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Chapter 3GratL.1.3

Triplicem esse libertatem, Naturae, Gratiae, Gloriae.

The Will's Innate Freedom

The will by its own innate freedom consents or dissents, and from this voluntary consent the whole moral judgment of a person depends, which is fittingly called free choice.

The will alone, then — since by its innate freedom it can either dissent from itself or consent to something beyond itself, and is compelled by no force and driven by no necessity — rightly constitutes the creature just or unjust, deserving of happiness or misery, and capable of either, depending on whether, clearly, it has consented to justice or to injustice. Therefore, this kind of voluntary and free consent — from which, as the points made above show, the whole judgment of oneself depends — I think it's not unfitting to be what we defined above as what is commonly called free choice: 'free' referring to the will, 'choice' referring to reason.

Not the Freedom of the Spirit

Scripture speaks of a higher freedom from sin through the Spirit, which no one still in the flesh can rightly claim for themselves.

But truly, it's not free in the sense of that freedom the Apostle speaks of: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3, 17). For that is the freedom from sin, as he says elsewhere: For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But now, having been freed from sin and having become slaves of God, you hold your fruit unto sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life (Rom. 6, 20–22). For who in the flesh of sin claims freedom from sin for themselves?

Not the Freedom from Misery

The Apostle also speaks of freedom from misery and decay, but this too cannot be claimed in the present mortal life and so is not what is meant by free choice.

With this freedom, then, I don't think it's at all unreasonable that the term 'free choice' has been used. There is also freedom from misery, which the Apostle likewise speaks of: 'Creation itself,' he says, 'will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God' (Rom.✦ 8:21). But does anyone presume to claim this freedom for himself in this mortal life? And so we rightly refuse to call this freedom 'free choice' either.

Freedom from Necessity

The freedom from necessity — the opposite of compulsion — is the one that best fits the term free choice, since whatever happens by necessity is no longer a matter of will.

But there is another freedom that I believe fits the term better — the freedom from necessity — since what is necessary seems to be the opposite of what is voluntary: whatever happens by necessity is no longer a matter of will, and the reverse is equally true.

A Threefold Freedom

Three freedoms are set before us — from sin, from misery, and from necessity — which are named respectively the freedom of Nature, the freedom of Grace, and the freedom of Glory.

Since, then, as far as we can grasp for now, a threefold freedom has been set before us — freedom from sin, freedom from misery, and freedom from necessity — God has granted us the one placed last in rank in the condition of nature; through grace we are restored to the first; and the middle one is reserved for us in our homeland. Let the first freedom, then, be called the freedom of Nature; the second, the freedom of Grace; the third, the freedom of Life — or of Glory.

The Dignity of Natural Freedom

Created free in nature, reformed in grace, and raised in glory, human beings excel other creatures by nature, subjugate the flesh by grace, and will ultimately conquer death in glory.

First, then, we were created with a free will and a voluntary freedom — a creature noble before God. Second, we are reformed into innocence, a new creature in Christ. Third, we are raised up into glory, a perfect creature in the Spirit.✦ The first freedom carries great honor; the second, even greater strength; the third, the fullness of delight. By the first freedom, then, we excel all other living creatures; by the second, we bring the flesh under control; by the third, we subject death itself.

Spiritual Beasts and Final Victory

By grace God subjects spiritual powers under our feet, and in glory He will crush death itself, bringing us into the freedom of the sons of God, as Christ hands over the kingdom to the Father.

Or consider this: just as in the first freedom God subjected sheep and oxen and the beasts of the field under our feet, so too through the second freedom he subjects the spiritual beasts of this air — of which it is said, Do not hand over to the beasts the souls that confess to you (Psalm 73:19).✦✦ In the last freedom, God will at last strike down and crush corruption and death under our feet, and will more fully subject us to himself through the victory over corruption and death — when, clearly, death itself will be destroyed at last, and we will pass over into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. By this freedom Christ will set us free, when he surely hands over the kingdom to God the Father.✦✦✦ About this freedom — and also about the one we described as freedom from sin — I believe he was speaking to the Jews when he said, If the Son sets you free, you will be truly free (John 8:36).✦

Free Choice Needs a Liberator

Free choice, though free from necessity by nature, fell freely into sin and its punishment and cannot be freed except by the one who was free among the dead.

