Philemon 1:14 But without your mind would I do nothing; that your benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. from this passage justly deduces as a conclusion that St. Paul held the principle that nothing in moral action is good which is not voluntary. He applies it to the solution of the question which has been so often asked — "Why God did not make men absolutely good?" God might have made man good without man's will. But, had He done so, the good would not have been voluntary, but necessary. But what is necessarily good is not good in the highest sense, and is even relatively and in another point of view evil. Therefore, in leaving us to our own free will, He made us more truly after His image and likeness. Parallel Verses KJV: But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. |
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