I. Free will of men and Angels
II. The elect
III. Predestination and foreknowledge of God
IV. Synergism
I. Free will of men and Angels
Genesis 3:13-14
And the man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” And the LORD God said unto the woman, “What is this that thou hast done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.
Proverbs 1:29–31
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they will eat the fruit of their own way.
Isaiah 1:19-20
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Matthew 7:21-24.
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. . . . Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Philippians 1:21-22
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
Jude 1:6
The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Revelation 3:10–12
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which will come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.
Revelation 12:5
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.
Hermas
“Sir, these commandments are great and beautiful and glorious, and are able to gladden the heart of the man who is able to observe them. But I know not whether these commandments can be kept by a man, for they are very hard.” He answered and said unto me; “If you set it before yourself that they can be kept, you will easily keep them, and they will not be hard; but if it once enter into your heart that they cannot be kept by a man, you will not keep them. But now I say unto you; if you keep them not, but neglect them you shall not have salvation, neither your children nor your household, since you have already pronounced judgment against yourself that these commandments cannot be kept by a man.” – (AD 70)
“If then,” [he said,] “man is lord of all the creatures of God and masters all things, cannot he also master these commandments?” “Aye,” said he, “the man that has the Lord in his heart can master [all things and] all these commandments.” – (AD 70)
Ignatius
But the faithful in love the stamp of God the Father through Jesus Christ, through whom unless of our own free choice we accept to die unto His passion, His life is not in us. – Letter to the Magnesians,Cchapter 5 (AD 105)
I write to all the churches, and I bid all men know, that of my own free will I die for God, unless you should hinder me. – Letter to the Romans (AD 105)
Justin Martyr
For as in the beginning He created us when we were not, so do we consider that, in like manner, those who choose what is pleasing to Him are, on account of their choice, deemed worthy of incorruption and of fellowship with Him. For the coming into being at first was not in our own power; and in order that we may follow those things which please Him, choosing them by means of the rational faculties He has Himself endowed us with, He both persuades us and leads us to faith. – (AD 160)
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. – (AD 160)
Lest some suppose, from what has been said by us, that we say that whatever occurs happens by a fatal necessity, because it is foretold as known beforehand, this too we explain. We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments, chastisements, and good rewards, are rendered according to the merit of each man’s actions. Now, if this is not so, but all things happen by fate, then neither is anything at all in our own power. For if it is predetermined that this man will be good, and this other man will be evil, neither is the first one meritorious nor the latter man to be blamed. And again, unless the human race has the power of avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice, they are not accountable for their actions, of whatever kind they be. But that it is by free choice they both walk uprightly and stumble, we thus demonstrate. – (AD 160)
For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds, which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy of reward or praise did he not of himself choose the good, but were created for this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made. – (AD 160)
But neither do we affirm that it is by fate that men do what they do, or suffer what they suffer, but that each man by free choice acts rightly or sins; and that it is by the influence of the wicked demons that earnest men, such as Socrates and the like, suffer persecution and are in bonds. . . . Since God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with free will, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed. – (AD 160)
But since God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with free-will, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed. And this is the nature of all that is made, to be capable of vice and virtue. For neither would any of them be praiseworthy unless there were power to turn to both [virtue and vice]. – (AD 160)
For God, wishing both angels and men, who were endowed with freewill, and at their own disposal, to do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made them so, that if they chose the things acceptable to Himself, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit. – (AD 160)
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. – (AD 160)
I have proved in what has been said that those who were foreknown to be unrighteous, whether men or angels, are not made wicked by God’s fault. Rather, each man is what he will appear to be through his own fault. – (AD 160)
Tatian
The Logos, too, before 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, not having the nature of good, which again is with God alone, but is brought to perfection in men through their freedom of choice, in order that the bad man may be justly punished, having become depraved through his own fault, but the just man be deservedly praised for his virtuous deeds, since in the exercise of his free choice he refrained from transgressing the will of God. – (AD 160)
Each of these two orders of creatures [men and angels] was made free to act as it pleased. They did not have the nature of good, which again is with God alone. However, it is brought to perfection in men through their freedom of choice. In this manner, the bad man can be justly punished, having become depraved through his own fault. Likewise, the just man can be deservedly praised for his virtuous deeds, since in the exercise of his free choice, he refrained from transgressing the will of God. . . . And the power of the Logos has in itself a faculty to foresee future events. He foretold from time to time the issues of things to come—not as fated, but as taking place by the choice of free agents. – (AD 160)
Die to the world, repudiating the madness that is in it. Live to God, and by apprehending Him lay aside your old nature. We were not created to die, but we die by our own fault. Our free-will has destroyed us; we who were free have become slaves; we have been sold through sin. Nothing evil has been created by God; we ourselves have manifested wickedness; but we, who have manifested it, are able again to reject it. – (AD 160)
Melito of Sardis
There is, therefore, nothing to hinder you from changing your evil manner of life, because you are a free man. – (AD 170)
Theophilus
If, on the other hand, he would turn to the things of death, disobeying God, he would himself be the cause of death to himself. For God made man free, and with power of himself. – (AD 180)
Concerning subjection to authorities and powers, and prayer for them, the divine word gives us instructions so that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.” Furthermore, it teaches us to render all things to all, “honor to whom honor, fear to whom fear, tribute to whom tribute; to owe no man anything, but to love all.” – (AD 180)
Irenaeus
But the wheat and the chaff, being inanimate and irrational, have been made such by nature. But man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect like to God, having been made free in his will, and with power over himself, is himself the cause to himself, that sometimes he becomes wheat, and sometimes chaff. Wherefore also he shall be justly condemned, because, having been created a rational being, he lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says the prophet, “Man, being in honor, did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and made like to them.” – (AD 180)
God has always preserved freedom and the power of self-government in man. Yet, at the same time, He issued His own exhortations, in order that those who do not obey Him would be righteously judged because they have not obeyed Him. And those who have obeyed and believed on Him should be honored with immortality. – (AD 180)
