Upload
cisco-victa
View
492
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
AUGUSTINES’ THEOLOGY OF GRACE AS A RESPONSE TO PELAGIUS
A RESEACRH PAPER SUBMITTED
TO DR. GREGORY TOMLININ PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR CHHI 520
DEPARTMENT OF CHURCH HISTORY
By
FRANCISCO I. VICTA III
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
MAY 2, 2012
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Background Information..................................................................................................................1
The Pelagian View of Human Freedom..........................................................................................4
The Pelagian View of Original Sin………………………………………………………………..6
The Polemic of Augustine………………………………………………………………………8
Augustine's View of Human Freedom…………………………………………………………..9
Augustine's View of Original Sin………………………………………………………………..11
Augustine on the Nature of Grace………………………………………………………………12
The Fruit of Augustine's Efforts…………………………………………………………….13
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………15
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................16
i
Introduction
This paper will examine the polemic between Augustine and Pelagius surrounding the
subjects of original sin, salvation, and the freedom of will in the fourth century church. It will
specifically study the opposing views of Augustine and Pelagius on the theology of grace.
Documenting the theological and cultural framework of this time in history will bring relevance
to the understanding of why this had become a contentious debate. It will then document the
ultimate results of this controversy and summarize how the debate lingered into the church’s
future.
Background Information
The church in the fourth century experienced major developments “in regard to
monasticism, missionary expansion, the relation of Christianity to Roman society, and the
elaboration of the liturgy.”1 A church that was once a persecuted minority now was on the back
end of being a state religion that attracted both wealth and intellectuals. Taking a reverse course
from being in the favors of the state, the church was marked by varying degrees of asceticism
and monasticism. Nevertheless, the focus on the ascetic did not deter the growth of the church
from reaching its climax in the fourth and early fifth centuries.2 The fourth century saw
Christianity become the official religion of the Roman world.3 This did not mean, however, that
everyone in Rome was a dedicated Christian. According to Brown, after the year AD 410, “the
Roman Empire had become full of refugees.”4 The arrival of these aliens to Rome would stir of
up the society in both controversy and excitement. Many of these refugees became the neighbors
1 Everett Ferguson, Church History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005, 227.2 Ibid, 238. 3 Ibid, 238.4 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #340.
1
of a man named Augustine. Augustine is known as a towering figure in church history,
sometimes called the “Architect of the Middle Ages.” To his neighbors, Augustine would be
known as man dedicated to dealing with the challenges of a local pastorate and content to live in
isolation as he attended to his intellectual activities.5 Born in Tagaste, a commercial city in North
Africa, Augustine, like many church fathers, was first converted to philosophy before a
conversion to Christianity. Having a sort of intellectual conversion to Christianity, Augustine had
not yet had a moral conversion. Justo Gonzalez calls Augustine’s journey to Christ a “torturous
path to faith.”6His conversion experience occurred in 386 after reading from Romans 13:13-14.
Later, Augustine would give an expose of the doctrine of conversion that reflected his own
personal experience of turning to the Lord. For him, conversion was “an interior battle produced
within the soul, a conflict and an intimate tearing apart.”7Augustine was baptized in 387 on
Easter Sunday. Ordained as a presbyter, he became provincial bishop while continuing a
monastic life with his fellow clergy. His secluded life was soon to change, however. On August
25th, 410 a conference was called for a confrontation between the bishops of the Catholic Church
and the Donatists. It was at this Conference that Augustine would write that he “caught a few
glimpses of the face of a man roughly the same age as himself, like himself a servant of God,
held in high esteem by the Roman aristocrats who had fled Cathage and the Gothic sack; a man
who said to be the inspirer of the radical views that already troubled the friends of Marcellinus—
the British monk, Pelagius.”8 Unlike the voluminous works written by Augustine and a
