Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4.37

Indeed, the very words He speaks reveal the ancient law of human freedom: "How often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing?" (Matt 23:37). God made humanity free from the beginning, possessing a power of its own, just as it possesses its own soul, so that it might use God's judgment voluntarily and not be forced by God. For coercion does not come from God; rather, a good judgment is always present to us. And for this reason He gives good counsel to all. He placed the power of choice in man, just as He did in angels — for angels are rational — so that those who obeyed would justly possess the good, given by God but preserved by themselves. Those who did not obey, however, would not justly find the good and would receive the penalty they deserved, since God gave the good generously, but they did not guard it carefully, nor consider it precious, but despised the surpassing excellence of His goodness. Thus, casting aside the good and virtually spurning it, all justly incur the judgment of God, just as the Apostle Paul testifies in the Epistle to the Romans: "Do you despise the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Rom 2:4–5). "Glory and honor," he says, "to everyone who does good" (Rom 2:10). Therefore God gave the good, as the Apostle attests in that same letter; those who work it receive glory and honor because they did good when they could have refrained, while those who do not work it receive just judgment because they failed to do good when they could have done it.

This demonstrates that no one is good by nature and no one evil by nature, but that goodness lies in human election. If some were naturally good and others naturally evil, the good would not be praiseworthy — for they were made so — nor the evil blameworthy — for they were constituted so. But because all share the same nature, capable both of retaining and doing good and of losing it and not doing it, it is just — among sensible men, how much more before God — that some are praised and receive worthy testimony for their good election and perseverance, while others are accused and suffer deserved loss because they rejected what is just and good. For this reason the prophets exhorted men to practice justice and do good, as we have shown in many passages: because this capacity resides in us, and through much negligence we have fallen into oblivion and need good counsel. Therefore the good God gives good counsel through the prophets. And for this reason the Lord said, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt 5:16). And: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the cares of this life" (Luke 21:34). And: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that when he comes and knocks they may open to him at once" (Luke 12:35–36). Blessed is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he comes. And again: "The servant who knows his master's will but does not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating" (Luke 12:47). And: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6:46). And again: "If that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful" (Luke 12:45–46). All such passages show that man is free and possesses his own power, and that God instructs us by counsel, exhorting us to submit to Him and turning us from unbelief, yet not compelling us by violence.

For even the Gospel itself — if anyone does not wish to follow it, it is permitted to him, but it is not expedient. Disobedience to God and the loss of the good are indeed within man's power, but the injury and damage are not inflicted in just any way. Because of this Paul says: "All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful" (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23), and by referring to the freedom of man — for which reason all things are lawful, God not compelling him — he shows that it is not helpful to use liberty as a cover for malice; that is not expedient. And again he says: "Let each one speak the truth with his neighbor" (Eph 4:25), putting away falsehood, foul talk, empty words, and jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Eph 5:4). And: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light" (Eph 5:8) — not in revelries and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor 6:11). If it were not in our power to do these things or refrain from them, what reason would the Apostle have had — and much earlier the Lord Himself — to give counsel, commanding some things and forbidding others? But because man is free from the beginning, and God — in whose likeness he was made — is also free, counsel is always given to him to hold fast to the good, which is perfected through obedience to God.

And not only in works, but also in faith, the Lord has preserved the free and voluntary judgment of man, saying: "According to your faith let it be done to you" (Matt 9:29), showing the proper faith of man, because he has his own judgment. And again: "All things are possible for one who believes" (Mark 9:23); and: "Go your way; as you have believed, so let it be done for you" (Matt 8:13). All such passages show that man acts by his own power according to faith. And because of this, "whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36). According to this same reasoning, the Lord displayed His own proper good and signified man as possessing his own judgment and power, saying to Jerusalem: "How often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing? Behold, your house is left to you desolate" (Matt 23:37–38). Those who teach the opposite introduce an impotent Lord — as if He could not accomplish what He willed — or else a Lord ignorant of the nature of choices, as they say, and of those who cannot receive His incorruptibility. But it was necessary that He not make angels such that they could transgress, nor men who would immediately prove ungrateful to Him; for they were made rational, examiners, and judges, unlike irrational or inanimate things which can do nothing by their own will but are drawn to the good by necessity and force, having one sense and one fixed habit, inflexible and without judgment, incapable of being anything other than what they were made.

For it would not be sweet to them what is good, nor would the communion of God be precious, nor would the good be greatly desired if it came without their own motion, care, and study, but were instead implanted in them effortlessly and idly. Then the good would be of no account, because they would exist by nature rather than by will, possessing the good not by election but by nature; and for this reason they would not even understand that the good is beautiful, nor would they enjoy it. For what enjoyment of the good is there among those who are ignorant? What glory for those who do not possess it? What crown for those who have not won it as victors in a contest? And for this reason the Lord said, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matt 11:12) — that is, those who with force and struggle, watching vigilantly, seize it eagerly. And for this reason the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it" (1 Cor 9:24). Every athlete exercises self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. "I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor 9:26–27). The good athlete exhorts us to the contest for incorruptibility, that we may be crowned and consider the crown precious — the crown acquired for us through the contest, not implanted without effort. The more it comes to us through the contest, the more precious it is; the more precious, the more we always love it. But things that come without effort are not loved in the same way as those found with great solicitude. Because it was for our sake that we might love God more when we acquire Him through this contest, the Lord taught and the Apostle handed down. Otherwise our good would be insensible — unexercised. Nor would seeing be desirable to us unless we knew how great an evil it is not to see; health is made more honorable through the experience of sickness; light through the comparison with darkness; life through death. So also the heavenly is more honorable to those who have known the earthly. The more honorable, the more we love it; and if we love it more, we shall be more glorious before God.

Therefore the Lord endured all these things for our sake, that through all things we might be instructed, and in the future be cautious in all things, and persevere in all His love, rationally taught to love God: God indeed showing magnanimity in the apostasy of man, but man being instructed through it, as the prophet says: "Your departure will instruct you" (Jer 2:19). God predestining all things for the perfection of man, for edification, and for the manifestation of His dispositions; that His goodness may be shown, His justice perfected, the Church conformed to the image of His Son, and finally that man may become mature, maturing through so many things to see and grasp God.