Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
Read Chapter 32
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
This grace God placed “in him in whom we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things.” And thus as he works that we come to him, so he works that we do not depart. For this reason, it was said to him by the mouth of the prophet, “Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, and on the Son of man whom you made strong for yourself, and we will not depart from you.” This certainly is not the first Adam, in whom we departed from him, but the second Adam, on whom his hand is placed, so that we do not depart from him. For Christ altogether with his members is—for the church’s sake, which is his body—the fullness of him. When, therefore, God’s hand is on him, that we depart not from God, assuredly God’s work reaches to us (for this is God’s hand). By this work of God we are caused to be abiding in Christ with God—not, as in Adam, departing from God. For “in Christ we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to his purpose who work...
Pride has so stopped the ears of their heart that the Pelagians do not hear, “For what have you that you have not received?” They do not hear, “Without me you can do nothing.” They do not hear, “Love is of God.” They do not hear, “God has dealt the measure of faith.” They do not hear, “The Spirit breathes where it will,” and, “They who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God.” They do not hear, “No one can come to me, unless it were given him of my Father.” They do not hear what Esdras writes, “Blessed is the Lord of our ancestors, who has put into the heart of the king to glorify his house that is in Jerusalem.” They do not hear what the Lord says by Jeremiah, “And I will put my fear into their heart, that they do not depart from me. I will visit them to make them good.” They do not hear that word by Ezekiel the prophet, where God fully shows that he is not induced to make people good because they deserve good, that is, because they obey his commands, but rather tha...
It is much more difficult to persevere when a persecutor is endeavoring that one not persevere, and on this account one is sustained in perseverance to death. The latter perseverance is more difficult to have, the former easier, but for him to whom nothing is difficult, it is easy to give either one. For God has promised this in saying, “I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me.” And what else do these words mean but, such and so great shall be my fear, which I will give into their heart that they will adhere with perseverance to me?…
So when the hand of God is on him, that we not depart from God, then the work of God (for this is what is meant by his hand) reaches indeed to us. For in Christ “we have obtained our lot, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things.” Therefore it is by God’s hand, not our own, that we depart not from God. This is his hand, I say, who declared, “I will give my fear into their heart, that they may not r...
The prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the person of God, clearly tells us that the fear of God by which we can hold on to him comes from the Lord: “I shall give them one heart and one way so that they may fear me during all their days, so that all will be well for them and for their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I shall not cease to do good things for them, and, as a gift, I shall put fear of me in their hearts so that they may never go away from me.” - "Conference 1.3.18"