biography by his disciple Possidius, little is known about the origins of Pelagius. Like Augustine,
5 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #341. 6 Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984), pg. #241.7 Augustine, and Pierre Champagne De Labriolle. Confessions. Paris: Société D'édition "Les Belles Lettres,", 1925,2
8 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #341
2
“ he was a provincial: he had come from Britain to Rome.”9 Schaff says, “His original name is
said to have been Morgan. He gave himself much to the study of the Greek Church writers. He
showed much earnestness of life, and an active concern for his own improvement and that of
others in his way. He was regarded as an eminent Christian.”10 Furgeson says of Pelagius,
“Although an ascetic in reaction against the looseness of the Christian life in Rome, he did not
advocate a withdrawal from society.”11 He carried a temperament that seemed “free from the
storms and stresses of temptation.”12 Having little tolerance for the weaknesses of human nature,
his clash with Augustine seemed inevitable considering that Augustine was once a young man
who struggled with the sin of sexual lust.13 Also in contrast to Augustine, Pelagius had more
experience as a serious baptized layman, serving for over thirty years in comparison to
Augustine’s four years. In 413, Pelagius wrote a long letter to Demetrias, a woman who had
made the decision to become a nun. In this letter, Pelagius begins to mention the teaching that
would set off a firestorm in the church and provoke a calculated response from Augustine. The
heart of his message was succinct: “since perfection is possible for man, it is obligatory.”14 He
saw the Christian life as a relentless effort through which one could overcome sin and attain
salvation through sheer willpower. These thoughts of Pelagius and the ensuing response of
Augustine would push the doctrine of original sin and the theology of grace to the forefront of
the church in the fourth century. Before this trendy debate, several church fathers did write on
the subject of sin and grace, but not as exhaustively as would be done in the fourth and fifth
centuries. The dominant focus for the church fathers prior to Pelagius and Augustine was the
9 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #341.10 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 3rd edition. Volume 3 (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996, 207. 11 Everett Ferguson, Church History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005, 280. 12 Christopher A. Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002),
pg. #133.13 Ibid, 133.14 E. Portalie, A Guide to the Thoughts of St. Augustine, 1960, 188.
3
Christological controversies.15 When the fathers did address the topic, their sentiments reflected
the thoughts of Augustine. Gregory of Nyssa said that sin is congenital to our nature and takes
rise in us when we are born.16Basil speaks of the sin which Adam transmitted. Chrysostom spoke
of a sin of Adam that is the first portion of debt resulting in an increase through subsequent
sins.17 The teachings of the early church, therefore, while not exhaustive, lean in favor of the
belief that transgression has been passed down from Adam to all men while still maintaining the
culpability of every man’s sinful actions. What was still being conversed was the specific way
grace came from God as divine help to a fallen creature. Was the source of evil inside of man or
exterior to man? Had God made man free to choose good and evil? How do men overcome their
sin? Answering these questions would not allow Augustine “to finish his life as a secluded
provincial bishop.”18
The Pelagian View of Human Freedom
Many of the extracts of Pelagius’s thoughts come from the citations given by Augustine
in order to criticize Pelagius’s views. Except for Pelagius’s Expositions of the Letters of St. Paul,
many of his writings are attributed to him and cannot be unequivocally validated. Many of his
ideas are mostly known through his opponents. Allster Mcgrath cautions that all of the writings
attributed to Pelagius cannot be regarded as totally reliable because of this fact.19 What is known,
however, is that Pelagius’s doctrinal view of grace finds its root in the idea that freedom is
central to humanity. In addition, his battle with the Manicheans would solidify his understanding
15 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 3rd edition. Volume 3 (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996, 785. 16 J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines. (New York: Harper, 1959), pg. #351.
17 Ibid, 351. 18 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #339. 19 Alister E. McGrath, Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), pg. #18.356.
