God Does Not Want All To Be Saved

The Teaching of the Ancient Fathers of the Church

Early Fathers of the Catholic Church taught that God does not want all men to be saved, particularly St. Augustine and the other Fathers who argued against the Semi-Pelagians. It is incompatible with the omnipotence of God that he should fail to save any whom he wants to. Moreover, his intention is clear in that he does not reveal to all the religion that he has made necessary for salvation. St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Catholic Church continued to teach the doctrine of divine predestination.

The contents of the present essay are as follows.

Introduction

The doctrine of the following Fathers is exhibited, that God does not want all men to be saved, proved from his omnipotence and the reprobation of the heathen.

Teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo

Teaching of St. Prosper of Aquitaine

Teaching of St. Fulgentius of Ruspe

Teaching of St. Caesarius of Arles

Conclusion

Introduction

Although it has not been explicitly defined as a doctrine of the faith that God does not want all men to be saved, it is nevertheless implied by what has been defined. We have previously argued that popes of the patristic era defined the doctrine of St. Augustine on grace and free will. Augustine taught, while arguing against the Pelagians, that man can do nothing good without the grace of caritas that efficaciously gives him to, the gratia qua. Thus God can save anyone and everyone but not everyone will be saved.

We have also argued, particularly with reference to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, that it is clear that God does not want all men to be saved because he could have simply created everyone in heaven, confirmed in grace like the saints are now and never able to fall. Then all would have been eternally blessed, much like the dead baptized infants, who never chose God but were chosen by him.

Thus it is certain that God did not want all people to be saved even before he considered their foreseen merits and demerits. This doctrine is termed supralapsarianism to indicate that God decided that some would be lost even prior to his consideration of the fall of Adam. He first decided what he wanted to achieve and then designed the creation accordingly.

Nor is the reason for this reprobation overly obscure in the Catholic theological tradition. We have argued that Aquinas taught that God elects some to glory in order to manifest the goodness of his mercy and reprobates others to dishonour to manifest the goodness of his justice. Thus the creation better exhibits his goodness in its variety, which is the purpose of the creation.

We shall demonstrate in the present essay that early Fathers of the Church explicitly argued that God does not want all men to be saved, particularly St. Augustine and the other Fathers who opposed the Semi-Pelagians. They emphasized that it would be contrary to the omnipotence of God if any person could effectively resist his will to save him. Moreover, the intention of God is clear in that he does not reveal to all the religion that he has made necessary for their salvation. The saying of the apostle, that God ‘wills all men to be saved’ (I Timothy 2:4) must be understood to be true of a limited totality, even all of the elect who are drawn from all manner of men.

We note that it is congruent with the fewness of the saved that God does not want all men to be saved. Mike Malone demonstrated that the Fathers and Doctors of the Church generally taught that relatively few will be saved. Moreover, we have previously demonstrated that, according to Aquinas, a superlative few will be saved as the accomplishment of salvation is way beyond ordinary human ability, especially given the effects of original sin. St. Leonard of Port Maurice preached a sermon based on the teachings of Fathers, saints and traditional theologians who taught that very few will be saved even from among Catholics. Even if it were not true that God infallibly saves all whom he wants to, as we shall see early Fathers argue, we would still expect a greater proportion of people to be saved if he wanted all men to be saved.

We have previously argued that infants who die without the sacrament of baptism will have the punishment of fire in hell with the rest of the damned, because they die guilty of the sin of Adam. That is perhaps the most striking illustration of the limited salvific will of God.

It is topical that the denial of the doctrine of exclusive and gratuitous salvation only through the Catholic religion has facilitated the ecumenism and universalism that characterize the new Vatican II religion. Thus the concerns of Traditionalist Catholics connect with those of the Jansenists who preceded them and who, as we have shown, were also wont to maintain these doctrines in opposition to the theological progressivists who have been working toward the Vatican II aggiornamento for several centuries. It is congruent with the supralapsarian intention of God that some who are invincibly ignorant of the true religion should fail to obtain knowledge of it and the sanctification of the sacraments and be damned. We have previously exhibited the doctrine of Augustine and of Aquinas concerning the gratuitous predestination of some to the belief of the Catholic religion and the infallible reprobation of those who die invincibly ignorant of it, as well as the tradition of other Fathers and Doctors regarding the same. The invincibly ignorant are damned, at least for the guilt of original sin.

