Pelagius was right. First, though; who was he? He was a theologian and contemporary of St. Augustine in the 4th and 5th centuries. He argued against what he believed was a lazy doctrine of grace that Augustine preached, and he promoted free will and refuted original sin, which, if you read my thoughts regularly, are two concepts I agree with. He was tried as a heretic but was able to clear himself, at least officially. Whether he was excommunicated is not certain, but he will forever be remembered as the guy who lost to the great Augustine. And while Pelagius was too committed to being saved by works (as opposed to grace), he was right about a lot of things. In the church, then and now, there is little room for understanding or questioning.
Pelagius believed that Roman society had become immoral, and he blamed their reliance on grace, rather than personal responsibility, for their fall. He led an almost ascetic life himself and believed that salvation came, in part, through self-control and denial (human works). And while we cannot “get saved” on our own attempts to be good, we do have free will; we have the ability – and the right – to reject salvation, if we choose. My problem with not having this kind of choice is that it puts God in control of everything, which many Christians believe in. I do not. As I have written and preached before, without the freedom to choose, we are nothing more than robots in the hands of a capricious deity. God invites us into relationships and community, but we have to say yes. In the same way that God does not bring loss or gain into our lives, God also does not force us to believe. If we really believe that we are in covenant with God, we have to accept that it has to be a two-way relationship.
As far as original sin, Pelagius was correct about this too; which, honestly, is problematic, since Christian theology has, historically, based the coming of Jesus on the need to eradicate original sin. Again, I find the idea that God would send billions of people to hell because Adam and Eve (not even real people, in the sense that the Bible portrays them) disobeyed God and listened to the Serpent and ate the fruit that gave them the knowledge of good and evil to be a mean and nonsensical act. If God condemns us for our warring madness or our abuse of the poor or our greed and selfishness; okay, I’m on board with that. But wanting knowledge? Being misled? I’m not buying it.
God offers grace and love and relationship; these are all important aspects of being a person of faith. God also empowers us with the freedom to choose whether or not to believe and be part of a community of faith. We can’t have it both ways; either we are free, or we are not. Pelagius thought so, and he was right.
Prayer – Thank You, God, of choice, for creating us with the ability to choose right from wrong. And thank You for the grace You give when we do not choose wisely, for Your second chances are our lifelines. Amen.
Today’s art is “Logic of Spring” by Shana and Robert ParkeHarrison.