S
Soul
Guest
Much ink has been spilled by many theologians down the ages over this conundrum of predestination. The perplexity of this mystery as it relates to salvation has, not surprisingly, given rise to the heresy of "predestinarianism", of which Calvinism is one of its chief advocates. This heretical understanding of Paul's teaching concerning "those whom [God] has predestined [...]" is based on two fundamental errors:
- the absolute will of God as the sole cause of the salvation or damnation of the individual, regardless of his merits or demerits;
- as to the elect, it denies the freedom of the will under the influence of efficacious grace and puts the reprobate under the necessity of committing sin because of the absence of grace.
All men are predestined to grace, because Jesus died for all men without exception.
Those who remain faithful at least to the natural law of the Good are predestined to glory. At the end of time, yes, everyone who has lived as a just person will have their reward.
From eternity God has known those who were destined to glory, even before they were born, that is “predestined”. Be careful however to understand the justice of God with justice.
It is certain that there are predestined people. And God knows them before their time to live begins. But they are not so because God has given them every means of becoming glorious and blocked all dangers of the devil, the world and the flesh. That would clearly be unjust. God gives them what He has given everybody. They use God’s gifts with justice, and therefore win future and eternal glory through their own free will.
God knows that they will reach this eternal glory. However, they do not know it, nor does God tell them in any way. The special gifts themselves are not a sure sign of glory; they are a more severe means to test a person’s spirit in their will, virtue, and faithfulness to God and His Law. God knows. He is happy to know in advance that a particular creature will achieve glory just as He suffers knowing that another will freely achieve damnation.
However, He does not intervene in any way to force the free will of any creature in order for it to reach the place where God wants everyone to reach; Heaven. Of course a creature’s response to divine help increases its will power. God opens up the more a man loves Him in truth; the love of actions, not that of words.
And again, the more man lives a just life, the more God communicates with him and shows Himself to him. It’s a foretaste of that knowing God that makes the saints in Heaven so happy. From this foretaste comes an increased capacity to want to be more perfect. However, man is always free to follow his own will and if after reaching perfection decides to renounce the good done and sell himself to Evil, God leaves him free to do so. There would be no merit if one is forced to do something.
To conclude: God knows from eternity who are the future eternal inhabitants of Heaven, but man with his free will must want to reach Heaven using the supernatural help that the Eternal Father gives every creature. It will be like this until one’s last breath, whatever the gifts received or the level of perfection reached.
Remember nobody has ever arrived until their journey is finished. That is, no one can be sure to have merited glory until their time is over and immortality begins. (TLN)
