Now, you might be thinking that I have prejudiced my case by claiming that all the Church Father, except Augustine, have taught ambiguously or inconsistently on the subject of free will. Some people will think my interpretation of their writings aims to deprive them of their ability to make a choice because they hold views which are opposed to mine. I truly have no other goal other than to quote them in good faith so that others can evaluate their claims for themselves. In one moment, they teach that people must flee to grace alone because they have been deprived of free will. In another, they seem to support the idea that people have enough power in themselves. Despite their ambiguity on some points, the Church Father do not believe humans contribute much to doing good but that anything good comes from the Holy Spirit.

Here are some quotes from the Church Fathers to back up my points. Cyprian says (in a passage often praised by Augustine): “We should glory in nothing because nothing is ours.” What does it quote mean except that people should totally depend on God because they have nothing in themselves? Augustine and Eucherius teach that Christ is the tree of life. Whoever reaches his hand out by faith and grabs hold of this tree will live. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes humanity ability to choose. And those who forsake the grace of God grab hold on this tree and die. Chrysostom writes, “Every person is not only naturally a sinner but is fully sinful.” If there is nothing good in us—if people, from the hope of their heads to the sole of their feet, are fully sinful, and if it’s foolish to try to speculate how much power the human will has—then how it can be substantiated that people share in the good work that God does? I can quote many other passages from others Father to back up my point as well. My point is this: Although they sometimes go too far in praising free will, they still taught that people must renounce all self-confidence and place their strength in God alone.

“Blogging the Institutes” is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin’s work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List.