Galatians 1:8 still stands and though the edge may have worn off of our sensibilities, we must never let the eyes of our souls forget this somber but glorious passage: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” It matters not what denomination we belong to or don’t belong to and what theological camp we hold to, if we preach a gospel contrary to what Paul preached we will be accursed. Even if we think we preach the gospel Paul preached, if we don’t actually preach the gospel that Paul preached we will be accursed. It does not matter if we preach a gospel with many of the same theological words that Paul preached; if we do not preach the actual gospel that Paul preached we will be accursed.
Charles Finney preached what he thought was the gospel, and indeed many made professions of faith, yet he was a Pelagian and denied original sin. Many have arisen throughout history and have preached something they called the gospel and yet it was not the true gospel. When a man strays from the true gospel, it is common for him to think that the true gospel has something wrong with it and that those who preach it have something wrong with them. A man that strays from the true gospel will often think he agrees with men in history who preached the true gospel, but there will be differences in words and terms. We live in a day which has traded in the truth of the gospel for things that sell and make for numerical success. But if we do not preach the same gospel that Paul preached, regardless of our so-called successes in the eyes of men and of denominations, we will be accursed.
Pelagianism does not seem to be thought of very much in the modern day, but it is an insidious heresy that has tentacles that reaches to many areas. It has tentacles in liberal denominations, charismatic denominations, self-professed Arminian denominations, and even Reformed in creed denominations. All men are born Pelagians and it is that line of humanistic thinking and self-effort that those who are born of the Spirit have to fight. The human heart is born dead in sin and trespasses which is to say that it is born spiritually blind in its pride and love for self. The human heart is given over to love for self rather than love for God and seeks its own glory and honor rather than God’s. The human heart relies on itself and depends on its own wisdom and strength. The heart that has not been renewed can intellectually believe any set of theological beliefs. The creed of a person does not mean that a person truly believes and preaches the same gospel Paul did from the depths of the soul.
A.A. Hodge sets out the distinctive beliefs of Pelagianism in a very helpful way. He puts it this way:
Pelagian.—(a.) Moral character can be predicated only of volitions. (b.) Ability is always the measure of responsibility. (c). Hence every man has always the plenary power to do all that it is his duty to do. (d). Hence the human will alone, to the exclusion of the interference of an internal influence from God, must decide human character and destiny. The only divine influence needed by man or consistent with his character as a self-determined agent is an external, providential, and educational one.
Now it is true that very few people have a pure Pelagian doctrine in terms of what they profess. It is also very true that many people do not recognize that they hold to those beliefs when in fact they do. But this is a pervasive teaching and it is a very deceitful teaching. A proud person is blinded to his or her pride by pride itself. So Pelagianism hides itself to people as well. They will use the term “grace” and so think they have escaped the grasp of Pelagianism. But the Pelagian teaching is able to use the term “grace” and hide itself under it. The Pelagian teaching on the will blinds people so much that it deceives those who call themselves Reformed into a practical form of Pelagianism. It hides itself in the most orthodox of teaching and leavens even the most orthodox of doctrine. Jesus warned His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees. They were quite conservative in their theology, were very moral, but they also had the heart of Pelagianism in their belief system. We must beware.
“Hear” the words of A.W. Tozer: “There may be a right opinion about God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is proof of this.” The words of Scripture tell us that the real issue of sin is the heart (Mark 7:20-23). Pelagianism teaches that moral character has to do with the volitions (choices) rather than the nature of the heart, yet that idea has spread throughout Christendom. We also speak of people who have heads better than their hearts and those who sin we say that down deep they have a good heart. The gospel has to do with the grace of God changing hearts and human being becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus (II Cor 5:17). The gospel has to do with hearts being changed by the will of God and not the will of man (John 1:12-13). The gospel has to do with sinners becoming cleansed and so become the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 3:16; 6:19). Moral character is not predicated simply by the choices we make, but whether our hearts have been changed and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Moral character is from the love of God in the soul and not simply right choices.
