Thoughts on Grace, Part 2: Will and Sin

In order to more deeply understand grace, and how it works in our lives, we must first understand the reason grace is even necessary: sin.

Sin is the base of all the problems mankind has. At it's core, sin is simply an action, thought, or lack of action, that does not line up with God's will. Adam and Eve were made without sin, and indeed, they didn't even know it was possible to be out of line with God (hence why the tree whose fruit they ate was the 'Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil'). But when they sinned, they forever stained humanity, and each of us, as a result, is born with the stain of sin upon us, and in our very being. Catholics call it "Original Sin." Augustine called it "Inordinate Desire." I prefer to call it our "Sin-Nature," or as St. Paul often says, our "flesh."

Flesh, of course, is the proper contrast to the "spirit." Flesh is the natural status of every human being apart from Christ-- enmity toward God. Flesh hates God, is steeped in pride, and seeks only to gratify itself. Spirit, on the other hand, is the result of the rebirth experienced by one who has come to know Jesus Christ. Instead of being born from a sinful ancestry (Adam and Eve), The spirit is born fresh from water and the Spirit (note, capital S: the Holy Spirit), and thus is free from the ancient stain of sin. Much of St. Paul's epistles discuss how we must make the choice daily between living in the flesh (earthly desire) and living in the spirit (God's desire).

ALRIGHT! Now that we've established that as our basis, we can move into an exposition on Grace.

You'll notice that I made the distinction of choice between flesh and spirit. I am, after all, a believer in free will-- God doesn't force himself on us

. . . or does he?

See, the most insidious thing about our sin-nature is that it causes our will to naturally choose sin. It makes us fully-willing slaves to sin, being able to do nothing but sin, all because it's our natural inclination. As I discussed in 'Thoughts on Grace, Part 1', Grace, somewhat merited and somewhat bestowed, is what allows us to choose Jesus, instead of rejecting him.

Here is the problem: I know that plenty of professing Christians (a billion or two of them, as a matter of fact), believe it or not, have chosen Jesus Christ, and yet continue sinning! Heck, I chose Jesus at such a young age that I've hardly lived at all without him, and even I sin all the time! You'd think that choosing to follow Jesus would be enough to keep us from sinning, but apparently, something keeps us from following him in every given moment.

Enter: the sin nature, the flesh-- that which causes all, even Christians, to sin. Now, most Christians know (or at least, I hope most do) that the key to not sinning is grace. You're not going to get sin out of your life by trying really hard-- that's prideful thinking, and God will resist you. You need the Grace of God to live rightly. The most popular method of obtaining Grace, for those who are really eager to get rid of sin in their life, is to ask God for it. There are other paths for Grace to come by (sacraments, excessive sin resulting in excessive grace, the will of God), but I really do think asking for it is the best.

But here's the thing: If my fleshly will naturally chooses sin, and I'm asking God to give me Grace, which will effectively stop my will from naturally choosing sin, am I . . .

asking God to take away my free will?

Yes. Yes I am, and that's okay. After all, my wicked self is in no way going to choose God's way-- it's going to have to be forced. Whether that 'force' is really me choosing to have it forced, or God actually forcing me, is really the question. For my part, I don't think it's entirely either one, but rather, both.

If my very nature is evil, then I'm always going to use my God-given free will to choose evil. It is only through grace-- God lifting my free will for a moment that I may see him-- that I am able to choose holiness over sin, life over death. But that's not where it ends, after all, because many many Christians fall away due to sin, and you can't tell me that God wouldn't prefer they stayed with him. After God initially lifted my free will to allow me to see him, I have to make the choice to give up my free will (which would previously have lead me to sin), in order to follow him better.

God, by Grace, takes away a sliver of our free will in order that we may choose him. We must then use our free will to choose to give up free will, in order to follow God.

I really do think this is the moderate position on the matter. You can feel free to disagree with me if you want-- I welcome discussion.