God did not start the various religions because he intends to use them as means of salvation as the new Vatican II religion claims. Rather he allows the world to be crammed with false religions and other deceptions because he wants almost everyone to be damned. Thus we supply the proper, Augustinian theological context to the dogma of ‘no salvation outside the Church’. Ecumenism and interfaith are blasphemous and sacrilegious and help confirm the damned in their false religions.

Similarly God allows the world to be given over to sin and its allures and moral laxism only encourages people to add up their sins. The patristic Church, orthodox in its doctrines regarding the gratuity and exclusivity of salvation in the Catholic religion, was prudent to enforce a much stricter penitential discipline that has previously been described, an orthopraxy that Jansenists were right to try to emulate.

We shall proceed to cite passages from early Fathers to show that they argued that God does not want all men to be saved. We shall start with St. Augustine and continue with the other Fathers who argued against the Semi-Pelagians.

Teaching of St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Augustine taught that God does not want all men to be saved. The apostle should be understood to have spoken of all the elect, who are drawn from all manner of men, when he said that God ‘wills all men to be saved’* (I Timothy 2:4.)

*Note: the passage reads as follows in the old Latin Vulgate: ‘qui omnes homines vult salvos fieri’.

The chief theological proof that Augustine offered is the omnipotence of God, according to which he does whatever he wills. If he wanted all men to be saved then obviously he would bring all to salvation. None could effectively resist his will to save them but he does not wish to save all.

He offered a further proof that God does not want all men to be saved, citing the passages of the New Testament where God was not willing that miracles should be performed in certain places though the people there would have converted and been saved.

How the apostle should be understood when he says that God wills to save all

Augustine offered four ways in which the apostle may be understood when he said that God ‘wills all men to be saved’; we may understand him to mean:

· The predestined elect;

· That all who are saved are not saved but by his will;

· That all kinds of men shall be saved;

· That God makes us wish all men to be saved and to pray for them.

God does not want all men to be saved but only the elect.

Augustine explained as follows.

‘And so that which is said ‘God wills all men to be saved’ though he is unwilling that so many be saved, is said for this reason: that all who are saved, are not saved except by his will.’ (Epistle 217)

‘And what is written, that ‘he wills all men to be saved,’ while yet all men are not saved, may be understood in many ways, some of which I have mentioned in other writings of mine; but here I will say one thing: ‘he wills all men to be saved,’ is so said that all the predestinated may be understood by it, because every kind of man is among them. Just as it was said to the Pharisees, ‘Ye tithe every herb;’ where the expression is only to be understood of every herb that they had, for they did not tithe every herb which was found throughout the whole earth. According to the same manner of speaking, it was said, ‘even as I also please all men in all things.’ For did he who said this please also the multitude of his persecutors? But he pleased every kind of men that assembled in the Church of Christ, whether they were already established therein, or were to be introduced into it.’ (Rebuke and Grace 44)

‘That, therefore, in our ignorance of who shall be saved, God commands us to will that all to whom we preach this peace may be saved, and himself works this in us by diffusing that love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us, – may also thus be understood, that God ‘wills all men to be saved’, because he makes us to will this; just as ‘he sent the Spirit of his Son, crying, Abba, Father;’ that is, making us to cry, Abba, Father. Because, concerning that same Spirit, he says in another place, ‘we have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry, Abba, Father!’ We therefore cry, but he is said to cry who makes us to cry. If, then, Scripture rightly said that the Spirit was crying by whom we are made to cry, it rightly also says that God wills, when by him we are made to will.’ (Rebuke and Grace 47)

God is omnipotent and none can resist his will to save them

Augustine argued that it is clear that God does not will all men to be saved because otherwise all would be. His omnipotence implies that he does whatever he wants. Scripture testifies that God ‘hath done all that he pleased in heaven and in earth’ (Psalm 135:6.) The weaker will of men cannot overcome his stronger will and when people are not saved, it is not because they are themselves unwilling.

