True Christian Religion #489
489. VII. But for free will in spiritual matters God would be responsible for evil, and thus there could be no imputation of charity and faith. 1
It follows from the belief held at the present time, a belief which was first hatched by the members of the Council in the city of Nicaea, that God is the cause of evil. That was where the heresy was invented and devised which still persists, that there were three Divine Persons from eternity, and each of them was God in Himself. Once this theory was hatched, its followers had no alternative but to approach each Person singly as God. They put together a belief in the imputation of the Lord God the Saviour's merit or righteousness, and to prevent anyone intruding on the merit with the Lord , took away from man all free will in spiritual matters, and attributed to him utter impotence as far as faith is concerned. And because they deduced everything spiritual in the church solely from that faith, they claimed like impotence in regard to everything the church teaches about salvation. This was the source from which sprang a succession of dreadful heresies, based upon that faith and belief in man's impotence in spiritual matters, as well as that most harmful doctrine of predestination discussed in the preceding section. All these beliefs imply that God is the cause of evil, or that God created both good and evil.
But, my friend, do not place your trust in any Council, but in the Word of the Lord, which is superior to Councils. Is there anything the Roman Catholic councils have not hatched, anything the Council of Dort did not hatch, where that dreadful viper, predestination, was brought to light?
[2] It might be thought that giving man free will in spiritual matters was a mediate cause of evil, and consequently, that if he had not been given such free will, man could not have sinned. But, my friend, pause here for a moment and consider whether any man, if he was to be a man, could have been created without free will in spiritual matters; if that were taken from him, he would cease to be a man and be merely a statue. What is free will but the ability to will and do, to think and speak to all appearance as if from oneself? Since man was given this ability so that he could live as a man, two trees were placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This means that he could use the freedom given him to eat the fruit of the tree of life or the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Footnotes:
1. The last four words are added from the Table of Contents.
John 1:1-14
1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2
The same was in the beginning with God.
3
All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
4
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it.
6
There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.
7
The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.
8
He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.
9
The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
10
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him.
11
He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him.
12
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:
13
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14
The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
