Augustine and Pelagius on Nature and Grace
In the 5th century, in the Church of Rome, the theological debate arises about the balance of forces of human nature and the grace of God in the salvation of man. Long before the separation of the Churches, the theological debate has significant influences on the development of Western Christianity both in the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. Particularly, the debate focused with the two important and outstanding names of the history, the Father of the Western Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo with his counterpart monk Pelagius, both are involved of this argument. Correspondingly, the Pelagian controversy has changed this situation and provided the matters related to human nature, and the prominent place in the theological issues of the Western Church. However, today, the Church relatively has little participation on the debate about human nature that has occurred before. Augustine declares that at every stage of the Christian life, God’s grace is with His children from the beginning until the end. In addition, Augustine affirms the possession of “free will,” wherein God has given the individuals their own will, but at some point, this free will is corrupted by the human transgressions. Consequently, it takes some individual away from God. Through God’s grace, the evil actions are being resisted and by Augustine’s persistent defending grace, he became known as the Doctor of Grace. On the contrary, Pelagius raises very important issues for the understanding of human moral choices. Pelagius sets some issues pertaining to the freedom of the human will in the Christian doctrine regarding the divine grace and original sin. Pelagius claims that a man is equally inclined to do good things and do evil actions. In addition, Pelagius presents that an individual is moral without Christ and the grace of God, and the crucial role of divine grace is the human moral choice. Historically and theologically, the comparison between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius is extremely complex as it takes into account the impact on the Western Christian theology that requires careful consideration regarding human nature, transgression, mercy and grace, and salvation.
Saint Augustine’s Teaching
Augustine opposed Pelagianism strongly and consistently and he insists that the primacy of God's grace started from the early and at every stage of the Christian life. Augustine sets the human merits; consequently, the salvation solely depends on God’s grace. Nobody knows the reasons of predestination of salvation and death because no one knows the will of God. According to Augustine that people do not have the necessary freedom to take the initial steps toward salvation. Being far from the possession of “free will,” the individuals have their own will, however, at some point, this free will is corrupt by transgression. The transgression takes individuals away from God and their entire being is induced by their sins. Only with God's grace these evil preferences can be resisted. Augustine as the Doctor of Grace persistently supports the belief that the grace of God can save humanity. About the early life of Augustine, most people make known of his book the “Confessions.” His book is originally thought and made about his younger years and had occurred since then the changes of his spirituality life. Augustine started to write his work in 397 and Augustine worked on it for three years. “Confession” is not just an autobiography, although it has information about the younger years of the bishop of Hippo. First, this is theological reflections of Augustine about himself and his relationship with the Creator. From his own experience of the ascetic, Augustine concluded that the original sin radically perverted spiritual powers of man, evil is invincible without the wonderful help of authoritative individuals; however, only the saving hand of God is with him. Building on these ideas, Augustine came to believe that for the salvation of man's freedom is not playing essential or even any role. Free will in man after the fall, in the strict sense does not exist. Salvation is accomplished entirely by the omnipotent influence of divine grace. He says, “What people have or not received of Thee? Out of the same lump vessels are made in honor, whereof others also are made into dishonor.”
The fact that transgression is linked to human nature is manifested even in the thought of corruption as something inherited. Transgression is the first erroneous step made by man against free will. However, the entire human race has already been involved in Adam's fall. Biblical Adam is “a man” and he unites everybody so that the whole race of his descendants is the unity in him. In the same way, all are also involved in the guilt of Adam, thus, the original sin of an individual is not dependent on the volitional decision. Instead, it exists prior to all voluntary actions. Evidently, the state of guilt is an inherited condition and removed from man through baptism. Nevertheless, corruption is also inherited, which is a consequence of Adam's disobedience, and it is transferred in a real way from generation to generation. Augustine believes that due to natural procreation, evil lust is also transmitted to the new generation. Thus, according to Augustine, inherited sinful state simultaneously entails guilt because of original sin. A man deserves to be rejected by God. From this, he concluded that without baptism, individuals are subject to condemnation. Augustine believes that the concept of “grace” could be defined as an undeserved gift of God by which God voluntarily breaks the bonds of sin, firmly entangled humanity. Redemption is possible only as a divine gift. Individuals cannot achieve redemption by their own will, but it can be done for them by God. Thus, Augustine emphasizes that all the possibilities of salvation are located outside of humanity, in God Himself. Namely, God, not people, lays down the beginning of the salvation process.
