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On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin

Blessed Augustine, NPNF I.5

Extract from Augustin’s Retractations
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1. Introductory
Suspicious Character of Pelagius’ Confession as to the Necessity of Grace for Every…
3. Grace According to the Pelagians
4. Pelagius’ System of Faculties
5. Pelagius’ Own Account of the Faculties, Quoted
6. Pelagius and Paul of Different Opinions
7. Pelagius Posits God’s Aid Only for Our “Capacity.”
Grace, According to the Pelagians, Consists in the Internal and Manifold Illumination of…
9. The Law One Thing, Grace Another. The Utility of the Law
10. What Purpose the Law Subserves
Pelagius’ Definition of How God Helps Us: “He Promises Us Future Glory.”
12. The Same Continued: “He Reveals Wisdom.”
13. Grace Causes Us to Do
The Righteousness Which is of God, and the Righteousness Which is of the Law
15. He Who Has Been Taught by Grace Actually Comes to Christ
We Need Divine Aid in the Use of Our Powers. Illustration from Sight
Does Pelagius Designedly Refrain from Openly Saying that All Good Action is from God?
18. He Discovers the Reason of Pelagius’ Hesitation So to Say
The Two Roots of Action, Love and Cupidity; And Each Brings Forth Its Own Fruit
20. How a Man Makes a Good or a Bad Tree
Love the Root of All Good Things; Cupidity, of All Evil Ones
22. Love is a Good Will
Pelagius’ Double Dealing Concerning the Ground of the Conference of Grace
Pelagius Places Free Will at the Basis of All Turning to God for Grace
God by His Wonderful Power Works in Our Hearts Good Dispositions of Our Will
The Pelagian Grace of “Capacity” Exploded. The Scripture Teaches the Need of God’s Help…
What True Grace Is, and Wherefore Given. Merits Do Not Precede Grace
Pelagius Teaches that Satan May Be Resisted Without the Help of the Grace of God
When He Speaks of God’s Help, He Means It Only to Help Us Do What Without It We Still…
What Pelagius Thinks is Needful for Ease of Performance is Really Necessary for the…
31. Pelagius and Coelestius Nowhere Really Acknowledge Grace
Why the Pelagians Deemed Prayers to Be Necessary. The Letter Which Pelagius Despatched to…
Pelagius Professes Nothing on the Subject of Grace Which May Not Be Understood of the Law…
Pelagius Says that Grace is Given According to Men’s Merits. The Beginning, However, of…
Pelagius Believes that Infants Have No Sin to Be Remitted in Baptism
36. Coelestius Openly Declares Infants to Have No Original Sin
Pelagius Nowhere Admits the Need of Divine Help for Will and Action
38. A Definition of the Grace of Christ by Pelagius
39. A Letter of Pelagius Unknown to Augustin
The Help of Grace Placed by Pelagius in the Mere Revelation of Teaching
Restoration of Nature Understood by Pelagius as Forgiveness of Sins
Grace Placed by Pelagius in the Remission of Sins and the Example of Christ
The Forgiveness of Sins and Example of Christ Held by Pelagius Enough to Save the Most…
Pelagius Once More Guards Himself Against the Necessity of Grace
To What Purpose Pelagius Thought Prayers Ought to Be Offered
46. Pelagius Professes to Respect the Catholic Authors
47. Ambrose Most Highly Praised by Pelagius
48. Ambrose is Not in Agreement with Pelagius
Ambrose Teaches with What Eye Christ Turned and Looked Upon Peter
50. Ambrose Teaches that All Men Need God’s Help
Ambrose Teaches that It is God that Does for Man What Pelagius Attributes to Free Will
If Pelagius Agrees with Ambrose, Augustin Has No Controversy with Him
In What Sense Some Men May Be Said to Live Without Sin in the Present Life
54. Ambrose Teaches that No One is Sinless in This World
Ambrose Witnesses that Perfect Purity is Impossible to Human Nature
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Caution Needed in Attending to Pelagius’ Deliverances on Infant Baptism
Coelestius, on His Trial at Carthage, Refuses to Condemn His Error; The Written Statement…
Part of the Proceedings of the Council of Carthage Against Coelestius
Coelestius Concedes Baptism for Infants, Without Affirming Original Sin
Coelestius’ Book Which Was Produced in the Proceedings at Rome
Coelestius the Disciple is in This Work Bolder Than His Master
7. Pope Zosimus Kindly Excuses Him
8. Coelestius Condemned by Zosimus
Pelagius Deceived the Council in Palestine, But Was Unable to Deceive the Church at Rome
The Judgment of Innocent Respecting the Proceedings in Palestine
11. How that Pelagius Deceived the Synod of Palestine
A Portion of the Proceedings of the Synod of Palestine in the Cause of Pelagius
13. Coelestius the Bolder Heretic; Pelagius the More Subtle
He Shows That, Even After the Synod of Palestine, Pelagius Held the Same Opinions as…
Pelagius by His Mendacity and Deception Stole His Acquittal from the Synod in Palestine
16. Pelagius’ Fraudulent and Crafty Excuses
17. How Pelagius Deceived His Judges
18. The Condemnation of Pelagius
Pelagius’ Attempt to Deceive the Apostolic See; He Inverts the Bearings of the Controversy
Pelagius Provides a Refuge for His Falsehood in Ambiguous Subterfuges
Pelagius Avoids the Question as to Why Baptism is Necessary for Infants
22. Another Instance of Pelagius’ Ambiguity
23. What He Means by Our Birth to an “Uncertain” Life
24. Pelagius’ Long Residence at Rome
25. The Condemnation of Pelagius and Coelestius
The Pelagians Maintain that Raising Questions About Original Sin Does Not Endanger the…
On Questions Outside the Faith-What They Are, and Instances of the Same
The Heresy of Pelagius and Coelestius Aims at the Very Foundations of Our Faith
The Righteous Men Who Lived in the Time of the Law Were for All that Not Under the Law,…
Pelagius and Coelestius Deny that the Ancient Saints Were Saved by Christ
Christ’s Incarnation Was of Avail to the Fathers, Even Though It Had Not Yet Happened
He Shows by the Example of Abraham that the Ancient Saints Believed in the Incarnation of…
33. How Christ is Our Mediator
34. No Man Ever Saved Save by Christ
Why the Circumcision of Infants Was Enjoined Under Pain of So Great a Punishment
The Platonists’ Opinion About the Existence of the Soul Previous to the Body Rejected
37. In What Sense Christ is Called “Sin.”
38. Original Sin Does Not Render Marriage Evil
39. Three Things Good and Laudable in Matrimony
Marriage Existed Before Sin Was Committed. How God’s Blessing Operated in Our First…
Lust and Travail Come from Sin. Whence Our Members Became a Cause of Shame
The Evil of Lust Ought Not to Be Ascribed to Marriage. The Three Good Results of the…
Human Offspring, Even Previous to Birth, Under Condemnation at the Very Root. Uses of…
Even the Children of the Regenerate Born in Sin. The Effect of Baptism
45. Man’s Deliverance Suited to the Character of His Captivity
Difficulty of Believing Original Sin. Man’s Vice is a Beast’s Nature
47. Sentences from Ambrose in Favour of Original Sin
48. Pelagius Rightly Condemned and Really Opposed by Ambrose