(A.D. 189)
“All
indeed depends on God, but not so that our free-will is hindered. ‘If then it depend
on
God,’ (one says), ‘why does He blame us?’ On this account I said, ‘so that
our free-will is
no hindered.’ It depends then on us, and on Him For we must first
choose the good; and
then He leads us to His own. He does not anticipate our choice,
lest our free-will should
be outraged. But when we have chosen, then great is
the assistance he brings to us…For it is
ours to choose and to wish; but God’s
to complete and to bring to an end. Since therefore
the greater part is of Him,
he says all is of Him, speaking according to the custom of men.
For so we ourselves
also do. I mean for instance: we see a house well built, and we say the
whole
is the Architect’s [doing], and yet certainly it is not all his, but the workmen’s
also,
and the owner’s, who supplies the materials, and many others’, but
nevertheless since he
contributed the greatest share, we call the whole his. So
then [it is] in this case also.”
St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Hebrews, 12:3
(A.D. 403)
“‘No
man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him’! For He does
not
say, ‘except He lead him,’ so that we can thus in any way understand that
his will precedes.
For who is ‘drawn,’ if he was already willing? And yet no man
comes unless he is willing.
Therefore he is drawn in wondrous ways to will, by
Him who knows how to work within
the very hearts of men. Not that men who are
unwilling should believe, which cannot be,
but that they should be made willing
from being unwilling.”
St. Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, I:19
(A.D. 420)
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Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7, 7
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