Chapter XII: ASummary of this Commonplace, § 140.
CHAPTER XII: A SUMMARY OF THIS COMMONPLACE
§ 140. This concludes our discussion on the freedom of choice in unregenerate man after the fall; indeed, it was discussed in greater detail because of the magnitude of the topic. A summary of these things is this: In external actions and in the control of discipline there still survives some freedom of choice. But in order to put aside the depravity of our nature with which we are born and to begin spiritual movements which please God, no powers at all survive. Instead, this must be ascribed wholly to the free gift of God and to the working of the Holy Spirit, who through the Word, preached and heard, is effectual in man and kindles new movements in him.
Freedom from the slavery of sin.
§ 141. But after man has been transferred from his state of corruption into a state of grace and has been converted from error to truth, from unbelief to faith, from sins to God, from darkness to light, he gains a different freedom of choice which we can call freedom from the slavery of sin, because the Holy Spirit kindles a new light in the mind and grants new powers to the will so that in this state the will is no longer idle but afterward cooperates with the Holy Spirit through the new powers given to it. John 8:36: “If the Son frees you, you will be free indeed.” Rom. 6:18: “Having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.” 2 Cor. 3:17: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Augustine (De corrept. et grat., ch. 2): “They must understand that, if they are the children of God, they are acting by the Spirit of God to do what must be done, and when they have done it, they give thanks to Him by whom they are acted upon, for they are acted upon so that they act, not in such a way that they themselves do nothing.” Thus [Augustine] also distinguishes very laboriously among prevenient, preparing, operating, cooperating, and perfecting grace. In the state of having been renewed, we are very willing to concede to the human will a cooperation [συνεργία] toward good.
In this life it is not perfect.
§ 142. Nevertheless the freedom of choice in the regenerate is not yet such that the assistance of the Holy Spirit is no longer necessary, because their will, having been freed toward good, depends not on its natural powers but on the power of the Holy Spirit, who acts on and controls it. Augustine (De corrept. et grat., ch. 11):
It must be confessed that we have free choice to do both good and evil. But in doing evil everyone is free from righteousness and a slave to sin. In what is good no one can be free unless he has been freed by Him who said, “If the Son frees you, you are free indeed” [John 8:36]. Nor is it that when someone has been freed from the condemnation of sin, he is now no longer in need of the help of his Deliverer. But rather it is thus: that when he hears from Him, “Without Me you can do nothing” [John 15:5], he himself says, “Be my helper! Do not abandon me!” [Ps. 27:9]. This faith is undoubtedly genuine, prophetic, and apostolic.
§ 143. Even after conversion, in the regenerate there continues to be the “wrestling of flesh and Spirit” (Gal. [5]:17) in this life. Through this it happens that they “delight in the Law according to the inner man,” and yet meanwhile “see in their members another law at war with the law of the mind” (Rom. 7:22–23), because in this life renewal only begins and grows but is not completely perfected. Thus Scripture says that in the converted there are something like two men, the old and the new, the outer and the inner.
§ 144. Consequently, the free and freed will of the reborn is nonetheless a captive under the Law (Rom. 7:23) because the flesh stubbornly resists those who do good. Therefore we can say that there is a free slavery or an enslaved freedom because the reborn “serve the Law of God with the mind but with the flesh serve the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25). There is a free slavery because the reborn are led spontaneously by the Spirit according to the inner man and freely serve God according to the newness of the Spirit. There is an enslaved freedom because there must be no grasping at an unrestrained license to do everything according to choice, but our obedience must be conformed to the will of God and to the norm of the Law, nor should the license of the flesh be taken for the freedom of the Spirit. Thus we do not call even this freedom the “freedom from sin” (because in Rom. 7:17 sin still dwells in the flesh of the reborn) but “freedom from the slavery of sin” (because in Rom. 6:6 the reborn do not serve it). But they do acknowledge it, grieve over it, ask for remission through Christ, and fight against it.
§ 145. Nor is the freedom of the reborn in this life such that it cannot turn again to evil. On the contrary, in fact, if they want to deliver themselves over to the slavery of sin again and reject the grace of God, they will slide back into their original state of corruption, and their latter condition will be worse than the first (2 Pet. 2:20–21). “If you live according to the flesh, you will die” (Rom. 8:13). “If you continue in His goodness, otherwise you will be cut off” (Rom. 11:22). “Be faithful unto death, and I shall give you a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10), etc. This will be discussed elsewhere in greater detail [On Good Works (Commonplace XX), §§ 134–44; On Justification through Faith (Commonplace XIX), §§ 184–94]. This meditation will stir up in us the fear of God, a serious zeal for piety, ardent prayers, etc., and will destroy our sluggishness and security.
Freedom from sin and changeability.
§ 146. Finally, in the other life, the reborn aspire to full freedom of choice, which we can call “freedom from sin and changeability,” because at that time the elect will be cleansed not only from the slavery of sin but also from all the remnants of sin and will be confirmed in the good in such a way that they will no longer be able to fall out of that happy state through sins. For they will be “equal to angels” [ἰσἀγγελoι] (Matt. 22:30), “they will see God face-to-face” (1 Cor. 13:12), “they will see God as He is” (1 John 3:2). Then there will be full security and secure freedom, and much more will be restored to us through Christ than was lost through Adam because the freedom of Adam was to be able not to sin, but the freedom of the elect will be to be unable to sin. In the life to come every error will depart from reason, every grief from the will, every fear from the memory; and they will be replaced by that for which we hope: pure serenity, full sweetness, eternal security.
Bernard (on Song of Songs, sermon 11, col. 519): “The Truth, God, will make the first; Love, God, will make the second; Supreme Power, God, will make the third, so that God is all in all: in reason as it receives the inextinguishable light, in the will as it attains imperturbable peace, in the memory as it eternally clings to the unfailing fountain.” May He carry us to this full freedom! May the Author and Perfecter of our salvation complete the good things which He has begun in us, and may He be blessed forever!