Based on the circumstances of personal religious experience and invocation, Augustine found a man’s nature completely as distorted by the legacy of original sin, which deprived it of any striving for God. The holy will of God is replaced in the human soul by his own sinful arbitrary and in its natural state of man as a slave of sin. Lust necessitates him to evil, an individual cannot set himself to the good, and to contribute to his salvation, which the grace of God can. Augustine speaks fluently about the death of Christ as a sacrifice. According to the ideas of Augustine, atoning sacrifice of Christ destroyed the absolute power of the devil over man, but justification by the grace is not spread to all people. God by omniscience knows that only a few will take advantage of gifts of grace, and ordained minority intended to bliss. The grace manifested in the sacrifice of Christ, creates a saving institution - the Catholic Church, which will bring the chosen to the desired goal.
The Pelagius debate has erupted in the early 5th century that caught the attention to a number of issues relating to human nature, transgression, and grace. Pelagius raised very important issues for the understanding of human moral choices. He sets the problems of freedom of the human will in the Christian doctrine of the divine grace and original transgression. He claims that the man is equally inclined both to do good things and to do evil. In the “Letter to Demetrias,” Pelagius argues that the free will is a natural human heritage, which has not been destroyed by the fall of Adam, and the role of grace is only in the divine help to operate in his good works. He says, “I contend that the dignity of our nature consists entirely in this: this is the source of honor, of reward, of the praise merited by the best people. If a person could not go over to evil, he would not practice virtue in holding to the good.” The essence of Pelagius’ claim is that people can earn their own salvation, which is given to those who are worthy; otherwise, a man does not play any role in his own salvation. Thus, Pelagius denies the crucial role of divine grace in human moral choice, considering that a person can be moral without Christ and of God's grace. Pelagius suggests that grace is only in a general sense of all that is good, that God gives humankind its nature and in history, beginning with the existence until the end with the fact of the revelation of the ultimate truth through Christ.
According to Pelagius, the death of any human being is completely a natural phenomenon, and man is a mortal being and not in frames of punishment for original sin, but by the law of nature. Prior to Adam fall, he is weakened by his illness, bodily infirmities, and death happened, just as individuals are subject to experience. Adam would have died regardless of whether he has sinned or not. Pelagius convinces that the doctrine of the deep damage of the human nature through the transgression is not only groundless but also harmful in the moral sense. Pelagius is being loved by some individuals as his relevant contemporaries; he indulged in vices and explained it as an excuse of the weakness of human nature. Continually, he complains of this weakness, he says, most people avoided the slightest effort required for the Christian good works. In 413, Pelagius wrote a long letter to Demeter, who had recently decided to give up wealth and become a nun. In this letter, Pelagius with ruthless logic set out his views on human free will. God created humankind, and He knows exactly what it is capable of doing. Consequently, all instructions given to the individuals may be implemented; moreover, designed to be performed. With his statements, that human weakness does not allow meeting these requirements and in no way are justifies the fact. God created human nature and it requires only what can be performed. Thus, Pelagius makes an uncompromising statement that humanity is capable of perfection, that perfection is obligatory.
A man has always been able to successfully deal with transgression and can achieve righteousness; it is possible, easy, and obligatory after Christ by His teachings and has clearly shown the way to the highest deeds. God does not demand the impossible; therefore, if a man should, then he can perform the commandments of God, forbidding evil, commanding the good and the advising perfection. Pelagius says, “We do not defend the goodness of nature by maintaining that it can do no wrong. Certainly, we acknowledge that it is capable of both good and evil. We do, however, refute the charge that nature’s inadequacy forces us to do evil.” Without denying the benefits of monastic asceticism as a spiritual exercise, Pelagius puts it in second place. A man is saved not by external deeds and not by means of special means of the church piety and faithful confession of Christ's teaching, but only by its actual fulfillment, through constant internal work on his moral perfection.
