Ephesians 2:8-10
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
· [Total Depravity.] Augustine dwelt at length on the Corruption of man's nature and the consequent lack of freedom of the will
Augustine made some helpful comparisons here. He showed that Adam was in a state of Able to sin and Able not to sin, but by his sin he rendered himself and his descendants Not able not to sin. After death the redeemed saints are finally confirmed in a state which Adam did not enjoy, namely Not able to sin. to choose God, exercise faith, or generally perform any act that moves towards restoration to God. To be sure, the freedom of the will to act is not in question, and man still makes his choices. However, his choices are all determined now by his corrupt nature, and in himself he has no ability to choose God.
"A man's free-will, indeed, avails for nothing except to sin, if he knows not the way of truth; and even after his duty and his proper aim shall begin to become known to him, unless he also take delight in and feel a love for it, he neither does his duty, nor sets about it, nor lives rightly. Now, in order that such a course may engage our affections, God's 'love is shed abroad in our hearts,' not through the free-will that arises from ourselves, but 'through the Holy Ghost, which is given to us.' (Rom 5:5)" (On the Spirit and the Letter, 3.5)
Grace and predestination have this difference, that predestination is the preparation, and grace the actual application, of God's unmerited favor.
