God’s Help and the Power of Free Will

No one who has experienced the conflicts of the inner man can doubt that our enemies are continually lying in wait for us. But we mean that they oppose our progress in such a way that we can think of them as only inciting us to evil things, not forcing us. Indeed, no one could altogether avoid whatever sin they chose to stamp on our hearts, if they had as strong a power to force evil on us as they have to suggest it. So, as there is ample power of inciting in them, there is in us a supply of power to reject and freedom to consent. But if we are afraid of their power and their assaults, we may also claim God’s protection and help against them, of which we read, “For greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world.” His help fights on our side with much greater power than their armies fight against us. For God is not only the one who suggests what is good, but the one who upholds it and urges it on, so that sometimes he draws us toward salvation even against our will and without our knowing it. It follows, then, that no one can be deceived by the devil except one who has chosen to give him the consent of his own will. Ecclesiastes puts it plainly in these words: “Because no objection is quickly raised by those who do evil, the heart of the children of men is filled within them to do evil.” It is clear, therefore, that each person goes wrong from this cause: when evil thoughts attack him, he does not meet them at once with refusal and contradiction. For it says, “Resist him, and he will flee from you.” [a]