If different people obviously have different personalities, why do we lay the blame on the will?

By living faith, our characters are sanctified despite their diversity. A clear example in the New Testament is how the character of Peter the quick-tempered apostle differs from that of the calm John the Beloved. When they are both sanctified, each feels that the other completes him, and it comes as no surprise that they go on to serve together in harmony. We read of many instances in which they went out with each other in the company of the Lord Christ (Matt. 17:1; Mark 5:37; 13:3; 14:33; Luke 8:51; 22:8) and worked together (Acts 3:1, 3, 4, 11, 13), and the apostles sent them out together to Samaria (Acts 8:14).

The evil that a person himself chooses is the product of the will, and our free will in committing sin is clearly evident in the words of the prophet: “Yet I have planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?” (Jer. 2:21). The seed was good, yet the fruit was bad; so the sower is blameless, but the tree is burned with fire because although it was well sown, it willingly bore bad fruit. As the preacher says, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Eccles. 7:29). Further, the apostle says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

The Creator is good and He created us for good deeds, but the creation has fallen into evil by its own free will. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “Sin then is, as we have said, a fearful evil, but not incurable; fearful for him who clings to it, but easy of cure for him who by repentance puts it from him. For suppose that a man is holding fire in his hand; as long as he holds fast the live coal he is sure to be burned, but should he put away the coal, he would have cast away the flame also with it. If however any one thinks that he is not being burned when sinning, to him the Scripture says, Shall a man wrap up fire in his bosom, and not burn

820 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 7.13 (NPNF II/7:47) amended.

his clothes? (Prov. 6:27). For sin burns the sinews of the soul, and breaks the spiritual bones of the mind, and darkens the light of the heart.”⁸²¹