the supernatural elevation of humanity by asserting that Adam and Eve
were created only in a natural state without sanctifying grace.
Consequently, the Fall had no effect on them and their children by way of
loss of grace, the only effect of original sin on others was by way of setting
bad example. Hence, sin is not contracted through natural generation but is
learnt from the scandal of others. It follows, further, that the children of
Adam are born naturally good and are in no need of a Redeemer. Christ’s
act of redemption is thus reduced to providing lofty teaching and virtuous
example, while forgiveness of sin through faith means forgiveness from
punishment, not renewal in grace. If the children of Adam keep good
company and direct their wills and ordinary powers to live a sinless and
holy life, they can achieve eternal beatitude through their own natural
efforts.
Though meeting sporadic opposition in Rome, Carthage and in the East, it
was St. Augustine who rose to combat Pelagianism with his powerful pen:
“They (the Pelagians) contend that in this life there are or have been
righteous men having no sin at all. By this presumption they most clearly
contradict the Lord’s Prayer, in which all the members of Christ cry aloud
with true heart these words to be said each day: ‘Forgive us our debts.’”²
For the self-confident Pelagian, the Lord’s Prayer served only as a
profession of humility, not a statement of fact.
St. Augustine drew on the parable of the vine and the branches (St. John
15, 1) to strike at Pelagianism and expose it as a novelty contrary to the
teachings of Christ. Only when the vital union between Christ (the vine)
and His members (the branches) is established is it possible to bring forth
supernatural fruit: for “without me you can do nothing” (St. John 15, 5). St.
Augustine also presented this particular thought: “Could we bring together
here in living form all the saints of both sexes and question them whether
they were without sin, would they not exclaim unanimously: ‘If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’?”³ Before
all the world St. Augustine attested that, “Such is the Pelagian heresy, not
ancient, but having sprung up a short time ago.”
4
2
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4, 10, 27 (420 AD).
3
On Nature and Grace 36 (415 AD).
4
Grace and Free Choice 6 (426 AD).
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