409–431

The Pelagian Controversy over Grace and the Condemnation of Pelagianism

The monk Pelagius, preaching in Rome, argued that the commandment "Be perfect" is not only possible to fulfill but obligatory, for God would not command the impossible. He did not deny grace, but understood it as the gift of freedom at creation, the instruction of the law and the gospel together with Christ's example, and the forgiveness of past sins in baptism. Augustine was provoked when Pelagius objected to the phrase from the Confessions "Give what you command"; almost twenty years of struggle with the Pelagians led him to work out his doctrine of grace in detail. Pelagius's disciple Celestius was condemned in Carthage, Pelagius himself was acquitted at Diospolis, but the African synods won the support of Rome; an imperial edict of 418 banned Pelagianism, and the Council of Ephesus in 431 anathematized it.