[The Marcionites] say, “But God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants.” Now those who allege such difficulties do not read in the Gospel the passage where the Lord replied to the disciples, when they asked Him, “Why do you speak in parables?” He replied: “Because it is given to you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. However, I speak to them in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they many not hear.” . . . So God knows the number of those who will not believe, since He foreknows all things. So He has given them over to unbelief and turned His face away from men of this character, leaving them in the darkness that they have chosen for themselves. So what is baffling if He gave Pharaoh and those who were with him over to their unbelief? For they would never have believed. – (AD 180)
This expression . . . sets forth the ancient law of human liberty. For God made man free from the beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey the commandments of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God. . . . And in man, as well as in angels (for angels are rational beings), He has placed the power of choice, so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good—given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves. – (AD 180)
Those who work it will receive glory and honor, because they have done that which is good when they had it in their power not to do it. But those who do not do it will receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good when they had it in their power to do so. But if some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for they were created that way. Nor would the former be reprehensible, for that is how they were made. However, all men are of the same nature. They are all able to hold fast and to do what is good. On the other hand, they have the power to cast good from them and not to do it. For that reason, some justly receive praise. – (AD 180)
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds”. . . . And “Why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say?”. . . . All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man. . . . For it is in man’s power to disobey God and to forfeit what is good. – (AD 180)
No doubt, if any one is unwilling to follow the Gospel itself, it is in his power [to reject it], but it is not expedient. For it is in man’s power to disobey God, and to forfeit what is good; but [such conduct] brings no small amount of injury and mischief. And on this account Paul says, “All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient;” referring both to the liberty of man, in which respect “all things are lawful,” God exercising no compulsion in regard to him; and [by the expression] “not expedient” pointing out that we “should not use our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, for this is not expedient….If then it were not in our power to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the Lord Himself, to give us counsel to do some things, and to abstain from others? 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. God has preserved the will of man free and under his own control. This is not merely in works, but also in faith. – (AD 180)
And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God preserved the will of man free and under his own control, saying, “According to your faith be it unto you;” thus showing that there is a faith specially belonging to man, since he has an opinion specially his own. And again, “All things are possible to him that believes;” and, “Go your way; and as you has believed, so be it done unto you.” Now all such expressions demonstrate that man is in his own power with respect to faith. And for this reason, “he that believes in Him has eternal life while he who believes not the Son has not eternal life, but the wrath of God shall remain upon him.” In the same manner therefore the Lord, both showing His own goodness, and indicating that man is in his own free will and his own power, said to Jerusalem, “How often have I wished to gather your children together, as a hen [gathers] her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Wherefore your house shall be left unto you desolate.” – (AD 180)
Nor, again, does God exercise compulsion upon anyone unwilling to accept the exercise of His skill. . . . They have been created free agents and possessed of power over themselves. – (AD 180)
Those who believe, do His will agreeably to their own choice. Likewise, agreeably to their own choice, the disobedient do not consent to His doctrine. It is clear that His Father has made everyone in a like condition, each person having a choice of his own and a free understanding. – (AD 180)
Clement of Alexandria
We . . . have believed and are saved by voluntary choice. – (AD 195)
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. – (AD 195)
It is by one’s own fault that he does not choose what is best. God is free of blame. – (AD 195)
Neither praises nor censures, neither rewards nor punishments, are right if the soul does not have the power of inclination and disinclination and if evil in involuntary. . . . In no respect is God the author of evil. But since free choice and inclination originate sins, . . . punishments are justly inflicted. – (AD 195)
We have heard by the Scriptures that selfdetermining choice and refusal have been given by the Lord to men. Therefore, we rest in the infallible criterion of faith, manifesting a willing spirit, since we have chosen life. – (AD 195)
To obey or not is in our own power, provided we do not have the excuse of ignorance. – (AD 195)
Sin, then, is voluntary on my part. – (AD 195)
The Lord clearly shows sins and transgressions to be in our own power, by prescribing modes of cure corresponding to the maladies. – (AD 195)
Their estrangement is the result of free choice. – (AD 195)
It is not possible to attain it without the exercise of free choice. However, the whole does not depend on our own purpose, as for example, what is destined to happen. – (AD 195)
Perhaps the Father Himself draws to Himself every one who has led a pure life and who has reached the conception of the blessed and incorruptible nature. Or, perhaps the free will that is in us, by reaching the knowledge of the good, leaps and bounds over the barriers (as the gymnasts say). Either way, it is not without eminent grace that the soul is winged, soars, and is raised above the higher spheres. – (AD 195)
Wisdom, which is given by God (being the power of the Father), rouses indeed our free will and allows faith. It repays the application of the elect with its crowning fellowship. – (AD 195)
God’s will is especially obeyed by the free will of good men. – (AD 195)
Believing and obeying are in our own power. – (AD 195)
Nor will he who is saved be saved against his will, for he is not inanimate. But above all, he will speed to salvation voluntarily and of free choice. – (AD 195)
From us, then, are demanded the things which are in our own power, and of the things which pertain to us, both present and absent, the choice, and desire, and possession, and use, and permanence. – (AD 195)
Whenever, then, one is righteous—not from necessity or out of fear or hope—but from free choice, this is called the royal road. – (AD 195)
Choice depended on the man as being free. But the gift depended on God as the Lord. And He gives to those who are willing, are exceedingly earnest, and who ask. So their salvation becomes their own. For God does not compel. – (AD 195)
This is the mind and judgment of man, which has freedom in itself and self-determination in the treatment of what is assigned to it. – (AD 195)
If one chooses to continue in pleasures and to sin perpetually, . . . let him no longer blame either God, riches, or his having fallen. Rather, let him blame his own soul, which voluntarily perishes. – (AD 195)
Tertullian
For again He says, “Let him who is able to receive, receive;” that is, let him who is not able go his way. That rich man did go his way who had not “received” the precept of dividing his substance to the needy, and was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion. Nor will “harshness” be on this account imputed to Christ, on the ground of the vicious action of each individual free-will. “Behold,” said He, “I have set before you good and evil.” Choose that which is good: if you cannot, because you will not – for that you can if you will He has shown, because He has proposed each to your free-will – you ought to depart from Him whose will you do not. – (AD 198)
I find, then, that man was constituted free by God. He was master of his own will and power. . . . For a law would not be imposed upon one who did not have it in his power to render that obedience which is due to law. Nor again, would the penalty of death be threatened against sin, if a contempt of the law were impossible to man in the liberty of his will. . . . Man is free, with a will either for obedience or resistance. – (AD 207)
