Replies on behalf of Augustine to the Excerpts of the Genoese

Contents

Reading pages: 0–8 · 9

1. 0Prosper agrees to explain to two presbyters of Genoa the passages of Augustine's On the Predestination of the Saints that troubled them.
2. 1The first excerpt: Augustine recalls that he once taught that God chose those he foreknew would believe, before he had understood the election of grace.
3. 2The second excerpt: Augustine corrects his earlier view that faith is ours and good works God's, holding that both are ours by the will and both are given.
4. 3Prosper explains that Augustine retracted his early view that faith comes from free choice, after studying Jacob and Esau for Simplician, and argues that faith, lost first in Adam, must be given first by grace.
5. 4Prosper defends Augustine's statement that God prepares the will of the elect, showing from Romans 11 that election by grace and the blinding of the rest are God's mercy and judgment, both unsearchable.
6. 5Prosper defends Augustine's statement that faith, begun and perfected, is God's gift given to some and not to others, from the church's prayer for unbelievers and the testimony of Paul.
7. 6Prosper defends Augustine's teaching that, all being justly condemned in Adam, God's freeing of many is grace and his reasons for choosing some are hidden.
8. 7Prosper defends Augustine's statement that the wicked sin by their own power but God directs what their malice accomplishes, citing the prayer of Acts 4 on Herod and Pilate.
9. 8Prosper defends Augustine's definition of predestination as God's foreknowledge and preparation of his benefits, argues that faith is God's gift, and holds that God's choice to work faith in some and not in others, as with Tyre and Sidon, is just though hidden.
10. 9Prosper shows that the harsh sermon on predestination quoted by Augustine was his opponents' caricature, which Augustine rejected in favour of preaching that urges hope and daily prayer for perseverance.