‘Hence we must inquire in what sense is said of God what the apostle has mostly truly said: ‘who will have all men to be saved.’ For, as a matter of fact, not all, nor even a majority, are saved: so that it would seem that what God wills is not done, man’s will interfering with, and hindering the will of God. When we ask the reason why all men are not saved, the ordinary answer is: ‘because men themselves are not willing.’ This indeed cannot be said of infants, for it is not in their power either to will or not to will. But if we could attribute to their will the childish movements they make at baptism, when they make all the resistance they can, we should say that even they are not willing to be saved. Our Lord says plainly, however, in the Gospel, when upbraiding the impious city: ‘how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’ as if the will of God had been overcome by the will of men, and when the weakest stood in the way with their want of will, the will of the strongest could not be carried out. And where is that omnipotence which hath done all that it pleased on earth and in heaven, if God willed to gather together the children of Jerusalem, and did not accomplish it? or rather, Jerusalem was not willing that her children should be gathered together? But even though she was unwilling, he gathered together as many of her children as he wished: for he does not will some things and do them, and will others and do them not; but ‘he hath done all that he pleased in heaven and in earth.’’ (Enchiridion 97)

Augustine emphasized that we might understand the apostle (I Timothy 2:4) however we like as long as we do not understand him to mean that God wants all men to be saved. Everything that God wills is necessarily accomplished, he cannot will anything in vain.

‘Accordingly, when we hear and read in scripture that he ‘will have all men to be saved,’ although we know well that all men are not saved, we are not on that account to restrict the omnipotence of God, but are rather to understand the scripture, ‘who will have all men to be saved,’ as meaning that no man is saved unless God wills his salvation: not that there is no man whose salvation he does not will, but that no man is saved apart from his will; and that, therefore, we should pray him to will our salvation, because if he will it, it must necessarily be accomplished. And it was of prayer to God that the apostle was speaking when he used this expression. And on the same principle we interpret the expression in the Gospel: ‘the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world:’ not that there is no man who is not enlightened, but that no man is enlightened except by him. Or, it is said, ‘who will have all men to be saved;’ not that there is no man whose salvation he does not will (for how, then, explain the fact that he was unwilling to work miracles in the presence of some who, he said, would have repented if he had worked them?), but that we are to understand by ‘all men,’ the human race in all its varieties of rank and circumstances, – kings, subjects; noble, plebeian, high, low, learned, and unlearned; the sound in body, the feeble, the clever, the dull, the foolish, the rich, the poor, and those of middling circumstances; males, females, infants, boys, youths; young, middle-aged, and old men; of every tongue, of every fashion, of all arts, of all professions, with all the innumerable differences of will and conscience, and whatever else there is that makes a distinction among men. For which of all these classes is there out of which God does not will that men should be saved in all nations through his only-begotten Son, our Lord, and therefore does save them? For the Omnipotent cannot will in vain, whatsoever he may will. Now the apostle had enjoined that prayers should be made for all men, and had especially added, ‘for kings, and for all that are in authority,’ who might be supposed, in the pride and pomp of worldly station, to shrink from the humility of the Christian faith. Then saying, ‘for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our saviour,’ that is, that prayers should be made for such as these, he immediately adds, as if to remove any ground of despair, ‘who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.’ God, then, in his great condescension has judged it good to grant to the prayers of the humble the salvation of the exalted; and assuredly we have many examples of this. Our Lord, too, makes use of the same mode of speech in the Gospel, when he says to the Pharisees: ‘ye tithe mint, and rue, and every herb.’ For the Pharisees did not tithe what belonged to others, nor all the herbs of all the inhabitants of other lands. As, then, in this place we must understand by ‘every herb,’ every kind of herbs, so in the former passage we may understand by ‘all men,’ every sort of men. And we may interpret it in any other way we please, so long as we are not compelled to believe that the omnipotent God has willed anything to be done which was not done: for setting aside all ambiguities, if ‘he hath done all that he pleased in heaven and in earth,’ as the psalmist sings of him, he certainly did not will to do anything that he hath not done.’ (Enchiridion 103)