When we think of how evangelism is done in our day, we think of telling people a basic message and then trying to get them to make a choice or pray a prayer. Yet Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born from above (or again) in order to see or enter the kingdom. Jesus did not press him to make a choice or pray a prayer. In biblical evangelism the sinner’s heart must be changed so that the choices the sinner makes comes from a renewed heart that loves God rather than a fallen heart that is trying to do things to please God in the sinner’s own power. Pelagianism has influenced the way evangelism is done and has been doing so in a very clear way since the time of Finney. Asahel Nettleton wept over what was going on and the new measures (of evangelism) that Finney brought in and said that it would change (for bad) Christianity if it continued. He was right.
“The doctrine of justification by faith—a biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort—has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such a manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God. The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is “saved,” but he is not hungry or thirsty after God” (A.W. Pink).
In the quote from Pink above we can see how the tentacles of Pelagianism have grabbed at the heart of Christianity both literally and figuratively. The glorious doctrine of the gospel has been made into something that depends on a choice made by man rather than the act of God in the soul. In the spirit of a hyper-evangelism the glory of God in the gospel has been watered down at best and we have been given over to mechanical methods in an effort to get men to make a choice or pray a prayer. We must remember that the demons prayed to Jesus in an effort to get what their wicked hearts desired. The demons prayed to Jesus and did not want to go to the pit of hell just then. Men will pray prayers in an effort to flee hell, but that prayer does not save a soul from hell. It may be only the words of frightened men who make a “fox-hole conversion” but were never truly converted.
When evangelism is practiced in a way where it is nothing more than a transaction in which men are talked into making a choice that will keep them from hell, it is not the same gospel as Paul preached. A true conversion happens when souls are jarred about their morality to the depths of their soul. True conversion happens when souls are awakened to the depths of their sin and their sinful nature. A person does not see a need for a new heart if s/he is only pushed to make a choice about heaven or hell. The older evangelism from centuries ago stressed the need for people to see the depths of their sin and of their sinful nature. The reason for this was so that they could see their desperate need for God to give them a new heart by grace and that they would not think that all they needed to do was to make a choice. But the evangelism that has grown out of Pelagianism has all things resting in the hands and choices of sinful human beings. It is good news about what people can do for themselves.
In the modern day where Pelagianism in some form has taken over, people are thought to be hyper-Calvinists if they teach that God must change the heart and that salvation is in His hands rather than the choices of unregenerate hearts. This teaches us something very important. We must get a clear idea of what Pelagianism is and we must get a clear idea of what hyper-Calvinism really is. It is my view that Pelagianism is far more dangerous than hyper-Calvinism and has spread itself throughout virtually all of professing Christianity in our day. Pelagianism is really nothing more than what the bible teaches on how men trust in themselves rather than God. That is a teaching that has corrupted the modern Church. It is in all denominations and in all theological circles. Let this article close with a quote from A.W. Tozer and a few comments on it.
“Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God…It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God currently…is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.”
This quote should strike at our self-confident hearts and move us to search our own hearts for Pelagianism. While it may not be comfortable, that is what happens when the search light of God shines. Could it be that in your own heart the real idea of God lies buried under the rubbish of many religious notions that are quite popular today? Could it be that in your own heart that your creedal statements are hiding your real idea of God and of your own heart from you? Could it be that Pelagian thinking has corrupted your concept of God and of the gospel you hold? Perhaps you are zealous for evangelism, but if you don’t have the same gospel Paul preached then you are not evangelizing in truth. If we believe that Galatians 1:8 is true, then we need to bow before God and ask Him to start with the painful probing. If we don’t think it is necessary, then that shows just how necessary it really is. Let us remember the words of Jesus to the churches in Revelation. These were people who were taught by the apostles themselves. We are not immune from Pelagianism and all the things it brings despite our technology and increasing knowledge of nature. Technology does not and cannot change our hearts.
God Loves... Himself 
May 3, 2010 at 1:35 am |
great post as usual!