The doctrine of Pelagius derives its name from its founder, a 5th century A.D. British monk. The Word of God Community Church TOTALLY REJECTS the doctrine constructed by Pelagius, in whole and part. The doctrine of Pelagius deals with the essential moral nature of man. Pelagius taught that people had the innate ability to fulfill the commands of God unto eternal salvation by exercising the freedom of human will apart from the intervention of God’s grace. Pelagius believed this to be true based upon his belief that man’s nature is basically good. It is because of this that Pelagius denied original sin, or the scriptural truth that all of humanity inherited Adam’s sin nature. Pelagius believed Adam’s sin, as recorded in Genesis chapter 3, only affected Adam. He believed Adam’s sin was a bad example to all humans born after Adam, but he did not believe Adam’s sin infected every person born into this world. Pelagius taught that at birth all humans are born possessing the same moral impurity and perfection Adam possessed when he, Adam, was first made by God. He taught that people can choose God by the exercise of their free will and rational thought; he believed God’s grace may aid a person in using their free will and rational thought, but it is not necessary. It was through this theological construct that Pelagius believed it was possible for a person to be saved and spend eternity with God based on human works alone, apart from the redemption which is only in Christ.
The doctrine of Pelagius is totally contrary to what the Scriptures teach in regard to the essential moral and spiritual nature of man. These truths are as follows:
1. All humans are born in sin (Psalm 51:5).
2. All humans are by nature children of wrath who are dead in trespasses and sins; they all live in accordance with desires of Satan, the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:1-3).
3. All humans sin because they all inherited the sin nature of Adam—“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12 New American Standard Updated Edition)
4. All humans are described in the Scriptures to be lacking in any moral good or will — “As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12 New American Standard Updated Edition)
5. All humans are described in the Scriptures to have a will which is in bondage to their sin nature. This renders all unable to turn to God of their own will — “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” (Romans 7:14 New American Standard Updated Edition) Because all humans are in bondage to their sin nature, no man, apart from the regenerating grace of God, can turn or seek out God according to their will.
It is because of the preceding truths, if any are to be saved, it must be by God’s doing alone. It is because of the preceding biblical truth in regards to the moral nature of man that the doctrine of Pelagius is properly categorized as heresy / false doctrine which tears at the very heart of the Gospel. We conclude this because if man can be saved by his own doing, then Christ was sacrificed on the cross in vain (Galatians 2:21 — “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died in vain.” — New American Standard Updated Edition)
Semi-Pelagianism is a lesser form of the doctrine of Pelegius. As such, Semi-Pelagianism does not deny original sin and its effects upon the human soul and will, but it teaches God and man must cooperate together to achieve man’s salvation. This cooperation is not through human effort as in keeping the moral and ethical law of God, but in man’s innate ability to make a free-choice in choosing God. Because man has the ability to make a free choice to choose God, man can make the first move toward God by seeking God out of his own free will. Or man can cooperate with God’s grace even to the keeping or exercising of his faith through human effort alone. In short, this means God responds to the initial effort of a person apart from any intervening grace of God. From this standpoint, the grace of God which alone initiates salvation in a person, is not necessary.
The problem with Semi-Pelagianism is it sets forth a salvation which is not wholly of God’s grace or undeserved favor, but is based on God responding to man’s effort in seeking Him out. This is not grace, but God responding to a person based on what is due to them through their personal efforts. This theological construct is contrary to texts such as Ephesians 2:8 — “For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (New American Standard Updated Edition)
There are other serious problems associated with Semi-Pelagianism, including the following:
1. It claims unregenerate sinners have the ability to seek and initiate belief in God. In contrast, the Scriptures declare none seeks after God — “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.” (Romans 3:11 New American Standard Updated Edition)
2. It claims unregenerate sinners can initiate a response from God. In contrast, the Scriptures declare — “Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again.” (Romans 11:35 New American Standard Updated Edition)
3. It claims salvation is a result of God responding to the will of man when the Scriptures declare that God chose those who are saved before the foundation of the world according to the kind intention of His will — “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will….” (Ephesians 1:4-5 New American Standard Updated Edition)
4. It claims man can initiate a response from God according to His free will. But this begs the question as to whether sinful man, as described in the Scriptures, has any ability to initiate anything from God, let alone eternal salvation, from his doomed state. The Apostle Paul describes this condition of man in the Ephesian believers before their conversion as follows — “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” (Ephesians 2:1-3 NASB Updated Edition) Because all humans are dead in their trespasses and sins, live according to the course of this world under the control of Satan, and are by nature children of wrath, it is incongruent to believe man can initiate a response from God unto salvation by their own free will apart from an act of God.
Even though it is probable that the larger portion of the church believes in some form of Semi-Pelagianism, or the belief that humans can initiate a response from God to save them based on the small amount of good in their nature, the Word of God Community Church REJECTS Pelgianism in all of its variations. In contrast, we adhere to the fact that God brings about salvation wholly of His will and initiative, apart from the cooperation of those who neither understand or seek after God.
The best treatment of the problem of Semi-Pelagianism can be found in the Canons on the Council of Orange 529 A.D. The Council of Orange is one of the most important councils of the early Church, as it was often referenced by the Reformers as evidence that the Western Church in Rome had abandoned the biblical theology of their own Council Fathers and Church Doctors as contained in the writings of the Apostles and the Scriptures at large. The Council of Orange condemned the Semi-Pelagian doctrine that fallen man, although corrupted by Adam’s sin, maintained an island of righteousness which rendered them morally competent enough to contribute to their own salvation by laying hold of the grace of God through a nevertheless unregenerate will or desire. Orange upheld the view of Augustine that man’s will is evil by the corruption of Adam’s sin and can only become good to any extent by the correction of God’s grace.
Although the Council authored 25 distinct canons addressing Semi-Pelagianism, canons 4-8 were most consequential in the Reformers’ understanding of the doctrines of grace and the truth that all of salvation is wholly of God alone to His glory alone.
Although the Council authored 25 distinct canons addressing Semi-Pelagianism, canons 4-8 were most consequential in the Reformers’ understanding of the doctrines of grace and the truth that all of salvation is wholly of God alone to His glory alone.
CANON 4
If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit alone, he resists the Holy Spirit Himself who says through Solomon — “The will is prepared by the Lord” (Proverbs 8:35 LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, “For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13)
CANON 5
If anyone says that not only the increase of faith, but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism — if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, “and I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion of the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6) And again, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.
CANON 6
If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, knock, but does not confess that it is by infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have faith, the will, or strength to do these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are made obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, “What do you have that you did not receive?”
(I Corinthians 15:10).
CANON 7
If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make a right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is lead astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospels, “For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, “Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God.” (II Corinthians 3:5)
CANON 8
If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of
baptism* by mercy but others through free will, which has been manifestly corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by declaring that no one is able to come to him “unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44), as he also says to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17), and as the Apostle says, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Corinthians 12:3)
* FOOTNOTE: In the early Church, baptism was only administered to those who had repented of sin and made a genuine confession of faith in Christ unto salvation. It is in this manner baptism was inseparable from salvation.
The Word of God Community Church believes the office of a pastor is reserved for men, males, who meet the qualifications for the office of pastor according to I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
The Word of God Community Church believes in a plurality of elders/pastors in the overseeing of the spiritual and doctrinal affairs of the church.
The Word of God Community Church believes the office of a deacon is reserved for men, males, who meet the qualifications of Acts 6:1-7 and I Timothy 3:8-13.