If all the ants in the world put together could never comprehend our most insignificant deed or thought, as we are superior to them in every respect, how are we able to understand the works and mind of God, Who is infinitely superior to us, or to make accurate conjectures about the sequence of events, without faith? As the' great luminary in the heavens could not give us daylight, if its brilliance did not surpass our vision, so God, Who created our human nature, could not provide us with salvation, if He were comprehensible to us, and His wisdom and goodness did not go beyond our understanding.
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As for those who accuse God of calling people who were not going to act in obedience to Him, no doubt they would also have held Him responsible for the destruction of such people, had He not called them. He called them so that no one could say that He was the cause of their being punished. Why was it, then, that He created men who were to be damned? He did not make them to be punished, but to be saved, as is clear from the fact that He called them. If He had wanted to darn anyone at all, He would not have called everyone to salvation. If God led me and called me to salvation through His goodness, but I turned out evil, ought my wickedness, before it even existed, to have overcome His eternal goodness and have thwarted it? That would be totally unreasonable. People who assert otherwise and make accusations against the Creator are actually saying that it was wrong to make human beings rational. For reason would be pointless without free choice and the power of self-governance. How can someone have the freedom to choose and the power to act freely, unless he were able to be evil, should he so wish? If he could not be wicked, nor could he, presumably, be good.
Anyone who states that God should not have made those people who will be punished, is also saying that He should not have made those who will be saved, or any rational and free beings at all. As everything else was made for the sake of mankind, such a person is contending that God should not have created anything. Do you see the absurdity of this? God made the human race rational and free, and because of men's tendency to please themselves and the different uses to which they put their freedom, some were to become bad, and others good. What should God, Who is truly good, have done? Ought He not to have brought good men into being on account of those who would turn out evil? That would be the greatest injustice imaginable. For even if there were only going to be one good person, it would not have been just to stop creating, since one man who does God's will is superior to innumerable sinners. Should we perhaps tell those who pick out gold from the dirt, that they should not start by collecting the useless earth along with the gold dust? We would hear in reply, that if they did not do so, they could not select out the gold. In the same way, there would be no elect if the others were not called as well, and how could they be called if they had not been made?
Let us bring our arguments closer to the point, and ask those who lay charges against the One Who wishes all to be saved, about people who do not want their own salvation. As we are all mortal, we need nourishment. But as our body's natural processes select and absorb part of our food for our sustenance and, having made what remains ill-smelling, get rid of it as useless by the appropriate means, does this mean that you would completely reject food on account of that part of it which will end up as dung? Or will you accept food in its entirety on account of that portion of it which is chosen, assimilated and incorporated, through our digestive system, for our physical sustenance? There is obviously no need for a reply. We provide the answer by our actions, as we feed ourselves every day, consuming food that is unsuitable for our physical nourishment for the sake of that which is. What makes us do this? Our inborn desire to live. Similarly, because of His innate kindness and love of goodness, God did not stop bringing good people into being on account of those who would become bad by their own fault. Rather, He created those who would be evil for the sake of the good.
Have you not seen how doctors do not allow patients to go without food when, because of the weakness of their stomach, they cannot keep down nourishment but vomit it up? Why do they urge them to eat? Because their constitution receives something, however little, from the food, even though most of what they eat is rendered useless by the vomiting. That is why the art of medicine is rightly called philanthropic. So God's love for what is good and His philanthropy are demonstrated above all by this: that although those who seek their own salvation are few, in comparison with the great number of those who will not be saved, yet He created the whole human race, and although not many are going to be chosen, in His exceedingly great love for mankind He called everyone.
Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas - Homily 41, pp. 326-328
