Calvin critically confronts the concept of free will in his theological treatises, underlining the weighty effect of original sin and the urgency of divine grace for any moral and spiritual good. He systematically debunks the assumption that human will innately possesses freedom by emphasizing that while actions can be voluntary, they are not free from the inherited corruption of sin, a concept inherited from Adam's fall. This corruption entails sin while still allowing actions to be voluntary, maintaining human accountability for sin despite its inevitability. Also, Calvin refutes the idea that human choices are autonomously free by discussing the devil's nature, who sins both inevitably due to his nature and voluntarily by choice. This duality tries the conventional linkage between voluntariness and freedom. Diving deeper, Calvin employs the intuitiveness of early Church Fathers like Augustine and Bernard of Clairvaux, contending that human will is in bondage to sin, not autonomously free, and that it is God’s intervention, not human effort, that enables any resistance to sin or performance of good. Moreover, Calvin discusses the consequence of divine grace in matters of human virtue and vice. He debates against the perspective that without free will, the concepts of punishment and reward lose their meaning. Instead, he underscores that even virtues and the rewards they incur are not achievements of human merit but gifts of divine grace, effectively crowned by God. This theological stance reinforces that it is God who initiates and sustains goodness in humanity. Furthermore, Calvin analyzes the doctrine of divine election, which states that God’s sovereign choice, not human free will, predestines individuals to salvation or condemnation. He emphasizes the need of divine grace for any adherence to God’s commands, aligning scriptural exhortations with the essentiality of divine assistance. In essence, Calvin’s teachings redirect the focus from human capability to divine grace, defining human freedom as liberation from sin achieved solely through divine action, thereby preserving divine sovereignty and human responsibility within the core of salvation and moral conduct. This summary is made by Eleven Labs AI audio generated platform: elevenlabs.io/?from=partnerhall9106 Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologian If you want to support this podcast's operational cost, you can do so here: venmo.com/u/edisonwu --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/edison-wu/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/edison-wu/support