Pelagius was of course the contemporary and great opponent of St. Augustine. He contended that man could be saved on his own, apart from the grace of God.
Pelagius observed that men can be good without God. Some men may be more generous, kind, etc without God than others with. Because men could be good without God, there was no need for the sacrifice of Christ.
First off, the comparison is false. We should not compare how some act with God to how others act without Him (something we can indeed know), but how distinct people would act with God that have Him not and how those who have Him would act without Him (something we cannot know).
Second, and this is key, Pelagius holds a false premise—he believes that moral perfectibility is the goal of Christianity. If moral perfection (or at least goodness), is the goal of Christianity than indeed Christianity is not the only ‘true’ religion for many are good apart from it. Likewise, Christ could have taught us His moral code (not original in itself, by the way) without dying.
But the fact is moral perfectibility is not the goal of Christianity—reconciliation of God with men is. There was no way man could reconcile himself with a perfect God. Pelagius may be right according to his premise, but he holds a false view of the end of our faith.
Similar to the question ‘can man be good without God’ is the question ‘can man be happy without God?’ That all depends on what we mean by happy. If we mean temporary contentment or momentary subjective satisfaction, of course man can be happy without God. But this is not true happiness. True happiness is objective (so we may say: you think you are happy, but you are not) and eternal. That is why one may be happy while in prison (like St. Paul) or miserable in the lap of luxury because their toast is burnt.
We all experience pain. Some may experience less, but because of their accustomed level of comfort, the most minor inconveniences are as unendurable to them as the greatest tortures are to others.
Finally, though we may not believe this, we must think like Asaph. In the seventy-third Psalm Asaph wrote :
I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek. There are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people… That is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
In other words, he felt like the wicked lived blessed, happy lives while he lived justly in vain for he faced a whole host of calamities. He lived in envy until ‘he entered the sanctuary of God and perceived their final end.’
‘You who rejoice now mourn for the coming wrath.’ And ‘blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’ The ‘happiness’ of the wicked will die away (if indeed it even is more than show) like grass on a hot summer day.
All that is unjust is fading while that which is pure and right is day by day coming more concretely into being.
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2 comments:
Where have you found your information to quote Pelagius? I can find nothing, but what others have said.
None of his works survive intact, so unfortunately the only information we have about him and his thought is from others (who, like St. Augustine, are often his opponents).
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