Calvin knew his historical theology as this section of Book II, chapter 2 bears out.
Here are the summaries for today.
1. What do the philosophers say about free will? In Calvin’s day they imagined that it was midway between human reason and human sense perception. Their philosophy: the reason can persuade the will; the sense can also persuade the will, but the will itself is free. For them this free will says Calvin, “Possesses right and freedom of itself either to obey reason or to prostitute itself to be ravished by sense - whichever it pleases” (Pg., 257).
2. These philosophers confessed that man has gigantic problems in their love affair with evil. Nevertheless, they maintain that man is free and full of power to do good as well as evil.
The good Calvin is talking about is not the true good and virtue done by man in common grace. Here the good is sincere righteousness before God; living the life that pleases God from an unstained human nature and love to God.
3. Calvin summarizes the philosophers view of free will by writing, “Reason which abides in human understanding is a sufficient guide for right conduct; the will, being subject to it, is indeed incited by the senses to evil things; but since the will has free choice, it cannot be hindered from following reason as its leader in all things” (Pg., 258).
4. Many of the early church fathers (particularly the apologists), in an attempt to defend Christianity with Greek philosophy, essentially agreed with this view.
5. Chrysostom was the greatest defender this Greek view. As time progressed the teachers of the church (save Augustine), “gradually fell from bad to worse, until it came to the point that man was commonly thought to be corrupted only in his sensual part and to have a perfectly unblemished reason and a will also largely unimpaired” (Pg., 260).
This was Duns Scotus’ view.] [Note: read sect., 9 here. Pg., 266]
6. What did these teachers teach about the will?
Origen: “It is a faculty of the reason to distinguish between good and evil, a faculty of the will to choose one or the other.”
Augustine: “It is a faculty of the reason and the will to choose good with the assistance of grace; evil, when grace is absent.”
Bernard: “It is consent.”
Anselm: “It is the power for maintaining rectitude (moral integrity) for its own sake.”
Aquinas: “It is power of selection, which, derived from a mingling of understanding and appetite, yet inclines more to appetite.” [see sect., #8 pg., 265].
7. As time progressed a shift in thinking took place. The stark Greek concept of free will was replaced by the “operating and co-operating” concept.
8. In other words man can do some good apart form grace. Good such as seeking after God and truly desiring to love him, but redemption is a work of God’s grace. However, even this work of salvation succumbed to synergetic salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment