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

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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.

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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

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“ 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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