In his debate with James White on the topic of election and loss of salvation, Trent Horn said the following:
It is only Calvinists and some evangelicals who believe salvation cannot be lost. In fact, this doctrine my opponent is defending was unknown in the Christian church for the first 1,500 years of the church’s history. Therefore, I am advocating a thoroughly biblical view held by a majority of Christians both historically and today.
If you don’t believe me, then I challenge my opponent to present a prominent Christian writer who believed the doctrine he is defending before John Calvin.
While some in the Reformed tradition try to trace this teaching back to Augustine, he said of believers, “If, however, being already regenerate and justified, he relapses of his own will into an evil life, assuredly he cannot say, ‘I have not received,’ because of his own free choice to evil he has lost the grace of God, that he had received.”
https://youtu.be/72TRODe8BdA?t=1381
This looks bad for the Calvinist case for election and the perseverance of the saints.
But looks can be deceiving. And when I heard Mr. Horn make his claim, I had read enough Augustine to feel the quote as presented didn’t quite sit right.
So I looked it up. What follows is what I found.
Trent Horn pulls his Augustine quote from chapter 9 of the treatise On Rebuke and Grace. In this treatise, Augustine takes it as his task to refute the various sorts of rationalizations against rebuke in which people, and Christians in particular, indulge.
The specific topic of chapter 9 is rebuke as it relates to obedience. Here Augustine takes on those who complain that they should not be rebuked if they have not received obedience as a gift of grace from God (emphases mine throughout):
“
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htmThe apostle says,” say they, “‘For who makes you to differ? And what have you that you have not received? Now also if you have received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?’ 2 Corinthians 4:7 Why, then, are we rebuked, censured, reproved, accused? What do we do, we who have not received?” They who say this wish to appear without blame in respect of their not obeying God . . .
Chapter 9 [VI]— Why They May Justly Be Rebuked Who Do Not Obey God, Although They Have Not Yet Received the Grace of Obedience.
Keep this fairly narrow scope in mind–rebuke as it relates to obedience, the topic of chapter 9–as we take a step back to consider the full context.
Augustine divides the complainers into two groups: those who have not yet been regenerated and those who have.
Rebuke and obedience in the unregenerated
Of the first group, those individuals in the thrall of the original sin common to all, he says let them be rebuked because from the outward effect of the rebuke may spring the “will of regeneration.” But he includes an important condition: the recipient of the rebuke must be “a child of promise,” that is, a member of God’s elect.
For Augustine, rebuke does not prompt the will directly, but only accompanies God’s work: We should rebuke the as-yet-unregenerated, he says, “. . . in order that, by the noise of the rebuke sounding and lashing from without, God may by His hidden inspiration work in him from within to will also.”
What causes the will of the unregenerated to change from disobedience to obedience? Not the will itself in response to the rebuke, but rather God’s hidden inspiration. As Augustine says clearly just a few lines earlier in the chapter, “. . . assuredly obedience itself is His gift; and that gift must of necessity be in him in whom dwells love, which without doubt is of God, 1 John 4:7 and the Father gives it to His children.”
In other words, all is grace:
Let, then, the damnable source [that is, original sin common to all] be rebuked, that from the mortification of rebuke may spring the will of regeneration — if, indeed, he who is rebuked is a child of promise — in order that, by the noise of the rebuke sounding and lashing from without, God may by His hidden inspiration work in him from within to will also.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 9 [VI]— Why They May Justly Be Rebuked Who Do Not Obey God, Although They Have Not Yet Received the Grace of Obedience.
(I will note in passing that to read synergism into this passage would require us to ignore not only the glaring conditional in the quote itself (“if, indeed, he who is rebuked is a child of promise”) but also the broader context painstakingly established by Augustine: rebuke can do nothing on its own to prompt a will to obedience because “. . . assuredly obedience itself is His gift; and that gift must of necessity be in him who dwells in love, which without doubt is of God, and the Father gives it to his children.”)
Rebuke and obedience in the regenerated
Now on to the second group of complainers, those who have been regenerated. Here we come to the passage from which Trent Horn pulls his quote.
The problem for Horn is that he misidentifies the topic under consideration here by Augustine. It is decidedly not eternal security. The grace mentioned is not the grace of election, but rather the grace of obedience.
When Augustine says, “. . . assuredly he cannot say, ‘I have not received’ . . . “, what the speaker in his rationalization is claiming not to have received is the gift of obedience from God. But if he is regenerated, Augustine argues, then by virtue of that very fact, he has received obedience from God. So the reason he doesn’t obey is not that he hasn’t received the gift of obedience from God but rather that he has relapsed by his own will into an evil life.
The grace he has lost “because of his own free choice to evil” is the grace of obedience that he had received from God. Serious to be sure, but far short of a loss of eternal security.
