On Grace and Free Will

Grace comes from the Greek word charis (meaning gift, present) with its derivations, and is used to denominate human and divine forgiveness.

In Christianity, divine grace refers to the amazing favor made by God to mankind, and especially to redemption. It is a favor because it cannot be gained, it is willingly offered by God: "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" Romans 3:24.

In a very large sense, grace refers to life, to creation and redemption. Yet in a narrower and more commonly used sense, grace refers to redeeming humans from the power of the initial sin (of Adam and Eve, poisoning the entire human race).

The concept of grace is a basic Christian belief. Only by the grace of God we can be redeemed from the power of sin, which places us under the devil’s authority and influence: "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" Romans 6:14.

By grace are we considered pure and righteous (without sin) in front of Almighty God, we are seen as children of God, under his protection, therefore free from the devil’s imprisonment and harmful influence. This was possible only through God’s sacrificing His one and only Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and through His blood we are washed of every sin, due to this Jesus "through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Romans 5:2.

Faith is man’s response to the grace of God. And the believer is placed within the grace position by the will of God: "For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-no by works, so that no-one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9.

According to Martin Luther, man’s free will was so powerfully influenced by the original sin, that man became like a horse, which would do either good, or bad, since "it was ridden either by God or the devil". Christ’s redemption did not restore the initial state of man’s free will, the one he enjoyed before being sent away from Paradise, but grace rather exercised a coercive power on man’s mind. Calvin yet gave a more scientific theory on the loss of free will and God’s graceful intervention.

And then later on, the Lutheran Church as well as many present-day Protestant churches hardly underline man’s incapacity to do good by his own will, while Calvinist still cling to Calvin’s ideas. Opposing both perspectives, the Catholic Church established by its Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. iv-v) a dogma according to which free will managed to survive the fall from grace due to the original sin, and the fact that free will cooperates with grace to help man do the good deeds of faith. So it is an efficacious kind of grace, which is in tight relation with man’s moral freedom.

Catholics are entirely against the idea that efficacious grace can subjugate man’s free will, forcing him to do God’s will. According to them, grace could only ennoble and embellish man’s free will, not undermine it. If not, they say, all the scriptures referring to salvation through efficacious grace would lose their power and deep meaning. And only if man’s will preserves its freedom Christ’s words remain significant and clear: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17).

Paul the apostle presumably thought of the collaboration between the moral freedom of man and the efficacious grace in his letter to Timothy, his disciple Saint Paul presupposes the cooperation of free will when he writes to his disciple Timothy: "Exercise thyself (exerce te ipsum) unto godliness" (1 Timothy, 4:7).

He also says, addressing to a more general audience: "And every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor" (1 Corinthians 3:8).

Calvin also admits that grace and free will are not opposing principles, but they cooperate, they are in harmony.

Be it imposed grace or free will to follow Christ, this is a very complex, debatable issue. I personally tend to think that God, in his goodness, let us decide if we want to choose Him and His ways or not.