Did God grant free will to all rational creatures, both the heavenly and the earthly?

God granted both the heavenly hosts and humanity perfectly free will, and thus all rational creatures are responsible for their actions. But the devil, unlike humans, was created without flesh, so when he fell into pride he was condemned forever. Had he not sinned, he would have continued forever to live like the righteous angels. But Adam had a mortal body and when he sinned, he was condemned to death; although not forever, because humanity was destined for life and eternity. Humans have a dynamism that motivates them to do what is good and to seek immortality; and as a consequence, they have a yearning for the good they have lost.

An angel’s will is fixed upon good or evil; so having made a free choice initially, a fallen angel can no longer will anything but evil and is incapable of even desiring anything else. But the human will continues to be capable of choosing between good and evil. With his first free act, Adam chose death; but through divine love and his intrinsic potential for immortality, he was able to regain the condition he had lost, through his acceptance and responsiveness to the grace of God and the plan of God for salvation.

Humans differ from angels in that humans are destined for immortality. The path of salvation lies open before them — if they freely will to follow it, they have the right to enjoy immortality. In this way, God did not abandon His image to decay and destruction, but rather offered it His divine grace which is able to restore it to immortality. On the other hand, the devil fell because of his pride, which only increased after his fall, and he insisted on sin and on resisting God; whereas man fell by the deceit of the devil.

St. Jacob of Sarug pictures Adam’s condition after his fall, saying, “The deceiver envied him and sowed in him a seed filled with death, and he began to think that he is the source of his own glory. He supposed that his glory came from himself and not from another. He said in himself, ‘The fruit of that tree is mine, I am the master; who can compel me to follow His command? There is no other king over creation but me.’ He desired it so much that he forgot God. This is the fruit that grants death to everyone who eats of it. With the same thought that made the devil fall, the head of the [human] race was destroyed from the beginning. He sowed the seed containing the thought filled with death, and with it he killed the mighty who was filled with beauty. But He [God] had compassion on him with His mercies, He who is kind and full of goodness. And He took away from him the glory with which He had clothed him, and undressed him of the robe of this glory, so that he would not boast and completely perish like Satan. When He cast him down from his position, He placed lowliness before him: ‘You are contemptible dust and mud, and the son of dust. Why do you seek to seize a rank that is

not for you? You have not created all creation, and it is not for you … You are dust, so do not ask for greatness! Mud you are, so why do you stomp your feet on things that are not yours? … You are dust; so because you lusted, to dust you shall return.’”

St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “To the rational nature, however, he gave the grace of selfdetermination and added a capacity to detect what fits one’s purposes. In this way space might be made for our responsibility, and the good should not be compelled and involuntary but come about as the product of choice. Since the impulse of self-determination unavoidably leads us toward the apparent good, there was found in the order of Being one agent who used this power wrongly and, according to the word of the apostle, became the “inventor of mischief” (Rom. 1:30).”¹⁰⁶¹ Therefore, our Creator grants us free will to return to Him and follow Him. By taking flesh and dwelling among us, He sanctified the will granted to us.

St. Cyprian of Carthage says, “He did not rebuke them when they went away, nor even severely threaten them; but rather, turning to His apostles, He said, ‘Will you also go away?’ (John 6:67) manifestly observing the law whereby a man left to his own liberty, and established in his own choice, himself desires for himself either death or salvation.”¹⁰⁶²

And St. Jerome affirms the sanctification of free will that was granted to us that we might walk in Christ Jesus, saying, “He does not say, you must drink, you must run, willing or unwilling: but whoever is willing and able to run and to drink, he shall conquer, he shall be satisfied.”¹⁰⁶³