Read
Romans 5:12-21
Ambrose (d.
397)- was elected Bishop of Milan in 374. Strongly pro-Nicene
and would make no compromise with the Arians. His moral courage
caused him to direct Emperor Theodosius to manifest public repentance
after he in quick temper ravaged Thessalonica because he was angry
at the governor in 390; Theodosius obeyed the admonition. Ambrose
was a theological writer that has been called by the Roman Church
as "Doctor," or an authoritative teacher. He contributed greatly
to the development of Christian hymnology in the West. "I will
not glory because I am righteous, but I will glory because I am
redeemed. I will not glory because I am free from sin, but because
my sins are forgiven."
Augustine
of Hippo
Born in Thagaste,
in Numidia (Algeria) on November 13, 354. Son of a heathen father
and a godly mother named Monica. He pursued the study of rhetoric
in Carthage, North Africa at 17. He took a concubine for 14 years
and had a son named Adeodatus in 372. He tried studying the Scriptures
at 19 but found them "unworthy compared with the writings of Cicero."
He turned for spiritual and intellectual comfort to the dualistic
system known as Manichaeism for 9 years. He became a teacher of
rhetoric in Milan in 384, the Western capital of the empire at
this time. Augustine became drawn and fascinated by the teachings
of Ambrose. He longed to sit under his preaching and described
Ambrose as the "perfection of pulpit eloquence." He became filled
with shame over his moral life and the fact that "ignorant men
like monks could put away temptations which he, a man of learning,
felt powerless to resist." Romans 13:13 was the verse of Scipture
the Spirit of God used in his conversion in 386. In 387, he was
baptized by Ambrose. He was ordained to the priesthood in 391
and became Bishop of Hippo in North Africa in 395. He died on
August 28, 430, during the seige of Hippo by the Vandals.
Augustine's
Doctrines of Grace- "Command what thou will; and give what thou
commandest."
Salvation
comes by God's grace, which is wholly undeserved, and wholly free.
Adam's sin and subsequent fall effected all of Adam's posterity
(Original Sin). Grace comes to those to whom God chooses to send
it. He predestinates whom He will "to punishment and salvation."
Grace is irresistible and man cannot reject God's call. Grace
after conversion frees the enslaved will to choose that which
is pleasing to God, "not only in order that they may know, by
the manifestation of that grace, what should be don, but moreover
in order that, by its enabling, they may do with love what they
know." Through us, God does good works, which He rewards as if
they were men's own and to which He ascribes merit. The Sacraments
are signs of spiritual realities, rather than the realities themselves.
They are essential; but the truths to which they witness are,
whenever received, the work of divine grace.
Who is
Pelagius?
Pelagius
was a British monk or excellent repute and much learning. He settled
in Rome about 400. He was shocked at the low tone of morals in
Rome and he labored earnestly to secure strict ethical standards.
Won a disciple named Celestius, a Roman lawyer. In 410, he went
to North Africa to visit Augustine and did not find him. He journeyed
to the East and Celestius stayed in Carthage and sought ordination
as a presbyter by Bishop Aurelius. A letter was sent from Paulinus,
a deacon of Milan to Aurelius charging Celestius with six errors
that Pelagius had taught him (see Pelagius' Doctrines below).
An advisory synod in Carthage rejected his ordination and he traveled
to Ephesus where he obtained it. Three synods were held by 420
condemning the teachings of Pelagius that were spreading. Pelagius
disappears and dies c. 420.
Pelagius'
Doctrines of Sin and Grace
Pelagius
believed in the power of the human will. "If I ought, I can."
"As often as I have to speak of the principles of virtue and a
holy life, I am accustomed first of all to call attention to the
capacity and character of human nature and to show what it is
able to accomplish; then from this to arouse the feelings of the
hearer, the he may strive after different kinds of virtue." He
denied Original Sin inherited from Adam, and affirmed that all
men now have the power not to sin. Adam's sin merely set an ill
example and many have been quick to follow.
Introduction
to the Council of Ephesus (431)
An edict
of the Emperor Honorius in 419, required the bishops of the West
to officially condemn the teachings of Pelagius and Celestius.
Julian and 18 others in Italy refused. Several were driven into
exile and sought refuge in the East. In Julian, Augustine found
an able opponent, and Pelagianism its chief systematizer. About
429 Julian and Celestius found some support from Nestorius in
Constantinople, though Nestorius was not a Pelagian. This favor
worked to Nestorius's disadvantage in his own troubles, and together
with the wish of the Pope led to the condemnation of Pelagiansm
by the Third General Council of Ephesus in 431. Pelagianism, thus
officially rejected in the West and the East, lived on in less
extreme forms, and has always represented a tendency in the thinking
of the church.
