The Religions Book

220

GOD’S GRACE

NEVER FAILS

AUGUSTINE AND FREE WILL

D

o we choose God, or does

God choose us? This

question has troubled

Christian thinkers since the

earliest days of the Church. At its

heart is the tricky philosophical

issue of free will, translated into

the context of the Christian faith.

It took the brilliant mind of the

theologian Augustine to come up

with a way of explaining how God’s

choice relates to human choice.

The Pelagian controversy

Augustine was propelled into the

debate over free will in the early

5th century when Pelagius, a Celtic

monk, arrived in North Africa. The

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Augustine of Hippo

WHEN AND WHERE

354–430 CE,

present-day Algeria

BEFORE

From c.1000 BCE The Jews

understand themselves to

be chosen by God because

of his grace, not by virtue of

their inherent goodness.

c.30 CE Jesus teaches his

followers about grace: “You

didn’t choose me. I chose you.”

AFTER

418 CE Augustine’s teaching

on grace is accepted by the

Church and Pelagius is

condemned as a heretic at

the Council of Carthage.

16th century Calvin develops

Augustine’s thought in his

doctrine of predestination,

which becomes a central

element of the theology of

the Protestant Reformation.

The weak human will

always choose sin

over God.

God gives grace to

people to enable them

to choose him.

Salvation is by God’s grace,

not human capability.

God’s grace cannot fail.

Humans are thus not

free to choose God.

The human will is weak.