As to fortune, it is man’s freedom of will. – (AD 210)
This will be the power of the grace of God—more potent indeed than nature—exercising its sway over the faculty that underlies itself within us: even the freedom of our will. . . . We define the soul as having sprung from the breath of God. It is immortal . . . [and] free in its determinations. – (AD 210)
You must necessarily correspond to the seed from which you sprang—if indeed it is true that the originator of our race and our sin, Adam, willed the sin which he committed. – (AD 212)
Bardesanes
On the contrary, men are not governed like [the plants and animals]. . . . In matters pertaining to their minds, they do whatever they choose—as those who are free, endowed with power, and in the likeness of God. – (AD 222)
Hippolytus
God, who created [the world], did not, nor does not, make evil. . . . Now, man (who was brought into existence) was a creature endowed with a capacity of self-determination, yet he did not possess a sovereign intellect. . . . Man, from the fact of his possessing a capacity of self-determination, brings forth what is evil. . . . Since man has free will, a law has been given him by God, for a good purpose. For a law will not be laid down for an animal that is devoid of reason. Only a bridle and a whip will be given it. In contrast, man has been given a commandment to perform, coupled with a penalty. – (AD 225)
The Word promulgated the divine commandments by declaring them. He thereby turned man from disobedience. He summoned man to liberty through a choice involving spontaneity—not by bringing him into servitude by force of necessity. – (AD 225)
Christ passed through every stage in life in order that He Himself could serve as a law for persons of every age, and that, by being present among us, He could demonstrate His own manhood as a model for all men. Furthermore, through Himself He could prove that God made nothing evil and that man possesses the capacity of self-determination. For man is able to both will and not to will. He is endowed with power to do both. – (AD 225)
Origen
This also is clearly defined in the teaching of the church, that every rational soul has free will and volition. Furthermore, each soul has a struggle to maintain against the devil, his angels, and other opposing powers. For those powers strive to burden it with sins. . . . We understand that we are not subject to necessity. We are not compelled by various means to do either good or evil, even against our will. For if we are our own masters, some influences may perhaps impel us to sin, and others may help us to salvation. However, we are not forced by any necessity to act either rightly or wrongly. – (AD 225)
Every rational creature, therefore, is capable of earning praise and censure. If in conformity to the reason that he possesses, he advances to better things, he is worthy of praise. If he falls away from the plan and course of rectitude, he is worthy of condemnation. And for this reason, he is justly liable to pains and penalties. – (AD 225)
“It seems a possible thing that rational natures, from whom the faculty of free will is never taken away, may be again subjected to movements of some kind. – (AD 225)
Since those rational creatures themselves . . . were endowed with the power of free will, this freedom of the will incited each one to either progress (by imitation of God), or else it reduced a person to failure through negligence. And this, as we have already stated, is the cause of the diversity among rational creatures. It does not derive its origin from the will or judgment of the Creator, but from the freedom of the individual will. Now God deemed it just to arrange His creatures according to their merit. . . . Divine Providence continues to regulate each individual according to the variety of his movements, or of his feelings and purpose. On which account, the Creator will not appear to be unjust in distributing to everyone according to his merits. Nor will the happiness or unhappiness of each one’s birth (or whatever is the condition that falls to his lot) be considered accidental. – (AD 225)
In the preaching of the church, there is included the doctrine concerning a just judgment of God. When this teaching is believed to be true, it incites those who hear it to live virtuously and to shun sin by all means. For they clearly acknowledge that things worthy of praise and blame are within our own power. – (AD 225)
It is our responsibility to live virtuously. God asks this of us as being our own doing—not as being dependent on Him, nor on any other, nor on Fate (as some think). The prophet Micah proves this when he says: “If it has been announced to you, O man, what is good, or what does the Lord require of you, except to do justice and to love mercy?” Moses, too, said: “I have placed before your face the way of life and the way of death. Choose what is good and walk in it.” Isaiah also said: “If you are willing and hear me, you will eat the good of the land.” . . . And the Savior also, when He commands, “But I say to you, resist not evil.” . . . And by any other commandments that He gives, He declares that it lies with us to keep what is commanded and that we will reasonably be liable to condemnation if we transgress. – (AD 225)
Let us begin, then, with those words which were spoken to Pharaoh, who is said to have been hardened by God, in order that he might not let the people go; and, along with his case, the language of the apostle also will be considered, where he says, “Therefore He has mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardens.” For it is on these passages chiefly that the heretics rely, asserting that salvation is not in our own power, but that souls are of such a nature as must by all means be either lost or saved; and that in no way can a soul which is of an evil nature become good, or one which is of a virtuous nature be made bad… If we can show, e.g., that by one and the same act God has pity upon one individual, but hardens another; not purposing or desiring that he who is hardened should be so, but because, in the manifestation of His goodness and patience, the heart of those who treat His kindness and forbearance with contempt and insolence is hardened by the punishment of their crimes being delayed; while those, on the other hand, who make His goodness and patience the occasion of their repentance and reformation, obtain compassion…Now it is not incorrect to say that the sun, by one and the same power of its heat, melts wax indeed, but dries up and hardens mud: not that its power operates one way upon mud, and in another way upon wax; but that the qualities of mud and wax are different, although according to nature they are one thing, both being from the earth. In this way, then, one and the same working upon the part of God, which was administered by Moses in signs and wonders, made manifest the hardness of Pharaoh, which he had conceived in the intensity of his wickedness but exhibited the obedience of those other Egyptians who were intermingled with the Israelites, and who are recorded to have fled Egypt at the same time with the Hebrews…”Despisest the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? but, after your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up unto yourself wrath on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Such are the words of the apostle to him who is in his sins. Let us apply these very expressions to Pharaoh, and see if they also are not spoken of him with propriety, since, according to his hardness and impenitent heart, he treasured and stored up for himself wrath on the day of wrath, inasmuch as his hardness could never have been declared and manifested, unless signs and wonders of such number and magnificence had been performed. – (AD 248)
