Article XVIII Free Will
[1] Our churches teach that a person’s will has some freedom to choose civil righteousness and to do things subject to reason. [2] It has no power, without the Holy Spirit, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness. For “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14). [3] This righteousness is worked in the heart when the Holy Spirit is received through the Word [Galatians 3:2–6].
[4] This is what Augustine says in his Hypognosticon, Book III:
We grant that all people have a free will. It is free as far as it has the judgment of reason. This does not mean that it is able, without God, either to begin, or at least to complete, anything that has to do with God. It is free only in works of this life, whether good or evil. [5] Good I call those works that spring from the good in nature, such as willing to labor in the field, to eat and drink, to have a friend, to clothe oneself, to build a house, to marry a wife, to raise cattle, to learn various useful arts, or whatsoever good applies to this life. [6] For all of these things depend on the providence of God. They are from Him and exist through Him. [7] Works that are willing to worship an idol, to commit murder, and so forth, I call evil.
[8] Our churches condemn the Pelagians and others who teach that without the Holy Spirit, by natural power alone, we are able to love God above all things and do God’s commandments according to the letter. [9] Although nature is able in a certain way to do the outward work (for it is able to keep the hands from theft and murder), yet it cannot produce the inward motions, such as the fear of God, trust in God, chastity, patience, and so on.