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SD 9.2 Of Free Will
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Of Free Will

Section 9.2

Man in his state of innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.

See also in WCF: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 Compare: Of Free Will
Eccles. 7:29
Gen. 1:26
[26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen. 2:16, 17
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, [17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Gen. 3:6
[6] So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
See also in WCF
9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5
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Of Free Will

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9.1 9.3

Chapter 9: Of Free Will

The state of man's will in its various conditions

Of Free Will

Section 9.1

God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.

Of Free Will

Section 9.2

Man in his state of innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it.

Of Free Will

Section 9.3

Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

Of Free Will

Section 9.4

When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that, by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.

Of Free Will

Section 9.5

The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only.