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We believe
that God created man from the dust of the earth
and made and formed him in his image and likeness--
good, just, and holy;
able by his own will to conform
in all things
to the will of God.
But when he was in honor
he did not understand it21
and did not recognize his excellence.
But he subjected himself willingly to sin
and consequently to death and the curse,
lending his ear to the word of the devil.
For he transgressed the commandment of life,
which he had received,
and by his sin he separated himself from God,
who was his true life,
having corrupted his entire nature.
So he made himself guilty
and subject to physical and spiritual death,
having become wicked,
perverse,
and corrupt in all his ways.
He lost all his excellent gifts
which he had received from God,
and he retained none of them
except for small traces
which are enough to make him
inexcusable.
Moreover, all the light in us is turned to darkness,
as the Scripture teaches us:
"The light shone in the darkness,
and the darkness did not receive it."22
Here John calls men "darkness."
Therefore we reject everything taught to the contrary
concerning man's free will,
since man is nothing but the slave of sin
and cannot do a thing
unless it is "given him from heaven."23
For who can boast of being able
to do anything good by himself,
since Christ says,
"No one can come to me
unless my Father who sent me
draws him"?24
Who can glory in his own will
when he understands that "the mind of the flesh
is enmity against God"?25
Who can speak of his own knowledge
in view of the fact that "the natural man
does not understand the things of the Spirit of God"?26
In short,
who can produce a single thought,
since he knows that we are "not able to think a thing"
about ourselves,
by ourselves,
but that "our ability is from God"?27
And therefore,
what the apostle says
ought rightly to stand fixed and firm:
"God works within us both to will and to do
according to his good pleasure."28
For there is no understanding nor will
conforming to God's understanding and will
apart from Christ's involvement,
as he teaches us when he says,
"Without me you can do nothing."29
21 Ps. 49:20
22 John 1:5
23 John 3:27
24 John 6:44
25 Rom. 8:7
26 1 Cor. 2:14
27 2 Cor. 3:5
28 Phil. 2:13
29 John 15:5 |