Here is the full passage:
If, however, being already regenerate and justified, he relapses of his own will into an evil life, assuredly he cannot say, “I have not received,” because of his own free choice to evil he has lost the grace of God, that he had received. And if, stung with compunction by rebuke, he wholesomely bewails, and returns to similar good works, or even better, certainly here most manifestly appears the advantage of rebuke. But yet for rebuke by the agency of man to avail, whether it be of love or not, depends only upon God.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 9 [VI]— Why They May Justly Be Rebuked Who Do Not Obey God, Although They Have Not Yet Received the Grace of Obedience.
So again, as the full context makes clear, the “I have not received” here refers to the grace of obedience–the topic of chapter 9–not to eternal security. There is nothing in this passage to suggest that the speaker has lost his salvation. Indeed, the last sentence of the quote makes it clear that God and God alone determines the efficacy of the rebuke.
So unfortunately for Trent Horn, his use of the quote is misleading. Perhaps Mr. Horn simply didn’t read the context. Whatever the cause, the sad result is that the quote as presented is being used to support a point that runs contrary to the actual point of the quote when understood in the context of the overall argument Augustine is making.
Trent Horn’s challenge
Which brings us to Trent Horn’s challenge: “present a prominent Christian writer who believed the doctrine he [James White] is defending before John Calvin.” Namely, the doctrine that there exists God’s elect who cannot lose their salvation.*
Before we get into the details, we should stop to thank Mr. Horn for helpfully if unwittingly pointing us to the very thing he denies exists. Because as it turns out, the entire treatise On Rebuke and Grace is an argument for why rebuke is warranted even though there exists God’s elect who cannot lose their salvation.
Evidence of this abounds. For example, in chapter 14 we find the following:
Those, then, are elected, as has often been said, who are called according to the purpose, who also are predestinated and foreknown. If any one of these perishes, God is mistaken; but none of them perishes, because God is not mistaken. If any one of these perish, God is overcome by human sin; but none of them perishes, because God is overcome by nothing.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 14.— None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish.
Here, and in many places besides, we see not only a prominent early Christian who believes that there exists God’s elect who cannot lose their salvation, but indeed that Augustine’s position is essentially Calvinist (or rather, that Calvin’s is essentially Augustinian).
Here is chapter 43 in full:
Let men then suffer themselves to be rebuked when they sin, and not conclude against grace from the rebuke itself, nor from grace against rebuke; because both the righteous penalty of sin is due, and righteous rebuke belongs to it, if it is medicinally applied, even although the salvation of the ailing man is uncertain; so that if he who is rebuked belongs to the number of the predestinated, rebuke may be to him a wholesome medicine; and if he does not belong to that number, rebuke may be to him a penal infliction. Under that very uncertainty, therefore, it must of love be applied, although its result is unknown; and prayer must be made on his behalf to whom it is applied, that he may be healed. But when men either come or return into the way of righteousness by means of rebuke, who is it that works salvation in their hearts but that God who gives the increase, whoever plants and waters, and whoever labours on the fields or shrubs — that God whom no man’s will resists when He wills to give salvation? For so to will or not to will is in the power of Him who wills or wills not, as not to hinder the divine will nor overcome the divine power. For even concerning those who do what He wills not, He Himself does what He will.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 43 [XIV.]— Rebuke and Grace Do Not Set Aside One Another.
Here “the salvation of the ailing main is uncertain,” but only to the rebuker, never go God. Our uncertainty–our inability to know fully God’s inscrutable ways–is the reason for the need for rebuke. The rebuke itself can have no positive effect unless “he who is rebuked belongs to the number of the elect.”
Further evidence that Augustine’s thesis includes the monergistic idea that all is grace, that there exists God’s elect who cannot lose their salvation, can be found in chapter 2:
But who is there who flees to grace except when “the steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He shall determine his way?” And thus also to desire the help of grace is the beginning of grace; of which, says he, “And I said, Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.” It is to be confessed, therefore, that we have free choice to do both evil and good; but in doing evil every one is free from righteousness and a servant of sin, while in doing good no one can be free, unless he have been made free by Him who said, “If the Son shall make you free, then you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 Neither is it thus, that when any one has been made free from the dominion of sin, he no longer needs the help of his Deliverer; but rather thus, that hearing from Him, “Without me you can do nothing,” John 15:5 he himself also says to Him, “Be my helper! Forsake me not.”
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 2.— The Catholic Faith Concerning Law, Grace, and Free Will.
In other words, it is God who orders you to flee to grace. Your desire to say, “Be my helper! Forsake me not,” is itself a gift from God. God is the ultimate cause of your perseverance and therefore of your salvation.
And here is chapter 39–and really, no additional exposition is necessary. This is just the limited atonement that Trent Horn denies was supported by any Christian writer prior to Calvin. Here it is, in the very treatise cited by Horn:
I speak thus of those who are predestinated to the kingdom of God, whose number is so certain that one can neither be added to them nor taken from them; not of those who, when He had announced and spoken, were multiplied beyond number. For they may be said to be called but not chosen, because they are not called according to the purpose. But that the number of the elect is certain, and neither to be increased nor diminished — although it is signified by John the Baptist when he says, “Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham,” Matthew 3:8-9 to show that they were in such wise to be cut off if they did not produce fruit, that the number which was promised to Abraham would not be wanting — is yet more plainly declared in the Apocalypse: “Hold fast that which you have, lest another take your crown.” Revelation 3:11 For if another would not receive unless one should have lost, the number is fixed.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 39 [XIII.]— The Number of the Predestinated is Certain and Defined.
