19. Besides these, there is the passage, "Both to will and to do are of God." [2492] And some assert that, if to will be of God, and to do be of God, and if, whether we will evil or do evil, these (movements) come to us from God, then, if so, we are not possessed of free-will. But again, on the other hand, when we will better things, and do things that are more excellent, [2493] seeing that willing and doing are from God, it is not we who have done the more excellent things, but we only appeared (to perform them), while it was God that bestowed them; [2494] so that even in this respect we do not possess free-will. Now to this we have to answer, that the language of the apostle does not assert that to will evil is of God, or to will good is of Him (and similarly with respect to doing better and worse); but that to will in a general [2495] way, and to run in a general way, (are from Him). For as we have from God (the property) of being living things and human beings, so also have we that of willing generally, and, so to speak, of motion in general. And as, possessing (the property) of life and of motion, and of moving, e.g., these members, the hands or the feet, we could not rightly say [2496] that we had from God this species of motion, [2497] whereby we moved to strike, or destroy, or take away another's goods, but that we had received from Him simply the generic [2498] power of motion, which we employed to better or worse purposes; so we have obtained from God (the power) of acting, in respect of our being living things, and (the power) to will from the Creator [2499] while we employ the power of will, as well as that of action, for the noblest objects, or the opposite.
20. Still the declaration of the apostle will appear to drag us to the conclusion that we are not possessed of freedom of will, in which, objecting against himself, he says, "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" [2500] For it will be said: If the potter of the same lump make some vessels to honour and others to dishonour, and God thus form some men for salvation and others for ruin, then salvation or ruin does not depend upon ourselves, nor are we possessed of free-will. Now we must ask him who deals so with these passages, whether it is possible to conceive of the apostle as contradicting himself. I presume, however, that no one will venture to say so. If, then, the apostle does not utter contradictions, how can he, according to him who so understands him, reasonably find fault, censuring the individual at Corinth who had committed fornication, or those who had fallen away, and had not repented of the licentiousness and impurity of which they had been guilty? And how can he bless those whom he praises as having done well, as he does the house of Onesiphorus in these words: "The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." [2501] It is not consistent for the same apostle [2502] to blame the sinner as worthy of censure, and to praise him who had done well as deserving of approval; and again, on the other hand, to say, as if nothing depended on ourselves, that the cause was in the Creator [2503] why the one vessel was formed to honour, and the other to dishonour. And how is this statement correct: [2504] "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad," [2505] since they who have done evil have advanced to this pitch of wickedness [2506] because they were created vessels unto dishonour, while they that have lived virtuously have done good because they were created from the beginning for this purpose, and became vessels unto honour? And again, how does not the statement made elsewhere conflict with the view which these persons draw from the words which we have quoted (that it is the fault of the Creator that one vessel is in honour and another in dishonour), viz., "that in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work;" [2507] for if he who purges himself becomes a vessel unto honour, and he who allows himself to remain unpurged [2508] becomes a vessel unto dishonour, then, so far as these words are concerned, the Creator is not at all to blame. For the Creator makes vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour, not from the beginning according to His foreknowledge, [2509] since He does not condemn or justify beforehand [2510] according to it; but (He makes) those into vessels of honour who purged themselves, and those into vessels of dishonour who allowed themselves to remain unpurged: so that it results from older causes [2511] (which operated) in the formation of the vessels unto honour and dishonour, that one was created for the former condition, and another for the latter. But if we once admit that there were certain older causes (at work) in the forming of a vessel unto honour, and of one unto dishonour, what absurdity is there in going back to the subject of the soul, and (in supposing) that a more ancient cause for Jacob being loved and for Esau being hated existed with respect to Jacob before his assumption of a body, and with regard to Esau before he was conceived in the womb of Rebecca?
