Free Will (10)
Irenaeus on free Will
"Has
the Word come for the ruin and for the resurrection of many? For the
ruin, certainly, of those who do not believe Him, to whom also He has
threatened a greater damnation in the judgment-day than that of Sodom
and Gomorrah; but for the resurrection of believers, and those who do
the will of His Father in heaven. If then the advent of the Son comes
indeed alike to all, but is for the purpose of judging, and separating
the believing from the unbelieving, since, as those who believe do His
will agreeably to their own choice, and as, [also] agreeably to their
own choice, the disobedient do not consent to His doctrine; it is
manifest that His Father has made all in a like condition, each person
having a choice of his own, and a free understanding; and that He has
regard to all things, and exercises a providence over all, "making His
sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sending rain upon the
just and unjust."
"And to as
many as continue in their love towards God, does He grant communion with
Him. But communion with God is life and light, and the enjoyment of all
the benefits which He has in store. But on as many as, according to
their own choice, depart from God, He inflicts that separation from
Himself which they have chosen of their own accord. But separation from
God is death, and separation from light is darkness; and separation from
God consists in the loss of all the benefits which He has in store.
Those, therefore, who cast away by apostasy these forementioned things,
being in fact destitute of all good, do experience every kind of
punishment. God, however, does not punish them immediately of Himself,
but that punishment falls upon them because they are destitute of all
that is good. Now, good things are eternal and without end with God, and
therefore the loss of these is also eternal and never-ending. It is in
this matter just as occurs in the case of a flood of light: those who
have blinded themselves, or have been blinded by others, are for ever
deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not, [however], that the light
has inflicted upon them the penalty of blindness, but it is that the
blindness itself has brought calamity upon them: and therefore the Lord
declared, "He that believeth in Me is not condemned," that is, is not
separated from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other
hand, He says, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he
has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God;" that is,
he separated himself from God of his own accord. "For this is the
condemnation, that light is come into this world, and men have loved
darkness rather than light. For every one who doeth evil hateth the
light, and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made
manifest, that he has wrought them in God."
(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. V, XXVII)
No comments:
Post a Comment