The will of every man is as a ‘heart of stone’, ‘absolutely inflexible against God,’ yet the Almighty converts whomsoever he wants and the will of no man can effectively resist him.

‘If faith is simply of free will, and is not given by God, why do we pray for those who will not believe, that they may believe? This it would be absolutely useless to do, unless we believe, with perfect propriety, that almighty God is able to turn to belief wills that are perverse and opposed to faith. […] Nor can we possibly, without extreme absurdity, maintain that there previously existed in any man the good merit of a good will, to entitle him to the removal of his stony heart, when all the while this very heart of stone signifies nothing else than a will of the hardest kind and such as is absolutely inflexible against God? For where a good will precedes, there is, of course, no longer a heart of stone.’ (Grace and Free Will 29, 30)

All would be saved if God wanted them to be. He does not convert all men because he wants to show his wrath against some of them. It is the will of God both when men are saved and when they are damned.

‘Why he does not teach all men the apostle explained, as far as he judged that it was to be explained, because, ‘willing to show his wrath, and to exhibit his power, he endured with much patience the vessels of wrath which were perfected for destruction; and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he has prepared for glory.’ Hence it is that the ‘word of the cross is foolishness to them that perish; but unto them that are saved it is the power of God.’ God teaches all such to come to Christ, for he wills all such to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And if he had willed to teach even those to whom the word of the cross is foolishness to come to Christ beyond all doubt these also would have come. For he neither deceives nor is deceived when he says, ‘every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.’’ (The Predestination of the Saints 14)

God does not convert and save all whom he could

In further proof of the doctrine that God does not want all men to be saved, Augustine cited passages from the New Testament where he was unwilling that miracles should be performed in certain places though the people there would have converted and been saved.

“21 Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.

22 But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.

23 And thou Capharnaum, shalt thou be exalted up to heaven? thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, it would have remained unto this day.

24 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” (St. Matthew 11)

“13 Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida. For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the mighty works that have been wrought in you, they would have done penance long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (St. Luke 10)

Augustine commented as follows. God does not want all men to be saved otherwise he would not have refused to work miracles for people who would have repented. As we have seen:

‘Or, it is said, ‘who will have all men to be saved;’ not that there is no man whose salvation he does not will (for how, then, explain the fact that he was unwilling to work miracles in the presence of some who, he said, would have repented if he had worked them?), but that we are to understand by ‘all men,’ the human race in all its varieties of rank and circumstances.’ (Enchiridion 103)

God infallibly saves all who are saved but to some it is ‘not given’.

‘This is the predestination of the saints, – nothing else; to wit, the foreknowledge and the preparation of God’s gifts, whereby they are most certainly delivered, whoever they are that are delivered. But where are the rest left by the righteous divine judgment except in the mass of ruin, where the Tyrians and the Sidonians were left? who, moreover, might have believed if they had seen Christ’s wonderful miracles. But since it was not given to them to believe, the means of believing also were denied them. […] But what the Lord said of the Tyrians and Sidonians may perchance be understood in another way: that no one nevertheless comes to Christ unless it were given him, and that it is given to those who are chosen in him before the foundation of the world, he confesses beyond a doubt who hears the divine utterance. […] ‘To you,’ said he, ‘it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.’’ (The Gift of Perseverance 35)

We see the mystery of divine predestination in the reprobation of these people.