4
that God is just. The dual emphasis on the freedom of man’s will and the justice of God molded a
view that God would not judge one for the fall of another. Pelagius forcefully entered the debate
with an “attack on Augustine’s doctrine of the universality of sin, the bondage of the will, and
predestination.”20Bavinck comments, “The British monk Pelagius rejected all notions of original
sin and considered every person as having Adam’s full moral choice of will. The fall did not
happen at the beginning but is repeated in every human sin.”21 Therefore, when God gives a
command, Pelagius lamented that instead of regarding God’s commands as a privilege, “we cry
out at God and say, ‘This is too hard! This is too difficult! We cannot do it! We are only human
and hindered by the weakness of the flesh!’ What madness! What blatant presumption! By doing
this we accuse God of knowledge of twofold ignorance---ignorance of God’s own creation and
of God’s own commands. It would be as if, forgetting the weakness of humanity—his own
creation—God had laid upon us commands which we were unable to bear. At the same time---
may God forgive us---we ascribe to the righteous one unrighteousness, and cruelty to the Holy
One; first by complaining that God has commanded the impossible, second by imagining that
some will be condemned by God for what they could not help; so that God is thought of as
seeking our punishment rather than our salvation. No one knows the extent of our strength better
than God who gave us that strength. God has not willed to command anything impossible, for
God is righteous; and He will not condemn anyone for what they could not help, for God is
holy.”22
Pelagius’ argument clearly purports that God knows man’s weakness, and therefore
would never ask man to do what he could not achieve. Anything that God asks man to do
20 Allan Fitzgerald and John C. Cavadini, Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999), pg. #634.21 Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), pg. #26.22 Andrew J. O'Reilly and Pelagius, Pelagius' Letter to Demetrias: A Translation with an Introduction and Commentary (1951), pg. #16.
5
anticipates an ability of man to fulfill what was asked. Pelagius distinguished human freedom by
the following three points: possibility, will, and being. He wrote, “Human praise lies in being
willing and in doing a good work; or rather this praise belongs both to humanity and the God
who has granted the possibility of willing and working, and who by the help of grace assits
exactly this possibility. The fact that someone has this possibility of willing and doing any good
work is due to God alone. Therefore, when we say that it is possible to be without sin, we are
even then praising God by acknowledging this gift of possibility which we have received.”23 This
statement argues that God has given man certain abilities, namely the ability to avoid sin. When
someone avoids sin, then the praise is given to God. It is vital to note that Pelagius’s assumption
is that human nature is the same as God originally created it. No mention is made that the fall of
man distorted, sickened, or weakened the initial state of mankind. In addition, when Pelagius
says, “praise belongs to both humanity and to the God who has granted the possibility,” the
foundation of his theology is revealed. In his view, man has as much, if not more, to do with his
eternal destiny than God. Intervention and divine assistance is not needed to alter man’s
condition. This would explain why one of Pelagius’s favorite biblical characters was Job. Job,
and many other biblical heroes, represents men who show the world “the sheer willpower of
heroic individuality.”24
The Pelagian View of Original Sin
Pelagius clearly rejected any notion of original sin. Again cited in a work of Augustine,
Pelagius asserts that humanity is born with an aptitude to do either good or evil. In his view, man
is not intrinsically evil. He writes, “Everything, good and evil, concerning which we are either
worthy of praise or of blame, is done by us, not born with us. We are not born in our full
23 Pelagius, Pro Libero Arbitrio, 5th ed., vol. IV, As Reported by Augustine (Tempsky: Vienna, 1902), pg. #175.24 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #351.
6
development, but with a capacity for good and evil; we are begotten without virtue as without
fault, and before the activity of the individual will there is nothing in humans other than what
God has placed in them.” Pelagius’s view on original sin may be seen as extreme, but it is not the
first time such an idea was suggested. Church father, Irenaeus, questioned how human beings
could choose to obey freely if they were “made by nature bad.” Are not these words similar to
Pelagius? Christopher Hall in his book, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers, warns
against linking Irenaeus with Pelagius. Hall writes, “We would misinterpret Irenaeus if we read
him against the background of the Pelagian controversy. He is not concerned with Pelagius who
had not yet been born, but with the Gnostic teachers who claimed that humanity’s physical
nature cripples a person’s ability to respond to God in faith or good works.”25 In light of this,
Pelagius views of original sin would be deemed heterodoxy against the backdrop of early church
history. His understanding of human nature was considered overly optimistic and would prove to
have severe consequences in the logical conclusion of his thoughts. Brown observes, “If human
nature is essentially free and well-created, and not dogged by some mysterious inner weakness,
the general misery of men must be somehow external to their true selves. It must lie, in part, in
the constricting force of the social habits of pagan past.”26 Pelagius had no patience for the idea
that human nature was marred by the fall in the garden. He saw Augustine’s masterpiece,
Confessions, as displaying shameful disinclination for physical and spiritual exertion.27 His
teachings, in contrast to Augustine’s, were for the men who wanted to make a change for the
better. The power of self-improvement before a holy God should be the desire of every man.
