Augustine on God’s Wish and Will

While some scholars have maintained that Augustine and even surprisingly Prosper of Aquitaine did not believe God wills the salvation of all men (e.g., Mathijs Lamberigts, “Predestination,” in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encylopedia, ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald [Eerdmans, 1999], 679, claiming that about Augustine; and D. F. Wright, “Semi-Pelagianism,” in New Dictionary of Theology, eds. S. B. Ferguson, D. F. Wright, and J. I. Packer [IVP, 1988], 636, claiming that about both Augustine and Prosper), and mostly—if not entirely—because of Augustine’s interpretation of 1 Tim 2:4, other scholars claim otherwise. For example, while noting the complexity of Augustine’s teaching on predestination, the will of God, and the death of Christ, John W. Rettig, of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, said:

That God foreknows that some are condemned poses a theological problem in view of the orthodox teaching that Christ died for all and by his death and resurrection redeemed all. As in all matters touching predestination, Augustine’s view is complex, difficult, and somewhat obscure. It would appear that he holds that God does will the salvation of all men and in a general sense he does so by providing all with the power and the means for salvation. But he also, for his own reasons, gives men the freedom to choose or refuse salvation and then he foreknows that some will choose salvation and some damnation. He could intervene, but wills not to do so; were he to intervene freedom of will would be meaningless. Since he foreknows that some will refuse redemption and does not intervene, then in an absolute sense he wills the damnation of some. Why he chooses this kind of world over the many possible dispositions of creation is a mystery. See Browne, 29.1238–46, and E. Portalie, A Guide to the Thought of Saint Augustine, 215–23. But the situation is probably more complex than this, as all men’s acts are the results of freely given, unmerited graces. Why are some not given graces to enable their perseverance? Augustine, then, would seem to take a rather rigid view of predestination: that God, for his own reasons, in fact wills the damnation of some. This tractate seems to support such a view. See J. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, 366–69, for a good, brief account of the latter position.

See Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John 28–54, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. John W. Rettig, vol. 88, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1993), 230, n. 12; Tractate 48.4; italics original.

While Henri Blocher thinks that Augustine’s line of thought leads to so-called definite atonement, he also said that “His [Augustine’s] emphasis on the divine desire that all should be saved is repetitious.” He said:

Augustine’s case is complex, and no unified doctrine of atonement stands out clearly in his writings. His emphasis on the divine desire that all should be saved is repetitious, but other lines would lead to definite atonement.

Henri A. G. Blocher, “Jesus Christ the Man: Toward a Systematic Theology of Definite Atonement,” in From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson (Crossway, 2013), 549.

As we shall see in the following quotes, Augustine did indeed believe in God’s will, wish, and desire for the salvation of all men. Keep in mind that it is not only these quotes that are relevant to the subject, but also those many statements in Augustine where he said Christ was crucified for all and redeemed all mankind. If Christ did that, then certainly Christ desires the salvation of all men. 

It must also be understood that just because a theologian takes a decretal or limited view of one of the controversial passages on the will of God (e.g., 1 Tim 2:4 or 2 Pet 3:9), it does not follow that they denied that God, in principle, or categorically, wills the salvation of all men. Take W. G. T. Shedd, for example. He viewed 2 Pet 3:9 as referring to God’s effectual will, and thus taught that the verse concerns the elect, and yet Shedd strongly affirmed that God desires the salvation of all men in His revealed will, as did John Murray, who took 2 Pet 3:9 to refer to all men, like Calvin. Moreover, while Charles Spurgeon took 1 Tim 2:4 to refer to God’s revealed desire for the salvation of all men, I am fairly sure that Phil Johnson, who highly respects Spurgeon, takes that verse to refer to all kinds of the elect, yet both Spurgeon and Johnson believe God desires the salvation of all men in principle, or categorically. The point is this: Among Augustinians, the Reformed, and mainstream Calvinists, there may be hermeneutical disagreements, but there is categorical agreement on God’s revealed desire for the salvation of all men. A failure to understand this principle has led so many historians astray, not only the subject of God’s will, but also on the extent of the atonement.

With that said, here is some of the material from Augustine:

FROM THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER (AD 412):

Chapter 58: God wills and wishes all men to be saved. Jean Daillé (1594–1670) cited this from Augustine to show that Augustine believed that God wills all men to be saved.

