Whether God Reprobates Any Man?
Objection 1: It seems that God reprobates no man. For nobody
reprobates what he loves. But God loves every man, according to (Wis.
11:25): "Thou lovest all things that are, and Thou hatest none of the
things Thou hast made." Therefore God reprobates no man.
Obj. 2: Further, if God reprobates any man, it would be necessary for
reprobation to have the same relation to the reprobates as
predestination has to the predestined. But predestination is the
cause of the salvation of the predestined. Therefore reprobation will
likewise be the cause of the loss of the reprobate. But this false.
For it is said (Osee 13:9): "Destruction is thy own, O Israel; Thy
help is only in Me." God does not, then, reprobate any man.
Obj. 3: Further, to no one ought anything be imputed which he cannot
avoid. But if God reprobates anyone, that one must perish. For it is
said (Eccles. 7:14): "Consider the works of God, that no man can
correct whom He hath despised." Therefore it could not be imputed to
any man, were he to perish. But this is false. Therefore God does not
reprobate anyone.
_On the contrary,_ It is said (Malachi 1:2,3): "I have loved Jacob, but
have hated Esau."
_I answer that,_ God does reprobate some. For it was said above (A.
1) that predestination is a part of providence. To providence,
however, it belongs to permit certain defects in those things which
are subject to providence, as was said above (Q. 22, A. 2). Thus, as
men are ordained to eternal life through the providence of God, it
likewise is part of that providence to permit some to fall away from
that end; this is called reprobation. Thus, as predestination is a
part of providence, in regard to those ordained to eternal salvation,
so reprobation is a part of providence in regard to those who turn
aside from that end. Hence reprobation implies not only
foreknowledge, but also something more, as does providence, as was
said above (Q. 22, A. 1). Therefore, as predestination includes the
will to confer grace and glory; so also reprobation includes the will
to permit a person to fall into sin, and to impose the punishment of
damnation on account of that sin.
Reply Obj. 1: God loves all men and all creatures, inasmuch as He
wishes them all some good; but He does not wish every good to them
all. So far, therefore, as He does not wish this particular
good--namely, eternal life--He is said to hate or reprobated them.
Reply Obj. 2: Reprobation differs in its causality from
predestination. This latter is the cause both of what is expected in
the future life by the predestined--namely, glory--and of what is
received in this life--namely, grace. Reprobation, however, is not
the cause of what is in the present--namely, sin; but it is the cause
of abandonment by God. It is the cause, however, of what is assigned
in the future--namely, eternal punishment. But guilt proceeds from
the free-will of the person who is reprobated and deserted by grace.
In this way, the word of the prophet is true--namely, "Destruction is
thy own, O Israel."
Reply Obj. 3: Reprobation by God does not take anything away from the
power of the person reprobated. Hence, when it is said that the
reprobated cannot obtain grace, this must not be understood as
implying absolute impossibility: but only conditional impossibility:
as was said above (Q. 19, A. 3), that the predestined must
necessarily be saved; yet a conditional necessity, which does not do
away with the liberty of choice. Whence, although anyone reprobated
by God cannot acquire grace, nevertheless that he falls into this or
that particular sin comes from the use of his free-will. Hence it is
rightly imputed to him as guilt.
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