[Homer] does introduce divine agency, not to destroy, but to prompt the human will; not to create in us another agency, but offering images to stimulate our own; images that in no sort or kind make our action involuntary, but give occasion rather to spontaneous action, aided and sustained by feelings of confidence and hope.
Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine beings actually and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands and our feet this way or that, to do what is right: it is obvious that they must actuate the practical and elective element of our nature, by certain initial occasions, by images presented to the imagination, and thoughts suggested to the mind, such either as to excite it to, or avert and withhold it from, any particular course.
–Plutarch “Life of Coriolanus”
Divine Will and Free Choice of the Will
Plutarch’s understanding of divine inspiration, the mysterious relation between divine agency and man’s free choice of the will, approximates mine. The divine will does not destroy nor override free will, but enables and enlivens man’s free choice of the will.
Choice is a constant theme that runs throughout the Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments. The reason is simple: without choice, there is no free choice of the will. In the beginning, man was presented a choice, the Tree of life or the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was at a crossroad with two paths before him. Both paths were open before he made his choice, but after he chose one, the other was closed. He chose the Tree of the Knowledge, therefore the access to the Tree of life was denied him. “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He came into the world to open anew the way to the Father which was shut because of Adam. God sets Man free by giving him a choice, and enabling him to choose the Good, sustained by feelings of confidence, as Plutarch writes, or as the Scripture says, faith and hope.
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References:
- Plutarch. “Caius Marcius Coriolanus” Perseus Digital Library. Accessed April 12, 2018. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0037.