Latin edition:

33. 58. Prius igitur illud dicamus et videamus utrum huic satisfaciat quaestioni, quod liberum arbitrium naturaliter adtributum a Creatore animae rationali illa media vis est, quae vel intendi ad fidem, vel inclinari ad infidelitatem potest et ideo nec istam voluntatem, qua credit Deo, dici potest homo habere quam non acceperit, quando quidem vocante Deo surgit de libero arbitrio, quod naturaliter cum crearetur accepit. Vult autem Deus omnes homines salvos fieri et in agnitionem veritatis venire, non sic tamen, ut eis adimat liberum arbitrium, quo vel bene vel male utentes iustissime iudicentur.

Quod cum fit, infideles quidem contra voluntatem Dei faciunt, cum eius Evangelio non credunt, nec ideo tamen eam vincunt, verum se ipsos fraudant magno et summo bono malisque poenalibus implicant experturi in suppliciis potestatem eius, cuius in donis misericordiam contempserunt. Ita voluntas Dei semper invicta est; vinceretur autem, si non inveniret quid de contemptoribus faceret aut ullo modo possent evadere quod de talibus ille constituit. Qui enim dicit verbi gratia: “Volo ut hi omnes servi mei operentur in vinea et post laborem requiescentes epulentur, ita ut quisquis eorum hoc noluerit, in pistrino semper molat”, videtur quidem quicumque contempserit contra voluntatem Domini sui facere, sed tunc eam vincet, si et pistrinum contemnens effugerit, quod nullo modo fieri potest sub Dei potestate. Unde scriptum est: Semel locutus est Deus, hoc est, incommutabiliter, quamquam et de unico Verbo possit intellegi. Deinde subiungens quid incommutabiliter sit locutus: Duo haec, inquit, audivi, quoniam potestas Dei est, et tibi, Domine, misericordia, qui reddes unicuique secundum opera sua. Ille igitur reus erit addamnationem sub potestate eius, qui contempserit ad credendum misericordiam eius. Quisquis autem crediderit eique se a peccatis omnibus absolvendum et ab omnibus vitiis sanandum et calore ac lumine eius accendendum illuminandumque commiserit, habebit ex eius gratia opera bona, ex quibus etiam secundum corpus a mortis corruptione redimatur, coronetur bonisque satietur non temporalibus, sed aeternis, supra quam petimus et intellegimus.

Holmes, Wallace, Warfield Translation:

Let us then, first of all, lay down this proposition, and see whether it satisfies the question before us: that free will, naturally assigned by the Creator to our rational soul, is such a neutral⁴ power, as can either incline towards faith, or turn towards unbelief. Consequently a man cannot be said to have even that will with which he believes in God, without having received it; since this rises at the call of God out of the free will which he received naturally when he was created. God no doubt wishes all men to be saved⁵ and to come into the knowledge of the truth; but yet not so as to take away from them free will, for the good or the evil use of which they may be most righteously judged. This being the case, unbelievers indeed do contrary to the will of God when they do not believe His gospel; nevertheless they do not therefore overcome His will, but rob their own selves of the great, nay, the very greatest, good, and implicate themselves in penalties of punishment, destined to experience the power of Him in punishments whose mercy in His gifts they despised. Thus God’s will is for ever invincible; but it would be vanquished, unless it devised what to do with such as despised it, or if these despises could in any way escape from the retribution which He has appointed for such as they. Suppose a master, for example, who should say to his servants, I wish you to labour in my vineyard, and, after your work is done, to feast and take your rest; but who, at the same time, should require any who refused to work to grind in the mill ever after. Whoever neglected such a command would evidently act contrary to the master’s will; but he would do more than that,—he would vanquish that will, if he also escaped the mill. This, however, cannot possibly happen under the government of God. Whence it is written, “God hath spoken once,”—that is, irrevocably,—although the passage may refer also to His one only Word.⁶ He then adds what it is which He had irrevocably uttered, saying: “Twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Also unto Thee, O Lord, doth mercy belong: because Thou wilt render to every man according to his work.”⁷ He therefore will be guilty unto condemnation under God’s power, who shall think too contemptuously of His mercy to believe in Him. But whosoever shall put his trust in Him, and yield himself up to Him, for the forgiveness of all his sins, for the cure of all his corruption, and for the kindling and illumination of his soul by His warmth and light, shall have good works by his grace; and by them8 he shall be even in his body redeemed from the corruption of death, crowned, satisfied with blessings,—not temporal, but eternal,—above what we can ask or understand.
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4 [“Media vis,” a “midway power,” as Dr. Bright translates it; i.e., it is indifferent in itself, and neither good nor bad, but may be used for either.—W.]
5 1 Tim. 2:4.
6 John 1:1.
7 Ps. 62:11, 12.
8 Ex quibus.

