s that men are all completely sinful in their wills, and that they are slaves to sin. Hence, man has no choice but to sin. Calvin uses St. Augustine’s words to describe this: “when the will was conquered by the vice into which it had fallen, human nature began to lose its freedom. Again, man, using free will badly, has lost both himself and his will. Again, the free will has been so enslaved that it can have no power for righteousness.” (Calvin 265) However, there is one exception, namely God’s elect. Calvin argues that only the elect who have been “regenerated” by the Spirit of God according to His grace have the ability to choose to do good. Nothing good can come from man because man is wholly sinful. Therefore only by the grace of God can man be healed in order to do God’s will. I can find no better words then those which Calvin has quoted from St. Augustine: “We ought to glory in nothing, because nothing is ours” (Calvin 266). Likewise, “God has anticipated you in all things; now do you yourself – while you may – anticipate his wrath. How? Confess that you have all these things from God: whatever good you have is from him; whatever evil, from yourself … Nothing is ours but sin” (Calvin 288-289). As we have seen Calvin believes in the all-encompassing and omnipotent providence of God. He believes that God governs and cares for all of creation, all of the time. He guides not only the path of man’s life, but also many of his thoughts and actions. Because of this everything in life has a reason. Every thunderstorm, every earthquake, every sunrise, and every sunset. Every action and every occurrence has a set purpose. Also, man has no free will because he has no choice but to sin, his entire being has succumb to sin. He is a slave to sin and only by the grace of God can he escape from that slavery. However this is only for the...
