Editing Pelagianism (section)

===Pelagianism and Augustinianism===
{{See also|Augustinianism}}
Pelagius' teachings on human nature, divine grace, and sin were opposed to those of Augustine, who declared Pelagius "the enemy of the grace of God".{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=123}}{{sfn|Scheck|2012|p=79}}{{efn|The phrase ({{lang|la|inimici gratiae}}) was repeated more than fifty times in Augustine's anti-Pelagian writings after Diospolis.{{sfn|Rackett|2002|p=234}}}} Augustine distilled what he called Pelagianism into three heretical tenets: "to think that God redeems according to some scale of human merit; to imagine that some human beings are actually capable of a sinless life; to suppose that the descendants of the first human beings to sin are themselves born innocent".{{sfn|Wetzel|2001|p=52}}{{efn|[[Robert Dodaro]] has a similar list: "(1) that human beings can be sinless; (2) that they can act virtuously without grace; (3) that virtue can be perfected in this life; and (4) that fear of death can be completely overcome".{{sfn|Dodaro|2004|p=186}}}} In Augustine's writings, Pelagius is a symbol of [[humanism]] who excluded God from human salvation.{{sfn|Scheck|2012|p=79}} Pelagianism shaped Augustine's ideas in opposition to his own on free will, grace, and original sin,{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=43}}{{sfn|Keech|2012|p=15}}{{sfn|Stump|2001|p=130}} and much of ''[[The City of God]]'' is devoted to countering Pelagian arguments.{{sfn|Dodaro|2004|p=80}} Another major difference in the two thinkers was that Pelagius emphasized obedience to God for fear of hell, which Augustine considered servile. In contrast, Augustine argued that Christians should be motivated by the delight and blessings of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] and believed that it was treason "to do the right deed for the wrong reason".{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=80}} According to Augustine, credit for all virtue and good works is due to God alone,{{sfn|Dodaro|2004|pp=187–188}} and to say otherwise caused arrogance, which is the foundation of sin.{{sfn|Dodaro|2004|p=191}}

According to Peter Brown, "For a sensitive man of the fifth century, Manichaeism, Pelagianism, and the views of Augustine were not as widely separated as we would now see them: they would have appeared to him as points along the great circle of problems raised by the Christian religion".{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=53}} [[John Cassian]] argued for a middle way between Pelagianism and Augustinianism, in which the human will is not negated but presented as intermittent, sick, and weak,{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=82}} and Jerome held a middle position on sinlessness.{{sfn|Squires|2016|p=706}} In Gaul, the so-called "[[semi-Pelagians]]" disagreed with Augustine on [[predestination]] (but recognized the three Pelagian doctrines as heretical) and were accused by Augustine of being seduced by Pelagian ideas.{{sfn|Wetzel|2001|pp=52, 55}}   According to Ali Bonner, the crusade against Pelagianism and other heresies narrowed the range of acceptable opinions and reduced the [[intellectual freedom]] of classical Rome.{{sfn|Bonner|2018|pp=303–304}} When it came to grace and especially predestination, it was Augustine's ideas, not Pelagius', which were novel.{{sfn|Bonner|2018|p=305}}{{sfn|Dodaro|2004|p=86}}{{sfn|Weaver|2014|p=xix}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Belief !! Pelagianism !! [[Augustinianism]]
|-
|[[Fall of man]] || Sets a bad example, but does not affect [[human nature]]{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=44}}{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=81}} ||Every human's nature is corrupted by [[original sin]], and they also inherit moral guilt{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=44}}{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=81}} 
|-
|[[Free will]] || [[Libertarian free will|Absolute freedom of choice]]{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=123}}{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=79}}  || Original sin renders men unable to choose good{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|pp=123–124}}
|-
|Status of infants||Blameless{{sfn|Kirwan|1998|loc=Grace and free will}} ||Corrupted by original sin and consigned to hell if unbaptized{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=124}}{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=44}}{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=81}}
|-
|[[Sin in Christianity|Sin]]|| Comes about by free choice{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=44}}||Inevitable result of fallen human nature{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=44}}
|-
|[[Justification (theology)|Forgiveness for sin]] || Given to those who sincerely repent and merit it{{efn|Pelagius wrote: "pardon is given to those who repent, not according to the grace and mercy of God, but according to their own merit and effort, who through repentance will have been worthy of mercy".{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=49}}}}|| Part of God's grace, disbursed according to His will{{sfn|Chadwick|2001|pp=30–31}} 
|-
|[[Impeccability|Sinlessness]]||Theoretically possible, although unusual{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=123}}{{sfn|Visotzky|2009|p=48}}||Impossible due to the corruption of human nature{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=124}}
|-
|[[Salvation in Christianity|Salvation]]||Humans will be judged for their choices{{sfn|Puchniak|2008|p=123}}||Salvation is bestowed by God's grace{{sfn|Stump|2001|pp=139–140}}
|- 
|[[Predestination]]||Rejected{{sfn|Elliott|2011|p=378}}||God [[unconditional election|decides who is saved]] and [[perseverance of the saints|prevents them from falling away]].{{sfn|Chadwick|2001|pp=123–124}} Though the explicit teaching of [[double predestination]] by Augustine is debated,{{sfn|Levering|2011|p=47–48}}{{sfn|James|1998|p=102}} it is at least implied.{{sfn|James|1998|p=103|ps=. "If one asks, whether double predestination is a logical implication or development of Augustine's doctrine, the answer must be in the affirmative."}}
|}
According to Nelson, Pelagianism is a solution to the [[problem of evil]] that invokes [[libertarian free will]] as both the cause of human suffering and a sufficient good to justify it.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=3}} By positing that man could choose between good and evil without divine intercession, Pelagianism brought into question Christianity's core doctrine of [[Jesus]]' act of [[substitutionary atonement]] to expiate the sins of mankind.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=3, 51}} For this reason, Pelagianism became associated with [[nontrinitarian]] interpretations of Christianity which rejected the [[divinity of Jesus]],{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=51}} as well as other heresies such as [[Arianism]], [[Socinianism]], and [[mortalism]] (which rejected the [[hell in Christianity|existence of hell]]).{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=4}} Augustine argued that if man "could have become just by the law of nature and free will ... amounts to rendering the cross of Christ void".{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=3}} He argued that no suffering was truly undeserved, and that grace was equally undeserved but bestowed by God's benevolence.{{sfn|Chadwick|2001|pp=117–118}}  Augustine's solution, while it was faithful to orthodox Christology, worsened the problem of evil because according to Augustinian interpretations, God punishes sinners who by their very nature are unable not to sin.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=4}} The Augustinian defense of God's grace against accusations of arbitrariness is that God's ways are incomprehensible to mere mortals.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=4}}{{sfn| Stump|2001|p=139}} Yet, as later critics such as [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]] asserted, asking "[[Euthyphro dilemma|it is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just]]?", this defense (although accepted by many Catholic and [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] theologians) creates a [[Divine command theory|God-centered morality]], which, in Leibniz' view "would destroy the justice of God" and make him into a tyrant.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=5–6}}