Natural Will in John of Damascus’ De duabus Christi voluntatibus

Abstract

This article focuses on John of Damascus’ treatise De duabus Christi voluntatibus, which seeks to establish the meaning of the concept of the ‘natural will’. John’s argument is dependent on the opuscula of Maximus. Yet he does not always follow Maximus’ lead. He claims that the mode of willing is always related to sin whereas willing of the good is natural. This refers not only to the irreproachable passions, which in Maximus’ Christology are needed to give a positive interpretation of Christ’s fear of death, but also to Christ’s eventual obedience to God. John makes it clear that this also applies to ordinary human beings. Obedience is in their case the free and self-determining decision to subject themselves to God as their natural lord and master. John gives the impression that the knowledge about the proper relationship between God and the human being is as spontaneous as the irreproachable passions.