Remove grace, and you have nothing whereby to be saved. Remove free will and you have nothing that could be saved.
Interpretation
Grace and free will are essential for salvation; without them, there is nothing to save or be saved by.
This quote by Anselm of Canterbury emphasizes the fundamental role of grace and free will in the process of salvation. It suggests that grace is a divine gift necessary for salvation, while free will is the human capacity to choose faith and repentance. Without grace, there are no grounds for salvation, and without free will, there is no opportunity for personal choice in accepting that salvation.
In practice
During a discussion on the importance of personal choice in faith, you can use this quote to illustrate the concept of salvation.
A Prayer of Anselm My God, I pray that I may so know you and love you that I may rejoice in you. And if I may not do so fully in this life let me go steadily on to the day when I come to that fullness . . . Let me receive That which you promised through your truth, that my joy may be full.
For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.
Spare me through your mercy, do not punish me through your justice.
I believe in order that I may understand.
A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.
I have written the little work that follows . . . in the role of one who strives to raise his mind to the contemplation of God and one who seeks to understand what he believes.
There is nothing so great or so goodly in creation, but that it is a mean symbol of the gospel of Christ, and of the things He has prepared for them that love Him.
Many cults start off with high ideals that get corrupted by leaders or their board of advisors who become power-hungry and dominate and control members' lives. No group with high ideals starts off as a 'cult'; they become one when their errant ways are exposed.
Things happen to us in unpredictable ways, but the effect that that has on the kind of people who we become actually is not only open to chance - we can influence it in pretty profound ways.
Freedom exists only with power.
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
Anybody who is one with what he or she does is building the new earth.
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