No controversy had arisen amongst Christians in the time of Irenæus on the
subject of predestination, but heathen Stoics believed in an irresistible
fate, and the Gnostics taught a natural and essential difference between
the soul of one man and that of another, by virtue of which the former was
of course raised at death to an intimate union with the Supreme Essence,
whilst the latter could never hope for such an elevation, although he
might be raised to a higher state than that of earthly existence.
Both these notions Irenæus combatted. He taught that man is endued with
freewill(368), having good and evil set before him, and having the power
to choose or reject either one or the other, and to act accordingly(369);
that God has always treated men as having the power to act for
themselves(370), rewarding or punishing them(371), praising or
blaming(372) them according to the nature of their choice; and that this
proves that we have freewill(373): that in fact the circumstance that our
faith is called our own, and is rewarded(374), proves that we are free
agents(375). In conformity with this opinion, he teaches that men are
redeemed, not by compulsion, but by persuasion(376); that each person has
a portion of divine light given him, and will be recompensed according as
he keeps or rejects it(377); and that as each man’s salvation thus depends
upon his own exertion, and cannot be attained without it, so our reward
will be the more valued for having been gained by exertion(378).
We can see, therefore, that Irenæus could not have believed that the
salvation of the elect was accomplished by the mere will of God concerning
the individuals, either in opposition to their own will or by constraining
their wills; although he asserted very fully the necessity of divine grace
to cause our freewill to take a right direction(379).
And yet he was a believer in divine _predestination_. He believed that
some were predestined to have the gift of incorruptibility imparted to
them, (which we have seen to mean the Divine Spirit, by which we become
the adopted children of God,) and thus to have life in the sight of God,
whereas they were originally in a state of death(380). But he no where
implies that they could not lose this gift, but the contrary(381). So
again he teaches that God intentionally delivers some men over to unbelief
without a trial. But who are they? Those who, he foresees, will not
believe(382). He was of opinion that there is a predestined _number_ of
those who shall be saved eternally, and that when that number is
completed, the end of the world will come(383): the very idea embodied in
our burial service(384). But he no where hints that the _individuals_ were
predestined, as well as the number, or that those who were predestined to
have the gift of immortality, were all in the number of those who should
be saved eternally: so that the more we examine, the more clear does it
become that he would have been opposed to _Calvinistic_ predestination.
Who, then, are those who are predestined to the gift of immortality? The
manner in which he speaks of _election_ will enable us to answer this
question. In explaining the parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen,
he says,(385) that, after the first set of husbandmen had been cast out,
the vineyard was “no longer fenced in, but opened to all the world, and
the tower of _the election_ exalted every where, beautiful to look on;
for,” said he, “_the Church_ is every where distinctly visible, and every
where is there a winepress dug, and every where are those who receive the
Spirit.” Here we find election commensurate with the visible Church
(indeed he knows no other): and so he proceeds further on(386) to speak of
“the Word of God, who _elected_ the patriarchs _and us_;” just as in the
passage before cited(387) he had said, “_We_ who were not as yet were
predestined to be;” that is, spiritually, through redemption. And so in
another place he speaks of the Church as “the congregation of God; which
God, that is the Son, has himself collected by himself(388);” and in
another passage, “the wages of Christ are men collected out of various and
differing nations into one company of faith(389).”
All these passages reflect light upon each other, and exhibit the all‐wise
God as planning from eternity the last dispensation, by which He chooses,
through the Divine Word, to gather out of the world men of all nations,
and to restore to them the lost gift of immortality, by adopting them for
his own children, and bestowing on them his Spirit, and thus uniting them
in the one body of his Church; so that those who believe, and continue in
obedience to Him, and hold fast his teaching, continue his children;
whilst those who do not obey Him are cut off from Him, and cease to be his
children. And as baptism is the sign and means of our union with God and
the reception of the Holy Spirit(390), so baptism is the sign and pledge
of this predestination and election.
There is another question as to this election, upon which Irenæus throws
but little light; that is, whether God has elected into his Church upon
foreseen faith or not. He expressly declares(391) that God leaves in
darkness and unbelief those who, He foresees, will not believe; but what
is the precise application of that declaration, whether to those to whom
God vouchsafes no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the Gospel, or
to those who, living in the hearing of the Gospel, do not receive his
grace, is by no means clear. And it would be unsafe, therefore, to argue
that Irenæus believed that God predestines men to grace from foreseen
faith. The two things may appear to us correlative; but we must remember
that there had been no controversy on the subject, and therefore he cannot
be supposed to have weighed his language as we should perhaps do at
present.