Freedom and the Good

Sine consilio autem tuo nihil colui facere: ut non quasi ex necessitate bonum tuum esset, sed voluntarium.   Hoc quod a plerisque quaeritur, et saepissime retractatur: quare Deus hominem faciens, non eam bonum rectumque condiderit, de praesenti loco solvi potest. Si enim Deus voluntarie, et non ex necessitate bonus est, debuit hominem faciens, ad suam imaginem et similitudinem facere, hoc est, ut et ipse voluntarie, et non ex necessitate bonus esset. Qui autem asserunt ita eum debuisse fieri, ut malum recipere non posset, hoc dicunt: talis debuit fieri qui necessitate bonus esset, et non voluntate. Quod si talis fuisset effectus, qui bonum non voluntate, sed necessitate perficeret, non esset Deo similis: qui ideo bonus est, quia vult, non quia cogitur. Ex quo manifestum est, rem eos inter se postulare contrariam. Nam ex eo quod dicunt, debuit homo Deo similis fieri; illud petunt, ut liberi fieret arbitrii, sicut Deus ipse est. Ex eo autem quod inferunt, talis debuit fieri, qui malum recipere non posset; dum necessitatem ei boni important,* illud volunt, ut homo Deo similis non fieret. Potuit itaque et apostolus Paulus absque voluntate Philemonis, Onesimum sibi in ministerium retinere. Sed si hoc sine voluntate Philemonis fecisset: bonum quidem erat, sed non voluntarium. Quod autem non erat voluntarium, alio genere arguebatur non esse bonum. Nihil quippe bonum diei potest, nisi quod ultroneum est. Ex quo Apostoli consideranda prudentia est: qui idcirco fugitivum servum remittit ad dominum, ut prosit domino suo: qui prodesse non poterat, si domino teneretur absente. Superior ergo quaestio ita solvitur: Potuit Deus hominem sine voluntate ejus facere bonum. Porro si hoc fecisset, non erat bonum voluntarium, sed necessitatis. Quod autem necessitate bonum est, non est bonum, et alio genere malum arguitur. Igitur proporio arbitrio nos relinquens, magis ad suam imaginem et similitudinem fecit. Similem autem Deo esse absolute bonum est. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Philemonem

Without your counsel I would do nothing, for not from necessity shall your good be, but from your free will. 1 This which by so many is sought and so often escapes them when they wonder why did God in making man not fashion him so that he was good and right, one is able to answer from the present passage. For if God by choice and not by necessity is good, he should have in making man, in His own image and likeness making him, 2 that he be by choice and not from necessity be good. They who assert that he should be so that he should not be able to undertake evil, by this say that man should be as one for whom the good is by necessity and not by choice. Which if such a thing were done, he would be one who accomplished good not freely but by necessity, and so not like God. Therefore  a man is good is because he wishes to be, not because he is forced to be. From which it is manifest that among themselves they ask for the contrary. For from what they say, a man should be similar to God, they seek that which makes the will free, like God Himself is. From which they infer such should be who are not able to do evil, but when the necessity of the good they impose upon man, this they wish for, that man should not be similar to God. Thus the Apostle Paul was able to retain Onesimus in his service  without the will of Philemon. But if this were done without the will of Philemon, a good it was but not voluntary. Yet that which is not voluntary it was proved is another sort of thing and not a good. For nothing is able to be a good unless it is of one's own accord. This the Apostle considered with prudence, he therefore sent the slave back to his master that he be of benefit to his master; he would not be able to benefit him if he had kept him away from his master. The above question is thus solved. God was able to make man that he do good involuntarily. However, if He does this it is not a willed good but one of necessity. And that which is a good of necessity is not a good but another sort of evil. Therefore in giving us our own wills He makes us more according to his image and likeness. For to be like God is the absolute good. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to Philemon 1 Philemon 14  2 Gen 1.26