Original sin and man’s inability struck him as “quite absurd.”28 Pelagius concluded that grace
25 Christopher A. Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), pg. #125.26 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #352.27 Ibid, #343.28 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #343.
7
was God’s means by which men could live without sin.29 In support of this view, he cited many
examples of people in the Bible who had never sinned.30To Pelagius, Augustine appears as the
advocate of moral tolerance. Augustine’s now famous prayer, “Command what you will; and
will what you command” is seen by Pelagius as a discredit to God as Lawgiver.31 He chaffed at
the concept that God would command something that men could not do by their own validity. In
Augustine’s On the Gift of Perseverance, he wrote, “Although I published (the Confessions)
before the Pelagian heresy had come into existence, certainly in them I said to my God, and said
it frequently, ‘Give what you command and command what you will.’ Pelagius at Rome, when
they were mentioned in his presence by a certain brother and fellow bishop of mine, could not
stand these words of mine.”32 Being that Pelagius began to attract a significant following,
including an aggressive protégé named Celestitus, the church reacted with concern and
criticism.33 The action to combat Pelagius would largely be from the result of the work of
Augustine. A crisis between the two men was forthcoming.
The Polemic of Augustine
While Augustine’s polemic against Pelagius gets the most attention, this was not the first
time Augustine would refute unorthodox teaching. Many of Augustine’s earlier writings were
attempts to disprove the Manichaeans. Having been at one point is his life agreeable to
Manaichaenism, he was well aware of its tenants and philosophy. The main points at issue dealt
with the authority of the Scripture, the origin of evil, and the free will of man. Another
29 Augustine, John A. Mourant, and William J. Collinge, Four Anti-pelagian Writings: On Nature and Grace : On the Proceedings of Pelagius : On the Predestination of the Saints : On the Gift of Perseverance (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992), pg. #191.30 Andrew J. O'Reilly and Pelagius, Pelagius' Letter to Demetrias: A Translation with an Introduction and Commentary (1951), pg. #100.31 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #343.32 Gregg R. Allison and Wayne A. Grudem, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine : A Companion to Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), pg. #345.33 Ibid, 347.
8
movement that Augustine combated was Donatism. One of the issues that Augustine dealt with
in this movement was whether ordinations conferred by unworthy bishops were valid.34 Both of
these challenges with the Manichaeans and the Donatists were preparation for his polemic
against Pelagius; it is in this heated debate that Augustine wrote most of his important
theological works.
The debate with Pelagius was no easy task. Brown writes, “Pelagianism has appealed to a
universal theme: the need for an individual to define himself, and to feel free to create his own
values in the midst of the conventional, second rate life of society.”35 Augustine would approach
Pelagius’s views as a “body of ideas,” ideas from someone who was an opponent of “the same
intellectual caliber as himself.”36
Augustine’s View of Human Freedom
Augustine’s view on grace was seen in his assessment of babies. Augustine had a
fascination with babies, as seen in his masterwork, Confessions. He wrote on the extent of their
helplessness, likening his relation to God to that of a baby to its mother’s breast, utterly
dependent, the only source of life.37 Ironically, Pelagius was contemptuous of babies and related
to God on the basis of a son who was no longer dependent on one’s father.38 Because of
Augustine’s strong view on grace as dependency on God (Augustine is often referred to as the
doctor gratiaem, the teacher of grace) it would seem to suggest that he denied human freedom.
However, in a work originally written in Latin during his polemic with Pelagius, Augustine
wrote on how the priority of grace does not “entail the denial of human freedom.”39In this
34 Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984), pg. #248.35 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #346.36 Ibid, 346. 37 Augustine and Pierre Champagne De Labriolle, Confessions. (Paris: Société D'édition "Les Belles Lettres,," 1925), pg. #5.38 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #346.
39 Alister E. MacGrath, The Christian Theology Reader (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996), pg. #354.
9
excerpt, Augustine quotes Ecclesiastes 7:29, “I found that God made humans upright, but they
have sought out many devices.” Augustine’s reflection on man’s original nature before the Fall
and his nature after the Fall do not deny human freedom nor the sovereignty of God.