Psalm 86:36) Free choice, then, pointed to its need for a deliverer — but clearly the one who would set it free from the necessity it had never known at all, since the will knew nothing of necessity when it first existed; rather, it needed freeing from the sin into which it had fallen as freely as it had willingly, and at the same time from the punishment of sin that it had unwittingly rushed into and now endured against its will. From both these evils the will could not be freed at all except through the one who alone among humankind was made free among the dead (Psalm 87:6), that is, free from sin among sinners.

Christ Alone without Sin

Christ alone among the sons of Adam claims freedom from sin, because He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth.

For he alone among the sons of Adam claims freedom from sin for himself—he who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth (1 Pet.✦1 2:22).

Christ's Power over Misery

Christ also possessed freedom from the misery of sin's penalty, though in power rather than in act, for no one took His life from Him but He laid it down of His own will.

Furthermore, he also had freedom from the misery that is the penalty of sin—but in power, not in act.2 No one was taking his life from him, but he himself was laying it down (John✦34 10:18).

Christ's Voluntary Offering

He was offered because He Himself willed it, born of a woman and made under the law to redeem those under the law.

Finally, as the prophet bears witness: He was offered because he himself willed it (Isa.✦5 53:7); just as, when he willed, he was born of a woman, made under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law (Gal.✦6 4:4–5).

Christ's Full Possession of All Three Freedoms

Christ possessed all three freedoms fully — the first by His human and divine nature, the other two by divine power — and willingly bore misery to free others, while whether Adam had the higher freedoms in paradise remains for later discussion.

So he himself, too, was under the yoke of misery — but willingly, so that as a free man among the wretched and the sinners he might shake off both yokes from his brothers' necks.7 He therefore possessed all three freedoms in full: the first from human and divine nature together, the remaining two from divine power.8 Whether the first man in paradise also had the two later freedoms, and how and to what extent he had them, we will see later.

Read the original Latin

Sola ergo voluntas, quoniam pro sui ingenita libertate, aut dissentire sibi, aut praeter se in aliquo consentire, nulla vi, nulla cogitur necessitate; non immerito justam vel injustam, beatitudine seu miseria dignam ac capacem creaturam constituit; prout scilicet justitiae, injustitiaeve consenserit. Quapropter hujusmodi voluntarium liberumque consensum, ex quo et omne sui (ex his quae dicta sunt) constat pendere 606 judicium; puto non incongrue id esse, ut supra definivimus, quod solet liberum arbitrium appellari: ut liberum ad voluntatem, arbitrium referatur ad rationem. Sed sane liberum, non illa libertate, de qua dicit Apostolus: Ubi spiritus Domini, ibi libertas (II Cor. III, 17) . Est enim illa libertas a peccato, sicut alibi dicit: Cum enim servi essetis peccati, liberi fuistis justitiae. Nunc autem liberati a peccato, servi autem facti Deo, habetis fructum vestrum in sanctificationem, finem vero vitam aeternam (Rom. VI, 20-22) . Quis vero in carne peccati a peccato sibi vindicat libertatem?

Hac ergo libertate dictum merito nequaquam opinor liberum arbitrium. Est item libertas a miseria, de qua itidem Apostolus: Et ipsa, inquit, creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei (Rom. VIII, 21) . Sed nunquid et istam sibi quispiam in hac mortalitate praesumit? Et hac itaque liberum nominari arbitrium non immerito abnuimus. Est vero, quam magis ei congruere arbitror libertatem, quam dicere possumus a necessitate, eo quod necessarium voluntario contrarium esse videatur: siquidem quod ex necessitate fit, jam non est ex voluntate, et e converso similiter.

Cum igitur, prout interim potuit occurrere nobis, triplex sit nobis proposita libertas, a peccato, a miseria, a necessitate; hanc ultimo loco positam contulit nobis in conditione natura, in primam restauramur a gratia, media nobis reservatur in patria. Dicatur igitur prima libertas Naturae; secunda, Gratiae; tertia, Vitae vel Gloriae. Primo nempe in liberam voluntatem ac voluntariam libertatem conditi sumus, nobilis Deo creatura: secundo reformamur in innocentiam, nova in Christo creatura: tertio sublimamur in gloriam, perfecta in spiritu creatura. Prima ergo libertas habet multum honoris; secunda, plurimum etiam virtutis; novissima, cumulum jucunditatis. Ex prima quippe praestamus caeteris animantibus; in secunda carnem, per tertiam mortem subjicimus. Vel certe sicut in prima subjecit Deus sub pedibus nostris oves et boves et pecora campi: ita quoque per secundam spirituales bestias hujus aeris, de quibus dicitur, Ne tradas bestiis animas confitentes tibi (Psal. LXXIII, 19) , prosternit aeque et conterit sub pedibus nostris: in ultima tandem nos ipsos nobis plenius submissurus per victoriam corruptionis et mortis, quando scilicet novissima destruetur mors, et nos transibimus in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei: qua libertate Christus nos liberabit, cum nos utique tradet regnum Deo et Patri. De hac enim, et item de illa quam diximus a peccato, puto quod Judaeis aiebat: Si vos Filius liberaverit, vere liberi eritis (Joan.