To show more clearly, however, what we mean, let us take the illustration employed by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he says, “For the earth, which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, will receive blessing from God; but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.” Now from those words of Paul which we have quoted, it is clearly shown that by one and the same act on the part of God – that being by which He sends rain upon the earth – one portion of the ground, when carefully cultivated, brings forth good fruits; while another, neglected and uncared for, produces thorns and thistles…Now, although it is due to the beneficial action of the rain that the earth has produced herbs of both kinds, it is not to the rain that the diversity of the herbs is properly to be ascribed; but on those will justly rest the blame for the bad seed, who, although they might have turned up the ground by frequent ploughing, and have broken the clods by repeated harrowing, and have extirpated all useless and noxious weeds, and have cleared and prepared the fields for the coming showers by all the labor and toil which cultivation demands, have nevertheless neglected to do this, and who will accordingly reap briers and thorns, the most appropriate fruit of their sloth…Let us therefore view those signs and miracles which were done by God, as the showers furnished by Him from above; and the purpose and desires of men, as the cultivated and uncultivated soil, which is of one and the same nature indeed, as is every soil compared with another, but not in one and the same state of cultivation. From which it follows that every one’s will, if untrained, and fierce, and barbarous, is either hardened by the miracles and wonders of God, growing more savage and thorny than ever, or it becomes more pliant, and yields itself up with the whole mind to obedience, if it be cleared from vice and subjected to training. – (AD 248)
Let us now look to the expression, “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” For our opponents assert, that if it does not depend upon him that wills, nor on him that runs, but on God that shows mercy, that a man be saved, our salvation is not in our own power. For our nature is such as to admit of our either being saved or not, or else our salvation rests solely on the will of Him who, if He wills it, shows mercy, and confers salvation. Now let us inquire, in the first place, of such persons, whether to desire blessings be a good or evil act; and whether to hasten after good as a final aim be worthy of praise. If they were to answer that such a procedure was deserving of censure, they would evidently be mad; for all holy men both desire blessings and run after them, and certainly are not blameworthy. How, then, is it that he who is not saved, if he be of an evil nature, desires blessing, and runs after them, but does not find them? …It is established, then, that to desire and follow after blessings is not an indifferent, but a virtuous proceeding… “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” In the book of Psalms – in the Songs of Degrees, which are ascribed to Solomon – the following statement occurs: “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.” By which words he does not indeed indicate that we should cease from building or watching over the safe keeping of that city which is within us; but what he points out is this, that whatever is built without God, and whatever is guarded without him, is built in vain, and guarded to no purpose. – (AD 248)
After this there followed this point, that “to will and to do are of God.” Our opponents maintain that if to will be of God, and if to do be of Him, or if, whether we act or desire well or ill, it be of God, then in that case we are not possessed of free-will. Now to this we have to answer, that the words of the apostle do not say that to will evil is of God, or that to will good is of Him; nor that to do good or evil is of God; but his statement is a general one, that to will and to do are of God. For as we have from God this very quality, that we are men that we breathe, that we move; so also we have from God (the faculty) by which we will, as if we were to say that our power of motion is from God, or that the performing of these duties by the individual members, and their movements, are from God. From which, certainly, I do not understand this, that because the hand moves, e.g., to punish unjustly, or to commit an act of theft, the act is of God, but only that the power of motion is from God; while it is our duty to turn those movements, the power of executing which we have from God, either to purposes of good or evil. And so what the apostle says is, that we receive indeed the power of will, but that we misuse the will either to good or evil desires. In a similar way, also, we must judge of results. – (AD 248)
But with respect to the declaration of the apostle, “Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. You will say then unto me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why have you made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” Some one will perhaps say, that as the potter out of the same lump makes some vessels to honor, and others to dishonor, so God creates some men for perdition, and others for salvation; and that it is not therefore in our own power either to be saved or to perish; by which reasoning we appear not to be possessed of free-will. We must answer those who are of this opinion with the question, whether it is possible for the apostle to contradict himself? And if this cannot be imagined of an apostle, how shall he appear, according to them, to be just in blaming those who committed fornication in Corinth, or those who sinned, and did not repent of their unchasity, and fornication, and uncleanness, which they had committed? …”We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one of us may receive in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.” For what reward of good will be conferred on him who could not commit evil, being formed by the Creator to that very end? Or what punishment will deservedly be inflicted on him who was unable to do good in consequence of the creative act of his maker? – (AD 248)
Let us observe how Paul, too, addresses us as having freedom of the will and as being ourselves the cause of ruin or salvation. He says, “You are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God—who will render to everyone according to his works.” . . . There are, indeed, innumerable passages in the Scriptures that establish with exceeding clarity the existence of freedom of the will. But, since certain declarations of the Old Testament and of the New lead to the opposite conclusion—namely, that it does not depend on ourselves to keep the commandments and to be saved, or to transgress them and to be lost—let us examine them one by one and see the explanations. . . . The statements regarding Pharaoh have troubled many, respecting whom God declared several times, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” For if he is hardened by God and commits sin because of being hardened, he is not the cause of sin to himself. If so, then Pharaoh does not possess free will. . . . There is also the declaration in Ezekiel, “I will take away their stony hearts and will put in them hearts of flesh so that they may walk in My precepts and keep My commandments.” This might lead someone to think that it was God who gave the power to walk in His commandments and to keep His commandments—by His withdrawing the hindrance (the stony heart) and implanting a better heart of flesh. And let us look also at the passage in the Gospel . . . “That seeing they might not see and hearing they may hear and not understand. Lest they would be converted and their sins be forgiven them.”
There is also the passage in Paul: “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Furthermore, there are declarations in other places that “both to will and to do are of God” and “that God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy; and whom He wishes, He hardens.” . . . And also, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does the potter not have power over the clay—-from the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” Now, these passages are sufficient of themselves to trouble the multitude—as if man were not possessed of free will, but as if it were God who saves and destroys whom He wills. Let us begin, then, with what is said about Pharaoh—that he was hardened by God so that he would not send the people away. . . . Some of those who hold different opinions [i.e., the Gnostics] misuse these passages. They essentially destroy free will by introducing ruined natures incapable of salvation and by introducing others as being saved in such a way that they cannot be lost. . . . Let us now see what these passages mean. For we will ask them if Pharaoh was of a fleshly nature. And when they answer, we will say that he who is of a fleshly nature is altogether disobedient to God. And if he is disobedient, what need is there for his heart to be hardened—not only once, but frequently? Unless we are to think that . . . God needs him to be disobedient to a greater degree in order that He could manifest His mighty deeds for the salvation of the multitude. Therefore, God hardens his heart. This will be our answer to them in the first place.