‘Tyre and Sidon would not have been condemned, although more slightly than those cities in which, although they did not believe, wonderful works were done by Christ the Lord; because if they had been done in them, they would have repented in dust and ashes, as the utterances of the Truth declare, in which words of his the Lord Jesus shows to us the loftier mystery of predestination. […] But can we say that even the Tyrians and Sidonians would have refused to believe such mighty works done among them, or would not have believed them if they had been done, when the Lord himself bears witness to them that they would have repented with great humility if those signs of divine power had been done among them? And yet in the day of judgment they will be punished; although with a less punishment than those cities which would not believe the mighty works done in them.’ (The Gift of Perseverance 22, 23)

Teaching of St. Prosper of Aquitaine

St. Prosper also argued against the Semi-Pelagians that God does not want all men to be saved. He cited the omnipotence of God and his refusal to enlighten some of the true religion that he had made necessary for their salvation.

How the apostle should be understood when he says that God wills to save all

Prosper argued that when the apostle said that God ‘wills all men to be saved’, he should be understood to mean that omnipotent God saves all whom he wants to; he efficaciously calls them to the true religion, teaches them of it and saves them in it. None are saved unless he wills it.

‘What, then, about the trite objection from the Scripture text, ‘God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth?’ Only they who fail to see its meaning think it goes against us. All those who, from the past ages till today, died without having known God, are they of the number of ‘all men’? And if it is said, wrongly, that in the case of adults the evil works they did of their own free will were the obstacle to their salvation, as though grace saved the good and not the wicked, what difference in merit could there be between infants that are saved and others that are not? What is it that led the first into the kingdom of God, and what is it that kept the second out of it? Indeed, if you consider their merit, you cannot say that some of them merited to be saved; all of them deserved to be condemned, because all sinned in Adam’s sin. The unimpeachable justice of God would come down on all of them, did not his merciful grace take a certain number unto himself. As to inquiring into the reason and manner of this discrimination hidden in God’s secret counsel, this is above the ken of human knowledge, and our faith suffers no harm from not knowing it, provided we confess that no one is lost without his fault, and no one saved for his own merit, that the all-powerful goodness of God saves and instructs in the knowledge of the truth all those whom ‘he will have to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’. Save for his call, his teaching, his salvation, no man comes or learns or is saved. Though the preachers of the gospel are directed to preach to all men without distinction and to sow the seed of the word everywhere, yet ‘neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.’’ (Letter to Rufinus 13)

God is omnipotent and none can resist his will to save them

Prosper taught that God converts whomever he wants to because he is omnipotent. As we have just seen: ‘the all-powerful goodness of God saves and instructs in the knowledge of the truth all those whom ‘he will have to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.’’ (Letter to Rufinus 13)

The gospel is not withheld from some because of their obstinacy to convert. The will of God cannot be hindered by the wills of men; he made their hearts and he changes them into willing obedience. As scripture testifies God is ‘able of the stones to raise up children of Abraham’ (St. Matthew 3:9;) he works ‘all things according to the counsel of his will’ (Ephesians 1:11,) including the predestination of the elect.

‘Or should we say that the wills of men obstruct the will of God, that those peoples are of such wild and fierce ways that the reason why they do not hear the gospel is that their ungodly hearts are not ready for its preaching? But who else changed the hearts of believers but he ‘who hath made the hearts of every one of them?’ Who softened the hardness of their hearts into willing obedience but he ‘who is able of these stones to raise up children of Abraham?’ And who will give the preachers intrepid and unshaken firmness but he who said to Paul: ‘Do not fear, but speak, and hold not thy peace, because I am with thee and no man shall set upon thee, to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city?’ […] For none other will have a share in the inheritance of Christ than those who before the creation of the world were elect, predestined, and foreknown, according to the counsel of him ‘who worketh all things according to the counsel of his will.’’ (Letter to Rufinus 15)

God does not convert and save all whom he could

Like Augustine, Prosper cited the example of Tyre and Sidon, who would have converted had they witnessed the miracles of Christ, as proof that God does not want all men to be saved. He also cited the nations to whom God would not let his apostles go and the nations even of his own day.

