Program / Course 12: Patristics and Historical Theology / Lesson 4.2
What you will learn
- Explain what Pelagius taught and what Augustine answered about sin and grace.
- Describe how the churches responded to the controversy, including the Council of Orange.
- State how the Western and Eastern traditions differ on original sin.
- Summarize the argument of the City of God and the idea of two cities defined by two loves.
The big idea
Augustine’s later career was shaped by two great writing projects. In the Pelagian controversy, he argued that since Adam’s fall, human beings cannot turn to God or please him without God’s grace, and that grace is a free gift. In the City of God, written after the sack of Rome in 410, he argued that history is the story of two communities, one formed by love of God and one by love of self, which are mixed together until the end. Both works shaped Western Christianity, and both are still debated.
Key terms
- Grace
- God’s free and undeserved favor and help toward human beings. The debates concern how much human beings need it and how it works.
- Original sin
- In Augustine’s teaching, the condition of human beings after Adam’s fall, in which they are born with a damaged will and a share in Adam’s guilt. Traditions differ on how to understand this.
- Pelagianism
- The teaching, associated with Pelagius and his followers, that human beings can by their own free will keep God’s commands, and that Adam’s sin harmed others by example and not by inheritance.
- Predestination
- The teaching that God, before time, chooses some to receive salvation. Augustine taught it in his later works. Traditions disagree on its meaning.
- Semi-Pelagianism
- A later label for views that grant that grace is needed but say that the first step toward God comes from the human will. The term is disputed by modern historians.
- Free will
- The ability to choose. Augustine held that the will is free but, after the fall, is bound to sin unless healed by grace.
- Earthly and heavenly city
- Augustine’s terms for two communities of people, defined by what they love most, not by a visible border.
Background
Around the year 400, a British monk named Pelagius was teaching in Rome. He was alarmed at moral laxity among Christians, and he insisted that God would not command what could not be done, so human beings must be able to obey. Augustine had written in the Confessions a prayer: give what you command and command what you will. Pelagius found the prayer troubling, since it seemed to place the whole matter in God’s hands. The collision was almost inevitable.
The dispute broadened, with a follower, Caelestius, teaching that Adam would have died anyway and that infants are born without sin. Augustine replied in several works from 411 onward. Later, Julian of Eclanum, a skilled bishop, became his sharpest opponent. The controversy lasted until Augustine’s death.
A separate event shaped the City of God. In 410 the Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome. Pagans blamed the Christian abandonment of the old gods, and Christians were shaken. Augustine answered over about thirteen years, completing the work around 426.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: What the two sides taught
Pelagius and his followers held that human nature, as God made it, is good and capable of choosing the good. Adam set a bad example, and sin spread by imitation and habit. Grace, on this view, is God’s gift of the law, the teaching of Christ, the forgiveness of sins and the natural power of free will. Pelagius did not deny that grace exists. He denied that it is needed at every step.
Augustine held that Adam’s sin harmed all his descendants. Human beings are born into a condition of weakness and misdirected desire and share in Adam’s guilt. The will remains free in the sense that people choose what they want, but they want the wrong things. Grace therefore is not only teaching and forgiveness. It is God’s work in the heart that heals the will and enables it to love God. Even faith is a gift.
Step 2: The scripture behind the argument
Augustine relied on Romans 5:12, which he read in a Latin text as saying that in Adam all sinned. Many modern scholars point out that the Greek can mean because all sinned, and that Augustine’s Latin translation influenced his reading. This is an example where textual and translation questions matter to doctrine. Augustine also relied on Ephesians 2:8-9, John 15:5 and 1 Corinthians 4:7, among others. Pelagius appealed to passages that command obedience, such as the Sermon on the Mount.
Step 3: The church responds
Regional councils at Carthage in 418 condemned Pelagian teaching, and Pope Zosimus and later popes agreed. The Council of Ephesus in 431 also condemned the teaching of Caelestius. In his last years, Augustine wrote on predestination, arguing that God chooses some by his grace, and this was challenged by monks in Gaul, including John Cassian, who worried that it undermined moral effort. Later writers called such views semi-Pelagian.
A local council at Orange in 529 settled the matter for the West. It affirmed that even the beginning of faith is a gift of grace, and it rejected the idea that anyone is predestined to evil. It did not adopt all of Augustine’s late teaching on predestination. Historians note that the result was a moderate Augustinianism.
Step 4: The East and original sin
The Eastern church has generally spoken of the fall as bringing death and corruption into human nature, but not as passing on personal guilt. It speaks of ancestral sin. Orthodox theologians usually hold that Augustine overstated the inheritance of guilt and was too confident about the fate of unbaptized infants, though they also honor him. Catholics and many Protestants hold versions of original sin close to his, with differences. Catholics teach that baptism removes original sin, and Reformed Protestants stress total inability and unconditional election, while Arminians and Wesleyans stress prevenient grace that allows a free response.
Step 5: The City of God
In the first books, Augustine answers the charge that Christianity brought disaster on Rome, noting that Rome had suffered calamities before and that the Goths spared churches. In the larger part, he traces two cities through history. The earthly city is formed by love of self, even to the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by love of God, even to the contempt of self. Members of the two cities live together in time and share many goods, including peace and order, but their ends differ.
He does not simply equate the heavenly city with the visible church or the earthly city with the empire. Both are mixed in this age and will be separated only at the last judgment. This moderate view meant that Christians could value earthly peace and justice without placing ultimate hope in any state. Later writers used the work in different ways, and its influence on political thought is large and disputed.
