Nor could the free will endure in a state of innocence, much less do good, in an active capacity, but only in its passive capacity.
Nor could the free will endure in a state of innocence, much less do good, in an active capacity, but only in its passive capacity.
The Master of the Sentences, quoting Augustine, states, “By these testimonies it is obviously demonstrated that man received a righteous nature and a good will when he was created, and also the help by means of which he could prevail. Otherwise it would appear as though he had not fallen because of his own fault.” He speaks of the active capacity, which is obviously contrary to Augustine’s opinion in his book, Concerning Reprimand and Grace (De Correptione et Gratia), where the latter puts it in this way: “He received the ability to act, if he so willed, but he did not have the will by means of which he could act.” By “ability to act” he understands the passive capacity, and by “will by means of which he could,” the active capacity.
The second part, however, is sufficiently clarified by the Master in the same distinction.
The "Master" is Peter Lombard (Lat. Petrus Lombardus), a Scholastic theologian, who wrote his
Book of Sentences (
Quatuor libri Sententiarum) while he was a professor at the school of Notre Dame (1145-51). This theological work made the name of Peter Lombard famous and earned him the name "Magister Sententiarum," or simply the "Magister." The work is divided into four books that, in a long series of questions, covers the entire body of theological doctrine and unites it in a systematized whole. Lombard's doctrine on sacraments (that a sacrament is both a symbol and a means of grace) was adopted as the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. By the 13th century, the
Sentences had become the principal theological text in the universities, and many of the greatest Scholastics wrote commentaries on it. Luther describes the Scholastic view that man must have, of necessity, been created with "good will," with an active capacity for righteousness, otherwise the fall would not have been the fault of man but rather the fault of the Creator of an imperfect man.
The theologian of the cross holds that even before the fall, free will lacked an active capacity to remain in a state of innocence, but did so only in a passive capacity. Adam and Eve were upheld in their state of innocence not from within but from without. Man has no active capacity to progress -- much less to stand his ground -- in righteousness. The will in an active capacity always moves the creature to be independent of the creator and sets out to create its own goodness apart from God.
Before the fall, man lived by faith with only a passive capacity for good. He was never meant to stand or operate alone, but to simply be one through whom God works. The active will remained unexpressed, and man lived fully in the will of God.
After the fall, the active will attempts to claim something for itself and its works before God. The original sin is the sin of disobedience, of unfaithfulness, of an idolatry of reason, of independence from God. Adam strived by the exercise of his will for a knowledge not promised, for something not accorded him by God. Adam's sin was his declaration of independence.
... Jan
Re: Man's inability to actively do good prior to the fall
Originally Posted by doctr of grace
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