The man trespasses by himself and saves himself. Pelagius recognizes original sin only in the sense of the first bad example given by Adam, but denies the real power of sin, rolling on the descendants of Adam (tradux peccati). Separating the sin of nature, seeing in it only a single conscious act of will, Pelagius could not recognize it as a cause of death. On the other hand, the denial of the reality of sin leads to a denial of grace, as a special real force for good acting in man, but not from the person. An immediate consequence of “free will” principle for Pelagius is “human merits” or the responsibility for the sins. According to Pelagius, help in salvation is given to a person according to merit, and his salvation is a consequence of his actions. In the Pelagian system, in fact, there is no place for the ideas of redemption, it is simply a sacrifice, rebirth, and the new creation. It is replaced by the individuals’ own moral efforts to improve their natural forces; it implies that the grace of God only provides valuable assistance and support.
Dispute of Augustine and Pelagius
Mainly, the arguments of Augustine and Pelagius are concerned about the following concepts: free will, original sin, salvation assimilation, grace, and predestination. From the above description, it is evident that the two theological directions represent two entirely different understandings of the human nature. From the point of view of St. Augustine of Hippo, the human nature can be described as weak, fallen, and impotent while in the opinion of Pelagius, it is entirely autonomous and self-sufficient. According to Augustine, the human salvation must rely on God, however, from Pelagius’ point of view, God only indicates that a man needs to do to achieve salvation, and then leaves people without further help. According to Augustine, salvation is an unmerited gift but according to Pelagius, salvation is a well-earned reward from God. The paradigm of the life in Christ in the theology of Augustine received new interpretation. The life in Christ with the understanding of Augustine is an evidence of daily and hourly deeds, it introduces the eternity penetration of genuine freedom in a human being enslaved by death and disappearance. In addition, the life in Christ is not a constant exercise in keeping the commandments with an eye on the requirement, but the unfathomable occurrence of God in the history of every human being, called as grace, and giving a person the ability to love goodness. A gift of grace is a gift of freedom, the freedom from total subjection to sin and death.
Conclusion
Both Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius are famous for their individual contributions to the historical and theological accounts and arguments. Indeed, a thorough understanding of every argument regarding human nature, transgression, mercy and grace, and salvation is highly necessary. Clearly, Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius perspective towards life are radically different; however, they have sharper divergent understandings of how God and humanity relate to each other. Despite the transgression committed by the individuals, Augustine strongly emphasized that an individual does not need to have the freedom to take the initial steps in order to receive salvation. Through God’s grace, an individual can be saved and the only thing to do is to ask forgiveness. Evidently, only the grace of God can resist the evil actions and Augustine declared that God can save humankind. In his book Confessions, readers can easily understand the entire experiences of Augustine, and his life with God. His entire work and life are a true theological reflection about him and his close relationship with the Creator. Augustine affirmed that though the original sin misrepresented the individual’s spiritual life, God is always a divine helping hand to save those who believed in Him. In contrast, Pelagius claimed that an individual is capable of doing good things and to do the contrary. He argued that an individual’s free will is natural because from the beginning, man has fallen, especially the case of Adam. Pelagius explained that role of grace is only in a divine help in order to operate the good works. The dignity of man’s nature is the source of honor, of reward, and of the p merits. In addition, he claimed a man can achieve his own salvation, especially who is worthy. He affirmed that it is the human moral choice saves an individual even without Christ and God’s grace. At the same time, Pelagius suggested that grace is a general sense of doing what is good. Overall, Augustine has prevailed in the Western theology while Pelagianism continued to influence some Christian authors who believed that emphasis on the doctrine of grace can lead to the devaluation of human freedom and moral responsibility.
Bibliography
Augustine of Hippo. Confessions. Translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey. Stokes, 2008.
Pelagius. "Theological Anthropology." In Letter to Demetrias, translated by J. Patout Burns, 39-
55. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.
