Augustine of Hippo on Election & predestination
Unconditional — grounded in God's free choice
"He works all these things in them who made them vessels of mercy, who also elected them in His Son before the foundation of the world by the election of grace... not of any precedent merits of theirs, because to them grace is all merit."
THE POSITION
Election is unconditional, grounded in God's free mercy and not in foreseen merit or faith. Augustine names and repudiates his own earlier position: in an earlier work he had held that God elects based on foreseen faith, and explicitly retracts it as not being grace at all if any merit precedes it — a documented change of mind, not a reconstruction by later interpreters.
11 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, 12 not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
16 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Bishop of Hippo. The single most influential theologian in Western Christianity; both Catholic and Reformed traditions claim him. Anti-Pelagian works, the Enchiridion, and On Baptism Against the Donatists.
Cite this page
"Augustine of Hippo on Election & predestination", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/augustine/election (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/augustine/election).