Incidentally, it was Augustine who debated Manichaeanism, a philosophy that denied human
freedom while emphasizing fatalism. Augustine now challenges Pelagius who upholds human
freedom but denies the sovereignty of God. He writes, “Nor will they not have free choice
because sins will have no power to attract them. Far from it; it will be more truly free, when it
has been set free from the delight of sinning, to enjoy the steadfast delight of not sinning.”40
Augustine is implying one of his main arguments: the power of sin is such that it takes hold of
man’s will, and as long as man is under the sway of sin, he cannot move his will to be free from
sin.41 The human will was not as simple as characterized by Pelagius. Although the term
“freewill” is not a biblical term, Augustine seeks to apply a Pauline understanding of the word,
which is that free will exists, but has been distorted and limited by sin. This would pave the way
for Augustine’s view of how one would come to Christ. Only by the power of grace itself, a
divine initiative from God himself, will one be set free from the chains of sin. Grace would
become a dominant theme of Augustine’s life, as noted by a letter to Paulinus, “First and
foremost, for no subject (grace) gives me greater pleasure. For what ought to be more attractive
to us sick men, than grace, grace by which we are healed; for us lazy men, than grace, grace by
which we are stirred up; for us longing to act, than grace, by which we are helped.”42
Augustine’s View of Original Sin
Augustine’s view of the nature of sin and human nature is radically different than
Pelagius’s view. While Pelagius sees human nature able to overcome sin apart from any work of
40 Augustine, The City of God (New York: Modern Library, 1950), pg. #41.41 Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984), pg. #249.42 Augustine and John Burnaby, Later Works (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), pg. #39.
10
grace, Augustine affirms that human nature was created blameless but it now is contaminated by
sin. Much like his predecessors, Tertullian, Origen, and Athanasius, Augustine sees sinfulness as
universal and debilitating. Sin is a “complex notion, having many aspects.”43In his writings,
Augustine paints sin as a disease, a power, and a judicial, forensic concept. While the judicial,
forensic concept of sin would have been easily comprehended in a Roman society that put a high
value on law, it was his medical imagery to describe sin’s impact on human nature that was most
common in his writings.44 After presenting the disease, he declared Jesus Christ as the only cure.
“But this grace of Christ, without which neither infants nor grown persons can be saved, is not
bestowed as a reward for merits, but is freely (gratis), which is why it is called grace (gratia).45
His argument stands stoutly against Pelagius’s view that men are not disposed towards sin. To
Augustine, men are “most justly condemned because they are not without sin, whether they
derived from their origins or were acquired by evil actions. For all have sinned, whether in Adam
or in themselves, and have fallen short of the glory of God.”46 For Pelagius, self control and
effort would be enough for man to rise to perfection. For Augustine, “only the transformation of
deadness could heal men of the deep cause of their sins.”47
Augustine on the Nature of Grace
As has been noted, the major emphasis of Augustine’s teaching was grace. His need for
grace is expressed in his prayer, “The house of my soul is too narrow for Thee to come into me;
43 Alister E. MacGrath, The Christian Theology Reader (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996), pg. #353. 44 Alister E. McGrath, Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), pg. #85.45 Augustine, De Natura Et Gratia Iii, vol. 60 (Vienna: Tempsky: Urba, 1913), pg. #235.46 Ibid, 235.47 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #369.
11
let it be enlarged by Thee. It is in ruins; do Thou restore it.”48 His arguments in relation to grace
derived from his understanding of original sin and the ensuing results on man’s deviant behavior.
He firmly held to the doctrine that the only hope for man was a divine act of grace on his behalf.
To him, the statements of Pelagius kept men bound in their self-reliance. He said, “O what a
ridiculous illness! The Doctor is calling out for men to come to Him, and the sick man is
wrapped up in his arguments.”49 In his work, On the Predestination of the Saints, Augustine
insists that the unregenerate human will play no part in the appropriation of grace. Augustine
reasons that faith, should it originate in man himself, would be meritorious.50 He furthered
distanced his teaching from Pelagius’s view that grace was natural to the human faculties by
affirming that grace is the polar opposite of free will. The nature of this gift is that “it is
irresistible, and will ensure that its recipient remains in grace.51 According to Augustine, grace
was more than the initial means of man’s salvation; the entre Christian life was a long process of
gracious healing. Augustine’s audience was constantly reminded that even the baptized Christian
“must remain an invalid: like the wounded man found by the Good Samaritan, he must be
content to remain for the rest of his life in the ‘Inn of the Church’.”52 It was this kind of “grace-
based” message that put public opinion on the side of Augustine in his opposition to Pelagius.
