O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? Calvin expounds the inner conflict of the believer. The law is holy, just, and good, but it reveals sin and arouses it. Paul speaks from his own experience as a regenerate man: the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. This struggle is not the mark of an unregenerate person but of one in whom the S…

Does man have free-will? What is free-willa power, an act, or a habit? If it is a power, is it appetitive or cognitive? If it is appetitive, is it the same power as the will, or distinct? Article 1. Whether man has free-will? Objection 1. It would seem that man has not free-will. For whoever has free-will does what he wills. But man does not what he wills; for it is written (Ro…

The Will is always determined by the strongest motive, that is, by that which appears most agreeable to the mind. The will always follows the last dictate of the understanding. But then, the understanding being an faculty of the soul that perceives and judges, the soul's perception and judgment are influenced by the soul's inclination and disposition.

In this matter we teach that there is a threefold condition or state of man. Man in his first estate before the fall was endowed with free will, so that he could either remain in goodness or decline to evil. However, he declined to evil, and has involved himself and the entire human race in sin, as has been said already. Man in his second estate, after the fall, is not deprived…