Part of a historical and theological presentation on Freedom of the Will

1. I, Human
Is Free Will an
Illusion ?
Part One

2. Augustine & Pelagius
Augustine (354-430)
Our obedience and salvation comes through
God’s grace.
Pelagius (360-420)
People can obey God perfectly by the
power of free will.
Council in Carthage (412)
Condemned the teaching of Pelagius.

3. Augustine
“Father, command what you will,
and grant what you command.”

4. “Father, command what you will,
and grant what you command.”
...we will do it!”
Pelagius

5. Pelagius
Depravity: We are not “Damaged
Goods”.
Free Will: We are fully free and
able to choose.
Sin: Imitation; Nurture, not Nature.
Guilt: The guilt is our own, not Adam’s.
Grace: God has given us the freedom to choose.

6. Sin
“Missing the Mark”, also, a state of
“Lostness”.
Depravity
Though he did not use the term “Total
Depravity”, he was influential in its
development.
Augustine

7. Priority of Grace
Augustine is known as the “Doctor of
Grace” because he lays stress on the need
for God’s grace in our salvation.
Augustine

8. Predestination
God chooses whom he will save (by grace), not based on
foreknowledge of that person’s choice.
“For grace alone distinguishes the redeemed from the lost, whom a
common cause from (their) beginning had joined into one mass of
perdition...”
Augustine

9. Massa Damnata
“Therefore all men are... one condemned mass of sin, that owes a
debt of punishment to the divine and supreme justice. Whether it
(the debt) be exacted, or whether it be condoned, there is no
injustice.”
Augustine

10. Original Sin
The entire human race partakes of Adam's sin, which is passed on
generation to generation. Human free will is damaged and enslaved,
making God's special, intervening grace absolutely necessary for
salvation.
“We do not say that God is the author of evil, and yet we can
correctly say that human beings are born evil as a result of the bond
of original sin with God alone as their creator.”
Augustine

11. Free Will
“For not only has God given us our ability and helps it, but He even
works (brings about) willing and acting in us; not that we do not
will or that we do not act, but that without His help we neither will
anything good nor do it.”
Nature, not Nurture!
Augustine

12. Every Child is Born Guilty,
Deserving Damnation !
Augustine

13. Every Child is Born Guilty,
Deserving Damnation !
Baptize them!
Augustine

14. Is Augustine the first to fathom the depth and
meaning of the Apostle Paul?
OR
Misunderstanding Scripture, did Augustine
present an unbalanced theology?

15. Council in Carthage (412)
Condemned the teaching of Pelagius.
But, did not give full approval to Augustine’s
teachings.

16. The Western Church lives in the
Shadow of Augustine.

17. The Eastern Church does not!
The Blessed Augustine
The Heretic Augustine!
The So-so Augustine
Who ?

18. The Eastern Church
Ancestral Sin
No to Augustine’s Original Sin
Reject Pelagius’ teaching as well.
No to Inherited Guilt.
There is an Inclination to Sin
Yes to Synergy, we work with God.

19. The Eastern Church
Ancestral Sin
John Cassian (360-4335)
“Divine grace is necessary to enable a sinner
to return unto God and live, yet man must
first, of himself, desire and attempt to choose
and obey God.”
“Divine grace is indispensable for salvation,
but it does not necessarily need to precede a
free human choice, because, despite the
weakness of human volition, the will can
take the initiative toward God.”

20. On the Human Condition
Synergism, not Monergism