Since we consider God to be both good and just, let us see how the good and just God could harden the heart of Pharaoh. Perhaps by an illustration used by the apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we may be able to show that, by the same operation, God can show mercy on one man while he hardens another, although not intending to harden. . . . “The earth,” he says, “drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and produces crops to those for whom it is farmed, receiving the blessing from God. But that which produces thorns and briers is worthless, and is in danger of being cursed. Its end is to be burned.” . . . It may seem profane for the One who produces rain to say, “I produced both the fruit and the thorns that are in the earth.” Yet, although seemingly profane, it is true. If the rain had not fallen, there would have been neither fruit nor thorns. . . . The blessing of the rain, therefore, fell even on the unproductive land. But since it was neglected and uncultivated, it yielded thorns and thistles. In the same way, the wonderful acts of God are like the rain. The differing purposes are like the cultivated and the neglected land. . . . If the sun had a voice, it might say, “I both liquefy and dry up.” Although liquefying and drying are opposite things, the sun would not speak falsely on this point. For wax is melted and mud is dried up by the same heat. In the same way, the operation performed through the instrumentality of Moses, on the one hand, hardened Pharaoh (because of his own wickedness), and it softened the mixed Egyptian multitude, who departed with the Hebrews. . . . Now, suppose that the words the apostle addressed to sinners had been addressed to Pharaoh. Then, the announcements made to him will be understood to have been made with particular application. It is as to one who—according to his hardness and unrepentant heart—was treasuring up wrath for himself. For his hardness would not have been demonstrated nor made manifest unless miracles had been performed, particularly miracles of such magnitude and importance. . . .
If it is not we who do anything towards the production within ourselves of the heart of flesh—but if it is [all] God’s doing—it would not be our own act to live agreeably to virtue. Rather, it would be altogether an act of divine grace. This would be the statements of one who from the mere words annihilates free will. But we will answer, saying that we should understand these passages in this way: It is like a man who happens to be ignorant and uneducated. On perceiving his own defects—either because of an exhortation from his teacher, or in some other way—he spontaneously gives himself up to an instructor whom he believes can educate him and teach him virtue. Now, on his yielding himself up, his instructor promises that he will take away the man’s ignorance and implant instruction. Yet, it is not as if the student contributed nothing to his own training. . . . In the same way, the Word of God promises to take away wickedness (which it calls a stony heart) from those who come to Him. But not if they are unwilling to come. It is only if they submit themselves to the Physician of the sick. . . .
After this, there is the passage from the Gospel where the Savior said, . . . “Seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. Lest they would be converted and their sins be forgiven them.” Now, our opponent [the Gnostics] will say . . . it is not within the power of such ones to be saved. If that were so, we are not possessed of free will as regards salvation and destruction. . . . In the first place, then, we must notice the passage in its bearing on the heretics, who . . . daringly assert the cruelty of the Creator of the world. . . . They say that goodness does not exist in the Creator. . . . Come, then, and let us (to the best of our ability) furnish an answer to the question submitted to us. . . . The Savior . . . had foreseen them as persons who were not likely to prove steady in their conversion, even if they heard the words that were spoken more clearly. For that reason, they were treated this way by the Savior. . . . Otherwise, after a rapid conversion and healing through obtaining remission of sins, they would despise the wounds of their wickedness, as being slight and easy to heal. As a result, they would again quickly relapse into them. . . .
“Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me this way?” Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” . . . Now we must ask the person who uses these passages whether it is possible to conceive that the apostle contradicts himself. I presume that no one will venture to say it is. If, then, the apostle does not utter contradictions, how can he, according to the person who so understands him, justly find fault with anyone? How could he condemn the individual at Corinth who had committed fornication, or those who had fallen away? . . . And how could he bless those whom he praises as having done well? . . . It is not consistent for the same apostle to blame the sinner as worthy of censure and to praise him who had done well as deserving of approval—but yet, on the other hand, to say (as if nothing depended on ourselves) that the cause was in the Creator for the one vessel to be formed to honor and the other to dishonor. . . . The power that is given us to enable us to conquer may be used—in accordance with our faculty of free will—either in a diligent manner (in which case, we prove victorious) or in a slothful manner (in which case, we are defeated). For if such a power were wholly given us in such a way that we would always prove victorious and never be defeated, what further reason would there be for a struggle—for such a one could not be overcome? Or what merit would there be in a victory, if the power of successful resistance is taken away? However, if the possibility of conquering is equally conferred on all of us—and if it is in our own power how to use this possibility (either diligently or slothfully)—then the defeated can be justly censured and the victor can be deservedly praised. – (AD 225)
When a malignant power has begun to incite us to evil, it is quite within our power to cast the wicked suggestions away from us. . . . Similarly, when a divine power calls us to better things, it is possible for us not to obey the call. Our freedom of will is preserved in either case. – (AD 225)
A soul is always in possession of free will—both when it is in the body and when it is outside of it. – (AD 225)
Would [Celsus] then have . . . God fill the minds of men with new ideas, immediately removing the wickedness and implanting virtue? . . . Where, then, is our free will? And what credit is there in agreeing to the truth? Or how is it praiseworthy to reject what is false? – (AD 248)
To such an interpretation, all the Scriptures are opposed. They emphasize the freedom of the will. They condemn those who sin, and they approve those who do right. . . . We are responsible for our being good and worthy of being called [honorable] vessels. Likewise, we are responsible for being bad and worthy of being cast outside. For it is not the nature in us that is the cause of the evil; rather, it is the voluntary choice that works evil. Likewise, our nature is not the cause of righteousness, as though it were incapable of admitting unrighteousness. – (AD 248)
You can always find evil men coming from wickedness to virtue. And you can always find righteous men returning from progress towards virtue to the flood of wickedness. . . . Now, from the parable of the dragnet, the heretics introduce the doctrine of different natures. Let them tell us in regard to the wicked man who afterwards turned aside from all the wickedness . . . what nature he was when he was wicked? – (AD 248)
