We have looked at three of the points of Pelagianism according to A.A. Hodge over the past few posts. The fourth point is as follows: “(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.”
Hodge has set out the Pelagian view in somewhat of a logical argument. When adjusted a little it fits easily into argument form and appears something like what follows:
(a) Moral character can be predicated only of volitions.
(b) Ability is always the measure of responsibility
(c) Therefore, every man has always the plenary power to do all that it is his duty to do.
(d) Therefore, the human will alone, to the exclusion of the interference of an internal influence from God, must decide human character and destiny.
(e) Therefore, the only divine influence needed by man or consistent with his character as a self-determined agent is an external, providential, and educational one.
Notice the power of this argument and its reliance upon the freedom of the will and the absence of the hand of God on the soul itself. In (a) moral character can only be predicated only of volitions. This statement denies that a moral character can be of the person’s nature or comes from the heart. It is only of a bare volition as such. If one accepts that moral character can only be predicated of volitions, then one must accept that (b) ability is always the measure of responsibility. In a sense (a) and (b) are separate, but in another sense they are inextricably linked together. The trap, if one is following it, has been sprung and it is hard to get out of it. If we accept that (a) and (b) are correct, we are driven to the following conclusion of (c). If ability is always the measure of responsibility, then every man always has the plenary power to do all that it is his duty to do. Surely that would shock Paul who did all by the power that worked in him (Col 1:29) and not by some external influence.
There is no getting out of the argument at this point unless one goes back to (a) and (b) and looks at the rotten foundation that they are built on. But notice where this argument has taken us and where we are at if we have agreed to it. We are now at the point of holding that whatever it is man’s duty to do it is also in his power to do. If it is in man’s power to do all that it is his duty to do, and man is not responsible apart from what he has the power and ability to do, then it is the human will alone to the exclusion of the interference of an internal influence from God that must decide human character and destiny. What man needs from God, then, is simply a God that will work on his external parts in a providential and educational way. This describes the vast amount of religion in America today. It sounds a whole lot like a lot of modern “Reformed” teaching as well. It sounds like almost all of the evangelism and “gospel preaching” today. The real choice and power is that of the human will, though the theory may be different. Practically speaking, however, that is what we are left with.
What we are told over and over again is that we must balance the teaching of the sovereignty of God with the responsibility of man. We are told that it is man who must repent and it is man who must believe. But that is not the whole issue. Is it the will of man that enables the man to repent or is it the will of God that enables the man to repent? Is it the will of man that enables man to believe or is it the will of God that enables man to believe? This is a vital question. The word “responsibility” can be used by Pelagians of differing degrees and of Reformed people as well. A Pelagian can speak of the sovereignty of God as well. So both a Pelagian and a Reformed person can state the words that “we must teach the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God.” But they mean something totally different by the statement, or at least if they are consistent with the historical positions they will. Historically, the two positions are polar opposites. Today, different words are used but it seems as if the meanings are getting closer and closer. But the Reformed position is the one changing and so is becoming like the Pelagian side and not the other way around.
The semi-Pelagian position will have God reaching out to man with co-operative grace which may render the man’s efforts successful. But the Augustinian or Reformed position teaches that the will cannot cooperate with God until God has renewed the will and has been renewed by grace. These positions cannot be more opposite. There is no middle ground between the Augustinian view and anything else. It is that God saves by grace alone and nothing else. Man does not assist in his own salvation but instead is saved by God alone. God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:3-6). God reaches down and saves sinners by raising them from the dead because of who He is and not because of anything He finds in them (Eph 2:4-10). There is utterly no room for boasting in any saved person other than boasting in the cross of Christ.
The “Reformed” teaching of today tells us that we must stress the responsibility of man, and indeed we must tell man that he is obligated to love God with all of his being and to repent and believe if s/he is to be saved. But does man have the ability to do that of himself? When we leave human souls to their own devices and do not tell them that the grace and power of God can give them new hearts by grace alone, we are practical Pelagians. We have done nothing but given them external words that tell them of external duties if we do not tell them the truth of their rotten and sinful hearts and natures. Men are Pelagians by birth and will hear us as Pelagians when we tell them the externals of the Gospel. But the only real Gospel is the Augustinian one. It is by grace alone from beginning to end and it is a grace that changes the hearts of human beings and it is grace that enables them to repent and believe. Salvation is by grace alone. In this case, alone means alone and by itself.
God Loves... Himself 
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