Ephesians
2:1-5 And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked... among whom
we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of
mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ—by grace you have been saved.
God has given man a will,
which by nature is free, i.e., it is not forced or necessarily inclined toward
good or evil.
In his state of innocence
man had complete freedom and the natural ability to will and to do what is good
and pleasing to God. God also made man so that he could lose that freedom.
Man fell into a state of sin
by his disobedience and so completely lost his ability to will any spiritual
good involving salvation. Consequently, fallen man is by nature completely opposed to
spiritual good, is dead in sin, and is unable by his own strength either to
convert himself or to prepare himself for conversion.
When God converts a sinner
and brings him into a state of grace, he frees him from his natural enslavement
to sin. By God’s grace alone, freely given, sinful man is enabled to will and
to do what is spiritually good. However, since the old sinful nature also
remains, the believer cannot consistently or perfectly will to do what is good
but also wills evil.
The will of man is perfectly
free and permanently inclined to good alone only in the state of glory.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
