Letter 52: It is good to gird your loins before dangers come, to serve God, and to strike down the opposing ranks by faith...
To Symmachus.
On the words: "To those who are called according to purpose." [Romans 8:28]
The divine grace, blended with human willingness, saves the human being. This is why he too who had Christ speaking within himself [Paul; cf. 2 Corinthians 13:3] said: "It works together with those who are called according to purpose." For it was not the calling alone (for all indeed were called, but not all obeyed); rather, the purpose of those who were called also brought about their salvation. For the calling did not come about as something compelled, nor as something forced, but as voluntary.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Εἰς τό· « Τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν. »
Ἡ θεία χάρις (55) τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ κιρνωμένη (56) προθυμίᾳ, σώζει τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Δίπερ καὶ ὁ τὸν Χριστὸν ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαλοῦντα εἶπε· « Συνεργεῖ τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν. » Οὐ γὰρ ἡ κλῆσις μόνον (πάντες γὰρ ἐκλήθησαν μέν, οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν δέ)· ἀλλὰ καὶ πρόθεσις τῶν κεκλημένων τὴν σωτηρίαν εἰργάσατο. Οὐ γὰρ ἠναγκασμένη γέγονεν ἡ κλῆσις, οὐδὲ βεβιασμένη, ἀλλ’ ἑκούσιος.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern isidore pelusium workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca (PG vol.78)
Related Letters
On how you cannot argue with an ignorant person.
1. Your summons to the Council reached me on the fifth day before the Ides of November, in the evening, and found me very much indisposed, so that I could not possibly attend. However, I submit to your pious and wise judgment whether certain perplexities which the summons occasioned were due to my own ignorance or to sufficient grounds.
Against Andronicus [Letter 57].
The protector Valentinianus, who was some time ago entrusted and commended to you through my good offices under your...
Well, Celsus — a man, as you know, incapable of lying — said he both saw the books and received them from Diotimus,...