If God’s grace is effective in the human will, how could a true believer turn away from God? Must we not thus affirm “the perseverance of the saints”? Even more controversially, if God has already selected those who will believe, and none of God’s intentions are fruitless, did Christ die only for the elect, and not for all? Centuries later, John Calvin (1509–1564) revived many of Augustine’s arguments, such that the cluster of Augustinian perfections of grace has become a hallmark of the Reformed tradition.
