stormtrooper #274.52 objects to Brian’s apologia for Pelagius:

wow. I can’t express how strongly I disagree with Brian’s support
for Pelagius’ teachings. I find such theology to be soul-crushing,
gospel-destroying, and faith-squelching. In my eyes, it truly amount to
no less than a “different Gospel” – just as Paul calls the legalistic
tendencies of the Galatians.

Here’s a punch list of disagreements:

1. I find no biblical support for “prevenient grace” – does Pelagius make this point from the Bible or simply experience?
2. The Bible presents our sin-problem as a nature problem, not just a habit problem. (Eph 2:3)
3. It seems to create a doctrine of works – like American
   individual-self-improvement of the worst ilk. For those who do well at
   this project, it would seem to necessarily lead to pride; and for those
   who feel they continually fail, it would seem to lead to great despair.
4. It diminishes the work and power of God, and particularly the efficacy of Christ’s work on the cross.
5. Augustine never claimed to “relinquish human responsibility.” He saw
   his theology clearly as affirming the completeness of God’s grace for
   sinners while also affirming man’s responsibility. One famous phrase
   was “Give me what you command, and command what you will” indicating
   his perceived compatibility between these two ideas of God’s
   sovereignty and human responsibility.
6. Augustine clearly confronted the institutionalization of the Church as well – he wrote the classic work, “The City of God.”
7. Pelagius was denounced as a heretic by his contemporaries and every
   orthodox theologian since. Sure, some folks in history were rail-roaded
   unjustly by those in power, but others are dismissed for good reason.
8. Augustine’s theology clearly “demanded change” in the believer – and
   his life surely showed this. Do any of the Reformation folks NOT speak
   about the necessity of obedience in a believer’s life???
9. One may think that the freeness of God’s grace would produce
   licentiousness (which Paul clearly confronts as a possible objection in
   both Romans and Galatians) but this potential misapplication doesn’t
   invalidate the message. In fact, in my experience, being daily amazed
   by God’s free grace to such a sinner as I provides the strongest,
   purest love for God and love for others that I have ever experienced
   and ever seen displayed by others.

It’s for good reason that defending Pelagius would be “unthinkable”
to Tony. Humbly but truthfully I confess that Pelagius’ teaching makes
me sick. It seems to utterly erode the beauty, freedom and abounding
grace of the Gospel that excites my heart, builds up our church, and
gives me a great hope in God. It was this same understanding of the
Gospel that led Charles Wesley (an Arminian, but certainly no Pelagian)
to compose these beautiful lines from “And Can It Be”:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray–
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

This clearly affirms man’s bondage to original sin, the necessary
primacy of God’s grace, the resulting life-change and obedience of a
redeemed person, a righteousness found in Christ’s atonement and the
confidence secured in Christ’s sufficient work. One does NOT need to
resort to Pelagianism to affirm man’s responsibility, the necessity for
holiness, and the great value of human beings before God. All these
have been affirmed by Augustine and other orthodox theologians
throughout church history.