Augustine in His Own Words
comes before us so that we may be called, and it will follow us so that we may be glorified. It comes before us so that we may lead pious lives; it will follow us so that we may always live with Him, for without Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). For Scripture says both, "He is my God, His mercy shall come before me" (Ps 58:11), and, "Your mercy will follow me all the days of my life" (Ps 22:6). Therefore, let us reveal to Him our way in confession, rather than praise it in self-defense. For if it is not His way, but our way, then it certainly is not the right way. Let us reveal it to Him by our confession, for it is not hidden from Him even if we try to conceal it. For "it is good to confess to the Lord" (Ps 91:2).69
Free Will vs. Free Choice
Pelagius and his circle defined free will in a conventional way: the ability to choose good or evil.70 This implies that sinning is a sign of our freedom. Augustine disagreed. If defined that way, then God would not be free since God cannot sin.71 Augustine distinguished freedom of will (libertas) from free choice (liberum arbitrium). True freedom cannot include the ability to choose evil, for the saved in the City of God after the resurrection will not be able to choose evil. Choosing evil diminishes freedom. A modern analogy: Think of those who dabble with heroin. They may be "free" the first time; but thereafter, as the drug works its chemistry into their system, they become less and less free in their descent into addiction. That is how Augustine thinks about freedom of will vs. free choice: Our wills, on the far side of Adam's Fall, simply do not work right. Left to our own devices, we inevitably (one might even say "addictively") choose the sinful course. Thus our wills need God's grace to repair their marred operation, to restore their primordial freedom, that we might again have the ability to choose wisely among goods. From Letter 157 to Hilary of Syracuse:
(8) This free will will be free to the extent that it is healthy, and healthy to the extent that it is submissive to divine mercy and grace. Therefore, it prays with faith and says, "Direct my journeying according to your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me" (Ps 118:133). For in what way is free will free if iniquity has dominion? But in order that it may not have dominion over it, see whom it invokes. For it does not say, "Direct my journeying according to free choice because no iniquity has dominion over me," but says rather: "Di-
69. Nat. et gr. 31.35 (BA 21:308–10); trans. Mourant and Collinge, FOTC 86:47–48 (modified). 70. Pelagius, De natura, quoted in nat. et gr. 49.57. Julian of Eclanum, Ad Florum (quoted in Augustine, c. Jul. imp. 6.9 [PL 45:1515]) puts it clearly: "Free choice . . . is nothing but the possibility of sinning or not sinning."
71. Augustine makes this point repeatedly to Julian of Eclanum: see c. Jul. imp. 1.81; 3.120; 6.10 (PL 45:1103, 1299, 1518); also nat. et gr. 49.57.