Cap. II Sol. Arg. 5 Primo: salvos fieri vs facere — preceptive will, not decretive
If that reading fails, what do Paul's words mean? First notice: he did not say God wills to make all men saved and drag them to the truth by the force of preaching and the Spirit. He said he wills all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). When God wills to make someone saved, no human will blocks him — so Augustine, On Rebuke and Grace 14. These words show what God wills people to do, more than what he wills to work inside them. He wills gospel ministers, as far as they can, to labor that all may be saved and come to Christ; he wills each Christian, by prayer and every means he can, to further the salvation of all. It is ours, Augustine says, who do not know who belongs to the number of the predestined, to will that all be saved (On Rebuke and Grace 15). So the text belongs to the preceptive will that directs us — not to the decretive will that infallibly gives the good God has destined for a person.
Latin
Verum si non placet haec sententia, quis tandem sensus verborum Apostoli? Primo, animadvertendum est, non dixisse Apostolum, Deus vult omnes homines salvos facere, & ad agnitionem veritatis efficacia praedicationis & Spiritus pertrahere; sed, vult omnes salvos fieri, & venire ad cognitionem veritatis. Nam Deo volenti salvum facere nullum hominum resistit arbitrium, ut vere Augustinus De corrept. & grat. cap. 14. Hisce igitur verbis exprimitur potius quid Deus velit ab hominibus fieri, quam quid velit in hominibus facere. Vult Deus, ut Ministri Evangelici teneantur, quantum in illis est, niti ut omnes salvi fiant, & ad Christum veniant; vult ut singuli Christiani orando, aliisque quibus possunt modis, promoveant salutem omnium hominum. Nostrum est, inquit Augustinus, qui nescimus quisnam pertineat ad numerum praedestinatorum, velle omnes salvos fieri, cap. 15. Ad voluntatem igitur praecipientem, quae homines dirigit, haec verba pertinent; non ad voluntatem decernentem, quae bonum homini destinatum infallibiliter largitur.
About this text
New English, free to read. Open any section below.
English follows locked 1650 Cambridge Latin of De morte Christi Cap. 1-6 opening (origin + Thesis 1 + Cap. 2 Rat. 1-ultima + Cap. 3 Satisfit through Obj. 17 + Cap. 4 Thesis 2 tip through Mem. 1 close + Cap. 4 Mem. 2 through Mem. 3 tip + Cap. 4 Mem. 3 possible-faith through Thesis 2 close + Cap. 5 Thesis 3 tip through Mem. 2 Scripture close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Rat. 1-4 + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Huberiana objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 elect-from-eternity objections tip through Obj. 3 Solut close + Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Scripture elect objections tip through Cap. 5 thesis close + Cap. 6 opening tip through Arg. 1 close before Arg. 2), reconstructed from the Internet Archive PDF (pdftotext + tesseract) of the Roger Daniel folio with DjVu OCR check. The 1683 reprint was not used as copy-text. No modern English was copied.
Catalogue & scope
Partial through De praedestinatione Cap. 1 subject tip. Cap. 1 mid-Thesis+ remain.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De morte Christi Cap. 1-5 densify through Cap. 5 Mem. 2 Fathers tip (Daniel 1650) (Latin)
- Print Facsimile Internet Archive PDF of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1650 Cambridge folio (Latin)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.