Augustine Augustine 354 430 A D Bishop of

Augustine: Augustine (354 -430 A. D. ) Bishop of Hippo Regius • MONERGISM: Regeneration, the new birth, is the work of the Holy Spirit apart from any human action. • Human nature is evil & free-will is a delusion.

Augustine: Augustine Monergism (400 A. D) • MAN HAS NO FREE-WILL: “Give what thou commandest & command what thou wilt. ” • “The Holy Spirit breathes where He will, & does not follow merits, but Himself produces merits! Grace, therefore, is not bestowed on man because he already believes, but that he may believe; not because he has deserved it by good works, but that he may deserve good works. ” • “Him that wills not, grace comes to meet that he may will; him that wills; he follows up that he may not will in vain. ”

Pelagius: Pelagius (400 A. D. ) Ascetic Monk: British Isles • Human beings were free and had to take responsibility for their own salvation. • Celtic Christianity connected to the eastern rather than the western Church.

Pelagius: Pelagius Synergism (400 A. D. ) • MAN HAS FREE-WILL: Human effort cooperates with God’s grace in the salvation of the soul. • “If I ought, I can” – moral responsibility to God presupposes human ability. • He was admired for his ascetic lifestyle & his persuasive speech, & even though his teachings were in line with the “church fathers” (and the apostles of Jesus Christ) he was declared to be a heretic by the Council of Carthage.

Augustine: Augustine groundwork for Calvin • In the Garden of Eden God’s grace enabled man to be righteous & to do good. • When man used his free-will to sin, God withdrew His grace & man could no longer be righteous or do good. • Consequently every human being comes into the world unholy & without the ability to do good. • Therefore, man is passive, God must act alone if man is to be rescued from sin & separation from God.

Calvinism’s Terrible Tulip • Total Hereditary Depravity • Unconditional Election • Limited Atonement • Irresistible Grace • Perseverance of the Saints

John Calvin 1509 -1564 “Institutes of the Christian Religion” Religion (1536) 1536

Calvinism – “God is ultimate; therefore His will is ultimate and final (Sovereignty). According to His sovereign will He foreordained all things. He foreordained sin itself. He did this for His own glory. To further enhance His own glory, He predetermined that of sinners, He would save some (the elect) and condemn others. He did this according to His own will so that it has nothing to do with anything men do (Unconditional Election). For His elect, God has provided atonement and salvation through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ (Limited Atonement)….

Calvinism – The problem is that through Adam's sin, his nature was corrupted, and this nature has been passed down to his descendants (Total Hereditary Depravity). Having this corrupt nature, men cannot come to the knowledge of God by themselves. Even the elect cannot respond to God, cannot have faith, until the Holy Spirit opens their hearts to believe and understand. The grace of God, exerted in behalf of His elect, and according to His sovereign will, cannot be thwarted (Irresistible Grace). The elect will be saved. God’s grace will sustain the elect and will not be removed so that they cannot be lost. Their salvation is sure (Perseverance

Presbyterianism • Westminster Confession (1646) – “By this sin, they (Adam and Eve) fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. . . (cont’d)…

Presbyterianism • Westminster Confession (1646) – “…They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions. ”

Lutheranism • Augsburg Confession (1530) – “Since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin. That is, all men are full of evil lust and inclination from their mother's womb and are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all whose who are not born again through baptism and the Holy Spirit. ”

Methodism • John Wesley (1700’s) – “In Adam all died, all humankind, all the children of men who were in Adam’s loins; the natural consequences of that is that everyone descended from him comes into the world spiritually dead, void of the image of God, of all the righteousness & holiness wherein Adam was created; instead of this, man born into this world now bears the image of the devil, …. ”

Methodism • Methodist Discipline – (Since) “infants are guilty of original sin, then they are proper subjects of baptism, seeing in the ordinary way, they cannot be saved unless this be washed away by baptism. It has already been proved that this original sin cleaves to every child of man, and hereby they are children of wrath and liable to eternal damnation. ”

Roman Catholicism • Council of Trent (1545 -63) – “Adam's first sin has been transmitted to all his descendants. ” • Questions of Catholics (Winfrid Herbst) – “Yes, every child born into this world has the guilt of original sin upon his soul. Original sin is the sin that we inherit from our first parents. Original sin excludes us from heaven unless forgiven. It is forgiven only by baptism, hence when an unbaptized baby dies, it can not enter the kingdom of God. ”

Roman Catholicism • Cardinal Gibbons (Faith Of Our Fathers): “Adam’s transgression was not confined to himself, but transmitted with its long train of dire consequences to all his posterity. It is called “Original sin” because it is derived from our original progenitor. ”

Tot. Hereditary Depravity • Ezek 18: 19 -21 – Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? ' Because the son has done what is lawful & right, & has kept all My statutes & observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, & the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Unconditional Election • John 3: 14 -17 – And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Limited Atonement • Heb 2: 8 -10 – …But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory & honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things & by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Irresistible Grace • Acts 7: 51 -53 – You stiff-necked & uncircumcised in heart & ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers & murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels & have not kept it.

