The Ancient Law of Liberty

The Ancient Law of Liberty

Irenaeus said in the middle of the second century;

AGod made man free from the beginning. A Now if God made some men good and some bad simply by nature, there would be nothing praiseworthy in their virtue or blameworthy in their vice,...@ God wants men to do good, but even the Gospel allows anyone who does not want to do good to do evil. To obey or disobey is in every man=s power...God forcing no man...@Thee ancient law of liberty is, that God trusts men while on this earth to make their own choices while they trust Him alone to judge whether those choices have been good or bad.
Irenaeus, Contra Haereses IV, xxxvii, 1.
As Quoted in The World and the Prophets
Hugh Nibley


Simon Magus asks Peter in the Clementine Recognitions

ACould not God have made us all good, so that we could not be anything else but virtuous?@  To which Peter replies with a statement of the ancient law of liberty; A A foolish question, for if God made us unchangeably and immovably inclined to good, we would not really be good at all, since we couldn=t be anything else; and it would be no merit on our part that we were good, nor could we be given credit for doing what we did by necessity of nature. How can you call any act good that is not performed intentionally?  In this world every man is given a fair chance to show his real desires.@  
Simon Magus then asks...@Did not the Creator know that those he created would do evil?@
To which Peter replies; ACertainly, He considered all the evil that would be among those whom he created; but as one who knew there was no other way to achieve the purpose for which they were created he went ahead. He did not draw back or hesitate, nor was he afraid of what would happen.@.. Evil is forced on no one, it is only there for those who want it. No one comes under its sway Asave he who of his own free will deliberately subjects himself to it....We must bear wicked men with patience, brethren, knowing that God who could easily wipe them out, suffers them to carry on to the appointed day in which the deeds of all shall be judged...Why do we not bear with fortitude of spirit the wrongs they commit against us, when he who can do all things does not avenge himself for the wrongs they do Him?@
Clementine Recognitions, II 23-25,
As Quoted in The World and The Prophets
Hugh Nibley