Augustine, “A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter: Chapter 58,” trans. Peter Holmes, Robert Ernest Wallace, and B. B. Warfield, in NPNF, 1st Series, ed. by Philip Schaff (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004), 5:109; De spiritu et littera, c. 58.

Burnaby Translation:

58. Here the first point to be made, as a possible solution of the difficulty, is that the freedom of choice which the Creator has conferred in the way of nature upon the rational soul is a neutral power, which can either be exerted to faith or sink into unbelief. Accordingly it cannot be said that in the act of will whereby a man believes God, he possesses what he has not received, since it arises at God’s call from the freedom of choice which he received in the way of nature at his creation. God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; but not so as to deprive them of that freedom of choice, for the good or evil use of which they are subjected to the judgment of absolute Justice. By that judgment, the unbelieving act against God's will when they disbelieve his gospel; yet what they do is not to defeat his will but to cheat themselves of a supreme good and fall into the distress of punishment: in which they must lie under the power of him whose mercy in his gifts they have despised.98 Thus the will of God is ever undefeated: which would not be, had he no way of dealing with his despisers, or were there any escape for them from his sentence upon such. Suppose a master say: “I will that all these my servants work in the vineyard, and after their labour rest and feast; provided that any who will not so work shall grind for ever in the mill.” It might appear that one who should despise the order is acting 'against his master's will; but he will only defeat it if in his master's despite he escapes also from the mill. And that under the power of God is altogether impossible. So it is written: “God spoke once”—which we understand in the sense of “unchangeably,” though it might also be taken to mean a single utterance—and then we hear the matter of this unchangeable word: “these two things have I heard, that power belongeth unto God, and that mercy is thine, O Lord, who wilt render to every man according to his works” (Ps 62:11f). The despiser of his mercy, which calls for belief, must bear under his power the sentence of condemnation. But whosoever believes, and trusts himself to God for the absolution of all his sins, for the healing of all his sicknesses, for kindling and illumination by the warmth and light of God, shall have by his grace those good works which lead to deliverance even in the body from the corruption of death, to crowning and satisfaction with the good things which are not temporal but eternal, above all that we ask or think (Eph 3:20).

Augustine, “The Spirit and the Letter, in Later Works, trans. John Burnaby, LCC 8 (Westminster Press, 1955), 242–43. In footnote #97, Burnaby said, “Note that in this treatise Augustine does not find it necessary, as he did later, to explain away this text (cf. Enchrid., 103).

Teske Translation:

58. Let us, then, first set forth this idea and see whether it provides a satisfactory answer to our question. The free choice which the creator has given to the rational soul as part of its nature is a neutral power that can either turn to faith or fall into unbelief. Therefore, human beings cannot be said to have this will by which they believe God unless they have received it, when at God’s call it arises from the free choice which they received as part of their nature when they were created. God wills that all human beings be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4), but not so that he deprives them of free choice, since they will be judged with perfect justice according to their good or bad use of it. Consequently, unbelievers act against the will of God when they do not believe his gospel, but they do not on that account defeat his will. Rather, they deprive themselves of the great and supreme good and plunge themselves into evils which are punishments. They are destined to experience in punishment the power of the God whose mercy they held in contempt in his gifts. Thus the will of God is never defeated, but it would be defeated, if it could not find something to do with those who hold him in contempt or if they could somehow escape what he has appointed for them. He says, for example, I will that all these servants of mine work in the vineyard and that, after their labor, they rest and feast. But if any of them refuse to do this, they will forever grind grain at the millstone. Any who held him in contempt would seem to act against the will of their lord, but they would defeat it if they took flight from the millstone out of contempt—something that could never happen under God’s power. Hence, scripture said, God has spoken once, that is, immutably—though one could also understand this with regard to the only Word. Then, adding what he spoke immutably, it says, These two things have I heard: that power belongs to God and to you, Lord, belongs mercy; you repay all according to their works (Ps 62:12–13). Therefore, they will be liable to condemnation under his power who, with regard to believing, have held his mercy in contempt. But those who believe and entrust themselves to God to be forgiven all their sins and to be healed from all their wounds and to be enkindled and enlightened by warmth and light will have good works as a result of his grace. By them they will be redeemed from the corruption of bodily death; they will be crowned and satisfied with goods—not temporal ones, but eternal ones, beyond what we ask for and understand (Eph 3:20).

