2 Chronicles 21

Historical Christian Faith Commentaries 1 verse

2 Chronicles 21:16

Augustine of Hippo

Western & Medieval Theology

ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 21.42

Just read the books of Paralipomenon and this is what you will find written in the second book: "And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians who border on the Ethiopians. And they came up to the land of Judah and wasted it, and they carried away all substance that was found in the king's house." Here we have a clear indication of how God stirs up enemies to lay waste those countries that he judges to be deserving of such punishment. And yet, was it not of their own will that the Philistines and Arabs came to lay waste the country of Judah? Or did they so come of their own will that the Scripture lies where it tells us that the Lord stirred up their spirit to do so? On the contrary. Both statements are true because they did come of their own will and God did stir up their spirit. The same thing could also be expressed by saying that God both stirred up their spirit and that they came nevertheless of their own will. For the Almighty, who cannot possibly will anything unjust, is able to set in motion even the inclinations of their will in human hearts in order to accomplish through these people whatever he wishes to achieve through their agency.

Historical Christian Faith · Mixed-rights upstream corpus; Scriptura imports only entries passing the default pre-1931 public-domain posture filter.

Keyboard shortcuts

Search or jump to a reference
K
Previous / next chapter
Previous / next verse
kj
Favorite selected verse
f
Cycle selected verse highlight
h
Note on selected verse
n
Copy selected verse link
y
Open word study for selected verse
w
Open book picker
g
Switch translation
t
Toggle study panel
s
Desk Guide / Word / My
123
Close panels and menus
Esc
This sheet
?