What I Learned From the Early Christians about Spiritual Growth Part 5: We Don't Need as Much Stuff as We Think
What I Learned from the Early Christians about Spiritual Growth, Part 2: Everything is Gift
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The monastic tradition, which began already late in the third century and was shifting into high gear in the first half of the fourth century, stressed the importance of human initiative in the process of growth in holiness. This is understandable. Monks have deliberately taken on a difficult task; learning to live together in harmony even with a community of like minded men or women is hard work! However, toward the end of the fourth century a monk named Pelagius took the role of human effort in the process of sanctification too far.
Pelagius came to Rome from the Island of Britain around the year 380, and quickly became renowned for his holiness. He became the spiritual director of a large number of Roman Christians, but Pelagius was not happy with what he saw in Rome. What he saw was widespread immorality among the Christian community, and what he thought was an excessive reliance on the grace and mercy of God for forgiveness. Pelagius forged a new doctrine regarding the relationship of Grace and free will. He held that human beings could chose and do the good without any special divine grace at all. Here is a sample of what he taught, taken from a letter written in 413 to a man named Demetrias: “Whenever I give moral instruction, I first try to demonstrate the inherent power and quality of human nature. I try to show the wonderful virtues which all human beings can acquire.”[1]
Pelagius’s doctrine seemed reasonable and good to many people. After all, we do have free will. We should be able to choose the good using the gifts God gave every human being, shouldn’t we? But Saint Augustine was deeply troubled by Pelagius’s teachings. If, Augustine reasoned, we can perform good works without the aid of Grace, what need do we have of a Savior? Why did Christ die for us, if we can be freed from the power of sin by our own efforts?[2]
Pelagius was, by Augustine’s admission, a man of strong and active mind, and he did not give up easily. Augustine and Pelagius debated back and forth for several years, until, in 418, at the Council of Carthage, Pelagius’s views were definitively rejected. Even after this Council, Pelagius and his followers did not give up, and it became necessary for Augustine to write on the subject again and again, and it is from these later writings that Augustine expounded upon his rich and beautiful theology of Grace, which he derived from Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.”
Augustine reminds us of our total dependence upon God, not just for our lives, but for any good thing that we do. We were created good by a good and loving Father, but all of us have been wounded by Original Sin. Faith allows us the possibility of healing, but even faith is a gift from God. Grace gives us the strength do certain good works, but the power to do those works is not inherent in us, but always must be understood as a gift from God.
The net result of all these considerations is a deep and sincere humility before God. The good works that we were created to do are only possible through God’s Grace. Thus, from the moment we were born, through every waking moment of every day of our lives, to the moment we die and even beyond, we are totally and utterly dependent upon God, who gave us Jesus Christ to save us from the power of sin and death and make it possible for us to become a new creation. If that thought does not engender in us a sense of humility, nothing will!
One final thought seems worth mentioning here. Heresies have caused untold trouble in the history of the Church, and should be avoided at all cost. However, sometimes even heresies can further the will of God, by forcing the Church to clarify Her teachings and bring out the true depth and power of Orthodoxy. The power of God is revealed in the fact that He can bring great good even out of the evil of heresy.
[1] Pelagius, “Letter t oDemetrias 2,1. http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/1296.html.
[2] Augustine, “On Nature and Grace,” 2. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm.
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About the Author
Carl Sommer holds an M.A. in historical theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. He has one published book, "We Look for a Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians." He has fifteen years’ experience as a religious educator in St. Louis, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Church History at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in Saint Louis.
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