Grace and Free Will (continued)
CHAPTER 4.
THE DIVINE COMMANDS MOST SUITED TO THE WILL,
THEMSELVES ILLUSTRATE ITS FREEDOM
What is the import of the fact that in so many passages, God requires all His commandments to be kept and fulfilled? How does He make this requisite if there is no free will? What does “the happy man” mean, of whom the Psalmist says that his will4 has been the law of the Lord?Psa 1.2 Does he not clearly enough show that a man by his own will takes his stand in the law of God? Then again, there are so many commandments which in some way are expressly adapted to the human will; for instance there is, “Do not be overcome by evil,”Rom 12.1 and others of similar import, such as, “Do not be like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding;”Psa 32.9 and, “Do not reject the counsels of your mother;”Prov 1.8 and, “Do not be wise in your own conceit;”Prov 3.7 and, “Do not despise the chastening of the Lord;”Prov 3.11 and, “Do not forget my law;”Prov 3.1 and, “Do not forbear to do good to the poor;”Prov 3.27 and, “Do not devise evil against your friend;”Prov 3,29 and, “Give no heed to a worthless woman;”Prov 5.2 and, “He is not inclined to understand how to do good;”Prov 2.9 and, “They refused to pay attention to my counsel;”Prov 1.30 with numberless other passages of the inspired Scriptures of the Old Testament. And what do they all show us but the free choice of the human will? So, again, in the evangelical and apostolic books of the New Testament, what other lesson is taught us, as when it is said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth;”Mat 6.19 and, “Do not fear those who kill the body;”Mat 10.28 and, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself;”Mat 16.24 and again, “Peace on earth to men of good will.”Luk 2.14 So also what the Apostle Paul says: “Let him do what he wills; he does not sin if he marries. Nevertheless, he that stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep himself a virgin, does well.”1Cor 7.36-37 And so again, “If I do this willingly, I have a reward;”1Cor 9.17 while in another passage he says, “Be sober and righteous, and do not sin;”1Cor 15.34 and again, “As you have a readiness to will, so also let there be a prompt performance.”2Cor 8.11 Then he remarks to Timothy about the younger widows, “When they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they choose to marry.”1Tim 5.11 So in another passage, “All that will to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;”2Tim 3.12 while to Timothy himself he says, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you.”1Tim 4.14 Then to Philemon he addresses this explanation: “That your benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but of your own will.”Phm 1.14 Servants also he advises to obey their masters “with a good will.”Eph 6.7 In strict accordance with this, James says: “Do not err, my beloved brethren”Jas 1.16 and “do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to persons;”5 and,” Do not speak evil one of another.”Jas 4.11 So also John in his Epistle writes, “Do not love the world,”1Joh 2.15 and other things of the same import.
Now wherever it is said, “Do not do this,” and “Do not do that,” and wherever there is any requirement in the divine admonitions for the work of the will to do anything, or to refrain from doing anything, there is at once a sufficient proof of free will. No man, therefore, when he sins, can in his heart blame God for it, but every man must impute the fault to himself. Nor does it detract at all from a man’s own will when he performs any act in accordance with God. Indeed, a work is then to be pronounced a good one, when a person does it willingly; then, too, may the reward of a good work be hoped for from Him concerning whom it is written, “He shall reward every man according to his works.”Mat 16.27