Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
All Commentaries on 2 Timothy 1:9 Go To 2 Timothy 1
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Why, then, is it that, in what follows, where they mention what the Pelagians themselves think, they say they confess that “grace also assists the good purpose of every one, but that yet it does not infuse the desire of virtue into a reluctant heart”? They say this as if man of himself, without God’s assistance, has a good purpose and a desire of virtue, hence this preceding merit is supposedly worthy of being assisted by the subsequent grace of God. For they think perhaps that the apostle thus said, “For we know that he works all things for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to the purpose,” so as to wish the purpose of man to be understood. This purpose is then viewed as a good merit that the mercy of the God who calls might follow. They are ignorant that it is said, “Who are called according to the purpose,” so that this may be understood as the purpose of God, not man. Thus those whom he foreknew and predestinated as conformed to the image of his Son, he elected before the foundation of the world…. This then is the purpose of God, in relation to which it is said, “He works together all things for good for those who are called according to his own purpose.” Indeed subsequent grace assists man’s good purpose, but the purpose itself would not exist if grace did not precede. .
