Pelagianism

Overview

Pelagianism is the collective name for the teachings of Pelagius, a monk said to have come from Britannia (present-day Britain), and of his disciple Caelestius (Celestius) and others. The name was not adopted by Pelagius's party but was given to it by its opponents. Pelagius is believed to have been born in the mid-fourth century and to have been active from about 390 to about 418, though the exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain. He is best known for his controversy with Augustine, which profoundly shaped how the Western church came to understand sin, grace, and salvation.

Principal Teachings

The teachings attributed to Pelagius and his followers include the following:

• Denial of original sin: Adam's sin affected Adam alone; neither its guilt nor a corruption of nature is passed on to his descendants.
• Emphasis on free will: Because God has given human beings the ability to choose the good, each person bears responsibility for his or her own actions.
• Understanding of infant baptism: Caelestius is reported to have taught that the baptism of infants is administered not for the remission of sins but for sanctification.
• Understanding of Christ: Opponents criticized this teaching for regarding Christ merely as a moral example rather than as Savior.

Course of the Controversy and Condemnation

• Around 410, as the Goths threatened Rome, Pelagius and Caelestius traveled by way of Sicily to North Africa. Pelagius later moved on to Palestine.
• Caelestius was accused of denying original sin and the remission of sins through baptism. He was condemned at a council in Carthage around 411–412.
• Augustine wrote works such as On the Merits and Remission of Sins and On Nature and Grace in defense of original sin and the necessity of grace. Jerome also wrote against Pelagius.
• In 415 a synod at Jerusalem and the Synod of Diospolis (Lydda) were held in Palestine. There Pelagius affirmed the necessity of God's help and distanced himself from some of Caelestius's assertions. As a result, he was acquitted at both gatherings. Augustine regarded these verdicts as the product of an evasive blurring of the meaning of grace.
• In 416 African church councils at Carthage and Milevis condemned Pelagius's teachings. In 417 Innocent I, bishop of Rome, excommunicated both men.
• Innocent's successor, Zosimus, was at first inclined to accept the two men's confessions of faith. However, on May 1, 418, a council at Carthage issued decrees refuting the Pelagian teachings, and Emperor Honorius also imposed sanctions. Zosimus then issued a circular letter condemning Pelagianism.
• After the Synod of Antioch in 424, Pelagius disappears from the historical record. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, Caelestius was condemned again.

The Pelagian Position and Defense

Pelagius maintained that he did not deny the grace of God, explaining that the very fact that human beings were created by God is itself grace. He stated that much of what Caelestius wrote did not represent his own views. His supporters understood his teaching as a call to Christian moral responsibility and a godly life. Some scholars point out that the image of a "Pelagian heresy" took shape in part as opponents, in the course of their polemics, grouped a variety of assertions together.

Usage in the Korean Church

Pelagianism was already condemned by the ancient church, and no separate resolution on it by a Korean denominational general assembly or ecumenical body has been documented. In the Korean church, the term is used chiefly in church history and systematic theology to explain the relationship between grace and free will. The Calvinist tradition emphasizes humanity's total inability and predestination. The Arminian and Wesleyan traditions emphasize prevenient grace (grace given before a person responds in faith). Both traditions reject Pelagianism, but they explain the relationship between grace and the human will differently. These differences are discussed in the article Predestination and Free Will.