On First Principles 3.1.6–3.1.14

That we may confirm by the authority of the Scriptures as well what reason has shown in due order, namely that it is our own work to live rightly or less rightly, and that we are not compelled either by the things that befall us from outside or, as some think, by the pressure of fate, the prophet Micah will bear witness in these words: “If it has been told you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice and love mercy and be ready to walk with the Lord your God.” And Moses says thus: “I have set before your face the way of life and the way of death; choose what is good, and walk in it.” And Isaiah says: “If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.” And in the Psalms it is written: “If my people had heard me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I would surely have humbled their enemies to nothing”; by which he shows that it was in the people's power to hear and to walk in the ways of God. And the Saviour, when he says, “But I say to you, do not resist evil,” and, “Whoever is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment,” and, “Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” and when he gives all the other commandments, what else does he show but that it is in our power to be able to keep what is commanded, and that for this reason we are rightly made “liable to judgment” if we transgress what we certainly could have kept? Hence he himself says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock,” and so on; and, “But he who hears these and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand,” and the rest. And what he says to those on his right, “Come to me, all you blessed of my Father,” and so on, “for I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink,” clearly shows that it lay in themselves either to be praiseworthy, as these were, doing what was commanded and receiving what was promised, or to be blameworthy, as those were who deserved to hear or receive the contrary, to whom it is said, “Depart, you cursed, into the eternal fire.” Let us see how the apostle Paul too speaks to us as to those who have power of choice and who hold in themselves the causes either of salvation or of perdition: “Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works: to those who by patience in good work seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life; but to those who are contentious and do not believe the truth but believe iniquity, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek; but glory and honour and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and to the Greek.” You will find many other, indeed countless, passages in the holy Scriptures that clearly show that we have the power of free choice. Otherwise it would be contradictory that commandments should be given to us by keeping which we are saved, or by transgressing which we are condemned, if the ability to keep them is not in us.

But since there are found in the divine Scriptures themselves certain words so placed that something contrary seems able to be understood from them, let us bring them forward and, discussing them according to the rule of piety, give their solutions, so that from these few which we expound the solution of the others that are said in a similar way, by which the power of choice seems to be excluded, may become clear. Very many, then, are moved by what is said by God about Pharaoh, when he says more than once, “I will harden Pharaoh's heart.” For if he is hardened by God, and through being hardened he sins, he is not himself the cause of his sin. And if this is so, Pharaoh will not seem to have freedom of choice, and it will consequently be asserted, on the strength of this example, that the others who perish do not receive the cause of their perdition from the freedom of their own choice either. And what is written in Ezekiel, when he says, “I will take away their stony hearts and put in them hearts of flesh, that they may walk in my precepts and keep my ordinances,” might move someone, on the ground that it seems to be given by God either to walk in his commandments or to keep his ordinances, if he himself takes away the stony heart that hinders the keeping of the commandments and puts in and implants a better and more feeling heart, which is now called a heart of flesh. Let us consider also what the Lord and Saviour answered in the Gospel to those who asked him why he spoke to the crowds in parables: “That seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear and not understand, lest perhaps they turn and it be forgiven them.” And what was said by the apostle Paul, that “it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy”; and in another place, “Both to will and to accomplish are from God”; and again in another place: “So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? O man, who are you to answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?” These and similar passages seem able to deter not a few from believing that each one has freedom of his own choice, and to make it seem rather that whether someone is saved or perishes depends on the will of God.

Let us begin, then, with what was said to Pharaoh, who is said to have been hardened by God so that he would not let the people go; and together with it the apostle's word will also be treated, where he says, “So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens.” For on these above all the heretics rely, saying that it is not in our power to be saved, but that there are natures of souls such that they in every case either perish or are saved, and that in no way can a soul of evil nature become good, or one of good nature become evil. Hence they say that Pharaoh too, being of a lost nature, was for that reason hardened by God, who hardens those of earthly nature but has mercy on those of spiritual nature. Let us see, then, what it is that they assert, and let us ask them first to answer us whether they hold that Pharaoh was of the earthly nature, which they call lost. They will answer without doubt: of the earthly. If then he was of earthly nature, he could not at all believe God or obey him, since his nature resisted. But if this was in him by nature, what further need was there for his heart to be hardened by God, and not once but often, unless it was in fact possible for him to be persuaded? Nor would he be said to be hardened by another, unless he was not hard of himself. And if he was not hard of himself, it follows that he was not of earthly nature either, but such a one as could yield when struck with amazement by signs and mighty works. For God needed him, so that in him he might show his power for the salvation of many, while he resists greatly and struggles against the will of God; and through this his heart is said to be hardened. Let these things be said first against them, so that their assertion, by which they think Pharaoh was lost by nature, may be overthrown; and concerning what was said by the apostle Paul we shall deal with them in the same way. For whom does God harden, according to your opinion? Those, of course, whom you call of lost nature. What else, I ask, would they have done if they had not been hardened? But if by being hardened they come to perdition, then they no longer perish by nature but by what befalls them. Then tell us, on whom does God have mercy? On those, of course, who are to be saved. And in what do these need a second mercy, who are to be saved once for all by nature and come to blessedness naturally? Unless it is shown even from this that, because it was possible for them to perish, they therefore obtain mercy, so that through it they may not perish but come to salvation and possess the kingdom of the godly. And let this be said against those who, by their fabulous inventions, introduce good or evil natures, that is, earthly or spiritual, from which they say it comes about that each one is either saved or perishes.