VIII, 36) . Liberum arbitrium liberatore indigere significabat: sed plane qui illud liberaret non a necessitate, quam, voluntas cum esset, penitus non noverat; sed a peccato, in quod tam libere, quam voluntarie corruerat; simulque a poena peccati, quam incautum incurrerat, invitumque ferebat: quo utroque malo liberari omnino non poterat, nisi per illum, qui solus hominum factus est inter mortuos liber (Psal. LXXXVII, 6) , liber videlicet a peccato inter peccatores.

Solus namque inter filios Adam libertatem sibi vindicat a peccato, qui peccatum non fecit, nec inventus est dolus in ore ejus (I Petr. II, 22) . Porro et a miseria, quae est poena peccati, habuit nihilominus libertatem, sed potentia, non actu. Nemo quippe tollebat animam ejus ab eo, sed ipse ponebat eam (Joan. X, 18) . Denique, teste propheta: Oblatus est quia ipse voluit (Isai. LIII, 7) ; sicut et cum voluit natus ex muliere, factus sub lege, ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret (Galat. IV, 4, 5) .

Fuit itaque et ipse sub lege miseriae: sed fuit quia voluit, ut liber inter miseros et peccatores utrumque jugum fraternis a cervicibus excuteret. Habuit itaque totas tres libertates, primam ex humana simul et divina natura, reliquas ex divina potentia. Quarum duas posteriores utrum et primus homo in paradiso habuerit, vel quomodo et quatenus eas habuerit, postea videbimus.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.8.21 — that the creation itself also will be set free from its bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
  2. ↩2Cor.5.17 — So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
  3. ↩Ps.73.19 — How they are made desolate in an instant! They are utterly consumed by terrors.
  4. ↩Eph.6.12 — For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
  5. ↩1Cor.15.26 — The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
  6. ↩1Cor.15.24 — Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after he has abolished every rule and every authority and power.
  7. ↩Rom.8.21 — that the creation itself also will be set free from its bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
  8. ↩John.8.36 — So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
  9. ↩1Pet.2.22 — He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
  10. ↩John.10.18 — No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father.
  11. ↩Isa.53.7 — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, and like a sheep silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth.
  12. ↩Gal.4.4-Gal.4.5 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, Gal.4.5 — in order to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Quotation from 1 Peter 2:22 (Vulgate). The Latin renders the Vulgate wording closely.
  2. 2 ↩The distinction 'potentia, non actu' means Christ possessed the capacity (power) to be free from misery but did not exercise it in practice—he freely accepted suffering. This is a scholastic distinction between having a capability and actually using it.
  3. 3 ↩Allusion to John 10:18 (Vulgate). 'Animam' (soul/life) is rendered as 'life' to match the Johannine idiom of laying down one's life.
  4. 4 ↩Anima rendered as 'life' here following the lexeme policy allowance for idiomatic use (John 10:18 idiom of laying down one's life).
  5. 5 ↩Quotation from Isaiah 53:7 (Vulgate). The Latin 'Oblatus est quia ipse voluit' is the Vulgate rendering.
  6. 6 ↩Quotation from Galatians 4:4–5 (Vulgate). The Latin renders the Vulgate wording closely.
  7. 7 ↩The 'yoke of misery' refers to the condition of fallen human existence (miseria) Christ voluntarily entered. 'Both yokes' (utrumque jugum) is exegetically uncertain: it may refer to the yoke of sin and the yoke of misery, or to the twin burdens borne by his brothers; the translation preserves the ambiguity rather than resolving it.
  8. 8 ↩The 'three freedoms' (tres libertates) correspond to the chapter's triple scheme — of nature, of grace, and of glory. The first is grounded in the united human and divine nature (the Incarnation); the other two are grounded in divine power. The precise mapping of the two later freedoms is deferred to later discussion.

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