![]() On the other hand, Aquinas affirms that God can have foreknowledge of sin, and sin is the reason for punishment and reprobation (condemnation). This means basically that God does not bestow grace due to earlier human merits rather, merits themselves are a gift from God effected from predestination. Rather, foreknown merits are to be placed “under predestination” ( sub praedestinatione). When discussing God’s claim, “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated” ( Romans 9:13 in Commentary on Romans, C9 L.2.764, 771), Aquinas asserts that foreknowledge of merits is not the reason for predestination. Aquinas adds to this point Titus 3:5, which states that God saves us according to his own justice and mercy rather than by any works we have done. Third, it refutes the Pelagian misconception that a person’s merits precede rather than follow from grace.(In contemporary terms, horoscope teachers are refuted.) ![]()
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