Now we must answer those as well who want the God of the law to be only just and not also good: how do they think the heart of Pharaoh is hardened by God, by what doing or by what foreseeing on his part? For the foresight and purpose of God must be kept in view, who according to us is just and good, and according to them only just. And let them show us how God, whom they too confess to be just, justly causes a man's heart to be hardened, so that from that very hardening he sins and perishes. And how will God's justice be defended in this, if he himself is the cause of perdition for those whom, because they proved hard and unbelieving, he himself will afterwards condemn with a judge's authority? Why does he also blame him, saying, “But since you will not let my people go, behold, I will strike all the firstborn in Egypt, even your firstborn,” and whatever else is written as said by God through Moses to Pharaoh? For everyone who believes that the things recorded in the Scriptures are true, and wants to show that the God of the law and the prophets is just, must give an account of all these things, showing how nothing whatever is taken away from God's justice by them; for though they deny that he is good, they nevertheless confess him to be just, and judge, and creator of the world. Another kind of answer is needed against those who assert that the evil one, that is, the devil, is the creator of this world.

But we, since we confess that the God who spoke through Moses is not only just but also good, let us examine more carefully how it befits the just and good God that he is said “to harden” Pharaoh's “heart.” And let us see whether, following the apostle Paul, we can perhaps solve the difficulty of the matter by some examples and comparisons, if we show how by one and the same work God “has mercy on one and hardens another,” not doing or willing this, that he who is hardened should “be hardened”; but while he uses his kindness and patience, the heart of those who turn his kindness and patience into contempt and insolence is hardened, as the punishment of their crimes is put off, while those who take his kindness and patience as an occasion for their repentance and amendment obtain mercy. To show more clearly what we are saying, we use the example which the apostle Paul uses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying: “For the land that drinks the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth herbs useful to those by whom it is tilled, will receive blessings from God; but that which brings forth thorns and thistles is rejected and near to a curse, and its end is to be burned.” From these words of Paul which we have taken up, it is clearly shown that by one and the same work of God, by which he gives “rain” to the land, one land, carefully tilled, bears good fruit, while another, neglected and untilled, “brings forth thorns and thistles.” And if someone, speaking as it were in the person of the rains, should say, “I, the rain, made the good fruits, and I made the thorns and thistles,” although it seems harsh to say, it is nevertheless said truly; for unless there had been rain, neither fruits nor thorns and thistles would spring up, but when the rain comes the land produces both from itself. Yet although the land has produced both kinds of growth by the gift of the rain, the difference in what springs up will not rightly be ascribed to the rains; the blame for the bad crop will justly fall back on those who, though they could have broken up the land with frequent ploughing, turned the sluggish clods with heavy hoes, cut off and rooted out all the useless roots of noxious weeds, and prepared the fallow ground, cleansed and cultivated with all the labours and care that tillage requires, for the rains to come, neglected to do this, and will reap the fruits best suited to their idleness, “thorns and thistles.” So it comes about that the goodness and fairness of the rains come equally upon all the land, but by one and the same working of the rain the land that is cultivated brings forth useful fruits with blessing for its diligent and useful cultivators, while that which has grown hard through the idleness of its cultivators sprouts “thorns and thistles.” Let us take it thus, then: the signs and mighty works done by God were like rains ministered by God from above, while the purpose and will of human beings must be understood as the land, untilled or tilled, all of one nature, as land is all one with land, but not of one and the same cultivation. Hence each person's purpose, if it is untilled and wild and barbarous, is hardened by the mighty works and wonders of God and becomes harsher and thornier; or else it grows gentler and gives itself up with its whole mind to obedience, if it has been cleansed of vices and cultivated.

