Something struck me today. Pelagius (and his followers of Pelagianism) of the 5th century AD wasn't all that different to most of Christendom. Sure he was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. But today's purpose-driven, self motivated church isn't that different. The Reformers accused (rightfully) the Roman Catholics of Semi-Pelagianism in the 16th century. So what's so shocking about hearing it all come back around if it never left?
Superman. Yes, the new Superman movie and its trailer has a nice big, fat Pelagian quote.
Pealgius taught that we are born without sin. We believe that we are born sinful, with
original sin. Even David had this one right in Psalm 51:5, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Apparently folks still think they are born perfect and its only their environment that corrupts them.
Listen very closely to Jar-El's overdub at the end. You might be surprised... "These people have the desire... they only lack the light to show the way... because they have the capacity for good.... for this reason I send my only son..."
Certainly the "capacity for good" reeks of Pelagianism. Their environment causes them to do wrong and the only need the proper environment (or role model) to correct their actions and behavior. This is blatantly wrong. We are born sinful, unable to do good apart from our faith given first in baptism and preserved by the Holy Spirit through the Word.
I was surprised to hear some heretical teaching (Pelagianism) coming out of the Superman myth. I shouldn't have been as there is "nothing new under the sun." Drama, theater, and the secular arts love to promote humanistic myth and error.
You see, of scripture hangs on the sin of Adam. Without it, nothing can be taken in the proper context. Perhaps our silly psychologic society is so worried about people's self esteem that we have let this non-Biblical philosophy and psychology encroach on the church. Look people, you are incapable of good. Face it. Life stinks. All your deeds are vanity, worthless pursuits. Even that time you cried when you came out of the womb... Yup, sinful. Corrupt. Incapable of good.
The epistles have much to say. Romans 7:1 says "Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law
1has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ...
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become
cdead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should
dbear fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ewere at work in our members fto bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve
gin the newness of the Spirit and not
in the oldness of the letter."
Another example from 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 "These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the
4Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 nBut the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." Man does not know the things of God without his Spirit. We are not born into the perfect image of God. It is corrupted from conception. Only by his Holy Spirit do we learn them.Without understanding what happened with the sin of Adam, you get all of Scripture wrong. If you deny Scripture and suggest everyone else is still like Adam before the fall but the world corrupts them... well then, who needs Jesus. Really. Who needs a savior if they are perfect? Lets just go live ascetic lives in the mountains of West Virginia. You know, camp out, sing "Kum-bay-ya", light some candles, etc. Nothing can touch us. We'll lead a perfectly sanctified life. All evil will pass away. Lets shelter our children and ourselves into a monastic life where the world cannot touch us. Not only would this not work, but it denies Christ's teaching us to love and serve our neighbor.
You think this idealized utopia would ever exist? Or would someone steal? Envy? Covet? Argue? Fight? If you have children, you know that this is not learned behavior. It is who they are. They do these things with their brothers, sisters and will certainly do them in the world.
Fact is, if you get this right, then everything else in Scripture makes sense. Israel keeps trying to redeem themselves, they try to live under the law, they fail. The sainted David wasn't so saintly in his dealings with Uriah. St. Paul... he had some issues in a former life as Saul. Peter, well... denial isn't THAT bad, not even three times? This list goes on, no one was successful. All failed. Except one, of course.
We wouldn't have this knowledge or understanding of sin if it weren't for God's will being expressed in his Law. As in Romans 7:7 "What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary,
hI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said,
i“You shall not covet.â€"
Now some of you are wondering, what's the big deal. I know I'm bad. I know Jesus saved me... Good for you, you are the rare one. Most of Christendom doesn't get this... Oh, sure, Jesus died for our sins. But surely I have to decide to accept Jesus in my heart... I have to make him my personal savior. This is man offering some act of will to cooperate with the grace of God. Why would we need Jesus? Couldn't we just decide we were wrong, pledge to reform, and then believe in God? Perhaps Jesus was only a historical figure, a perfect moral example. Can you live to that example? Honestly?
Participating ultimately leads you away from Christ and back to you. Did I do enough? Did my moment of decision stick? Regardless you can't reconcile this against Scripture. Moments of conversion never were realized by will or self. God creates faith. He sustains faith, both through his Spirit.
Our Lutheran Confessions articulate this point clearly.
"We begin by teaching that our works cannot reconcile us with God or obtain grace for us, for this happens only through faith, that is, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who alone is the mediator who reconciles the Father. 10 Whoever (tr-55) imagines that he can accomplish this by works, or that he can merit grace, despises Christ and seeks his own way to God, contrary to the Gospel.
11 This teaching about faith is plainly and clearly treated by Paul in many passages, especially in Eph. 2:8, 9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God — not because of works, lest any man should boast,â€
Tappert, Theodore G. The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959.
Of course this brings us to the Spirit. Who is the Spirit? How does the Spirit act and work? Is it direct inspiration? Through dreams? By epiphanies? Moments of heads set Ablaze like pentecost?
From Luther's Large Catechism:
36 Many other kinds of spirits are mentioned in the Scriptures, such as the spirit of man,3 heavenly spirits,4 and the evil spirit.5 But God’s Spirit alone is called Holy Spirit, that is, he who has sanctified and still sanctifies us. As the Father is called Creator and the Son is called Redeemer, so on account of his work the Holy Spirit must be called Sanctifier, the One who makes holy. 37 How does this sanctifying take place? Answer: Just as the Son obtains dominion by purchasing us through his birth, death, and resurrection, etc., so the Holy Spirit effects our sanctification through the following: the communion of saints or Christian church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. In other words, he first leads us into his holy community, placing us upon the bosom of the church, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.
(tr-689) 38 Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe in him and take him as our Lord, unless these were first offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. The work is finished and completed, Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his sufferings, death, and resurrection, etc. But if the work remained hidden and no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that this treasure might not be buried but put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure of salvation. 39 Therefore to sanctify is nothing else than to bring us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing, which we could not obtain by ourselves.
40If you are asked, What do you mean by the words, “I believe in the Holy Spirit� you can answer, “I believe that the Holy Spirit makes me holy, as his name implies.†41 How does he do this? By what means? Answer: “Through the Christian church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.†42 In the first place, he has a unique community in the world. It is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit reveals and preaches that Word, and by it he illumines and kindles hearts so that they grasp and accept it, cling to it, and persevere in it.
43 Where he does not cause the Word to be preached and does not awaken understanding in the heart, all is lost. This was the case under the papacy, where faith was entirely shoved under the bench and no one recognized Christ as the Lord, or the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier. That is, no one believed that Christ is our Lord in the sense that he won for us this treasure without our works and merits and made us acceptable to the Father. 44 What was lacking here? There was no Holy Spirit present to reveal this truth and have it preached. Men and evil spirits there were, teaching us to obtain grace and be saved by our works. 45 Therefore there was no Christian church. For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create, call, and gather the Christian church, and outside it no one can come to the Lord Christ. 46 Let this suffice concerning the substance of this article. But since various points in it are not quite clear to the common people, we shall run through them also.
4 Cf. II Macc. 11:6, 15:23. Luther interpreted these as the good angels.
5 Cf. 1 Sam. 16:14, 23; Tobit 3:8; Acts 19:12, 15.
Tappert, Theodore G. The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959.
All hangs in precarious balance with our inbred sin. Born as the children of Adam. Corrupt, evil and sinful. We need his redemption. We know his sacrifice. We assert that it valid. We trust in the promise given. We receive this gift in his means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. These are the means by which his grace is promised.
