Part 3: The Moralist’s Gospel – Pelagius, Freedom, and the Denial of Grace
I. Introduction: When Morality Replaces Mercy
In the late fourth century, as the Roman Empire teetered on political instability and moral decay, a British monk named Pelagius arrived in Rome with a message tailor-made for religious reform. He was appalled by the complacency of nominal Christians and grieved that so many excused their sin as inevitable. And so he began to teach a doctrine that would reshape the trajectory of Christian anthropology for centuries to come.
Pelagius rejected the notion that man was helpless. He insisted that we are born morally neutral, with the full power to choose good or evil. In this system, grace is useful, but not essential. Christ shows the way, but it is man who must walk it. Pelagius did not begin with the sovereignty of God or the glory of grace. He began with man’s ability.
The result was a gospel of moralism, not mercy—a system of theology that centered on libertarian free will and ultimately denied the very thing that makes the gospel good news: that God saves sinners who cannot save themselves.
In this part, we will:
• Examine the historical context and motivations of Pelagius
• Outline his theology and his doctrine of the will
• Contrast him with Augustine, who defended biblical grace
• Trace how his ideas continue to influence the modern Church
• Show why Pelagius’s gospel was not just wrong—it was a different gospel
II. Who Was Pelagius?
1. Background and Influence
Pelagius was born in the British Isles around 360 AD. A monk of significant learning and moral discipline, he came to Rome around 380 AD. There he gained a reputation as a teacher of virtue and personal responsibility. His writings were admired for their clarity and ethical force.
But what sparked controversy was his reaction to the theology of Augustine, particularly the statement in Augustine’s Confessions, “Give what you command, and command what you will.” Pelagius was horrified by this. He saw it as a denial of man’s power to obey God’s commands—and thus, a threat to human responsibility.
Pelagius’s goal was noble: to call Christians to holiness. But in pursuit of that goal, he constructed a theology that exalted the will and reduced grace to an accessory.
2. Rome in Crisis
To understand Pelagius, we must consider the world he addressed. Rome was in decline—morally, politically, and spiritually. The sack of Rome in 410 AD by the Visigoths had shaken the empire’s foundations. Christians were divided over how to interpret this crisis. Was it God’s judgment? The failure of Christianity? A spiritual awakening?
Pelagius saw an opportunity. He called for personal reform—a return to Christian virtue through effort and willpower. His message was that each person, by freely choosing the good, could contribute to the moral renewal of the world.
But beneath the surface, this was not Christianity reforming paganism. It was Stoicism dressed in Christian robes.
III. Pelagius’s Theology of the Will
1. The Core Claim: Freedom Is the Foundation of Responsibility
Pelagius taught that responsibility presupposes ability. If God commands something, then man must have the power to do it.
This meant:
• No inherited sin nature from Adam
• No bondage of the will
• No need for internal regeneration
• No sovereign, effectual grace
In his own words:
“God has made nothing impossible for man. Therefore, man is able to do what is right, if he chooses.”
— Letter to Demetrias
This is libertarian freedom, not merely in the philosophical sense, but in the core of Christian salvation. According to Pelagius, the human will is not just free to choose—it is self-sufficient.
2. Sin Is a Matter of Imitation, Not Inheritance
Pelagius explicitly denied that Adam’s sin corrupted human nature. According to him:
• Adam’s sin harmed only Adam.
• Each person is born morally clean.
• Sin is learned by bad example, not transmitted by nature.
This contradicts not only Paul’s teaching in Romans 5:12–21, but the entire biblical portrayal of the human condition. Scripture describes humanity as:
• Dead in sin (Eph 2:1)
• Enslaved to the flesh (Rom 6:6, 8:7)
• Unwilling and unable to submit to God (John 6:44, Rom 8:8)
Pelagius’s anthropology is not simply optimistic—it is anti-biblical.
3. Grace as External Help, Not Internal Power
Pelagius did not deny grace altogether. But for him, grace was:
• The Law and the teaching of Christ
• The forgiveness of past sins
• An external aid, not an internal transformation
He rejected the idea that the Holy Spirit regenerates the heart or that divine grace changes the will. According to Pelagius, the will does not need to be changed—it only needs to be exercised rightly.
This reduces grace to education—God’s help consists in telling us what to do and offering forgiveness if we fail. But the doing is entirely up to us.
IV. Augustine’s Response: Grace Alone
1. The Bondage of the Will
Augustine countered Pelagius with the clear teaching of Scripture: man is not free in the libertarian sense. He is free only in the sense that he acts voluntarily, but he is not morally neutral. He is enslaved to sin.
In On the Spirit and the Letter, Augustine wrote:
“The will is indeed free, but it is enslaved to sin until it is set free by grace.”
Augustine’s anthropology, unlike Pelagius’s, was grounded in:
• Original sin (Psalm 51:5)
• Human depravity (Genesis 6:5)
• The necessity of sovereign grace (John 6:65)
2. Grace as Sovereign and Effective
For Augustine, grace is not merely a helpful offer—it is the decisive cause of salvation. Grace awakens the dead, turns the heart of stone into flesh, and gives the gift of faith. It is not an encouragement to try harder, but a resurrection from the grave.
In Romans 9:16, Paul declares, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
This is the heart of the gospel. Pelagius had replaced mercy with merit, grace with grit. Augustine reclaimed the truth: salvation is of the Lord.
3. The Church’s Condemnation of Pelagianism
Pelagius’s teachings were condemned as heresy at:
• The Council of Carthage (418)
• The Council of Ephesus (431)
The councils affirmed:
• The universality of original sin
• The necessity of divine grace for every good action
• The impossibility of salvation apart from God’s regenerating work
The Church understood what was at stake: Pelagius’s gospel was not a modified Christianity. It was a different gospel.
V. Why This Still Matters
Pelagius is long dead, but his ideas are everywhere. Modern evangelicalism is full of:
• Appeals to “choose Christ” without preaching regeneration
• Evangelism that asks for decisions rather than declaring deliverance
• Discipleship models that assume moral neutrality
• A gospel that tells people they are sick, not dead
This is not just poor theology—it is Pelagian anthropology. It assumes that man is basically capable and God is merely a helper. But the biblical gospel says the opposite: man is dead, and God is the only Rescuer.
VI. Scripture: The Death of Autonomy
Romans 3:10–12 – “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”
Ephesians 2:1 – “You were dead in the trespasses and sins.”
John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
Romans 8:7–8 – “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God… it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”
Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity…”
Titus 3:5 – “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness…”
VII. Conclusion: The Gospel of the Helpless
Pelagius told sinners to try harder. The gospel tells sinners to die to self and trust Christ. The former may sound empowering, but it is only the latter that saves.
True freedom is not the power of contrary choice. It is the freedom to love what is good—a freedom that only grace can give. The Christian life does not begin with man’s moral resolve. It begins with God’s merciful intervention.
“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.” — 2 Corinthians 3:5
In Part 4, we will apply this truth:
• What kind of posture should the Christian have?
• How do we speak, pray, evangelize, and lead in light of the death of autonomy?
• And how does Christ’s submission—not our self-determination—define what it means to be truly human?
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