His understanding of grace was filled with the themes of dependence, humility, and the
insufficiency of self. It was these themes that would dominate the Middle Ages.53
48 Christopher A. Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), pg. #140.49 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #369.50 Augustine and Nicholas Lesse, A Worke of the Predestination of Saints Wrytten by the Famous Doctor S. Augustine Byshop of Carthage, and Translated out of Latin into Englysshe, by Nycolas Lesse, Londoner. Item, Another Worke of the Sayde Augustyne, Entytuled, Of the Vertue of Perseueraunce to Thend, Translated by the Sayd. N.L. (Londini: [By the Wydowe of Ihon Herforde. for Gwalter Lynne, and Are to Be Soulde, at the Sygne of the Spred Eagle in Poules Church Yarde by the Schole], 1550), pg. #.49.51 Ibid, 49.52 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #369.
53 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #51.
12
The Fruit of Augustine’s Efforts
The Council of Carthage officially ended the Pelagian controversy in 418.54 This council
explicitly condemned as heretical a series of eight teachings. Each of these statements is prefaced
with a condemnation, “If anyone says…let him be condemned (anathema).”55 These charges
condemned Pelagius’s views that “death is a natural part of human existence and not the
punishment for sin, and that God’s grace is limited to providing external help.”56 The church
insisted on the Augustinian need for God’s grace from beginning to end to overcome the tragic
effects of the Fall of man, which passes down to all of the human race. But not everybody agreed
with the condemnation of Pelagius. Eighteen Italian bishops failed to sign a condemnation of
Pelagius.57 Pelagius’s lead protégé, Celestius, and Julian of Eclanum assumed leadership of the
Pelagian position and further debate ensued into the fifth century. The victories of Augustine’s
ideas over Pelagius were noteworthy and effective, specifically in the African church, but they
did not entirely stamp out the Pelagian ideology. Pelagianism would remain infectious. Peter
Brown documents that by the end of the fifth century, a man named Seneca, an elderly bishop in
Picenum, would reach Pelagian conclusions without having any knowledge of Pelagius or
Pelagian authors.58 Seneca concluded that because babies were made by God, they were
intrinsically good and pure. He taught that man could achieve happiness by free choice because
of the intrinsic goodness of human nature. The curious point here is that Seneca was Pelagian
without ever reading Pelagius. Likewise, many years after Augustine and Pelagius were gone
from the scene of debate, a man named Martin Luther was used by God to remind the church that
54 Allan Fitzgerald and John C. Cavadini, Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999), pg. #63755 Alister E. MacGrath, The Christian Theology Reader (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996), pg. #357.56 Gregg R. Allison and Wayne A. Grudem, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine : A Companion to Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), pg. #349.57 Everett Ferguson, Church History (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), pg. #281.58 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #370.
13
someone did not have to be perfectly righteous in order to be accepted by God. It was as if he
was debating Pelagian ideas all over again, merely with a new cast of characters. Luther
proclaimed that sinners are accepted on the account of Christ’s righteousness alone. He wrote,
“Now is this man perfectly righteous? No. But he is at one and the same time a sinner and a
righteous person. He is a sinner in fact, but a righteous person by the sure reckoning and promise
of God that he will continue to deliver him from sin until he has completely cured him.”59
Although many years removed from the Pelagian controversy, the same problems were
resurrected in the church and the same solution applied by Luther. Man is far from perfect, sin is
not the failure of God, and the continued need of man is to entrust one’s person to the grace of
Christ. One may wonder why these same Pelagian problems arise within the church even when
people are ignorant of who Pelagius was and what he taught. It may be because the real problem
is not Pelagius, but that man is born with a “Pelagian heart.” Pelagianism is the default setting of
man’s heart. To suggest to man the Augustinian view that he is a fallen creature with no inherent
power to change his miserable condition is a threat to all ascetic efforts of personal achievement.
