The practical use of the doctrine of the freedom of the divine will.
According to the former meaning, God in no way wills one thing for the sake of another nor can any cause for the divine will be assigned, because in the eternal and utterly simple will there is no succession nor distinction of acts of the will. Augustine, De Genes. contra Manich., bk. 1, c. 2: “There is no cause for the divine will; rather, it is the cause of all things that exist.”
According to the latter meaning, it can be said that God wills one thing for the sake of another because Scripture asserts both things: that He generally wills all things that He wills outside Himself for the sake of Himself as the end of all other things, and that He wills each of those things for the sake of something else, just as each is the cause of the next willing. Therefore even if God wills whatever He wills with a single act, nevertheless because this act is equivalent to many distinct acts because of its infinite perfection, God wills everything wisely and fittingly by that one same act to the extent that each has a relation toward another. Therefore [He wills one thing] for the sake of another, just as we understand that man does this first by one act and then by another. Thomas, [ST,] p. 1, q. 19, art. 5:
The act of divine volition according to its own uncreated character of being [entitas] cannot have a true final cause because true final causality consists in this: that by a love and desire for itself it moves the will to choose means. From this, two distinct actions for final causality are required: one by which the will loves an end, the other by which the will is moved by love of the end to choose means. But there are no such distinct actions or volitions in God. Nevertheless, to our way of understanding, He does have a manner of willing by way of final cause. For because of the weakness of our understanding, we perceive God in this life through various inadequate concepts. Therefore we perceive Him willing means with one act, end with another.
(See Becanus, part 1, Theol. schol., c. 11, q. 9.)
The practical use of the doctrine of the freedom of the divine will.
§ 284. (I) Consoling: (1) In adversities and perils. God is an utterly free agent; therefore He is not bound to secondary causes that would prevent Him from bringing us aid. “God is not a deity locked in the prison of the Fates.” The author of nature is not bound by the laws of nature. Ps. 115:3: “Our God is in heaven,” that is, He is not subject to the laws of the nature of things under heaven. “He has done whatever He has willed.”
(2) In temptations because of the remnants of sin that still cling to the flesh. All the truly devout daily lament with the holy apostle: “Ah, wretch that I am! Who will free me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). However, here they should set this comfort before themselves: God is an utterly free agent. Therefore when He will renew us perfectly in eternal life after His own image, He will also set us free into a full and perfect liberty. “Therefore having the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves as we await the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23).
(II) Exhorting: (1) To restrain our rashness. God is an utterly free agent; therefore we should not reduce His works to the calculations of our reason nor rashly demand of Him an account of His actions. Matt. 20:15: “Am I not allowed to do as I will with what belongs to Me?” Jer. 18:6: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as a potter? says the Lord. Behold, like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand.” Isa. 45:9: “Woe to him who strives with his Maker. Does the clay say to him who fashions it: ‘What are you going to make?’ ”
(2) To stir up true and serious humility. God is an utterly free agent; therefore let us subject ourselves in true and serious humility to His will. This is what holy men of God have done, such as Eli (1 Sam. 3:18: “It is the Lord. Let Him do what is good in His eyes”), Joab (2 Sam. 10:12: “May the Lord do what is good in His sight”), David (2 Sam. 15:26: “If the Lord says to me: ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ here I am. Let Him do to me what is good before Him”), Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 3:60: “As His will is in heaven, so let it be done”), and Christ Himself (Matt. 26:42: “Not what I will but what You will”). Cyprian quotes these words in his treatise De orat. Dominic. and says: “If the Son has been obedient to do the will of His Father, how much more ought the servant be obedient to do the will of his master?” Let us be like hands to the Lord, that through us He may accomplish whatever He wills.
(3) To flee the slavery of sin. God does good freely and unchangeably. Therefore if we, as His children, desire to hear Him, let us reject the slavery of sin and cling to the good. (See Rom. 6:18.) True freedom is to serve God and to imitate Him. It is wretched slavery to want to be free to do evil.