Grace and Free Will
CHAPTER 30.
THE GRACE BY WHICH THE STONY HEART IS REMOVED IS NOT PRECEDED BY GOOD DESERTS, BUT BY EVIL ONES
In another passage also, by the same prophet [Ezekiel], God, in the clearest language, shows us that it is not owing to any good merits on the part of men, but for His own name’s sake, that He does these things. This is His language: “This I do, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, where you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle you with clean water, and you shall be clean: from all your own filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and the stony heart shall be taken away out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.”Eze 36.22-27 Now who is so blind as not to see, and who is so stone-like as not to feel, that this grace is not given according to the merits of a good will, when the Lord declares and testifies “It is I, O house of Israel, who do this, but for my holy name’s sake”? Now why did He say “It is I that do it, but for my holy name’s sake,” if it were not that they should not think that it was owing to their own good merits that these things were happening, as the Pelagians do not hesitate to say unblushingly? But there were not only no good merits of theirs, but the Lord shows that evil ones actually preceded; for He says, “But for my holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the heathen.” Who can fail to observe how dreadful is the evil of profaning the Lord’s own holy name? And yet, for the sake of this very name of mine, He says, which you have profaned, I, even I, will make you good, but not for your own sakes; and as He adds “I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them.” He says that He sanctifies His name, which He had already declared to be holy. Therefore, this is just what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer—”Hollowed be Your name.” We ask for the hallowing among men of that which, in itself, is undoubtedly always holy. Then it follows, “And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you.” Although He Himself is always holy, He is nevertheless sanctified in those on whom He bestows His grace: by taking from them that stony heart by which they profaned the name of the Lord.