The most significant controversy in the early church relating to the doctrine of salvation was the Pelagian controversy. The outcome of this fifth-century dispute shaped every subsequent debate on the subject up to and including the soteriological debates of the sixteenth-century Reformation. On one side of the Pelagian controversy, we find figures such as Pelagius, Caelestius, and Julian of Eclanum. On the opposing side, we find figures such as Augustine and Jerome. In a later stage of the dispute, John Cassian took a position that has since come to be known as semi-Pelagianism, but for our purposes, we will focus on the most important teaching of the main original figures.
Who Was Pelagius?
Pelagius was a British monk, and understanding something about monasticism is necessary for understanding the context of the Pelagian controversy. In the third century, a Christian ascetic movement began that manifested itself in the development of monasticism. Monks, whether individually or in communities, adopted rigorous ascetic lifestyles that were intended to help them achieve salvation. Asceticism involved all manner of practices intended to help the monk achieve self-discipline over bodily appetites in order that he might achieve union with God.
Augustine did not entirely reject monastic practices, but in Book 10 of his famous Confessions, he wrote the now-famous prayer: “Give what You command, and command what You will.” It was a request for God to give Augustine the ability to fulfill His commands. Pelagius believed that such a prayer undermined the entire monastic lifestyle of rigorous self-discipline by giving lazy monks an excuse for not obeying God’s commands: “It’s God’s fault. He didn’t give me the grace to enable me to obey.” Pelagius, therefore, rejected Augustine’s view.
Pelagius’ Rejection of Original Sin
In order to understand the root of the controversy, it is also necessary to understand a few basic teachings of Pelagius (and Caelestius). First, and most importantly, Pelagius rejected any concept of original sin. He had long debated the Manichaeans, who argued that human beings were evil by nature because they have material bodies. In response, Pelagius argued that human beings are good by nature because they are created by God.
When Pelagius heard teachers like Augustine say that humans were created good, but they were also corrupted as a result of Adam’s fall, he thought that sounded too much like Manichaeanism. In response, Pelagius said that Adam’s sin affected Adam only. He argued that we sin by imitating Adam, but we do so not because our nature has been corrupted. Instead, as children of Adam, we pick up the habit of sinning by imitation, just as children naturally pick up the habits and speech patterns of their parents. Over time, the sin habit, like an accent, becomes ingrained.
Pelagius’ Unique View of Grace
Pelagius would deny that his view has no place for God’s grace in salvation, but his view of grace can be difficult to understand because it is so different from any other doctrine of grace, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant.
In the first place, according to Pelagius, God’s gift of revelation in Scripture is a gracious gift. He didn’t have to give us His law. Second, the gift of Jesus is gracious. We now have a new Adam to imitate. If we imitate Jesus, we gradually develop the new habit of obedience, and since Christ was sinless, we too, if we choose rightly, can achieve sinlessness. Third, and most importantly, our very human nature is a gracious gift. We did not ask to be created. Part of our nature is the ability to choose either good or evil. That ability is a gift from God that we did not earn or merit. In other words, God graciously gave us the free will by which we can choose to imitate Jesus rather than Adam. So, even Pelagius would claim to believe that salvation is by grace.
Augustine’s Response
Augustine responded by noting that Pelagius completely failed to understand the nature of humanity’s problem, and as a result, he completely failed to understand the solution. By rejecting original sin and the corruption of human nature that resulted from Adam’s fall, Pelagius created a doctrine of grace that is not grace at all. Augustine insisted that there is an enormous difference between humanity before and after the fall of Adam. He also insisted that Adam’s corrupted nature is passed on to all his posterity. For Augustine, grace is a gift given to sinners who do not deserve it.
It’s important to understand that Augustine also began to develop the doctrine of grace in ways that would contribute to the development of the medieval system of soteriology that today defines Roman Catholicism. But for our purposes here, the key point in the Pelagian controversy was the insistence on the biblical truth of the doctrine of original sin. This was spelled out in detail in the canons of the Council of Orange (529). Unless the problem is accurately diagnosed, there is no possibility of correctly understanding the solution (the doctrine of salvation).
In our next article, we will look at the way that Rome, even with the doctrine of original sin, developed a distorted soteriology as a result of misunderstanding another aspect of man’s problem.
Ligonier Ministries