‘He who says that the Lord withholds from some men the message of the gospel, lest hearing it they be saved, can escape the odium of the objection by invoking the authority of the saviour himself. He did not want to work miracles among people who, he said, would have believed had they seen them. He forbade his apostles to preach to some nations, and he still allows other nations to live untouched by his grace.’ (Answers to the Gauls, qualification to article 10)

The apostle (I Timony 2:4) should be understood in that context.

‘And again, at the very moment that the preachers of the gospel were sent out to all the nations, the apostles were forbidden to go to certain regions by him ‘who will have all men to he saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’, with the result, of course, that many, detained and going astray during this delay of the gospel, died without having known the truth and without having been sanctified in baptism. Let, then, holy scripture say what happened: ‘And when they had passed through Phrygia and the country of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. And when they were come into Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.’ Is there any wonder that at the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel the apostles could not go except where the Spirit of God wanted them to go, when even now we see that many of the nations only begin to have a share in the Christian grace, while others have not yet got a glimpse of that divine gift?’ (Letter to Rufinus 14)

Teaching of St. Fulgentius of Ruspe

St. Fulgentius argued against the Semi-Pelagians that God does not want all men to be saved. He taught that God does everything that he wants invincibly and he cited his refusal to enlighten some with the knowledge that he had made necessary for their salvation.

How the apostle should be understood when he says that God wills to save all

Fulgentius taught that the apostle (I Timothy 2:4) should not be understood to mean that God wants all men to be saved; rather he meant that God wants to be saved all those who are to be, the elect who are called according to his purpose, even the predestined whom he wills to be saved from among all manner of men.

‘Truly, by these ‘all persons’ whom God ‘wills to be saved’ are signified not the entire human race completely, but the entirety of all who are to be saved. And, likewise, they are called ‘all’ because divine goodness saves all those from humanity, that is, from every nation, condition, and age, from every language and from every province.’ (Epistle 17:61)

‘And so that we might know more fully who those ‘all’ are, let us listen to the words of the same blessed Peter who, speaking by the Holy Spirit, concluded that Joel’s prediction was fulfilled in the exhortation, where he says: ‘Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, and for your children, and for as many as the Lord our God will call.’ (Acts 2:38-9). And so he says ‘all,’ but also ‘as many as the Lord will call.’ Also, blessed Paul refers to them as ‘those called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).’ (Epistle 17:63)

‘All of the predestined are those whom God ‘wills to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.’’ (Epistle 15:15)

‘Therefore they are called ‘all’ because they are gathered from all kinds of persons, from all nations, from all conditions, from all masters, from all servants, from all kings, from all soldiers, from all provinces, from all languages, from all ages and from all classes. Thus ‘all’ are saved who God ‘wills to be saved.’’ (De Veritate 3:15)

God is omnipotent and none can resist his will to save them

Fulgentius taught that all whom omnipotent God wills to be saved will be converted to him and saved, because he does what he wants invincibly and none can effectively resist him. As the scripture testifies, ‘All things whatsoever he willed, he did’ (Psalm 115:3,) ‘the Lord did all things whatsoever he willed, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the abyss’ (Psalm 135:6) and hence ‘the Son gives life to whom he wills’ (St. John 5:21.)

