Pelagius was a British monk, possibly from Scotland or perhaps Ireland. He was highly educated, in Latin, Greek and theology and as a monk was devoted to practical asceticism. In the last years of the 4^th century Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman empire and many of dubious faith and questionable morals had entered the church. Pelagius was an ardent exhorter of men to live a holy life and was appalled at the excuses that he encountered: "It is hard!; it is difficult!; we are not able!; we are men!". To this Pelagius response was: "Oh, blind madness! We accuse God of a twofold ignorance — that He does not seem to know what He has made, nor what He has commanded — as if forgetting the human weakness of which He is Himself the Author, He has imposed laws on man which He cannot endure." It seems that Pelagius was first provoked into controversy by Augustine’s prayer: "Give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt". Augustine’s appeal to the grace of God merely gave greater justification for those who sought to excuse their sinful behaviour. At the heart of Pelagianism is the belief in unconditional free-will and moral responsibility; central to his theology is the denial of the doctrine of original sin.

Pelagius taught that Adam was created with a natural awareness of a law of nature written on his heart, virtually identical with conscience, which affirms man for good deeds but rebukes him for evil. Man is thereby imbued with a "capacity for either direction" i.e. good or evil. Pelagius believed that there is no "necessity for sinning" in man, nor for that matter is there a necessity for good. In this point he was seeking to avoid Manichaeism which denied the freedom of man and maintained the complete sovereignty of God. Adam was not created and man is not born with either positive holiness or tendency to evil: "As we are procreated without virtue, so also without vice." Man has the capacity (posse) for goodness but is not controlled by an inner virtue or evil that determines in any way actions apart from his free-will.

The first sin harmed only Adam and was not inherited by the human race. The doctrine of original sin is thereby denied. Pelagius agrees that sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, but this is only by example. Man is injured by Adam’s sin in that he has chosen to imitate Adam’s rebellion. Each human soul is created immediately by God and it must therefore come into the world unspoiled by Adam sin. Sin therefore results in children in an equivalent way as it did in Adam: through their free choice unrestrained by inward evil. They continue in sin through their own habit and by the example of those around them. Logically if God has given us his Law then it is only just that God gives to all men, Christians and pagans, the power to obey it. Man has been granted by God the posse, who henceforth leaves the velle and the esse to his creature. As people act therefore they deserve merit for the willing (velle) to use the inherent power (posse) of God to bring to realisation (esse) the righteousness of God. Sin for Pelagius is universal but only as a result of wrong education, bad example and habit.

Pelagius believed that the history of mankind is divided into three dispensations: Nature, law and grace. Under nature (Adam to Moses) there were those who lived sinless lives ("Gospel men before the Gospel") equipped only with their capacity for good and their free-choice. Over time men became ignorant of their capacity for sinlessness so the "grace" of the Mosaic law was given to illuminate and educate. Again with the passage of time this illuminating power of the Law was unable to deal with the accretion of sin; it could no longer penetrate layers of rust to reveal man’s capacity for goodness. The more powerful remedy of the Gospel was required to herald the age of grace. The Gospel, however, is primarily for instruction (doctrina) and the life of Christ is viewed as an example (exempla) to follow.

Pelagius believed that Christ is Very God and died an undeserved death on behalf of man because "we did not abide by all the things written in the Law"^. God’s love is manifested and Christians are saved from death through the cross. Christ delivers in a three-fold way by forgiving sins, by teaching and by example. The benefits of Christ’s death are received through believers baptism where grace justifies the ungodly and makes him "without sin". The assent and will of the candidate is essential as grace cannot be imposed by God. Baptism of infants is not for forgiveness, therefore, (they are innocent and non-consenting) but for spiritual illumination, adoption, and sanctification. Surprisingly, given Pelagius reputation as a moralist, he espouses the concept of sola fide. By faith he does not mean mere intellectual assent but "trust from the whole heart" and so even anticipates Luther’s fiducia. Through believers baptism a Christian is made "righteous without labour". Subsequent sins are remitted through penance. Grace in this context is the forgiving activity of God. Faith, however, is the start of justification which is fulfilled by righteous living.

To live the Christian life thenceforth Pelagius believed that grace consists of free choice teaching and example. Christ’s teaching illuminates and Christ’s example helps to break the habit of sinning. Grace is a "law and teaching" and the knowledge of the law is essential for sinlessness. Furthermore grace is offered equally to all; God gives no special favours to some. Man advances in holiness through the merit of correct free-choice alone. Predestination is only God’s foreknowledge of whether we will believe and the kind of life we will lead; God’s call and election in no way effects man’s free choice. Pelagius does not view grace as an inner-working divine energy, in other words the Holy Spirit. The role of Spirit is to reveal the will of God and the future glory so that we desire heavenly rather than earthly things.