Saint Augustine, “The Spirit and the Letter,” in Answer to the Pelagians, ed. John E. Rotelle, trans. Roland J. Teske, vol. 23, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1997), 182–83; De spiritu et littera, c. 33, 58; italics original.

FROM THE TRACTATES ON JOHN’S GOSPEL (AD 406–430):

Tractate 89: Christ came to that the Jews might believe, or to enlist the faith of the Jews.

Gibb and Innes Translation:  

What, then, does He mean by the words, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin”? Was it that the Jews were without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who, though he were the greatest fool, would say so? But it is some great sin, and not every sin, that He would have to be understood, as it were, under the general designation. For this is the sin wherein all sins are included; and whosoever is free from it, has all his sins forgiven him: and this it is, that they believed not on Christ, who came for the very purpose of enlisting their faith. From this sin, had He not come, they would certainly have been free. His advent has become as much fraught with destruction to unbelievers, as it is with salvation to those that believe; for He, the Head and Prince of the apostles, has Himself, as it were, become what they declared of themselves, “to some, indeed, the savour of life unto life; and to some the savor of death unto death”(2 Cor 2:16).

Augustine of Hippo, “Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel according to St. John,” in St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. John Gibb and James Innes, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), 357–58; Tractate LXXXIX.

Rettig Translation:   

(3) What, then, does it mean, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin”? Were the Jews without sin before Christ had come to them in the flesh? Who, even [if he were] very stupid, would say this? But he intended to be understood a particularly great sin, not every sin, under the general term, as it were. For this is the sin by which one holds fast to all sins; for if anyone should not have this [sin], all sins are forgiven him. Now, this sin is that they did not believe in Christ, who came for this precise reason, that there be belief in him. This sin, if he had not come, they assuredly would not have. For his coming, as salutary as it was made for those who believe, so deadly was it made for those who believe not, as though he also, the Head and Prince of the Apostles, had shown himself to be the very thing they themselves said of themselves, “to some indeed the odor of life unto life, but to some the odor of death unto death” (2 Cor 2:16).

Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John 55–111, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. John W. Rettig, vol. 90, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994), 156; Tractate 89.

Hill Translation:   

What does this mean, then: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin? Were the Jews without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who would be so very foolish as to say that? But he wants a certain great sin, not every sin, to be understood, as it were, under this general term. For this is the sin by which all sins are retained. If someone doesn’t have this sin, all his sins are forgiven him.¹ This one, though, is that they didn’t believe in Christ, who came so that he would be believed in.² If he hadn’t come, they certainly wouldn’t have had this sin. Indeed, just as his coming has been salvific for those who believe, so it has been turned into ruin for those who don’t believe, as though he, the head and prince of the apostles, came to be what they said about themselves: For some, indeed, the fragrance of life unto life, but for others the fragrance of death unto death (2 Cor 2:16).
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1 See Homilies 38, 7; 53, 10; Sermon 144, 1.
2 See Sermons 71, 11; 143, 2.

Saint Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John 41–124, ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald and Boniface Ramsey, trans. Edmund Hill, vol. 13, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2020), 319–20.

FROM THE LETTERS (EPISTULAE):

Letter 105 (AD 409): God is  beseeching, threatening, chastising, begging, and rebuking the Donatists because he does not wish or want them to be lost.

Parsons Translation:

Be at peace with us, brothers. We love you; we wish the same for you as we do for ourselves. If you hate us so deeply because we do not allow you to go astray and be lost, say so to God, whose threats to the faithless shepherds we fear, when He says: ‘That which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost’ (Ezek 34:4). This is what God Himself does for you through us, either by beseeching or threatening or chastising; by loss or trouble; by His secret warnings or trials; or by the laws of secular powers. Understand what is being done to you: God does not wish you [the Donatists] to be lost, cut off from your mother, the Catholic Church, in the midst of a sacrilegious dissension. You have not at any time been able to prove anything against us. When your bishops were called together by us, would they confer peaceably with us, or did they avoid converse with us as if we were sinners? Could anyone endure such pride? As if Paul the Apostle did not converse with sinners, and with quite abandoned ones! Read the Acts of the Apostles and see. As if the Lord Himself did not hold speech with the Jews by whom He was crucified, and answer them courteously! Finally, the Devil is the chief of all sinners, since it will never be possible for him to be converted to goodness, yet the Lord Himself did not disdain to answer him about the Law (Matt 4:1–10), by which you may know that the Donatists refuse to confer with us because they know that their case is lost.

