10 September 2021
On Temptation
If
someone asks, therefore, why God allowed man to be tempted when he foreknew
that man would yield to the tempter, I cannot sound the depths of divine
wisdom, and I confess that the solution is far beyond my powers. There may be a
hidden reason, made known only to those who are better and holier than I, not
because of their merits but simply by the grace of God. But insofar as God
gives me the ability to understand or allows me to speak, I do not think that a
man would deserve great praise if he had been able to live a good life for the
simple reason that nobody tempted him to live a bad one. For by nature he would
have it in his power to will not to yield to the tempter, with the help of him,
of course, “who resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble.” Why,
then, would God not allow a man to be tempted, although he foreknew he would
yield? For the man would do the deed by his own free will and thus incur guilt,
and he would have to undergo punishment according to God’s justice to be
restored to right order. Thus God would make known his will to a proud soul for
the instruction of the saints in ages to come. For wisely he uses even bad
wills of souls when they perversely abuse their nature, which is good.
Augustine of Hippo
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