For a clearer proof of the matter it will not be superfluous to use another comparison as well: for example, if someone were to say that it is the sun that binds and loosens, although loosening and binding are contraries. Yet what he says will not be false, since by one and the same power of its heat the sun melts wax but dries and hardens mud: not that its power works one way in the mud and another in the wax, but because the quality of mud is one thing and that of wax another, although by nature they are one, since both are from the earth. So one and the same working of God, carried out through Moses in signs and mighty works, exposed the hardness of Pharaoh, which he had conceived by the intent of his malice, and showed forth the obedience of the other Egyptians who were mingled with the Israelites, who are also reported to have gone out of Egypt together with the Hebrews. As for what is written, that Pharaoh's heart was gradually tamed, so that at one time he said, “Do not go far; you shall go a three days' journey, but leave your wives and your children and your cattle,” and whatever else is written by which he seems gradually to give way to the signs and mighty works, what else is shown by these than that the power of the signs and wonders did work something in him, yet did not accomplish as much as it should have? For if his hardening were such as very many think, he would surely not be found to give way even in a few things. I think it will not seem absurd to explain the turn or figure of speech used in what is written about hardening from common usage as well. For kindlier masters often say to servants who become more insolent and wicked through their masters' great patience and gentleness: “I made you what you are; I ruined you; my patience made you very bad; I am the cause of this so hard and evil mind of yours, because I do not punish you at once for each fault as your offences deserve.” For we must first notice the turn or figure of speech, and only then understand the force of what is said, and not bring false charges against a word whose inner sense we have not examined carefully. Indeed the apostle Paul, plainly treating of such people, says to the one who remained in sins: “Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God.” What the apostle says, then, to one who is in sins, let us turn and take these very words as said to Pharaoh, and see whether you do not find them fittingly said of him too, who “according to his hardness and impenitent heart stored up” and laid by “wrath for himself on the day of wrath,” since his hardness could never have been so exposed and brought to light had not signs and wonders so many and so magnificent followed.

But if the proofs we have given seem less than complete, and the argument from the apostle's comparison still seems to have too little support, let us add the assent of prophetic authority as well, and see what the prophets also declare about those who at first lived rightly and deserved to receive very many proofs of God's kindness, but afterwards, being human, sinned. Making himself one with them, the prophet says: “Why, O Lord, have you made us stray from your way? And why have you hardened our heart, so that we do not fear your name? Return for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes of your inheritance, that we too may receive a little of the inheritance of your holy mountain.” And Jeremiah likewise says: “You deceived us, O Lord, and we were deceived; you held fast and you prevailed.” What he says, then, “Why, O Lord, have you hardened our heart, so that we do not fear your name?”, spoken by those who were praying for mercy, must be taken as a figure of speech used of conduct, as if someone were to say: “Why have you spared us so long, and not called us to account when we sinned, but left us alone, so that this evil grew and the licence to sin spread because punishment had ceased?” So a horse, if it does not feel the iron heel of a constant rider and its mouth is not worn by the jagged bit, grows hard. So boyhood, if it is not bent by constant blows, will produce a youth both insolent and headlong toward vice. God therefore abandons and neglects those whom he has judged unworthy of correction. “For whom the Lord loves he corrects and chastises, and he scourges every son whom he receives.” From this we must think that those are received into the rank and affection of sons who have deserved to be scourged and corrected by God, so that through patience in trials and tribulations they too may be able to say: “Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?” For through all these each person's purpose is made manifest and brought to light, and the firmness of his perseverance is shown, not so much to God, who “knows all things before they happen,” as to the rational and heavenly powers, who have been allotted the care of human salvation as helpers and ministers of God. But those who do not yet offer themselves to God with such constancy and such love, and who, in coming to the service of God, are not ready to prepare their souls for trial, are said to be “abandoned” by God, that is, not to be instructed, because they are not ready to be instructed; their ordering or cure is without doubt put off to a later time. They certainly do not know what they will obtain from God unless they first come to desire to obtain the benefit; and this will come about only if a person first knows himself and perceives what he lacks, and understands from whom he ought or is able to seek what he lacks. For one who has not first understood his weakness or his sickness does not know how to seek a physician; or at least, when he has recovered his health, he will not be grateful to the physician, because he did not first recognize the danger of his illness. So too, if someone has not first learned the faults of his soul and the evil of his sins and made them known by the confession of his own mouth, he cannot be cleansed and absolved, lest he should not know that what he possesses was granted to him by grace, and should think the divine generosity his own good; and this without doubt breeds arrogance and pride of soul again, and becomes once more the cause of his ruin. So we must think of the devil also, who believed that the primacy he had when he was spotless was his own and not given by God; and in him was fulfilled the saying, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.” Hence it seems to me that the divine mysteries were for this reason “hidden from the prudent and wise,” so that, as Scripture says, “no flesh should glory in the sight of God,” and were “revealed to little ones,” that is, to those who, after they have become infants and little ones, that is, have brought themselves back to the humility and simplicity of little ones, then make progress; and when they come to perfection they certainly remember that they have obtained blessedness not so much by their own powers as by the grace and mercy of God.

