IV. Liberty is fourfold:

(1) the liberty of independence which belongs to God as the first being; this is opposed to the necessity of dependence which belongs to all creatures.

(2) Liberty from coaction by which man acts spontaneously and with freedom; this is opposed to the necessity of coaction seen in those who act through force.

(3) Rational liberty from brute and physical necessity by which man acts from choice (ek proaireseōs) and not by a brute instinct and blind impulse; this is opposed to the physical necessity of inanimates and brutes.

(4) Liberty from slavery by which man is subject to the yoke of no slavery, either of sin or of misery; this is opposed to the necessity of slavery in sinners.

FRANCIS TURRETIN, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger, vol. 1 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992–97), 8.1.4 (p. 570).

Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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