More, this time from chapter 10:
For if we should say that such a perseverance, so laudable and so blessed, is man’s in such wise as that he has it not from God, we first of all make void that which the Lord says to Peter: “I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.” Luke 22:32 For what did He ask for him, but perseverance to the end? And assuredly, if a man could have this from man, it should not have been asked from God. Then when the apostle says, “Now we pray to God that you do no evil,” 2 Corinthians 13:7 beyond a doubt he prays to God on their behalf for perseverance. For certainly he does not do no evil who forsakes good, and, not persevering in good, turns to the evil, from which he ought to turn aside.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 10— All Perseverance is God’s Gift.
If perseverance is had from God and not from man, and salvation is contingent on perseverance, then our salvation is had from God and not from man. Yet again, grace is all. Not a scintilla of synergism in evidence.
Yet more–this time chapter 14 (excerpted above) in its entirety:
Of such says the apostle, “We know that to those that love God He works together all things for good, to them who are called according to His purpose; because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” Of these no one perishes, because all are elected. And they are elected because they were called according to the purpose — the purpose, however, not their own, but God’s; of which He elsewhere says, “That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls, it was said to her that the elder shall serve the younger.” Romans 9:11 And in another place he says, “Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.” 2 Timothy 1:9 When, therefore, we hear, “Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called,” Romans 8:29 we ought to acknowledge that they were called according to His purpose; since He thence began, saying, “He works together all things for good to those who are called according to His purpose,” and then added, “Because those whom He before foreknew, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. And to these promises He added, Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called.” He wishes these, therefore, to be understood whom He called according to His purpose, lest any among them should be thought to be called and not elected, on account of that sentence of the Lord’s: “Many the called but few are elected.” Matthew 20:16 For whoever are elected are without doubt also called; but not whosoever are called are as a consequence elected. Those, then, are elected, as has often been said, who are called according to the purpose, who also are predestinated and foreknown. If any one of these perishes, God is mistaken; but none of them perishes, because God is not mistaken. If any one of these perish, God is overcome by human sin; but none of them perishes, because God is overcome by nothing. Moreover, they are elected to reign with Christ, not as Judas was elected, to a work for which he was fitted. Because he was chosen by Him who well knew how to make use even of wicked men, so that even by his damnable deed that venerable work, for the sake of which He Himself had come, might be accomplished. When, therefore, we hear, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” John 6:70 we ought to understand that the rest were elected by mercy, but he by judgment; those to obtain His kingdom, he to shed His blood!
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 14.— None of the Elect and Predestinated Can Perish.
And finally, what of those who fail in the end to persevere?
Beyond a doubt, [John] wished them to continue in goodness. Therefore they were in goodness; but because they did not abide in it — that is, they did not persevere unto the end — [John] says, They were not of us, even when they were with us — that is, they were not of the number of children, even when they were in the faith of children; because they who are truly children are foreknown and predestinated as conformed to the image of His Son, and are called according to His purpose, so as to be elected. For the son of promise does not perish, but the son of perdition. John 17:12
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 20 [IX.]— Some are Children of God According to Grace Temporally Received, Some According to God’s Eternal Foreknowledge.
And from chapter 21:
Those [who fail to persevere], then, were of the multitude of the called, but they were not of the fewness of the elected. It is not, therefore, to His predestinate children that God has not given perseverance for they would have it if they were in that number of children; and what would they have which they had not received, according to the apostolic and true judgment? Corinthians 4:7 And thus such children would be given to Christ the Son just as He Himself says to the Father, “That all that You have given me may not perish, but have eternal life.” Matthew 20:16 Those, therefore, are understood to be given to Christ who are ordained to eternal life. These are they who are predestinated and called according to the purpose, of whom not one perishes. And therefore none of them ends this life when he has changed from good to evil, because he is so ordained, and for that purpose given to Christ, that he may not perish, but may have eternal life. And again, those whom we call His enemies, or the infant children of His enemies, whomever of them He will so regenerate that they may end this life in that faith which works by love, are already, and before this is done, in that predestination His children, and are given to Christ His Son, that they may not perish, but have everlasting life.
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Chapter 21.— Who May Be Understood as Given to Christ.
Here is the debate in full:
* We must acknowledge an ambiguity here–one that gets at the whiff of cross-purposes that one can detect throughout the debate. What is the exact “doctrine he’s defending” that Mr. Horn has in mind? Rather than disappear down that rabbit-hole, I’m going with the obvious candidate, the idea to which Mr. Horn appears to object most strenuously: the doctrine that there exists God’s elect who cannot lose their salvation.