Pelagius sought to answer the reference to sin entering through Adam as arriving through example and not inheritance ¾ is this a reasonable reading? After the fall not only Adam but the human race were expelled from the paradise: as we are all born outside paradise we are all inheritors in some way of the fruit of Adam’s rebellion. When Cain killed Abel there had been no previous example of murder (this might, however, be argued to be an extrapolation of Adams’s rebellion). Paul contrasts "in Adam" with "in Christ" (1 Cor 15:22). For Pelagius this meant that by Adam’s example we sin and by Christ’s example we are righteous. But Paul speaks of being a new creation "in Christ" (2 Cor 5:17) implying some internal regeneration of a sinful nature. Was this sinful nature attained by inheritance or by a free-will decision to sin prompted by the examples of sinners? Paul refers to our inheritance in Christ, which is not acquired by following an example but is the gift righteousnes and everlasting life (Rom 5:17; 6:23). Sinfulness is therefore Adam’s legacy to man by disobedience compared to Christ’s gift of righteousness by obedience (Rom 5:19).

Pelagius view that grace is given equally to all is refuted by Scripture: grace is given to some people and not to others (James 4:6); it is given in different measure to different people (Rom 5:17; 2 Pet 3:18); it is described as offering help in times of need received directly from God (2 Cor 12:9; Heb 13:9); our hearts are established by grace (Heb 13:9). Grace is clearly depicted as an addition to any natural facility and as changing the Christian internally.

There is clear Biblical evidence for the Pelagian emphasis on Christ as our teacher and example (John 13:13-15; Jas 5:10; 1 Cor 11:1). The idea that the way of salvation is by our adherence to New Testament Law, taught and lived by Christ is, however, repudiated (Gal 2:16; Eph 2:9). Paul’s contention with the Galatians was over circumcision which was not on the agenda of Pelagius. However circumcision represents a return to a form of religion where the law must be kept apart from the grace of Jesus Christ (Gal 5:2-3) and in this it represents a Pelagian tendency. Against this Paul sets a life sanctified in the Spirit received by grace (Gal 5:25; 3:2). Attempts apart from the grace of God to obey the law are self-defeating resulting in worse sin (Matt 23:15; Rom 7:7-11; 1 Cor 15:56). Therein lies additional evidence for the fallenness of human nature: when we are presented with the holy law of God, sin and death are the result. God’s solution is the grace of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection not only for justification but also sanctification (Ez 12:20; Heb 2:11).

Pelagius was a great exhorter to righteousness, and in this he is affirmed by the Apostles. (Rom 12:2; Col 3:12; 1 Pet 1:15-16; Jas 1:21; 1 John 2:15). However, the context of the apostolic exhortation is always the grace of God. The New Testament teaches that even if you amend your ways, you will be condemned if you do not believe in and receive the grace of the Lord Jesus (Matt 23:33; John 3:18). Attempts at self-betterment under the Law of God might result in external righteousness but inside sin remains (Matt 23:27). Outside of the grace of God the result of self-betterment is pride (Hab 2:4; Luke 18:10-14; Eph 2:9) which is itself a further obstacle to grace (1 Pet 5:5). God calls for inward purity before any outward observance (Ps 51:6a; Matt 23:26) and repentance is a gift by God, not achieved by our independently willing it (Ps 51:6b; 2 Tim 2:25; Heb 12:7). God’s rest achieved by faith (Heb 4:11) is the goal, where the heart is established by God’s grace and not by legal observance (Heb 4:16; 13:9). It is in this context of grace that our hearts are comforted by God’s love leading to the works of God (2 Thes 2:16-17; Jas 2:18). Pelagius’ concern that emphasis on grace will be at the expense of righteousness is not founded in Scripture. It fails to appreciate that those who are truly God’s sons will receive the grace of God’s discipline (Deut 8:5; Prov 3:11-12; Matt 18:34; Heb 2:3; Jas 1:2-4). We change to be like God because we are adopted by God by his grace.

It is not surprising, given the weight of biblical evidence against Pelagianism, that the contemporary church judged it to be an anti-Christian doctrine. Jerome described it as the "heresy of Pythagoras and Zeno". Pelagianism was denounced as a heresy in 416 before the Synods of Mileve and Carthage.

Pelagianism has often been the accusation made between theological opponents. For example Luther accused Erasmus of such because of the latter’s adherence to the concept of imitatio Chrsti. It is ironic, therefore, that Pelagius should hold to the Lutheran concept of sola fide. Pelagius believed in the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, therefore in terms of initial justification he might be thought of as Protestant. Concerning sanctification (or fulfillment of justification in Catholic terms), however, all Pelagius offered was the free-will of man together with the Law of God and example of Christ. This is the poison chalice of Pelagianism: after forgiveness God has left man to his own devices to work out his own salvation with only the Law of God as comfort; the Holy Spirit does not work to transform (Rom 5:5) but merely inspires by revelation; the grace of God is not received sacramentally to change us internally (John 6:51-56); we are not allowed to be weak and seek God’s grace (2 Cor 12:19; Heb 4:16), we must be strong and obey.

The essence of Pelagianism seems to be a belief that what God has already provided, either in human resources or Christ’s revelation and example will be sufficient to live the Christian life. Faith (Jas 1:5-8) and a day to day reliance on God’s grace and mercy are not required. This allows a man to be essentially independent from God; a Christian may have entered the promised land but has forgotten his Redeemer (Deut 8:18-19). It was Adam’s sin to rely on the provision of God’s revelation at the cost of a trusting relationship with his Creator (Gen 3:5). Word Count 1990.

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