‘No one of these [predestined] perishes. Because he who has done all things he wanted wants this, what he wants he always does invincibly. And so that is fulfilled in them which the unchangeable and invincible will of almighty God has, whose will, just as it cannot be changed in its plans, so neither is his power stopped or hindered in its execution.’ (De Remissione 2.2,2)

‘Whence our saviour reproves the malevolence of the unbelieving city with these words: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling?’ (St. Matthew 23:37) Christ said this to show its evil will by which it tried in vain to resist the invincible divine will, when God’s good will neither could be conquered by those whom it deserts nor could not be able to accomplish anything which it wanted. That Jerusalem, insofar as it attained to its will, did not wish its children to be gathered to the saviour, but he still gathered all whom he willed. In this it wanted to resist the omnipotent but was unable to because God who, as it is written, ‘Whatever the Lord pleases, he does’ (Psalm 135:6), converts to himself whomever he wills by a free justification, coming beforehand with his gift of superabounding grace on those whom he could justly damn if he wished.’ (De Remissione 2.2,3)

‘Since scripture testifies, ‘All things whatsoever he willed, he did’ (Psalm 115:3), there is nothing that he has willed and has not done. [...] For, it is evil for someone to say that the Omnipotent is not able to do something that he willed to do. […] ‘For just as the Father raises and gives life to the dead, so also the Son gives life to whom he wills’ (St. John 5:21). Those whom he wills to be given life are those whom he ‘wills to be saved.’ Therefore, just as he saves whom he wills, he also ‘gives life to whom he wills.’’ (Epistle 17:66)

‘For the power of God is not less than his will, and therefore he is found to will nothing which he is not able to bring about. [...] For, ‘the Lord did all things whatsoever he willed, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the abyss’ (Psalm 135:6). Therefore, since he does all things whatsoever he willed even in the realm of people, whomsoever he ‘wills to be saved’, he makes saved.’ (De Veritate 3:14)

‘Surely the will of the omnipotent God is always fulfilled, because his power is absolutely invincible; for it is he who ‘did all things whatsoever he willed, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the abyss’, and whose will no one resists.’ (Epistle 15:15)

God does not convert and save all whom he could

Fulgentius cited God’s refusal to enlighten some with the knowledge that he has made necessary for their salvation as proof that he does not want all men to be saved.

‘For our saviour said, ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son willed to reveal him’ (St. Matthew 11:27). In saying this he certainly shows that he wills to be revealed to some, and does not will to be revealed to others. How then is it said that he wills those to be saved to whom he did not will to reveal himself and his Father?’ (De Veritate 3:15)

‘‘To you it has been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom, but to those who are outside, everything is spoken in parables; so that seeing, those seeing should see but not see, and those hearing should hear but not understand; lest at any time they be converted and their sins be forgiven them’ (St. Mark 4:11-2). It thus appears that the Lord spoke to the multitudes, but nevertheless refused to open the mystery of the kingdom of heaven to them. Certainly in doing this, therefore, he did not will that his words be understood, because he did not will himself to be revealed in that mystery. [...] If therefore God generally ‘wills all persons to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’, how is it that the Truth himself denies the mystery of his knowledge from some?’ (De Veritate 3:16)

‘If the statement of the apostle is referring universally to all persons entirely, they [who believe this] will be compelled to pronounce that the holy evangelists are liars. For how is it that he who ‘wills all persons to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth’, did not will to give certain ones to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven? Surely if he wills to save all persons entirely, he certainly does not refuse anyone.’ (De Veritate 3:17)

‘‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’ (St. Matthew 3:11) If the Truth willed that all persons would come to his knowledge, how is it that he refused to show them [the way] by which they would come? [...] How, therefore, does he will to come to his knowledge those whom he denies his knowledge? For what is it not to will to reveal the mystery of his knowledge except not to will to save? [...] Therefore he willed to be saved those to whom he gave to know the mystery of salvation; but he does not will to be saved those to whom he has denied the knowledge of the mystery of salvation.’ (De Veritate 3:18)

Teaching of St. Caesarius of Arles

St. Caesarius argued against the Semi-Pelagians that God does not want all men to be saved. He argued that God is omnipotent and that he does not convert all whom he could.

God is omnipotent and none can resist his will to save them

Caesarius argued that God is able to convert and save everyone but he does not want to. He could make the whole world Catholic in a day. The power of God could convert all human wills to itself and men cannot contradict his will. As scripture testifies, God has done ‘all things whatsoever he willed in heaven and on earth’ (Psalm 135:6) and ‘who has resisted his will?’ (Romans 9:19) Thus, he does not will to do what he does not do.

