John Calvin: Supralapsarian

Fr. William Most has shown how Aquinas’ view was not a Calvinist-type one, but a synthesis or paradoxical view, which incorporated different elements, in tension:

Thomas’ attempt at a synthesis of the two points:

1) In his Commentary on Romans, Chapter 8, lessons 1,2,3 we find
indications of both tendencies:

a) Tendency to the massa damnata view: “Since all men because
of the sin of the first parents are born exposed to damnation,
those whom God frees through His grace, He frees out of mercy
alone. And so He is merciful to certain ones whom He delivers; but
to certain ones He is just, whom He does not deliver.”

b) Tendency to the opposite view:”…foresight of sins can be
some reason for reprobation… inasmuch as God proposes to punish
the wicked for sins which they have of themselves, not from God, but
He proposes to reward the just because of merits, which they do not
have of themselves. Osee, 13:9:’ Your ruin is from yourself, Israel;
only in me is your help.’ … Those whom He hardens, earn that they
be hardened by Him.”

2) In Contra gentiles 3.159,161,163:

a) Universal salvific will in general: CG 159: “They alone
are deprived of grace who set up in themselves an impediment to
grace, just as when the sun shines on the world, he deserves blame
who shuts his eyes, if any evil comes thereby even though he could
not see without having the light of the sun.”

COMMENT: A broad statement: God offers help to all; only they do not get it who shut themselves off from it.

b) Massa damnata: CG 163: “…some by the divine working are
directed to their ultimate end, being helped by grace, but others,
deserted by the help of grace, fail to reach the ultimate end.
Because all things that God does are provided and ordained from
eternity by His wisdom, it is necessary that the difference of men
mentioned be ordained by God from eternity….Those whom He planned
from eternity that He would not give grace, He is said to have
reprobated or to have hated, according to what is said in Malachi
1:2,3: ‘I have loved Jacob, but hated Esau.'”

COMMENT: Here the difference in men is not that they voluntarily close or do not close their eyes: it is something God planned for from eternity. He hated some as He hated Esau.

Molinism (my own view) is not Semi-Pelagian. It is only regarded as such (like the similar view Arminianism) because the Calvinist tendency is to falsely and unbiblically dichotomize any human participation or free will whatsoever as inexorably opposed to God’s sovereignty. This is clearly false. God is quite capable of remaining sovereign and allowing human free will so that man can cooperate with his entirely free, unmerited grace. The biblical view requires mystery and paradox. It doesn’t exist in a neat little logical circle or system. Molinism does not undermine God’s sovereignty. Let me give an illustration:

Suppose God utilizes his foreknowledge, specifically what is called Middle Knowledge, or scientia media, to determine which tree would withstand hurricane winds and save a servant of His from being killed by falling branches. God knows not only everything that does happen, but everything that could or would have happened in any number of possible situations or potential outcomes.

So God “predestined” “strong tree #2” to save His servant, rather than “weak tree #1.” He does this by knowing how each tree will react to hurricane winds. He chooses tree #2 because in fact it did not get blown over by the winds; He didn’t “directly cause” it to not fall. That was determined by particular instances (the tree’s “free will,” so to speak) of natural laws of biological development or nutrition, where, for whatever reason, tree #1 was weaker.

Yet the natural laws themselves were caused and created by God (sovereignty). At the appointed time, then, the servant was under the strong tree (by his own free will, yet mysteriously under the overriding sovereignty of God), so that his life was saved.

It works the same with people, in Molinism. God looks at how people will react to His absolutely free grace. He sees X rejecting it (in X’s future, but God’s constant “now”). And He sees Y accepting His grace, and partially on that basis, “predestines” and elects Y to salvation. God gives the very ability to both to accept His grace, yet He won’t force them, because they have free will.

When X rejects the grace, he is rightly damned, but it is of his own accord, not by some unalterable divine decree. On the other hand, when Y accepts the grace, it is entirely due to God’s enabling grace. He simply cooperates with the grace, and doesn’t reject it. That is no credit to him; nor does it detract in the slightest from God’s ultimate causative agency, because it was only because of God’s grace that Y could so choose in the first place.

And that’s why neither Arminianism nor Molinism are Semi-Pelagian, rightly understood. That conclusion derives from the mistaken and illogical assumption that man’s free will and God’s sovereignty and free grace are mutually exclusive. They are not. They exist in paradox, but there is no inherent logical contradiction, as Calvin and Calvinists seem to so easily assume.

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Meta Description: John Calvin was a supralapsarian: the belief that God predestined the damned from all eternity, with them having no choice at all.

Meta Keywords: John Calvin, supralapsarianism, supralapsarian, double predestination, Calvinism, Calvinist soteriology, elect, election, eternal security, irresistible grace, Limited atonement, Once saved always saved, perseverance of the saints, predestination, Reformed soteriology, Salvation, soteriology, sovereignty, Thomism, total depravity, TULIP, unconditional election