The basic points of Pelagianism may seem like common sense to many people, but that simply points to the need for humanity to recognize its fallen condition. What seems like common sense is simply natural sense or the sense that comes from sinful human nature. We begin to reason from ourselves and the way we perceive things. For example, we know that we should not expect our infants to obey our commands to mow the yard. We know that they are unable to do so. We would also not command a frail person to lift a thousand pounds and press it. These things are common sense. But there is the distinction between physical ability and moral or spiritual ability. A person has the physical ability to do what s/he can do according to the physical nature. But the moral or spiritual ability of people is according to the judgment of God upon them. Adam acted as the federal representative of all humanity (see Romans 5). When he sinned, all fell into sin in him.
Pelagian thinking is an outright denial of Ephesians 2:1-3 in all parts: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” The thinking of the Pelagian is that we are not dead in trespasses and sin because ability is the measure of responsibility. The Pelagian denies that all are children of wrath by nature because of the same reason. The Pelagian also says that if we are dead in sin and are children of wrath by nature, then we have no ability and so we have no responsibility as well.
It is here that we run into a major teaching of Pelagianism which is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of grace alone. Now, if virtually anyone who really believed and loved the Gospel of grace alone would be asked if s/he could love a doctrine that was directly opposed to the Gospel of grace alone, that person would deny that with some degree of vehemence. It may be that a person may have read the basic tenants of Pelagianism and believe that they are wrong. But there is still a major teaching that hides itself in the background of Pelagianism. It is believed by the vast majority of people in the religious world today and by most of those who don’t believe it (though few in number), they don’t see it as a major issue at all. This major issue is free-will.
Let me give the basic tenants of Pelagianism again in something of a logical form.
(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.
Now, let us look at them again. A volition is simply an act of the will in choice. If moral character can be predicated only of volition, then the will must be free in order to make choices that are moral in nature. The truth of this assertion would be seen from statements (d) and (e) above. The Pelagian asserts that man, as a self-determined agent, makes choices apart from any internal influence of God. So for a volition to determine moral character rather than an internal and moral nature, the will must be free from the internal influences of God.
If ability is always the measure of responsibility, then a person must have free-will so they could have any ability at all. This shows that man has no responsibility apart from the free-will. Even more, if the soul always has the plenary power to do all that it is its duty to do, then the will always has the power to be free in order to do what it is commanded to do. Pelagianism, then, is really the attempt to assert free-will over the free grace of God. We could also turn that around and say that free-will is the attempt to assert Pelagianism over the free grace of God. Free-will and free grace are opposed to each other at each point. If we are going to fight Pelagianism because it is opposite of the grace of God in salvation, then we must fight free-will as well. There is no fighting one without the other. In fact, the doctrine of the free-will is really the heart of the Pelagian system. To fight Pelagianism is to fight free-will. Yet to staunchly defend free-will is to defend the heart of Pelagianism. Pelagianism stands or falls with the teaching of free-will. Christianity only stands when it defends the truth of free-grace against the error of free-will. The heart of the Gospel of free grace will only stand when it is free of the tentacles of free-will.
God Loves... Himself 
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