In the case of souls, it is our free will (and actions and habits of such a kind) that furnish the reason why one is great, little, or of middle height [i.e., spiritually speaking]. And it is our free will to increase our size, by advancing in stature, or else to be short, by not advancing. – (AD 248)
Just as all bodily matter, since it, no doubt, consists of a single nature, through its inherent qualities produces various species of bodies or trees or plants, in the same way, since there is one nature for all rational beings, the choice of each—the liberty of the impulse of each is distributed equally—when summoned by the power of choice, and by guiding the soul subjected to them either to- ward virtue or toward evil desire, creates the species of a good tree or an evil tree. It may be called a good tree if, through its power of choice, it appoints good things; or it may be called evil if it should choose evil things. And in this way, each person, according to the impulses of his own purpose, will be designated [either] a good olive tree, if he travels down the road of virtue, or a wild olive tree, if he follows the opposite [path]. This, after all, is why even the Lord was saying in the Gospel, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good; or make the tree evil and its fruit evil,” in order to show that a tree, good or evil, is made, not born. Origen, Commentary on Romans 8.11.4
Novatian
When He had given man all things for his service, he willed that man alone should be free. And lest an unbounded freedom would lead man into peril, He laid down a command, in which man was taught that there was no evil in the fruit of the tree. Rather, he was forewarned that evil would arise if man were to exercise his free will in contempt of the law that had been given him. . . . As a result, he could receive either worthy rewards or a just punishment. For he had in his own power that which he might choose to do. – (AD 235)
Cyprian
The liberty of believing or of not believing is placed in free choice. In Deuteronomy, it says: “Look! I have set before your face life and death, good and evil. Choose for yourself life, that you may live.” Also in Isaiah: “And if you are willing and hear me, you will eat the good of the land.” – (AD 250)
Methodius
For this cause, therefore, a mediator came – that is, God in the flesh – that the flesh might be able to follow Him, and that He might rescue man from death, which has dominion over the flesh. Therefore He clothed Himself with flesh, that the desires of the flesh being subdued, He might teach that to sin was not the result of necessity, but of man’s purpose and will. – (AD 290)
Some persons decide that man is not possessed of free will. Rather, they assert that he is governed by the unavoidable necessities of fate and her unwritten commands. Such persons are guilty of impiety towards God Himself. For they make Him out to be the cause and author of human evils. – (AD 290)
To do good or evil is in our own power, and it is not decided by the stars. For there are two motions in us, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the soul. And these differ from each other. For that reason, they have received two names: virtue and vice. – (AD 290)
Man was made with a free will . . . on account of his capacity of obeying or disobeying God. For this was the meaning of the gift of free will. – (AD 290)
Man received power and enslaved himself—not because he was overpowered by the irresistible tendencies of his nature. . . . For if he had been made as any of the elements of creation, . . . he would cease to receive a reward befitting deliberate choice. Instead, he would be like an instrument of the Maker. And it would be unreasonable for him to suffer blame for his wrong-doings. For the real author of them would be the one by whom he is used. . . . Therefore, I say that God—purposing to honor man in this manner and to grant him an understanding of better things—has given man the power of being able to do what he wishes. He commends the use of his power for better things. However, it is not that God deprives man again of free will. Rather, He wishes to point out the better way. For the power is present with man, and he receives the commandment. But God exhorts him to turn his power of choice to better things. – (AD 290)
I do not think that God urges man to obey His commandments, but then deprives him of the power to obey or disobey. . . . He does not give a command in order to take away the power that he has given. Rather, He gives it in order to bestow a better gift . . . in return for his having rendered obedience to God. For man had power to withhold it. I say that man was made with free will. – (AD 290)
[Methodius] says that it is in our power to do, or to avoid doing, evil. Otherwise, we would not be punished for doing evil nor be rewarded for doing good. However, the presence or absence of evil thoughts does not depend upon ourselves. – (AD 290) as quoted by Photius
Lactantius
He who gives commandments for life should remove every method of excuse—so he can impose upon men the necessity of obedience. Not by any constraint, but by a sense of shame. Yet, he should do it in a way to leave them freedom, so that a reward may be appointed for those who obey. That is because it was in their power not to obey if they so wished. And he can give a punishment for those who do not obey—for it was in their power to obey if they so wished. . . . But how can one practice what he teaches, unless he is like the teacher? For if the teacher is subject to no passion, a man may answer the teacher in this manner: “It is my wish not to sin. However, I am overpowered. For I am clothed with frail and weak flesh. It is this that covets, is angry, and fears pain and death. And thus I am led on against my will. So I sin, not because it is my wish, but because I am compelled. I realize that I sin. Yet, the necessity imposed by my frailty (which I am unable to resist) impels me. Now, what will that teacher of righteousness say in reply to these things? How will he refute and convict a man who alleges the frailty of the flesh as an excuse for his faults—unless he himself will also be clothed with flesh—so that he can show that even the flesh is capable of virtue? – (AD 304-313)
Arnobius
If your “wisdom” is so great that you consider the things that are offered by Christ to be ridiculous and absurd, why should He keep on inviting you? For His only duty is to make the enjoyment of His gift dependent upon your own free choice. – (AD 305)
Archelaus
Rational creatures have been entrusted with free will. Because of this, they are capable of converting [i.e., from bad to good]. – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (AD 320)
All the creatures that God made, he made very good. And he gave to every individual the sense of free will, in accordance with which standard He also instituted the law of judgment. To sin is ours, and that we sin not is God’s gift. For our will is made to choose either to sin or not to sin. . . . Certainly, whoever wishes to may keep the commandments. And whoever will despise them and turn aside to what is contrary to them, he will yet undoubtedly have to face this law of judgment. . . . All persons will not follow the example of [Satan’s] fall and ruin. For everyone is given liberty of will. – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (AD 320)
“Since both sides admit that there will be a judgment, it is necessarily involved in that admission that every person is shown to have free will. And since this is clearly brought out, there can be no doubt that every person—in the exercise of his own proper power of will—may shape his course in whatever direction he pleases. – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (AD 320)
Alexander of Alexandria
Natural will is the free faculty of every intelligent nature, as having nothing involuntary pertaining to its essence. – (AD 324)
II. The elect
Isaiah 42:1
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Mark 13:20
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies.
