Early Christian Views on Predestination
Early Christians did not all speak the same way about predestination. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tatian, and Cyprian emphasize free choice, while Origen and Novatian also speak of foreknowledge, election, and predestination. The strongest early pattern is that God knows and plans, but people still choose and are judged for what they do. Romans 8–9, Ephesians 1, and 1 Peter 1:2 are the main Bible passages tied to the topic.
138 early-church witnesses · 245 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about predestination?
Early Christian writings do not give one single, simple answer about predestination. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Theophilus, Tatian, and Cyprian strongly stress free choice and human blame or reward, while Origen, Novatian, and some other writers also speak of God’s foreknowledge, election, and predestination. The clearest early pattern is that many fathers tried to hold both ideas together: God knows and appoints, but people still choose and are responsible.
Direct predestination language is present, especially in later 2nd- and 3rd-century writers, but it is less common than teaching on free will, repentance, and moral accountability. The Bible passages most often linked to the topic are Romans 8–9, Ephesians 1, and 1 Peter 1:2, but the patristic witness around those texts is mixed rather than uniform. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Many early Christian writers taught human free will and moral responsibility.
- Some writers also used predestination language, especially when discussing Scripture.
- The early witness is mixed: God’s foreknowledge is affirmed, but human choice is usually kept in view.
- Romans 8–9, Ephesians 1, and 1 Peter 1:2 are the main Bible texts used for this topic.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach predestination or election?
Several sources use predestination or election language for God’s saving purpose, foreknowledge, and those destined to glory. The clearest Bible passages in the supplied set come from Romans and Ephesians, with early writers like Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Novatian, and Methodius echoing that language.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
...ing of blame. Furthermore, if humanity did not have the power to avoid evil and choose good through free will, they would not be responsible for their actions. We demonstrate that both virtuous and flawed actions are made by free choice. We observe people switching between good and bad behaviors. If it were destined for someone to be either good or bad, they would not be capable of such changes. Moreover, not everyone would be good or bad, as this would make fate responsible for evil and contradict itself; or it would imply that neither virtue nor vice truly exists, and that things are considered good or evil merely by opinion, which the truth reveals as the greatest impiety and wickedness. However, we assert that it is inevitable fate that those who choose good receive worthy rewards, and those who choose the opposite receive due consequences. Unlike trees or animals that cannot act by choice, God created humans with the ability to choose. Thus, a person is deserving of reward or praise for freely choosing good, and is deserving of punishment for being evil by their own choice, rather than being inherently incapable of anything other than what they were made to be.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
And again, unless the human race have the power of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions, of whatever kind they be.
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
But that it is by free choice they both walk uprightly and stumble, we thus demonstrate.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching
But because man is possessed of free will from the beginning, and God is possessed of free will, in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching
it is manifest that His Father has made all in a like condition, each person having a choice of his own, and a free understanding;
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Tatian, Address to the Greeks Direct teaching
...e the creation of men, was the Framer of angels. And each of these two orders of creatures was made free to act as it pleased. They did not have the nature of good, for that is with God alone. But in men it is brought to perfection through their freedom of choice. This is so that the bad man may be justly punished, since he became depraved through his own fault, while the just man may deservedly be praised for his virtuous deeds, since by the exercise of his free choice he refrained from transgressing the will of God. Such is the constitution of things in reference to angels and men. And the power of the Word, having in itself a faculty to foresee future events, foretold from time to time the issues of things to come. It did this not as if they were fated, but as things taking place by the choice of free agents. It also became a forbidder of wickedness by means of prohibitions, and the encomiast of those who remained good. And when men attached themselves to one who was more subtle than the rest, because he was the first-born, and declared him to be God, though he was resisting the law of God, then the power of the Word excluded the beginner of this folly and his adherents from
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching
For God made man free, and with power over himself.
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
nor does He impose the yoke of necessity, since the free choice of the will is left.
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Direct teaching
nor can another's choice be rightly attributed to any one, since freedom of choice was put in His power who made it.
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness
But yet, since He knew that it would be good, He created both angels and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of free-will;
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Clement of Alexandria, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? Supporting witness
For choice depended on the man as being free;
Did early Christians believe people still had free will?
Many early writers explicitly say people can choose good or evil and are responsible for their actions. This theme appears across Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tatian, Theophilus, Cyprian, Arnobius, and others, and is reinforced by biblical texts about choosing life and acting by consent.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching
or, whether from birth they had been appointed, according to the foreknowledge and predestination of God, over those whom God also foreknew, and foreordained to be conformed to the glory of the Christ.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching
Because even if He is said to be glorious in predestination, and that this predestination was before the foundation of the world, let order be maintained, and before Him a considerable number of men was destined to glory.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching
For since with God the order of all, both persons and things, is arranged, many will be said to have been predestinated before this predestination of Christ to glory.
How did early Christians connect foreknowledge with predestination?
Some sources tie predestination to God’s foreknowledge, especially in biblical citations and in discussion of Judas, denial, and prophecy. Origen, Victorinus, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and related Bible passages show that foreknowledge was often part of the explanatory framework.
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Romans 9:11 Direct teaching
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
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Romans 9:16 Supporting witness
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
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Romans 9:18 Supporting witness
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
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Romans 9:15 Supporting witness
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
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Romans 11:32 Supporting witness
For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching
...dren being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calls, it was said, 'The elder shall serve the younger,' as it is written, 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.'" After that, he answers himself and says, "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" And so that he might give us an opportunity to inquire into these matters, and to see how these things do not happen without a reason, he answers himself and says, "God forbid." For the same question, it seems to me, which is raised concerning Jacob and Esau, may be raised regarding all heavenly and earthly creatures, and even those of the lower world as well. In like manner, it seems to me that, as he says there, "The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil," so it might also be said of all other things, "When they were not yet created, neither had yet done any good or evil, that the decree of God according to election may stand," that, as certain think, some things on the one hand were created heavenly, some on the other earthly, and others, again, beneath the earth, not of works, as
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
and as the foreknowledge of the future is also a thing indifferent — for the possessor of foreknowledge does not necessarily manifest the possession of virtue— you must show that they who practise healing or who forefell the future are in no respect wicked, but exhibit a perfect pattern of virtue, and are not far from being regarded as gods.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
For if He had foreknowledge of the traitor, He knew the wickedness in which the treason originated, and this wickedness was by no means taken away by the foreknowledge.
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Supporting witness
But if the word of God foretells that some angels and men shall be certainly punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably [wicked], but not because God had created them so.
Common Questions
Did the early church believe in predestination?
Yes, some early writers used predestination language, but many also stressed free will and personal responsibility.
Which early Christian writers talked about free will?
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Theophilus, Tatian, and Cyprian all strongly stress free choice in the selected passages.
Which early Christian writers used predestination language?
Origen, Novatian, and some other later writers speak directly about foreknowledge, election, or predestination.
Source Index for Predestination
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 245 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 138
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 107
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
Related Resources
Course Lesson
Lecture 6: Grace and Predestination
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Predestination and Free Will
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Reprobation and double predestination
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