- Why does Pelagius think that a command implies an ability?
- What is the strongest point in Augustine’s reply?
- Does the translation question about Romans 5:12 weaken or strengthen his argument?
- Why would a monk worry that predestination discourages effort?
- What does it mean to define a community by what it loves?
- How might the idea of two mixed cities affect how Christians vote, work or serve?
Examples
A prayer that provoked a debate
A bishop in Rome heard a reading of Augustine’s prayer, give what you command. A monk next to him was troubled. To him, the prayer sounded as if the person praying had no responsibility. For Augustine, the prayer was just the opposite: it was the honest admission that without God’s help he could not do what God asked.
Two readings of a drowning person
A swimmer cannot swim to shore with a broken arm. A Pelagian might say the swimmer needs coaching and encouragement. An Augustinian might say the swimmer needs a rescuer. A moderate view says the swimmer needs help, and asks whether the swimmer must reach out a hand. The images are limited but show the shape of the debate.
A city defined by love
Two people may work in the same office, pay the same taxes and live on the same street, yet one lives for personal advantage and the other for love of God and neighbor. Augustine’s two cities are the communities formed by such loves, not two countries.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The Catholic Church teaches original sin and the necessity of grace, and it follows Augustine in rejecting Pelagianism while keeping a place for human cooperation with grace. The Council of Trent and the Catechism speak of original sin as a state, not a personal fault, passed on by propagation.
Orthodox
Orthodox teaching affirms that human nature is wounded and that grace is necessary, but it speaks of ancestral sin and inherited mortality more than inherited guilt. Many Orthodox writers regard Augustine as a saint but not as a final authority on this question.
Protestant
Lutheran and Reformed churches hold that human beings are unable to turn to God without grace. Reformed churches stress unconditional election. Arminian and Wesleyan traditions hold that grace goes before and enables human response, rejecting irresistible grace. All appeal to Augustine in some form.
Scholarly views
Historians discuss how much Pelagius actually taught, as many of his writings are lost or known only through critics. Some argue he was more orthodox than portrayed. They also discuss whether Augustine’s reading of Romans 5:12 depends on translation, and how much his thought developed over time.
Why it matters
Almost every later argument about salvation in the West goes back to Augustine. Reformation debates, the work of Jansenists, the dispute between Calvinists and Arminians, and many modern sermons repeat parts of the Pelagian controversy. His City of God also shapes how Christians have thought about church and state, history and hope.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Pelagius denied that grace exists.
Correction: He affirmed grace, but understood it as God’s gifts of nature, law and teaching and forgiveness. The quarrel was over whether grace is needed at every step.
Misunderstanding: The Council of Orange adopted all of Augustine’s views.
Correction: It adopted his teaching on the necessity of grace but did not teach double predestination and left aside much of his late teaching on election.
Misunderstanding: The two cities are the church and the state.
Correction: Augustine defines them by love, and both are mixed in this age. The visible church includes people who do not belong to the heavenly city in the final sense.
Misunderstanding: All Christians accept Augustine’s doctrine of original sin.
Correction: Western churches accept versions of it. The Orthodox generally accept the reality of the fall but not the inherited guilt as Augustine described it.
Knowledge check
What was the main disagreement between Augustine and Pelagius?
Pelagius held that human nature can, by free will, keep God’s commands, and that Adam harmed others by example. Augustine held that Adam’s sin damaged human nature, that people cannot turn to God without grace, and that even faith is God’s gift. Both affirmed free will, but they differed on its condition.
What did the Council of Orange (529) decide?
It taught that even the beginning of faith is a gift of grace and rejected semi-Pelagian views, while also rejecting the idea that anyone is predestined to evil. It did not adopt all of Augustine’s late teaching on predestination, so it is often called moderate Augustinianism.
How does the Eastern view of original sin differ from the Western?
The East generally speaks of ancestral sin: the fall brought death and corruption into human nature, but personal guilt is not inherited. The West, following Augustine, speaks of original sin as including inherited guilt and a damaged will. Differences among Western churches also exist.
What are the two cities in the City of God?
They are communities defined by what they love most: the earthly city by love of self even to contempt of God, and the heavenly city by love of God even to contempt of self. They are mixed in this life and will be separated at the last judgment. They are not simply church and state.
Think it through
- When you try to do something good, how much of the success seems to be your own?
- Why might it be important for churches to describe grace carefully?
- How should a Christian live in a society where the two cities are mixed?
- Which of the traditions described here comes closest to your own, and what would the strongest objection to it be?
Independent assignment
Two cities in your own life
Read part of City of God, Book 14, chapter 28 and Book 19, chapters 5 to 17. In your notebook, summarize Augustine’s idea of the two loves in about 200 words. Then describe, without naming anyone, one situation in your own community in which both loves seem to be present. Write a final paragraph on how Augustine would counsel living in that situation. Aim for 450 to 600 words.
Further study
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God Read Book 1 preface, Book 14 chapter 28 and Book 19.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Augustine of Hippo See the sections on grace, free will and political thought.
- John Cassian, The Conferences Read Conference 13 for a monastic response to Augustine.
- Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes) Read selectively on Augustine and the controversy over grace.
- Romans 5:12 The verse at the center of the argument about original sin.
- Ephesians 2:8 By grace are ye saved through faith.
- John 15:5 Without me ye can do nothing.
- Hebrews 11:10 A city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.