1 Peter 1:2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Apostles
Even the Jewish nation had wicked heresies. . . . There are the Pharisees, who ascribe the practice of sinners to fortune and fate. – (AD 50)
Hermas
God removes the heavens, mountains, hills and seas, so that all things become plain to His elect, so that He may bestow on them the blessing which He has promised them. – (AD 70)
But the white portion is the coming age, in which the elect of God shall dwell; because the elect of God shall be without spot and pure unto life eternal. – (AD 70)
Clement of Rome
Day and night you were anxious for the whole brotherhood, that the number of God’s elect might be saved with mercy and a good conscience. – (AD 96)
And we will ask, with instancy of prayer and supplication, that the Creator of the universe may guard intact unto the end the number that has been numbered of His elect throughout the whole world, through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom He called us from darkness to light, from ignorance to the full knowledge of the glory of His Name. – (AD 96)
Irenaeus
When the number is completed that He had predetermined in His own counsel, all those who have been enrolled for life will rise again. – (AD 180)
Clement of Alexandria
Therefore, all having been called, those who are willing to obey have been named “the called.” For there is no unrighteousness with God. . . . To these, prophecy says, “If you are willing and hear me, you will eat the good things of the land,” proving that choice or refusal depends on ourselves. – (AD 195)
The teachings of both the Old and the New Testaments are unnecessary if a person is saved by nature (as Valentinus would have it) and is a believer and an elect man by nature (as Basilides thinks). – (AD 195)
It is no longer seemly that the friend of God, whom “God has foreordained before the foundation of the world” to be enrolled in the highest adoption, should fall into pleasures or fears and be occupied with the repression of lusts. For I venture to declare that as he is predestined through what he shall do and what he shall obtain, so also has he predestined himself by reason of what he knew and whom he loved. – (AD 195)
Methodius
[When] the predestined number of men will be fulfilled, men will afterwards abstain from the generation of children. – (AD 290)
III. Predestination and foreknowledge of God
Acts 4:27-28
The Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
Romans 8:29
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Romans 9:16-23
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
Ephesians 1:4-5
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.
1 Peter 1:2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Justin Martyr
God, wishing men and angels to follow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness; possessing reason, that they may know by whom they are created, and through whom they, not existing formerly, do now exist; and with a law that they should be judged by Him, if they do anything contrary to right reason: and of ourselves we, men and angels, shall be convicted of having acted sinfully, unless we repent beforehand. 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. So that if they repent, all who wish for it can obtain mercy from God. – (AD 160)
Irenaeus
“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son.” By which is made manifest, that all things which had been foreknown of the Father, our Lord did accomplish in their order, season, and hour, foreknown and fitting, being indeed one and the same, but rich and great. – (AD 180)
If, therefore, in the present time also, God, knowing the number of those who will not believe, since He foreknows all things, has given them over to unbelief, and turned away His face from men of this stamp, leaving them in the darkness which they have themselves chosen for themselves, what is there wonderful if He did also at that time give over to their unbelief, Pharaoh, who never would have believed, along with those who were with him? – (AD 180)
Clement of Alexandria
He then avoids denying Christ through fear by reason of the command; nor does he sell his faith in the hope of the gifts prepared, but in love to the Lord he will most gladly depart from this life; perhaps giving thanks both to him who afforded the cause of his departure hence, and to him who laid the plot against him, for receiving an honorable reason which he himself furnished not, for showing what he is, to him by his patience, and to the Lord in love, by which even before his birth he was manifested to the Lord, who knew the martyr’s choice. – (AD 195)
He, then, who faultlessly acts the drama of life that God has given him to play, knows both what is to be done and what is to be endured. – (AD 195)
“Twice dead,” he says . . . according to the predestined judgments of God. – (AD 195)
Tertullian
We are they “upon whom the ends of the ages have met, having ended their course.” We have been predestined by God, before the world was, (to arise) in the extreme end of the times. And so we are trained by God for the purpose of chastising, and (so to say) emasculating, the world. We are the circumcision – spiritual and carnal – of all things; for both in the spirit and in the flesh we circumcise worldly principles. – (AD 198)
Mark Minucius Felix
Neither let anyone take comfort from—or apologize for what happens from—fate. . . . For what else is fate than what God has spoken of each one of us? Since He can foresee our constitution, He determines also the fates for us, according to the deserts and the qualities of individuals. Thus, in our case, it is not the star under which we are born that is punished. Rather, the particular nature of our disposition is blamed. – (AD 200)
Methodius
God is good and wise. He does what is best. Therefore, there is no fixed destiny. – (AD 290)
IV. Synergism
Romans 2:6-7
[God] “will render to each one according to his deeds”; eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath.
Romans 8:6, 10, 14
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
1 Corinthains 15:1-2
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel . . . by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Galatians 5:25
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Hebrews 12:25
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.
