e from the temporal to the eternal, from the visible to the intelligible, from the carnal to the spiritual; diligently endeavoring to curb and abate all lust for the one, and to bind himself in charity to the other. In which all his success depends on the divine aid; for it is the word of God, that without me ye can do nothing.21 The believer's will is no longer motivated out of self-interests (self-determination). Rather, it is moved by God's love and enabled by God's Spirit to be what he intends. What is lost in salvation is a will that was governed by sinful passions and desires and replaced with voluntary surrender to the One whose will is supremely good and holy. The first three periods of human freedom (viz., before the Fall, after the Fall and after regeneration) could be stated in this manner: either God created Adam with (1) a disinclined indifferent will (simile Pelagius), (2) a spontaneous voluntary will inclined toward him, yet not externally compelled toward God or (3) a will disinclined toward him and inclined toward evil. For Augustine, holy inclination is the product of God and the activity of the creature. The possibility to err was present, hence power to contrary. Sinful inclination is both the creature's product and activity. Holy will is in the self but not from the self. It is a product of God who originally and graciously gifted humanity with a desire for fellowship with him.22 Evil self-determination is both in the self and from the self, hence self-determination. Activity which is self-determined and self-originating is only evil after the Fall and prior to regeneration. After regeneration, the will is restored to its holy inclination whereby power to contrary is reinstated and movement toward a righteous life and away from sin is progressively realized in the life of the believer (cf., Rom. 6:6, 14a). The final state of human freedom is the believer's freedom in eternity. Here the believer w...