The one, then, who deserves to be abandoned is abandoned by God's judgment, and God is patient with certain sinners, though not without a definite reason. And this very fact that he is patient he does for their benefit, since the soul whose care and providence he bears is immortal; and what is immortal and eternal, even if it is not quickly healed, is not so much shut out from salvation as put off to more fitting times. And perhaps it is better for those who are infected by the poisons of a deeper malice to obtain salvation more slowly. For as physicians sometimes, though they could close the scars of wounds more quickly, hold back and postpone the immediate healing with a view to a better and firmer health, knowing that it is better to wait while wounds are swollen and to let the flowing channels of the malignant humour run for a while than to hurry to a healing of the surface and shut up in the hidden veins the fuel of a poisonous humour, which, shut out from its usual channels, will without doubt creep into the inner members and penetrate the very vital organs, bringing on the body no longer a disease but death; so in this way God too, who knows the secrets of the heart and foreknows the future, in his great patience allows certain things to happen which, befalling people from outside, draw out into the light the passions and vices hidden within, so that through these those may be cleansed and healed who through great negligence and carelessness have received into themselves the roots and seeds of sins, so that, being cast out and drawn to the surface, they may in a manner be vomited forth and dispersed; so that even if someone seems to be caught up in more grievous evils, suffering convulsions in all his members, he may yet at some time cease and stop and have his fill of evils, and so, after many troubles, be restored to his proper state. For God governs souls not only for this brief time of our life, which is enclosed within about sixty years or a little more, but for a perpetual and eternal time, since he is himself eternal and immortal and holds providence over immortal souls as well. For he made the rational nature, which he also created “after his image and likeness,” incorruptible; and therefore the soul, which is immortal, is not shut out from divine care and remedies by the shortness of this life of ours.

But let us take from the Gospels too comparisons for what we have said. There a certain rock is mentioned that has little and scanty soil; if seed falls on it, it is said to spring up quickly, but when it has sprung up, because it does not send its “root” deep, “when the sun rises” what has sprung up is said “to be scorched and to wither.” This rock without doubt stands for the human soul hardened by its own negligence and turned to stone by malice. For no one is given “a heart of stone” by God; but each one's heart is said to become stony through malice and disobedience. As then, if someone should blame a farmer for not casting his seed more quickly on rocky ground, because he sees that another rocky ground received seed and sprouted quickly, the farmer will surely answer and say, “I sow this ground more slowly for this reason, that it may keep the seed it receives; for it is better for such ground to be sown later, lest the crop, sprouting too quickly and coming up from the surface of a thin soil, be unable to withstand the heat of the sun” (will not the one who first found fault agree with the reasoning and skill of the farmer, and approve as reasonably done what seemed to him inconsistent?): so God too, the most skilled farmer of his whole creation, holds back and postpones to another time, without doubt, the things that seem to us to have deserved to obtain health more quickly, so that their surface may not be healed rather than what lies within. But if someone objects to this, “Why then do some seeds fall even on rocky ground, that is, on a hard and stony soul?”, we must say that not even this can happen without the providence of the divine ordering; for unless it were learned through this what condemnation rash hearing and shameless inquiry incur, it would certainly not be recognized what benefit there is in being taught in due order. And from this it comes about that the soul recognizes its fault and reproaches itself, and accordingly reserves and gives itself over to cultivation, that is, sees that its own vices must first be cut away, and that only then must it come to instruction in knowledge. Since, then, as souls are innumerable, so also their characters and purposes, and the motions, desires and incitements of each are diverse, whose variety the human mind can in no way survey, the art, power and knowledge of such an ordering must therefore be left to God alone, who alone can know the remedies of each and measure the time of their cures. He, then, who alone, as we said, knows the ways of each mortal, knows by what way he should lead Pharaoh too, “so that through him his name might be named in all the earth,” after first chastising him with many plagues and bringing him even to drowning in the sea. In this drowning we must certainly not think that God's providence toward Pharaoh came to an end; for Pharaoh must not be thought to have perished in his substance as soon as he was drowned. “For in the hand of God are both we and our words, and all prudence and skill in works,” as Scripture says. These things we have discussed as well as we could, examining the chapter of Scripture in which it is said that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and the saying, “He has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens.”