Free Will and Divine Grace

This topic concerns how human freedom relates to the grace of God in salvation, including the disputes over predestination, the bondage of the will, and the cooperation of human and divine agency.

Definition

The doctrine of the relation between human freedom and the grace of God in the process of salvation.

Scope

This topic surveys the Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, and Augustinian positions on grace and freedom; the Reformation doctrines of the bondage of the will and unconditional election; the Catholic and Arminian emphasis on grace that can be resisted or cooperated with; and the philosophical proposals (Molinism, Thomism, open theism) for reconciling divine sovereignty with human freedom. The presentation is descriptive, comparing the positions and their arguments rather than resolving them.

Core questions

• Is the human will free to turn to God, or bound by sin until liberated by grace?
• Is saving grace irresistible or resistible?
• How is predestination related to human responsibility?
• Can divine foreknowledge be reconciled with free choice?

Key theories

Bondage of the will and monergism

The Augustinian and Reformation view, classically stated by Luther and Calvin, that fallen humanity cannot will saving good without prior, efficacious grace, so that salvation is wholly God's work (monergism), including unconditional election.

Middle knowledge (Molinism)

Luis de Molina's proposal that God knows, prior to any decree, what every free creature would freely do in any circumstance (middle knowledge), enabling God to providentially order events while preserving libertarian freedom.

History

The questions arose in Augustine's dispute with Pelagius over whether humans can take the first step toward God unaided. The Reformers radicalized Augustine's emphasis on grace, prompting the Lutheran-Erasmian and Calvinist-Arminian controversies; the Synod of Dort (1619) codified the Reformed response. In Catholicism the De auxiliis controversy pitted Molinists against Thomists over how grace and freedom cohere.

Debates

Monergism versus synergism

Whether salvation is entirely God's work, with the will passively liberated (monergism), or whether the human will cooperates with grace (synergism), the heart of the Calvinist-Arminian and Reformation-Catholic disputes.

Reconciling foreknowledge and freedom

How God's exhaustive foreknowledge or predestining decree can coexist with genuine human freedom, addressed by Boethian eternalism, Molinist middle knowledge, Thomist premotion, and the open-theist limitation of foreknowledge.

Key figures

• Augustine of Hippo
• Martin Luther
• John Calvin
• Luis de Molina
• Jacobus Arminius

Seminal works

• lutherBondage1525
• calvinInstitutes
• molina1588

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between monergism and synergism?

Monergism holds that regeneration is solely God's work, the will being liberated rather than contributing; synergism holds that the human will cooperates with grace, though typically maintaining that grace takes the initiative.

What is Molinism?

Molinism is the view that God possesses 'middle knowledge' of how free creatures would act in any possible circumstance, allowing God to plan providence and salvation without overriding libertarian human freedom.