Pelagianism in the Reformation of the Christian Church

Part II

by Charles R. Biggs

In the Reformation of the 16^th century, these Augustinian doctrines of grace would be proclaimed from the rooftops by an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther. Luther's greatest argument was that Rome had turned from the true teachings of the Augustinian soteriological system and had become Pelagian. Although Rome condemned Luther as an heretic in 1521 he continued that it was not he who had turned from the teachings of the orthodox church, but rather the majority of the church herself. He claimed he was returning to that which was truly the teachings of the orthodox Catholic Church. Contrary to what many Protestants and Catholics alike believe about Martin Luther, he did not want a serious Reformation of the Church in the sense of a drastic change in the Sacraments, Liturgy or even the Papacy. He foundationally wanted to return to the teachings of Augustine, particularly on his doctrines of grace in salvation. What began in the selling of indulgences by a man name Johann Tetzel and what Luther saw as the selling of salvation, became the biggest schism the Christian Church ever underwent.

After the Diet of Worms in 1521, and the Reformation had begun, the movement became limited in 1524 when Luther's cause became a party rather than him becoming a German National leader. The first of the separations of the Reformation were by the Humanists, who had an admired leader named Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus could not agree with Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone that was the conclusion of his Augustinian soteriology. Erasmus believed that Luther denied free will and challenged Luther in the fall of 1524.

Luther began his debate with Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, a monk who has been called an "impeccable Latinist" and a "man of letters" because of his great intellectual ability. Erasmus was convinced that the church of his day was superstitious, corrupt and full of error, but because of the Church's power at this time in history, he dared not to leave the church but wrote many treatises against some of the practices. A popular phrase has been coined "that Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched." Because of his mastery of the Greek language, Erasmus published a Greek Testament in 1516. It was the reading of the Greek, rather than Latin translation that brought Luther to many of the doctrinal conclusions as a teacher in Wittenberg, Germany. Erasmus brought about a great renaissance in this period because of the return to the sources or ad fontes of early Christian and Greek literature that he translated.

Much like Pelagius of the fifth century he desired a great revival of morals and ethics in the Church. On this Luther and Erasmus were agreed, the Church had lost its moral bearings and was in need of improvement. Erasmus believed that Classical Humanism and education would bring this reformation and that men were ignorant of the original sources of philosophy and theology; the Church needed to be taught. Luther disagreed that education was the problem. He said it went deeper into the explanation of the heart of man and the corruption with which even those within the Church are capable of without God's grace. Luther had experienced, as an Augustinian monk, that he was miserable thinking that God could ever justify him because of his knowledge of sin. He said by joining the Augustinian cloister that although he withdrew from society in hopes of escaping the evil influences of the world, he found that the evil was within his heart.

Many Church historians have compared Luther's debate with Erasmus of Rotterdam with Augustine's letters to Pelagius from 412-416 AD Much of Augustine's views are established by Luther and many of Pelagius' views are set forth by Erasmus. De Servo Arbitrio, or the Bondage of the Will, is the name of the book that Luther wrote against Erasmus. The style of the book is very Medieval in tone; sarcasm and very colorful language is used in "name calling," in contrast to the loving letters of Augustine who showed a different respect and tone in his writings to Pelagius. Luther considered The Bondage of the Will his greatest theological achievement in his life.

In a writing to Spalatin in 1516, Luther had remarked he considered Augustine the greatest exegetical writer and Jerome second. Erasmus believed it was in the opposite order and he followed Jerome's teaching of Paul in interpreting justification by works against which Paul writes. It was actually a condemnation of justification by outward ceremonial observance. Luther believed the Apostle Paul taught that any effort or contribution man makes toward his own salvation is works righteousness, and therefore under condemnation. He agreed wholeheartedly with strict Augustinian soteriology, because Augustine magnifies the grace of God. If a person is changed, then and only then, will good works follow.

Luther saw Original Sin and the fallen nature of man to be the heart of the gospel. He saw that the Law was not made so that man could conform to it out of his own power and follow Christ's example rather than Adam's, but that the Law led a man to Christ because he was unable to live it perfectly. If he had been speaking to Pelagius rather than Erasmus, he could have responded to his claims that "if God commands, then I do have the ability to obey." Luther said you cannot understand grace, or the God of grace, without understanding the inability of man; the corruption of his heart, the desire for evil, the running from God or that which is holy in which man engages.

 

By having a high opinion of the natural powers of man, one must also hold a low opinion of the moral demands of God's character.

Erasmus wrote that man comes to salvation because independently of God he performs some action that elicits reward. On this basis, salvation comes to man through God's response to what man has done. Erasmus tried to stress the smallness of the power, but in reality sets himself up as Pelagian in every way doctrinally. Luther responds by writing that by having a high opinion of the natural powers of man, one must also hold a low opinion of the moral demands of God's character.

Luther sums his arguments up by saying that the ultimate reason why any form of Pelagianism, pure or Semi-Pelagianism, cannot be true: fallen man in his natural condition can do nothing but sin, he is a member of Satan's kingdom and in all his actions under Satan's sway. His reason (ratio) is blinded; his will (volutas) is hostile to God; he wants only to sin, and his choice (arbitrium) is thus always sinful. No possibility of merit exists for him; therefore, all that he does is sinfully motivated and deserves the just judgment of God. The idea of a meritorious act is an idea of an independent act which is in no way necessitated by God for man or performed by God in man, but is carried out by man acting in some sense apart from God, and there is no such action in God's universe, because all events are necessitated by His immutable, Sovereign will. This consistent application of Original Sin and the inability of man concludes in Augustine's and Luther's doctrine of predestination.