“Pelagius for the rest of us?”
By Pastor Ron Buxton
Don’t let this article title confuse you. It’ll make sense in a few sentences. You see, I want to deal with an ancient heresy that has crept back into the Church. But first allow me to draw a parallel to make my title understandable.
Admittedly, I haven’t watched any episodes of the TV sitcom Seinfeld. I always felt that its humor was a little too crass for me. However, even folks like myself are aware of some of its quirkiest episodes. And that’s the origin of my article’s title, but with a theological twist.
There was an episode that featured a made-up holiday called “Festivus”. The joke was that it was a holiday during winter for the non-religious.That is, for those who didn’t celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, it gave them a reason to gather in celebration. Hence the “Festivus for the rest of us” jingle. Well, today I want to look at a heresy created by the 5th century British monk named Pelagius in the very same way.
Pelagius denied the reality of sin’s tyranny through the original sin of Adam. To the contrary, he taught that folks were born righteous in the eyes of God, and that Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden was just a bad example. Folks, it was so much worse than that! And, of course, those who’ve read Romans chapter five can see that it’s an erroneous teaching with tragic consequences. Needless to say, church councils met in the 5th century to fully refute the heresy of Pelagius. But that didn’t keep it from being recirculated in the last few decades of Church history.
Pelagianism was revived mostly by way of the seeker-sensitive movement in the 1990s. You see, there arose an appeal to merge psychology with theology in order to get more attendance in church services. And hardly anybody took note of that heretical infiltration since the success of filling buildings on Sunday mornings seemed compelling. Very few questioned it.
However, why should we as Christians care about this heresy? Isn’t the goal to get people into our churches? Well, I really don’t think that that by itself should be the goal. Yes, I want people to be reconciled to God, and eventually go to heaven when they die. Nonetheless, the Bible calls the true path a “narrow gate and a difficult path” (Matthew 7:14), which betrays the fraudulent promise of Pelagius. Folks, the truth is that we’re lost and in need of a Savior. And it’s only the original sin of Adam that explains our dilemma which must be understood and dealt with.
You see, Pelagianism makes the parable of the prodigal son seem like the father must keep the barbecue going as the son returns every weekend from debauchery without any eventual consequences. Folks, “Festivus” was a made-up holiday. But the idea of “Pelagius for the rest of us” has worse and eternal consequences! Sin must be confronted and repented of. Make-believe theology isn’t so funny.
