Jumpstarter 2 of 10

Direct Answer The transcript presents God as just and morally coherent: He rewards and punishes because people truly can choose obedience or disobedience. That directly challenges the idea (attributed to Luther/Augustine/Calvin) that God commands what humans cannot do and then punishes them for inability.

Support from Transcript:

• Justin: rewards and punishments are “rendered according to the merit of each man’s actions,” and if all happens by fate “neither is anything at all in our own power.”
• Justin: without the power of “avoiding evil and choosing good by free choice,” humans “are not accountable.”
• Clement: “Neither praises nor censures… rewards nor punishments are right if the soul does not have the power.”
• Irenaeus: God’s counsel and commands imply ability—otherwise “what reason” would the Lord have “to give us counsel.”
• Bercot attacks Luther’s claim (“commandments don’t imply ability”) as “convoluted logic,” like sending a son to fetch groceries that “aren’t in the car.”