Question 31 · Salvation

Does God choose who will be saved before they are born?

What the sources show

Justin Martyr c. 155 · Origen of Alexandria c. 246 · Diodorus of Tarsus c. 380By foreknowledge

Before Augustine, writers East and West read Romans 8:29 as predestination following foreknowledge: God foresaw who would respond. ¹²³

Augustine of Hippo c. 427 · Council of Orange c. 529Chosen by grace

Augustine, in his last years, taught that God chooses freely and that the number of the elect is fixed. The Council of Orange accepted his teaching on grace but condemned any predestination to evil. ⁴⁶

Westminster Assembly 1646 · Synod of Dort 1619 · Formula of Concord (Lutheran) 1577 · Synod of Jerusalem (Orthodox) 1672

After the Reformation, Reformed confessions taught that others are foreordained to death or passed by; Lutherans taught election to life only; the Orthodox kept foreknowledge. ⁸⁹¹⁰¹¹

The answers given:

ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today

Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. J K move between witnesses.

Before Nicaea

150–325

155c. AD

By foreknowledgeIndirect: does not say it outright

Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165 ADFirst Apology 44.11

So when we say that future events were foretold, we do not say they happen by the necessity of fate. God foreknows what all people will do, and it is his decree that each will be repaid as his actions deserve.

Foreknowledge without fate: the common early answer.

Full English of this work is being translated

246c. AD

By foreknowledge

Origen of Alexandria c. 185–c. 254 ADCommentary on Romans (Rufinus's Latin) Book 1, on Romans 1:1

"Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29), showing plainly that those whom God foreknew would be such as to conform themselves to Christ in sufferings, he also predestined to be conformed to his image and glory. So God's foreknowledge comes first, by which he knows who will have labors and virtues in them, and predestination follows. Yet foreknowledge is not to be thought the cause of predestination.

Written against Gnostics who said Paul was chosen by chance or because of a better nature.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text

Nicaea to Chalcedon

325–451

380c. AD

By foreknowledge

Diodorus of Tarsus c. 330–c. 390 ADFragments on Romans on Romans 8:29–30

Whom then did God glorify here? Those he justified. And whom did he predestine? Those he foreknew, who are called according to purpose, that is, those who by their own purpose are worthy to be called and conformed to Christ.

Diodorus, teacher of Chrysostom, takes "purpose" in Romans 8:28 as the human person's purpose, not God's.

Read in context →

427c. AD

Chosen by grace

Augustine of Hippo 354–430 ADOn Rebuke and Grace 13.39

I speak of those who are predestined to the kingdom of God, whose number is so certain that no one is added to them and no one taken away. ... For if one is not to receive the crown unless another loses it, the number is certain.

Augustine's late view: God chooses freely, not because of foreseen merit, and gives the chosen the gift of perseverance.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text

429c. AD

Chosen by grace

Augustine of Hippo 354–430 ADOn the Predestination of the Saints 10.19

Between grace and predestination there is only this difference: predestination is the preparation of grace, while grace is now the gift itself.

Augustine's last word on the question, written to Prosper and Hilary in Gaul: predestination is not God rewarding foreseen merit, but God preparing the grace he will give.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text

Late antiquity and Byzantium

451–1054

529c. AD

Chosen by grace

Council of OrangeConclusion of the faith Conclusion

That some are predestined to evil by divine power, we not only do not believe, but if there are any who wish to believe so great an evil, we say anathema to them with all abhorrence.

Orange takes Augustine's teaching on grace and rejects any predestination to evil.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text

853c. AD

Chosen by grace

Council of QuierzyChapters on predestination Chapter 1

The rest, whom in the judgment of his justice he left in the mass of perdition, he foreknew would perish, but he did not predestine them in order that they should perish; the punishment, though, because he is just, he predestined for them eternally. And so we speak of only one predestination of God, which has to do either with the gift of grace or with the requital of justice.

Quierzy (853), under Hincmar of Reims, answered Gottschalk of Orbais, who taught a twin predestination to life and to death. The stricter Council of Valence (855) sharpened the wording but kept the point: God foreknows evil, he does not predestine it.

Full English of this work is being translated · Source text

Reformation

1500–1700

1577AD

Chosen by grace

Formula of Concord (Lutheran)Formula of Concord, Epitome XI.4

The predestination or eternal election of God, however, extends only over the godly, beloved children of God, being a cause of their salvation

Lutherans teach election to salvation but no election to damnation.

Read the full text →

1619AD

Double

Synod of DortCanons of Dort First Head, Article 15

not all people have been chosen but that some have not been chosen or have been passed by in God's eternal election

Dort answered the Remonstrants (Arminians), who taught election based on foreseen faith.

Read the full text →

1646AD

Double

Westminster AssemblyWestminster Confession of Faith 3.3–4

By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.

The number "so certain" echoes Augustine; "foreordained to everlasting death" goes further than Orange.

Read the full text →

1672AD

By foreknowledge

Synod of Jerusalem (Orthodox)Confession of Dositheus Decree 3

But since He foreknew the one would make a right use of their free-will, and the other a wrong, He predestinated the one, or condemned the other.

The Orthodox answer to Calvinist teaching.

Read the full text →

Witnesses not in the library yet

These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.

1608
Jacob Arminius, Declaration of Sentiments
Election based on foreseen faith, in Arminius's words.
1559
John Calvin, Institutes 3.21–24
Calvin on election and reprobation.

How this page was made

Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.