Nevertheless, the answer for the modern man is the same answer Augustine applied in his
refuting of Pelagius: “Only God can give the Spirit that makes alive: the capacity to love
goodness for itself that will ensure that a man will grow rather than wither in the harsh
environment of God’s commands. Rather, He gives us love and helps us in this way.”60
Conclusion
Both human history and experience fail to validate Pelagius’s fundamental thesis. He
does not go deep enough into the complexity of man’s human nature. The problem for sinful
59 Martin Luther and Wilhelm Pauck, Lectures on Romans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961), pg. #25.60 Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a Biography, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), pg. #374.
14
man is not ignorance for man knows what to do but still fails to do it. Augustine realized from
both his own experience and the study of Scripture that there is something fundamentally wrong
with human nature apart from God’s gracious intervention. Thus, while Pelagius has a shallow
view of man’s nature, he also has a shallow view of God’s grace. If God’s grace is merely the
enlightenment found in the Ten Commandments or the moral example of Jesus, Augustine
argues, “let it at any rate be so called in such wise that God may be believed to infuse it, along
with the ineffable sweetness, more deeply and internally, in such a way, that he not only exhibits
truth, but likewise imparts love.”61 Augustine clearly saw grace as the means for the power to
change and be made whole. Reminded by his own obvious flaws and helplessness as a young
man, he saw that man needed help beyond himself. The church affirmed his understanding of
grace while continuing to debate other aspects of Augustine’s soteriology such as predestination,
the baptism of infants, and the polarization of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. As for
Pelagius, the influence of his teaching on self-reliance, self-improvement, and legalism is still
cunningly at work in both the hearts of men and the places where men worship. Though some
would say that the doctrine of Pelagius has few modern champions, a casual glance at the
modern church will reveal a similar optimism in the nature and potentiality of man as stressed by
Pelagius. May modern-day “Augustines” rise up and remind the church that “the way of man is
not in his own power; nor is it for him to walk and direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23).
61 Augustine, John A. Mourant, and William J. Collinge, Four Anti-Pelagian Writings (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992), pg. #222.
15
Bibliography
Allison, Gregg R., and Wayne A. Grudem. Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian
Doctrine : A Companion to Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2011.
Augustine, and John Burnaby. Later Works. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955.
Augustine, and Nicholas Lesse. A Worke of the Predestination of Saints Wrytten by the Famous
Doctor S. Augustine Byshop of Carthage, and Translated out of Latin into Englysshe, by Nycolas
Lesse, Londoner. Item, Another Worke of the Sayde Augustyne, Entytuled, Of the Vertue of
Perseueraunce to Thend, Translated by the Sayd. N.L. Londini: [By the Wydowe of Ihon
Herforde. for Gwalter Lynne, and Are to Be Soulde, at the Sygne of the Spred Eagle in Poules
Church Yarde by the Schole], 1550.
Augustine, and Pierre Champagne De Labriolle. Confessions. Paris: Société D'édition "Les
Belles Lettres,", 1925.
Augustine. De Natura Et Gratia Iii. Vol. 60. Vienna: Tempsky: Urba, 1913.
Augustine, John A. Mourant, and William J. Collinge. Four Anti-pelagian Writings: On Nature
and Grace : On the Proceedings of Pelagius : On the Predestination of the Saints : On the Gift
of Perseverance. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992.
Augustine, John A. Mourant, and William J. Collinge. Four Anti-Pelagian Writings.
Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992.
Augustine. The City of God. New York: Modern Library, 1950.
Bavinck, Herman, John Bolt, and John Vriend. Reformed Dogmatics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2003.
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo; a Biography,. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
16
Ferguson, Everett. Church History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005.
Fitzgerald, Allan, and John C. Cavadini. Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia. Grand
Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999.
González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984.
Hall, Christopher A. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. New York: Harper, 1959.
Luther, Martin, and Wilhelm Pauck. Lectures on Romans. Philadelphia: Westminster Press,
1961.
MacGrath, Alister E. The Christian Theology Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.
McGrath, Alister E. Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought.
Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998.
O'Reilly, Andrew J., and Pelagius. Pelagius' Letter to Demetrias: A Translation with an
Introduction and Commentary. 1951.
Pelagius. Pro Libero Arbitrio. 5th ed. Vol. IV. As Reported by Augustine. Tempsky: Vienna,
1902.
17