Saint Augustine's Deduction that Free Will is a Good Gift from God

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Saint Augustine's Deduction that Free Will is a Good Gift from God

Before the central theme of this essay is analytically summarized, it

is important to note a few propositions already established in the

conversations between Saint Augustine and Evodius. Firstly, Saint

Augustine has already ascertained that God gave human beings free

choice of the will – Evodius is also sure of this proposition. He

deduces that since our existence came from God, then it must be God

who gave us free will. Secondly, Augustine then questions Evodius on

how he knows that our existence comes from God. His answer begs the

question as he states that our existence must come from God since he

punishes the unjust and rewards those who are good.

Another proposition that must be established before the crux of the

argument may be presented is that although God gave human beings free

will, we must use it to live rightly. This again is resting on the

assumption that God rewards the just and punishes those who use their

free will to sin. Augustine proposes that God does not punish those

who live rightly. Moreover, if free will was intended for living

rightly and unjustly, then punishment of those who sin and reward for

those who live rightly would not be justified. Therefore, Saint

Augustine concludes that free will must have been given to humans by

God for the purpose of living rightly.

This leads to the crux argument discussed between Saint Augustine and

Evodius that free will is a good gift from God. The argument may be

summarized as follows: 1) All good things come from God,...

... middle of paper ...

...ill acts as an intermediary between good and bad choices,

it can neither be labeled as a good gift or a bad gift from God; just

and unjust events are created by the same thing. Therefore, free will

should be labeled as a good and bad gift, or neither good and bad.

With this established, Augustine’s argument should be amended as

follows: 1) All things (good and bad) come from God, 2) God gave

humans free will, therefore, 3) free will is a thing from God.

Saint Augustine does not rely on any a priori propositions; his

argument rests on improvable assumptions which still beg the question

of whether free choice of the will is a good or bad gift. Although

his argument is sound, he is not completely justified in his deduction

as it was clearly shown that his first proposition can be easily

jeopardized in its validity.

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