WOLNOŚĆ W UŚCISKU GRZECHU LUB ŁASKI
FREEDOM IN THE GRIP OF SIN OR GRACE

DEUTERONOMIST, BEN SIRA AND PAUL ON THE PHENOMENON OF FREE WILL

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the essay is to attempt a description of the phenomenon of free will as it is presented in some chosen biblical texts. The author starts with the investigation on the vocabulary connected with the semantic field of human actions and choices (thelein, boulomai, thelema, bouole). Then he paints with broad strokes the Deuteronomistic teaching on two ways (Deut 11:26-28; 30:15-20) supply¬ing it with the conclusion on the pessimistic vision of human freedom resulting from the Deuteronomistic history. The next object of inquiry is Ben Sira’s thought on free will. According to the sage man is capable of choosing good and accomplishing the commandments of Wisdom/Torah. Accompanied discreetly by God, human agent is able to shape his life in compliance with the Creator’s will. Next, the author presents Saint Paul entering in a polemic with Ben Sira’s optimistic anthropology. The apostle claims that human free will falls a pray to sin and evil unless it is subject to God’s grace and Spirit. In Romans 7, Paul describes a man who, trying to fulfil the commandments of Law or live a virtuous, good life, eventually finds himself entrapped and enslaved. Sin and weakness abiding his inner self torment him with the desire of good which he is incapable of attaining to. According to the apostle, the dramatic paralysis of man’s free will can be remedied only by abandoning it in Christ’s hands and letting oneself be guided by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8).

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