James 1:12-13
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Ignatius
When you are desirous to do well, God is also ready to assist you. – Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Chapter 11 (AD 105)
Hermas
The man who has the Lord in his heart can also be lord of all, and of every one of these commandments. However, as to those who have the Lord only on their lips, whose hearts are hardened, and who are far from the Lord—the commandments are hard and difficult. – (AD 150)
“I hope, sir, to be able to keep all these commandments which you have commanded to me, the Lord strengthening me.” “You will keep them,” he says, “if your heart is pure towards the Lord.” – (AD 150)
The Holy Pre-existent Spirit, which created the whole creation, God made to dwell in flesh that He desired. This flesh, therefore, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was subject unto the Spirit, walking honorably in holiness and purity, without in any way defiling the Spirit. When then it had lived honorably in chastity, and had labored with the Spirit, and had cooperated with it in everything, behaving itself boldly and bravely, He chose it as a partner with the Holy Spirit; for the career of this flesh pleased [the Lord], seeing that, as possessing the Holy Spirit, it was not defiled upon the earth. – (AD 150)
“To those whose heart He saw would become pure and obedient to Him, He gave power to repent with the whole heart. But to those whose deceit and wickedness He perceived, and seeing that they intended to repent hypocritically, He did not grant repentance. – (AD 150)
If you bear His name but do not possess His power, it will be in vain that you bear His name. – (AD 150)
Justin Martyr
But God foreknowing all that shall be done by all men, and it being His decree that the future actions of men shall all be recompensed according to their several value, He foretells by the Spirit of prophecy that He will bestow meet rewards according to the merit of the actions done, always urging the human race to effort and recollection, showing that He cares and provides for men. – (AD 160)
Irenaeus
But for this reason does God demand service from men, in order that, since He is good and merciful, He may benefit those who continue in His service. For, as much as God is in want of nothing, so much does man stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God’s service. Wherefore also did the Lord say to His disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you;” indicating that they did not glorify Him when they followed Him; but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by Him. And again, “I will, that where I am, there they also may be, that they may behold My glory;” not vainly boasting because of this, but desiring that His disciples should share in His glory. – (AD 180)
God made man a free [agent] from the beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey… God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God… And in man, as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves. On the other hand, they who have not obeyed shall, with justice, be not found in possession of the good, and shall receive just punishment… God therefore has given that which is good… and they who work it shall receive glory and honor, because they have done that which is good when they had it in their power not to do it; but those who do it not shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good when they had it in their power so to do. But if some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be deserving of praise for being good, for such were they created; nor would the former be reprehensible, for thus they were made [originally]. But since all men are of the same nature, able both to hold fast and to do what is good; and, on the other hand, having also the power to cast it from them and not to do it. – (AD 180)
Clement of Alexandria
Nay, he will pray that he may never fall from virtue; giving his most strenuous co-operation in order that he may become infallible. For he knows that some of the angels, through carelessness, were hurled to the earth, not having yet quite reached that state of oneness, by extricating themselves from the propensity to that of duality… And as the physician ministers health to those who co-operate with him in order to health, so also God ministers eternal salvation to those who co-operate for the attainment of knowledge and good conduct; and since what the commandments command are in our own power, along with the performance of them, the promise is accomplished. – (AD 195)
But the Lord replies, “Because what is impossible with men is possible with God.” This again is full of great wisdom. For a man by himself working and toiling at freedom from passion achieves nothing. But if he plainly shows himself very desirous and earnest about this, he attains it by the addition of the power of God. For God conspires with willing souls. But if they abandon their eagerness, the spirit which is bestowed by God is also restrained. For to save the unwilling is the part of one exercising compulsion; but to save the willing, that of one showing grace. Nor does the kingdom of heaven belong to sleepers and sluggards, “but the violent take it by force.” For this alone is commendable violence, to force God, and take life from God by force. And He, knowing those who persevere firmly, or rather violently, yields and grants. For God delights in being vanquished in such things. – (AD 195)
Forgiveness of past sins, then, God gives; but of future, each one gives to himself. And this is to repent, to condemn the past deeds, and beg oblivion of them from the Father, who only of all is able to undo what is done, by mercy proceeding from Him, and to blot out former sins by the dew of the Spirit. “For by the state in which I find you will I judge you.” – (AD 195)
Origen
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.” This is not said to persuade us against building. Nor does it teach us not to keep watch in order to guard the city of our soul. Rather, it shows that what is built without God (and therefore does not receive His protection) is built in vain. . . . If we were to say that such a building is not the work of the builder, but of God, . . . we would be correct. Yet, it is understood that something had also been done by human means. Nevertheless, the benefit is gratefully referred to God, who brought it to pass. The human desire is not sufficient to attain the end. Likewise, the running of those who are (as it were) athletes does not enable them to gain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. For these things are accomplished only with the assistance of God. Therefore, it is appropriately said that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” – (AD 225)
“I planted, Apollos watered; and God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters; but God, who gives the increase.” Now, we could not correctly assert that the production of full crops was the work of the farmer, or of him that watered. Rather, it is the work of God. Likewise, our own perfection is not brought about as if we ourselves did nothing. Yet, it is not completed by us. Rather, God produces the greater part of it. . . . In the matter of our salvation, what is done by God is infinitely greater than what is done by ourselves. For that reason, I think, it is said that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God, who shows mercy.” For if that statement means what they [the Gnostics] imagine it means, . . . then the commandments are unnecessary. Furthermore, it would be in vain that Paul himself blames some persons for having fallen away and praises others for having remained upright. It was in vain that he enacted laws for the churches. . . . However, it was not in vain that Paul gave such advice, censuring some and approving others. – (AD 225)
The apostle in one place does not purport that becoming a vessel to honor or dishonor depends upon God. Rather, he refers everything back to ourselves, saying, “If, then, a man purges himself, he will be a vessel to honor, sanctified, fit for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.” Elsewhere, he does not even purport that it is dependent upon ourselves. Rather, he appears to attribute everything to God, saying, “The potter has power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor.” Since his statements are not contradictory, we must reconcile them and extract one consistent statement from both. Our own power—when separated from the knowledge of God—does not enable us to make progress. On the other hand, the knowledge of God [does not enable us to make progress, either,] unless we ourselves also contribute something to the good result. . . . And these observations are sufficient to have been made by us on the subject of free will. – (AD 225)
“God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear.” That is, each one is tempted in proportion to the amount of his strength or power of resistance. Now, although we have said that it is by the just judgment of God that everyone is tempted according to the amount of his strength, we are not therefore to suppose that he who is tempted will by all means prove victorious in the struggle. It is similar to a man who contends in the arena. Although he is paired with his adversary on a just principle of arrangement, he does not necessarily prove to be the winner. Yet, unless the powers of the combatants are equal, the prize of the victor will not be justly won. Nor will blame justly attach to the loser. . . . It is not written that, in temptation, He will make a way of escape so that we will bear it. Rather, He makes a way of escape so that we can be able to bear it. However, it depends upon ourselves to use this power that He has given us either with energy or with feebleness. There is no doubt that under every temptation we have a power of endurance—if we properly use the strength that is granted us. However, possessing the power to conquer is not the same thing as actually being victorious. The apostle himself has shown this in his very careful language, saying, “God will make a way to escape so that you may be able to bear it”—not that you will bear it. – (AD 225)
Those who hear the word powerfully proclaimed are filled with power. They manifest this both by their dispositions and their lives. And they show this by struggling even to death on behalf of the truth. However, others are altogether empty, even though they profess to believe in God through Jesus. Not possessing any divine power, they have only the appearance of being converted to the word of God. – (AD 248)
For ourselves, we maintain that human nature is in no way able to seek after God, or to attain a clear knowledge of Him without the help of Him whom it seeks. He makes Himself known to those who, after doing all that their powers will allow, confess that they need help from Him, who discovers Himself to those whom He approves. – Against Celsus, Book 7, Chapter 42 (AD 248)