Common Statement
Those who are baptized are part of God’s elect people, the Christian church. A person’s being baptized is not a guarantee that the person is predestined or elected to salvation.
68 Roman Catholic Statement
The Catechumenate for those preparing for Baptism ends with the Rite of Election at the beginning of Lent. The candidates are thus called the elect.
For a person to be enrolled among the elect, he must have enlightened faith and the deliberate intention of receiving the sacraments of the Church. After the election, he is encouraged to advance toward Christ with even greater generosity (RCIA, 134).
However, this differs from the theological discussion over the doctrine of election understood as predestination. The Catholic Church has not precisely defined the doctrines of election and predestination although the doctrine exists and has led to considerable theological debate. There are certain negative parameters to be observed. The Council of Trent states:
“No one, moreover, so long as he is in this mortal life, ought so far to presume as regards the secret mystery of divine predestination, as to determine for certain that he is assuredly in the number of the predestinate; as if it were true, that he that is justified, either cannot sin any more, or, if he do sin, that he ought to promise himself an assured repentance; for except by special revelation, it cannot be known whom God hath chosen unto Himself’ (Decree on Justification, Chapter XII).
This is confirmed by the canons of the same Decree:
“If any one saith, that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end, unless he have learned this by special revelation; let him be anathema” (Canon 16).
“If any one saith, that the grace of Justification is only attained to by those who are predestined unto life; but that all others who are called, are called indeed, but receive not grace, as being, by the divine power, predestined unto evil; let him be anathema” (Canon 17).
The Decree on Justification along with other Decrees, e.g., the Condemnation of
Cornelius Jansen, thus excludes positive reprobation based upon the unconditional predestination of the unjust, and any denial of the universality of the divine will for salvation, the scope of the atonement, and extent of the offer of grace. Consistent with these the Catholic doctrine of grace denies its irresistibility and affirms the freedom of the will both prior to grace (although
wounded by sin) and under the influence of grace. Positive assessments of predestination include the following propositions articulated by Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.: “(1) Predestination to the first grace is not because God foresaw our naturally good works, nor is the beginning of salutary acts due to natural causes; (2) predestination to glory is not because God foresaw we would continue in the performance of supernaturally meritorious acts apart from the
special gift of final perseverance; (3) complete predestination, in so far as it comprises the whole series of graces from the first up to glorification, is gratuitous or previous to foreseen merits.”2
The knotty issue of how grace and freedom are related and the nature of efficacious grace——a heated dispute between Dominicans and Jesuits, the Congregatio de Auxiliis controversy——was put to rest by Pope Paul V in 1607 when he forbad both sides from
censuring the other. It therefore remains an open theological question. The Council of Quiersy in 853 best sums up what the Church can say in the most general terms:
“that certain ones are saved, is the gift of the one who saves; that certain ones perish, however, is the deserved punishment of those who perish” (Chapter 3).
Practically, many Catholics have taken the advice of St. Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises (SE):
“Granted that it be very true that no one can be saved without being predestined and without having faith and grace, still we must be very cautious about the way in which we speak of all these things and discuss them with others” (“Rules for Thinking with the Church,” SE, 14).
Reformed Statement
Some in the Reformed tradition, including Calvin, speak of two types of election: God’s election of a people, such as ancient Israel or the Christian church, and God’s election of
individuals to salvation. Membership in the former leads to the hope or expectation, but not the guarantee, that one is elect in the latter sense. Baptism is the sign of membership in God’s elect people, the church, but not a guarantee that one is elect to salvation. So baptism is a sign of election, but not a guarantee of election to salvation.
Election to salvation is an eternal divine decision to choose some people to be the recipients of special saving grace. In some contexts the term predestination is synonymous with election, and in others it encompasses both election and reprobation (an eternal divine decision that results in everlasting death and punishment for some persons). The doctrine of election is closely tied to the teaching that salvation is a free gift of God (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29).
Although some have held that divine election to salvation is based on God’s
foreknowledge of a person’s faith or life, traditional Reformed confessions hold that, in election, God has chosen people for salvation “freely, and of his mere grace,” “without any consideration of their works” (Second Helvetic Conf., 5.052; Belgic Conf., art. 16; Canons of Dort, I,9).
From before the foundation of the world, God has elected people to salvation in Christ and on the basis of Christ’s work: “Therefore, although not on account of any merit of ours, God has elected us, not directly, but in Christ, and on account of Christ, in order that those who are
2Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Predestination, translated by Dom Bede Rose, O.S.B. (St. Louis: B. Herder, 1939; reprint, Rockford, IL: Tan, 1998), p. 10.
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now ingrafted into Christ by faith might also be elected” (Second Helvetic Conf., 5.053; see also Scots Conf., 3.08; Belgic Conf., art. 16, Canons of Dort, I,7). God not only elected us in Christ, but “appointed him to be our head, our brother, our pastor, and the great bishop of our souls” (Scots Confession, 3.08).
This divine election to salvation in Christ was for the purpose that we should be “holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ ... to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:4-6; quoted by Second Helvetic Conf., 5.054). Furthermore, election shows both God’s mercy and God’s justice. God’s having
graciously saved people from perdition shows that God is merciful, while God’s “leaving others in their ruin and fall into which they plunged themselves” shows God’s justice (Belgic Conf., art. 16).
Since Christ did not say how few or many would be saved (Luke 13:23-24), and since we do not know who is elect, we should have a good hope for all: “Although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of the small number of elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate” (Second Helvetic Conf., 5.055-56).
Regarding election, then, we should speak with care and with awareness of our limited
knowledge. These affirmations have a solid foundation: “No one will be lost who can be saved. The limits to salvation, whatever they may be, are known only to God. Three truths above all are certain. God is a holy God who is not to be trifled with. No one will be saved except by grace alone. And no judge could possibly be more gracious than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Study Catechism 1998 of the PCUSA, Q. & A. 49).