 Although the passage begins in a way that looks friendly to causal determinism, the passage goes on to suggest the situation is more complicated. For although God is the first cause of our voluntary actions, God’s efficacy there is different from how it is with natural causes: God somehow acts on the will in a way that “does not take away” from its voluntariness. And Aquinas takes just the same line in explaining how divine providence is consistent with human freedom (ST 1a 23.6c; SCG III.72–73; Comm. Metaphys. VI.3.30–32; Comm. De interp. I.14.22).