Pelagius was a theologian and ascetic monk from the British Isles, active between approximately 390 and 418 AD, who became known for promoting a theological system called Pelagianism. He was born around 354 CE, likely in Britain, and was said by contemporaries to be of Celtic British origin, though some, like Jerome, believed he was Irish. Pelagius moved to Rome around 380 AD, where he gained a reputation for austerity and became a spiritual director for both clergy and laity, criticizing the moral laxity he observed among Roman Christians. He attributed this laxity to the doctrine of divine grace as taught by Augustine of Hippo, particularly the idea that God commands what He wills, which Pelagius believed undermined human responsibility.
Pelagius emphasized human free will and the belief that humans are born morally neutral, capable of choosing good or evil without inherent sin. He denied the doctrine of original sin, arguing that individuals are not born guilty of Adam’s sin and that infants are blameless. He taught that people could live sinless lives through their own efforts, guided by the Law of Moses, the teachings of Jesus, and the gift of free will, which he considered the essence of divine grace. According to Pelagius, salvation was achieved through individual merit and moral effort, with Christ serving as a moral exemplar to be emulated rather than a substitute whose atonement was necessary.
His teachings sparked a major controversy with Augustine of Hippo, who argued for the necessity of divine grace, the bondage of the human will to sin, and the universality of original sin. Pelagius was accused of heresy at the Synod of Diospolis in 415, where he was acquitted after affirming orthodox beliefs and disavowing the teachings of his follower Caelestius. However, opposition continued, and Pelagius was later condemned by Pope Zosimus in 418, following pressure from African bishops, and excommunicated. The Council of Carthage in 418 formally condemned Pelagianism, and the First Council of Ephesus in 431 declared both Pelagius and Caelestius heretics.
After his condemnation, Pelagius was expelled from Jerusalem and is believed to have settled in Egypt, where he died, though details of his final years are unknown. His ideas persisted in modified forms, such as Semipelagianism, which taught a cooperative effort between divine grace and human will, and were reported to be popular in Britain and North Africa for centuries. Modern scholarship has reevaluated Pelagius, with some viewing him as an orthodox Christian theologian whose teachings were misrepresented by his opponents, particularly Augustine.
False Teaching
Pelagius believed that man had not been entirely corrupted by Adam’s fall and that he could, by his own free will, do works that pleased God, and thus be saved. This led Pelagius to deny the doctrines of original sin and predestination, and to deny the need for special grace to be saved. Essentially, he believed that man is basically good and moral and that even pagans can enter heaven through their virtuous moral actions.
Monergism summarizes it this way: “Jesus Christ was a good example. Salvation is a matter chiefly of following Christ instead of Adam, rather than being transferred from the condemnation and corruption of Adam’s race and placed ‘in Christ,’ clothed in his righteousness and made alive by his gracious gift. What men and women need is moral direction, not a new birth; therefore, Pelagius saw salvation in purely naturalistic terms—the progress of human nature from sinful behavior to holy behavior, by following the example of Christ.”
Followers and Modern Adherents
Though church councils condemned Pelagianism as heresy, this did not immediately crush the teaching. In the early church, Pelagianism was carried on by Julian, Bishop of Eclanum, one of eighteen Italian bishops who refused to sign the papal decree and who were consequently exiled. To advocate Pelagianism was to battle Augustine, and Julian did this until Augustine’s death, though he was never able to gain as great a following as Pelagius. Over the next century or so, Pelagianism broke out a handful of times, but the councils condemned it so consistently and strongly that by the sixth century it had been nearly eradicated.
Pure Pelagianism has not resurfaced in a major way during the past fifteen hundred years, but a modified form took root in the sixteenth century through the teachings of Jacob Arminius whose beliefs are often described as semi-Pelagian. Semi-Pelagianism teaches that while humanity is tainted by sin, we are not so tainted that we cannot cooperate with God’s free offer of grace. Calvinists tend to describe Arminianism as a form of semi-Pelagianism, though Arminians tend to consider the label unfair.
Perhaps the closest modern-day successor to Pelagius was Charles Finney. Like Pelagius, he denied original sin saying, “Moral depravity is sin itself, and not the cause of sin.” He believed the whole notion of a sinful nature is “anti-scriptural and nonsensical dogma” and taught that we are all born in a state of moral neutrality, able to choose between good and evil—to choose between being good or being sinful.
What the Bible says
The Bible teaches that we were created to be good, but because of Adam’s fall we are all born in a state of total depravity—spiritually dead in our sin—and that we are wholly dependent upon God’s supernatural grace for salvation and new life. Our wills are not free to do what is righteous or even to desire to do what is righteous. We need to be born again by God before we can begin to do even the least deed that is pleasing to God. (See, for example, Ephesians 2:1-9, Titus 3:3-8, and Romans 6:17-18.)
Today, Orthodox Christians confidently proclaim, because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law (New City Catechism, Answer 14).