‘Again, I ask you whether God in one day is able to make the whole world Catholic. If you say that he is not able, see how much evil you would presume to bring forth out of your mouth? If you say what is true, that he is able, do you presume to ask him why he does not do it, because without doubt he is able to? The apostle responds to you what was already said above: ‘O man, who are you to answer back to God?’ (Romans 9:20); and this: ‘O the depths of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God, how incomprehensible are his judgments!’ (Romans 11:33)

‘Perhaps you will say: ‘God indeed wills that all believe in him, but not all are willing.’ Why? Because they are not able without his grace. And at this point I ask you whether the human will is more able to contradict the divine will or whether the power of God is more able to convert human wills to itself. If you presume to deny this [latter assertion], the Psalmist cries out to you: ‘But our God in heaven on high did all things whatsoever he willed in heaven and on earth’ (Psalm 135:6); and the apostle says: ‘Who has resisted his will?’ (Romans 9:19) If he did all things whatsoever he willed, what he did not do, he certainly did not will, by a judgment hidden and also deep, and although incomprehensible nevertheless just.’ (On Grace)

God does not convert and save all whom he could

Like Augustine and Prosper before him, Caesarius cited Tyre and Sidon as proof that God does not want all men to be saved. He does not convert all whom he could but only those he wills to. He also cited the reprobation of the nations before Christ and of the Jews since.

‘But lifting yourself up in the most proud tribunal of your heart, you presume to judge God, saying: ‘why does he give grace to one and not give it to another?’ [...] And since our Lord and Saviour said in the Gospel that ‘if the miracles, which has been performed’ in Korazin, Bethsaida and Caupernaum, ‘had been performed in Tyre and Sidon and even in Sodom, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes’ (St. Luke 10:13), ask him why he would perform miracles there, not only where he would not be believed but also where he would suffer persecution, and did not perform them there where they would have repented and believed? [...] And that which the Lord has said: ‘No one knows the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him.’ (St. Matthew 11:27) Say to him: ‘Why not to everyone, but only to whom he wills?’ And that which he again said: ‘Just as the Father raises and quickens the dead so also the Son quickens whom he wills’ (St. John 5:21). On this passage respond to him: ‘Why does he not quicken all, but only those whom he wills? Also argue with the Holy Spirit, why he does not breath on everyone, but only ‘where he wills’ (St. John 3:8), and why ‘he distributes to each one as he wills’ (I Corinthians 12:11).’ (On Grace)

Conclusion

We have seen the early Fathers teach that God does not want all men to be saved. If he did, then everyone would be saved because it is incompatible with his omnipotence that he should fail to realize his intention. Moreover he would not withhold from some the gospel that he has made necessary for salvation. Rather he predestined a superlative few to salvation and damns almost everyone because he wants to. He intended to do this before he considered the fall of Adam and the sins of men.

If ‘God is love’ (I St. John 4:8) to those few upon whom he has mercy, whom he spares his gratuitous wrath, then he is hate to the mass of humanity. He hates them unto everlasting damnation, not because of their sins, which he permits and facilitates but of himself. The denial of this doctrine is perhaps the fundamental heresy today, facilitating the denial of the dogma ‘no salvation outside the Church’ and the ecumenical and universalist apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church.

‘10. And not only she. But when Rebecca also had conceived at once, of Isaac our father.

11 For when the children were not yet born, nor had done any good or evil (that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand,)

12 Not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger.

13 As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; and I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17 For the scripture saith to Pharao: To this purpose have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

18 Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will; and whom he will, he hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say therefore to me: Why doth he then find fault? for who resisteth his will?

20 O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus?

21 Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction.’ (Romans 9)

See Augustine’s To Simplician On Divers Questions for a commentary on this passage from Romans.

St. Augustine, Doctor of Grace