Man's will is in slavery. by John Calvin
We have learnt that sin has power over mankind in general and also over every person. We will now consider whether man has any freedom at all.
There are two dangers to avoid in discussing this. We must not think that man has lost all sense of right. This would give us an excuse for such a sin as laziness. And even worse, a man could say that he has no power to do right and therefore there is no need for Mm to try. The other error to avoid is that we must not claim one atom of righteousness for ourselves. If we said that we were able in ourselves to do good, we would be robbing God of his honour and would also place ourselves in danger of falling into sin through being proud.
The true situation is that we have lost all goodness. But we must learn to seek earnestly from God the goodness we do not have in ourselves and also the freedom we have lost.
Philosophers say that man's power of reason is sufficient to govern his mind and therefore his actions. They say that the will may be tempted by our senses, but remains free to choose in agreement with our reason. Even many Christian writers are in some error here. They describe the will as free, even though they see only a very limited freedom. They say man chooses willingly to do wrong and is not forced to do so. This is true, but it is a very poor freedom if it is only a freedom to do, or not to do, evil. We would have no freedom to do good.
Scripture teaches that man has no freedom to choose the good until the Holy Spirit gives him freedom. We must have a very low opinion of our own goodness and a very high opinion of the goodness that God can give us. The thought that we have goodness of our own must be rejected, for that thought comes from Satan. He is a liar, for he said to Adam and Eve: "You will be like God, knowing good and evil".
Many verses in the Bible emphasise that we must net think we have any goodness of our own but must turn to God. "Cursed be the man who trusts in man ... whose heart turns away from the Lord" (Jeremiah 17:5). "God delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does he have pleasure in the legs of a man; but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love" (Psalm 147:10,11). "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength" (Isaiah 40:29).
But God does not give his power to those who are proud or ungrateful. He waits till we see the need for strength from him. When we thirst for him, he will quench our thirst. "For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground" (Isaiah 44:3). We must never think that we can do any good ourselves. We must be humble enough to ask for God's Spirit to help us. Someone once asked Augustine what the most important requirement is for a true Christian. He answered: "First, humility; secondly, humility; thirdly, humility".
When Adam sinned and caused the fall of mankind, mankind entirely lost some of God's gifts. Other gifts were spoiled but not lost. We lost the ability to love God, the ability to love our neighbour, and the desire for holiness and righteousness. We marred the gifts of soundness of mind and the desire to be morally upright.
Man has certainly not lost the power to reason. He can understand and judge and he knows the difference between good and evil. But there is a difference between understanding matters that concern our life on earth and understanding heavenly matters. We can know earthly things with our partially spoiled minds. We cannot use such corrupted minds to have any knowledge of God, of his righteousness, or of' the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
There are very strong proofs in the world around us that man has still an ability to reason. Firstly we can see that man is a sociable creature and lives in groups. And every man reasons that there must be laws on which to base a society. Secondly, almost every person has some skill, art or aptitude. This fact shows some strong ability in the human mind. And thirdly, writers have produced such excellent works that we must certainly see in them a most able reasoning.
Although these people may not realise it, the gifts they have and the gifts that any of us have, are from the Spirit of God. He is the only source of truth.
We may wonder how much power human reason has to help us know God and understand his fatherly love toward us. The answer is that even the most clever men know very, very little if God has not given them light. The light they possess is similar to the light they may receive from one flash of lightning on a dark night. They know a little of God's attributes. They cannot plead complete ignorance as an excuse for ungodliness. But the light they have is not enough for them to reach the truth.
We learn this fact from the Bible as well as from our observation of mankind. When Peter realised that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus replied: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). Psalm 36:9 tell us: "With thee is the fountain of life. In thy light we see light". When Moses reproved the people of Israel for forgetting God's works, he said: "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes.., the signs, and those great wonders: but to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear" (Deuteronomy 29:2-4). The Lord speaks through Jeremiah: "I will give them a heart to know me" (Jeremiah 24:7). Of course, this means that the people did not have spiritual wisdom, but that God would give it, This is clearly stated in John 6:44: 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him".
The apostle Paul pronounces all human wisdom to be folly (I Corinthians 1: 18). Then he says: "The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14). The possession of spiritual understanding is the gift of God alone. This is shown in Paul's prayer: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him" (Ephesians 1:17). Paul continues with: "having the eyes of your understanding enlightened" (Ephesians i: 18). Most surely, we are blind and know almost nothing of God unless he graciously enlightens us.
We may wonder whether man has knowledge about the standards God wants in our lives. Yes, we do have knowledge of right and wrong. "When the Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the laws requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts" (Romans 2:14,15). If Gentiles have the law written on their hearts, they certainly have some knowledge of right and wrong. Their own conscience is their law, but it does not do them very much good. They may know right from wrong; but when they continue in sin their knowledge makes them responsible and leads on to their just condemnation.
The mind of man has no power to do good. It does not even try to do good. When Paul says that he now desires to do good but cannot (Romans 7:15), he is speaking as a Christian. The natural man does not have this conflict. The natural man does not even desire to do good. Paul says that no good thing dwells in him, that is, in his flesh. Any good there is in him now comes from God and not from himself.
Only the born again man has the conflict within himself described in Romans 7:22,23: "I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind". Augustine said: "Confess that whatsoever good you have in you is of God; whatsoever evil, of yourself. Nothing is our own, but sin".
)