Perseverance Of Saints • Gal 5: 3 -4 – And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Total Hereditary Depravity: Proof Texts What God’s Word teaches

• Gen 6: 5, 12 – Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, & that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… 12 So God looked upon the earth, & indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. – “All flesh” = All nations, both genders (Acts 2: 17) – “Had corrupted” implies a time when the nations were not corrupt – Noah did not inherit depravity.

. . . . • Gen 6: 8 -9 – But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. – Noah used his free-will to obey God. – He did not inherit depravity!

• Job 14: 4 – Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! – Job was in mental & physical anguish. • Gen 15: 6 – And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, & He accounted it to him for righteousness. – Was Isaac righteous because of Abraham?

• Psa 14: 2 -3 – The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, not one. (Psa 53: 1 -3) – David addressed the moral state of man when he used his free-will to turn away from God.

• Psa 51: 4 -6 – Against You, You only, have I sinned, & done this evil in Your sight -- That You may be found just when You speak, & blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, & in sin my mother conceived me. – David was in mental anguish over his sins, not his mother’s sins. – He was born in a world of temptation & sin. – E. g. , People are “born” in a language (Acts 2: 8)

• Psa 58: 3 -4 – The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, – David was using hyperbole (exaggeration). – “As soon as they are born” means very early in life. – Lying is a choice, a sin of free-will; something learned & practiced over time.

• Rom 5: 18 – Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. – If Adam brought automatic spiritual death to the human race, then Christ brought automatic spiritual life to the human race. – But in each case, it was the potential for the state of “condemnation” & “life”.

• Rom 8: 6 -7 – For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life & peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. – The “carnal mind” is not the state of man at birth. – The “carnal mind” lives for the desires of the flesh rather than the will of God (Gal 5: 19 -21). – Paul did not say that men are born with a carnal mind; he is referring to the unconverted.

• 1 Cor 2: 14 – But the natural man does not receive things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. – The “natural man” is not the state of man at birth. – The “natural man” lives for the material, temporal world & neglects his soul & his God. – The “natural man” seeks the wisdom of the world, the approval of men & the material things & riches of life (1 Cor 1: 18 -25).

• 1 Cor 15: 22 – For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. – Paul is referring to the change that will take place with the body at the resurrection; it will become an immortal, spiritual body.

• Eph 2: 3 – …among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh & of the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. – “Nature”: a mode of acting which by long habit has become common action (Vine’s). – How did they become “children of wrath”? By their “walk” or manner of life (Eph 4: 17 -19).

Refute • Gen 8: 21 – And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

Refute • Exo 32: 31 -33 – Then Moses returned to the Lord & said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, & have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin — but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. " 33 And the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. ”

Refute • Deut 1: 38 -39 (Num 14: 20 -45) – Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 'Moreover your little ones & your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good & evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, & they shall possess it. ’

Refute • 2 Sam 12: 23 – But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. ”

Refute • Eccl 7: 29 – Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. "

Refute • Eccl 12: 7 – Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, & the spirit will return to God who gave it. • Heb 12: 9 – Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, & we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits & live?

Refute • Isa 59: 1 -2 – Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (Read through verse 8).

Refute • Ezek 18: 19 -20 – Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? ' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Refute • Matt 18: 3 – Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted & become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Refute • Rom 7: 9 -11 – I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the command-ment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Refute • 1 Cor 14: 20 – Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.

Refute • 1 John 3: 4 – Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness

• Sin does not have inheritable qualities. – Sin is violation of God’s law by omission or commission (Jas 4: 17; 1 John 3: 4; Jas 1: 14 -15). • Man does not inherit a nature inclined to sin. – Sin is the result of free-will desires of the mind (John 3: 19 -21); environment influences the mind.

• The need for infant baptism. – The gospel & its terms of admission is for all who can understand it & rationally respond to God (John 6: 45; Heb 8: 11). – The household conversions of Cornelius, Lydia, Philippian Jailer do not imply infant baptism. – Becoming a Christian involves a personal response to Christ’s authority.

• Man neither responsible nor accountable to God for his spiritual condition. – The next step in this heresy is that man must wait for God to act upon the heart (Unconditional Election).