Augustine of Hippo, “Letter 105. Augustine, Catholic Bishop, to the Donatists (409),” in Letters (83–130), ed. Roy Joseph Deferrari, trans. Wilfrid Parsons, vol. 18, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1953), 205–6.

Teske Translation:

4, 13. Be reconciled with us, brothers; we love you; we want for you what we want for ourselves. If you hate us more deeply because we do not allow you to go astray and to be lost, tell this to God whom we fear, when he threatens bad shepherds and says, You have not called back what has gone astray, and you have not sought what was lost (34:4). God himself does this to you through us by begging, by threatening or by rebuking, by fines or by penalties, through his hidden warning or chastisements or through the laws of temporal authorities. Understand what he is doing with you; God does not want you to be lost, separated from your Catholic mother in your sacrilegious discord. You were unable at any time to prove anything against us. When your bishops were invited by us to a conference, they always refused to confer peacefully with us, as if they did not want to speak with sinners. Who would put up with this pride? As if the apostle Paul did not converse with sinners and with quite sacrilegious persons! Read the Acts of the Apostles and see. As if the Lord himself did not have discussions about the law with the Jews, by whom he was crucified, and did not answer them appropriately! Finally, the devil is the first of all sinners; he will never be able to be converted to righteousness, and still the Lord did not refuse to reply to him concerning the law (Matt 4:1–10). All this was done so that you might understand that those bishops of yours refused to confer with us because they knew that theirs was a lost cause.

Saint Augustine, Letters (Epistulae) 100–155, ed. Boniface Ramsey, trans. Roland Teske, vol. II/2, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2003), 60–61; Letter 105.

FROM THE EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS (AD 396–420):

Psalm 111:2: God does not will that we sin, but rather wills to spare the sinner that he may return and live.

Coxe Translation:

“These are the great works of the Lord, sought out unto all His wills” (ver. 2): through which mercy forsaketh none who confesseth, no man’s wickedness is unpunished … Let man choose for himself what he listeth: the works of the Lord are not so constituted, that the creature, having free discretion allowed him, should transcend the will of the Creator, even though he act contrary to His will. God willeth not that thou shouldest sin; for He forbiddeth it: yet if thou hast sinned, imagine not that the man hath done what he willed, and that hath happened to God which He willed not. For as He would that man would not sin, so would He spare the sinner, that he may return and live; He so willeth finally to punish him who persisteth in his sin, that the rebellious cannot escape the power of justice. Thus whatever choice thou hast made, the Almighty will not be at a loss to fulfill His will concerning thee.

Augustine, “Exposition on the Book of Psalms,” trans. A. Cleveland Coxe, in NPNF, 1st Series, ed. by Philip Schaff (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004), 8:545; Ps 111:2. Augustine’s meaning in the highlighted portion above is this: In the sense that God doesn’t want man to sin (but rather to obey), in that sense (i.e. according to the revealed will) he wishes to spare the sinner, that he may return and live. He is alluding to Ezek 18:32 and 33:11, as the Boulding translation indicates.

Boulding Translation:

Great are the works of the Lord to be seen on that day. They are finely wrought to fulfill all his purposes. What he wills is that no one who confesses shall be bereft of mercy and no one’s iniquity go unpunished, for he whips even his children, every one whom he acknowledges as his (Heb 12:6). But if the just are barely saved, where will there be room for the sinner and the unbeliever (1 Pet 4:18)? Let men and women choose as they wish; the works of the Lord are not so wrought that a creature endowed with freedom of choice can override the will of the creator, even by acting contrary to his will. God does not want you to sin, and he forbids you to do so; but if you have sinned, do not delude yourself that a human being has done what he wanted, while God has had to suffer what he did not want. No: just as he wills human beings not to sin, he also wills to pardon the sinner so that he or she may turn back again and live (Ezek 18:23; 33:11), but so too does he will in the end to punish one who perseveres in sin, that no defiant sinner may evade the power of his justice. It follows that whatever you choose, the Almighty will not lack the means to carry out completely his will in your regard, for great are the works of the Lord; they are finely wrought to fulfill all his purposes.

Saint Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms 99–120, ed. Boniface Ramsey, trans. Maria Boulding, vol. 19, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2003), 287; Ps 111.2; italics original.