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Writer's pictureChristian B. Wagner

Whether God Reprobates Any Man?

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cf., Sent.I.D40.Q4.A1; SCG3.C163; Rom.C9.L2.n764


The answer to this is in the affirmative. St. Thomas' proof of this is simple. Predestination relates to one's supernatural end. Now, to fall away from this end is, definitionally, related to one's supernatural end. Thus, falling away from this end also falls under predestination. 


He gives an analogy with certain natural means in providence. Just as to permit certain defects (e.g., that a gazelle be eaten by a Lion) is part of the providence of God, so also to permit certain defects in the moral order (i.e., the fall into sin) is part of the predestination of God. These are those who, in Summa Contra Gentiles, he describes as "those to whom from eternity he has decreed not to give grace." (SCG3.C163.2)


Now, at the end of the article, he distinguishes predestination to glory (simply called predestination, as is the custom of naming, i.e., the unspecified species takes the name of the genus) and predestination to punishment (specifically called reprobation).

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