21. And at the same time, it is clearly shown that, as far as regards the underlying nature, [2512] as there is one (piece of) clay which is under the hands of the potter, from which piece vessels are formed unto honour and dishonour; so the one nature of every soul being in the hands of God, and, so to speak, there being (only) one lump of reasonable beings, [2513] certain causes of more ancient date led to some being created vessels unto honour, and others vessels unto dishonour. But if the language of the apostle convey a censure when he says, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" it teaches us that he who has confidence before God, and is faithful, and has lived virtuously, would not hear the words, "Who art thou that repliest against God?" Such an one, e.g., as Moses was, "For Moses spake, and God answered him with a voice;" [2514] and as God answers Moses, so does a saint also answer God. But he who does not possess this confidence, manifestly, either because he has lost it, or because he investigates these matters not from a love of knowledge, but from a desire to find fault, [2515] and who therefore says, "Why does He yet find fault? for who hath resisted His will?" would merit the language of censure, which says, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"
Now to those who introduce different natures, and who make use of the declaration of the apostle (to support their view), the following must be our answer. If they maintain [2516] that those who perish and those who are saved are formed of one lump, and that the Creator of those who are saved is the Creator also of them who are lost, and if He is good who creates not only spiritual but also earthy (natures) (for this follows from their view), it is nevertheless possible that he who, in consequence of certain former acts of righteousness, [2517] had now been made a vessel of honour, but who had not (afterwards) acted in a similar manner, nor done things befitting a vessel of honour, was converted in another world into a vessel of dishonour; as, on the other hand, it is possible that he who, owing to causes more ancient than the present life, was here a vessel of dishonour, may after reformation become in the new creation "a vessel of honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work." And perhaps those who are now Israelites, not having lived worthily of their descent, will be deprived of their rank, being changed, as it were, from vessels of honour into those of dishonour; and many of the present Egyptians and Idumeans who came near to Israel, when they shall have borne fruit to a larger extent, shall enter into the Church of the Lord, being no longer accounted Egyptians and Idumeans, but becoming Israelites: so that, according to this view, it is owing to their (varying) purposes that some advance from a worse to a better condition, and others fall from better to worse; while others, again, are preserved in a virtuous course, or ascend from good to better; and others, on the contrary, remain in a course of evil, or from bad become worse, as their wickedness flows on.
22. But since the apostle in one place does not pretend that the becoming of a vessel unto honour or dishonour depends upon God, but refers back the whole to ourselves, saying, "If, then, a man purge himself, he will be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work;" and elsewhere does not even pretend that it is dependent upon ourselves, but appears to attribute the whole to God, saying, "The potter hath power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another to dishonour;" and as his statements are not contradictory, we must reconcile them, and extract one complete statement from both. Neither does our own power, [2518] apart from the knowledge [2519] of God, compel us to make progress; nor does the knowledge of God (do so), unless we ourselves also contribute something to the good result; nor does our own power, apart from the knowledge of God, and the use of the power that worthily belongs to us, [2520] make a man become (a vessel) unto honour or dishonour; nor does the will of God alone [2521] form a man to honour or to dishonour, unless He hold our will to be a kind of matter that admits of variation, [2522] and that inclines to a better or worse course of conduct. And these observations are sufficient to have been made by us on the subject of free-will.
[2383] peri tou autexousiou.
[2384] ten ennoian autou anaptuxai.
[2385] upo hexeos mones.
[2386] phantasias.
[2387] phuseos phantastikes.
[2388] kai oudenos allou meta ten phantastiken autou phusin pepisteumenou tou zoou.
[2389] posos.
[2390] para tas aphormas.
[2391] dia tasde tas pithanotetas.
[2392] autoteles.
[2393] eskekoti.
[2394] engus ge tou bebaiothenai gegenemenos.
[2395] paracharattein.
[2396] psilen ten kataskeuen.
[2397] logou paideutikou.
[2398] hemerotetos .
[2399] exetasten.
[2400] Mic. vi. 8.
[2401] Cf. Deut. xxx. 15, 16, cf. 19.
[2402] Isa. i. 19, 20.
[2403] Ps. lxxxi. 13, 14.
[2404] Matt. v. 39.
[2405] Matt. v. 22.
[2406] Matt. v. 28.
[2407] eulogos.
[2408] Cf. Matt. vii. 26.
[2409] Matt. xxv. 34.
[2410] Matt. xxv. 41.
[2411] dialegetai.
[2412] Rom. ii. 4-10.
[2413] Ex. iv. 21, cf. vii. 3.
[2414] Ezek. xi. 19, 20.
[2415] Cf. Mark iv. 12 and Luke viii. 10.
[2416] Rom. ix. 16.
[2417] Cf. Phil. ii. 13.
[2418] Gal. v. 8.
[2419] Rom. ix. 20, 21.
[2420] Cf. Rom. ix. 18.
[2421] chrezei de autou ho Theos...epi pleion apeithountos.
[2422] ennoian.
[2423] Cf. Ex. iv. 23 and ix. 17.
[2424] Cf. Ex. xii. 12.
[2425] eugnomone.
[2426] tranos.
[2427] apograpsamenos tis gumne te kephale histato pros to poneron einai ton demiourgon.
[2428] energeia.
[2429] dia to tes kakias hupokeimenon tou par' heautois kakou.
[2430] Heb. vi. 7, 8.
[2431] dusphemon.
[2432] para to hupokeimenon.
[2433] kai to kata to brachu de anagegraphthai.
[2434] Cf. Ex. viii. 28, 29.
[2435] ouk atopon de kai apo sunetheias ta toiauta paramuthesasthai.
[2436] sukophantein.
[2437] Rom. ii. 4, 5.
[2438] duspeitheis.
[2439] biaioi.
[2440] Isa. lxiii. 17, 18.
[2441] Jer. xx. 7.
[2442] idiotetos.
[2443] phusiosin.
[2444] amomos.