We offer some some notes on the Freedom of Will in Scripture and quotes from the sermons and writings of the Early Church for you to contemplate during the week.
We hope you will join us for this splendid presentation.
Freedom of
Will
The
ability to make decisions without being coerced by external forces. Scripture
stresses that people are confronted with free choices between good and evil and
commands them to choose good. However, it also notes that limitations are placed
upon human actions through the enslaving power of sin.
Freedom of the will to choose between good and evil: Dt
11:26-28 “See, I am setting
before you today a blessing and a curse: 27
the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I
command you today, 28 and the curse, if
you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the
way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not
known. See also Dt 30:15, 16-19; Jos 24:15; 1Ch
28:9; Jer 26:3; Eze 18:21-23
Freedom
of the will to seek and find God Isa 55:6: Seek the LORD while he may be found; “call
upon him while he is near;
AUGUSTINE “How then am I to seek for you, Lord? When I seek for you,
my God, my quest is for the happy life. I will seek you that “my soul may
live,”for my body derives life from my soul, and my soul derives life from you.
. . . Is not the happy life that which all desire, which indeed no one fails to
desire? CONFESSIONS 10.20. See also Am 5:4; Ac 2:21; Ro 10:11; Isa 28:16; Rev 22:17
The effect of sin upon
freedom of the will
Sin
prevents human beings from breaking free from its bondage Ro 7:14-20 For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within
me. 18 For I know that
nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do
what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is
what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I
do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA:
The will of the Spirit is one thing, that of the flesh is another. These two
wills fight against each other and can never reach agreement. Man is carnal,
but the law is spiritual. How then can the law ever become tolerable to those
who struggle so hard against the sickness of sin? There is wisdom here, for if
a man is carnal he is in some sense captive and reduced to the condition of
slavery. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.10 See also
Ro 6:16-22; 7:25 Paul stresses that it is only through Jesus Christ that human
beings can be freed from servitude to sin.
Sin
hardens human hearts Heb 3:13 “But exhort one
another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
CHRYSOSTOM: He said “today,” that they might never be without hope. “Exhort one
another daily,” he says. That is, even if persons have sinned, as long as it is
“today,” they have hope; let them not then despair so long as they live. Above
all things indeed, he says, “Let there not be an evil, unbelieving heart.” But
even if there should be, let no one despair, but let that one recover; for as
long as we are in this world, the “today” is in season. ON THE EPISTLE TO
THE HEBREWS 6.8.14 See also
Da 5:20; Ro 1:21; Eph 4:17-19
God
hardens human hearts Ex 9:12 But the LORD
hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had
spoken to Moses.
See also Ex 4:21; 10:20; 14:4-8; Dt 2:30;
Jos 11:19-20; Ro 1:22-24; 9:17-18
Human
beings harden their own hearts 1Sa 6:6 Why
should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their
hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people
away, and they departed?
See also Ex 8:15-32; Ps 95:8; Pr
28:14; Heb 3:8-15; 4:7
More
on Free Will from the Early Church:
Tertullian
160-225 AD
Some people act as though God were under an obligation
to bestow even on the unworthy His intended gift. They turn His liberality into
slavery…. For do not many afterwards fall out of grace? Is not this gift taken
away from many? (Tertullian On
Repentance chap. 6.)
The Apostle John had a disciple named Polycarp, and Polycarp
had a disciple named Irenaeus.
Irenaeus of Lyons 120-202 AD
”But although we shall be understood, from our
argument, to be only so affirming man’s unshackled power over his will, that
what happens to him should be laid to his own charge, and not to God’s, yet
that you may not object, even now, that he ought not to have been so
constituted, since his liberty and power of will might turn out to be
injurious…Therefore it was proper that (he who is) the image and likeness of
God should be formed with a free will and a mastery of him self;… At present,
let God’s goodness alone occupy our attention, that which gave so large a gift
to man, even the liberty of his will.”
/Chapter 6
Ignatius 35-107 AD Bishop of Antioch in Syria.
Do not err, my brothers. Those that corrupt families
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this in regard to
the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with anyone
who corrupts the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified, by wicked
doctrine? Such a person, becoming defiled, shall go away into everlasting fire
and so shall everyone that listens to him. (Letter to the Ephesians 16)
Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens) 150–215
AD A theologian who taught at the
Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander
of Jerusalem.
We…have believed and are saved by voluntary choice (c. 195, Vol. 2, p. 217)
To obey or not is in our own power, provided we do not
have the excuse of ignorance (c. 195,
Vol. 2, p. 353)
Each one of us who sins with his own free will,
chooses punishment. So the blame lies with him who chooses. God is without
blame. (c.195, Vol. 2, p. 226)
Neither promises nor apprehensions, rewards, no
punishments are just if the soul has not the power of choosing and abstaining;
if evil is involuntary. (c. 195, Vol.
2, p.319)
Clement, 80-140 AD The first Apostolic Father of the Church. According to Tertullian, Clement was
consecrated by Saint Peter
Thus although we are born neither good nor bad, we
become on or the other and having formed habits, we are with difficulty drawn
from them. Pg 273 vol.8
Justin Martyr 110-165 AD
For He fore-knows that some are to be saved by
repentance, some even that are perhaps not yet born. In the beginning He made
the human race with the power of thought and of choosing the truth and doing
right, so that all men are without excuse before God; for they have been born
rational and contemplative Chapter 28
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