[XVIII.] Consequently sometimes the same predestination is signified also under the name of foreknowledge; as says the apostle, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”117    Rom. xi. 2. Here, when he says, “He foreknew,” the sense is not rightly understood except as “He predestinated,” as is shown by the context of the passage itself. For he was speaking of the remnant of the Jews which were saved, while the rest perished. For above he had said that the prophet had declared to Israel, “All day long I have stretched forth my hands to an unbelieving and a gainsaying people.”118    Rom. x. 21 et seq. And as if it were answered, What, then, has become of the promises of God to Israel? he added in continuation, “I say, then, has God cast away His people? God forbid! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” Then he added the words which I am now treating: “God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” And in order to show that the remnant had been left by God’s grace, not by any merits of their works, he went on to add, “Know ye not what the Scripture saith in Elias, in what way he maketh intercession with God against Israel?”119    Rom. xi. 4 et seq. and the rest. “But what,” says he, “saith the answer of God unto him? ‘I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee before Baal.’”120    Rom. xi. 5. For He says not, “There are left to me,” or “They have reserved themselves to me,” but, “I have reserved to myself.” “Even so, then, at this present time also there is made a remnant by the election of grace. And if of grace, then it is no more by works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” And connecting this with what I have above quoted, “What then?”121    Rom. xi. 7. and in answer to this inquiry, he says, “Israel hath not obtained that which he was seeking for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” Therefore, in the election, and in this remnant which were made so by the election of grace, he wished to be understood the people which God did not reject, because He foreknew them. This is that election by which He elected those, whom He willed, in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without spot in His sight, in love, predestinating them unto the adoption of sons. No one, therefore, who understands these things is permitted to doubt that, when the apostle says, “God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew,” He intended to signify predestination. For He foreknew the remnant which He should make so according to the election of grace. That is, therefore, He predestinated them; for without doubt He foreknew if He predestinated; but to have predestinated is to have foreknown that which He should do.

CAPUT XVIII.

Unde aliquando eadem praedestinatio significatur etiam nomine praescientiae, sicut ait Apostolus, Non repulit Deus plebem suam, quam praescivit. Hic quod ait, praescivit, non recte intelligitur, nisi, praedestinavit: quod circumstantia ipsius lectionis ostendit. Loquebatur enim de reliquiis Judaeorum, quae salvae factae sunt, pereuntibus caeteris. Nam superius dixerat, ad Israel dixisse prophetam, Tota die extendi manus meas ad populum non credentem et contradicentem: et tanquam responderetur, Ubi sunt ergo factae promissiones Dei ad Israel? continuo subjunxit, Dico ergo, Numquid repulit Deus plebem suam? Absit: nam et ego Israelita sum ex semine Abraham, tribu Benjamin : tanquam diceret, Nam et ego ex ipsa plebe sum. Deinde addidit unde nunc agimus, Non repulit Deus plebem suam, quam praescivit. Atque ut ostenderet Dei gratia fuisse relictas reliquias, non meritis operum eorum, secutus adjunxit, An nescitis in Elia quid dicit Scriptura; quemadmodum interpellat Deum adversus Israel? et caetera. Sed quid dicit illi, inquit, responsum divinum? Reliqui mihi septem millia virorum, qui non curvaverunt genu ante Baal. Non enim ait, Relicta sunt mihi; aut, Reliquerunt se mihi: sed, reliqui mihi. Sic ergo, inquit, et in hoc tempore reliquiae per electionem gratiaefactae sunt. Si autem gratia, jam non ex operibus; alioquin gratia jam non est gratia. Et connectens illa quae jam supra interposui, Quid ergo? et huic interrogationi respondens, Quod quaerebat, inquit, Israel, hoc non est consecutus; electio autem consecuta est; caeteri vero excaecati sunt (Rom. X, 21 XI, 7). In hac ergo electione, et in his reliquiis, quae per electionem gratiae factae sunt, voluit intelligi plebem, quam propterea Deus non repulit, quia praescivit. Haec est illa electio, qua eos quos voluit, elegit in Christo 1023 ante constitutionem mundi, ut essent sancti et immaculati in conspectu ejus, in charitate, praedestinans eos in adoptionem filiorum (Ephes. I, 4, 5). Nullus igitur qui haec intelligit, negare vel dubitare permittitur, ubi ait Apostolus, Non repulit Deus plebem suam, quam praescivit, praedestinationem significare voluisse. Praescivit enim reliquias, quas secundum electionem gratiae fuerat ipse facturus. Hoc est ergo praedestinavit: sine dubio enim praescivit, si praedestinavit: sed praedestinasse, est hoc praescisse quod fuerat ipse facturus.