If you don't know church history then you are doomed to repeat it and will have to refight the same battles against the same heresies.
The church in the United States has been ooozing with the heresy known as Semipelagianism since the time of Finney and the frontier revivalists. What few in the church understand is that Semipelagianism is a heresy that misdiagnoses man's sinful condition and incorrectly puts the responsibility of man's conversion upon himself. This is not what the scriptures teach at all and what is at stake is the Gospel itself and the salvation of those who have been wrongly taught that they are saved by their decision to follow Christ.
The Semipelagian heresy is also what is at the heart and center of the Seeker-Driven and Purpose-Driven evangelism 'methods'. The churches that buy into these heretical assumptions think that the Kingdom of God is grown by scratching the itching ears of so-called 'seekers' and meeting their felt needs DURING THE SUNDAY MORNING CHURCH SERVICE, rather than teach the clear doctrines of the Word of God. The so-called 'seekers' will then feel loved and accepted and will be more apt to want to make a decision to follow Jesus. The heretical assumption of these methods is that humans are NOT born dead in trespasses and sins and are capable of making a free will decision to love and follow God. This has been and always will be heresy. Below are the Canons of the Second Council of Orange which was held in 529 AD in Orange, France. Sadly, the church today does not value its own history and as a result it has become necessary to refight this battle against this dangerous and satanic doctrine.
The Canons of the Council of Orange (529 AD)
CANON 1. If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only the body is subject to corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says, "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:20); and, "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey?" (Rom. 6:12-16); and, "For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved" (2 Pet. 2:19).
CANON 2. If anyone asserts that Adam's sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human race, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who says, "Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).
CANON 3. If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom 10:20, quoting Isa. 65:1).
CANON 4. If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself who says through Solomon, "The will is prepared by the Lord" (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).
CANON 5. If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism-if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, "And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.
CANON 6. If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).
CANON 7. If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospel, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, "Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).
CANON 8. If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by declaring that no one is able to come to him "unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44), as he also says to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17), and as the Apostle says, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).
CANON 9. Concerning the succor of God. It is a mark of divine favor when we are of a right purpose and keep our feet from hypocrisy and unrighteousness; for as often as we do good, God is at work in us and with us, in order that we may do so.
CANON 10. Concerning the succor of God. The succor of God is to be ever sought by the regenerate and converted also, so that they may be able to come to a successful end or persevere in good works.
CANON 11. Concerning the duty to pray. None would make any true prayer to the Lord had he not received from him the object of his prayer, as it is written, "Of thy own have we given thee" (1 Chron. 29:14).
CANON 12. Of what sort we are whom God loves. God loves us for what we shall be by his gift, and not by our own deserving.
CANON 13. Concerning the restoration of free will. The freedom of will that was destroyed in the first man can be restored only by the grace of baptism, for what is lost can be returned only by the one who was able to give it. Hence the Truth itself declares: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
CANON 14. No mean wretch is freed from his sorrowful state, however great it may be, save the one who is anticipated by the mercy of God, as the Psalmist says, "Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us" (Ps. 79:8), and again, "My God in his steadfast love will meet me" (Ps. 59:10).
CANON 15. Adam was changed, but for the worse, through his own iniquity from what God made him. Through the grace of God the believer is changed, but for the better, from what his iniquity has done for him. The one, therefore, was the change brought about by the first sinner; the other, according to the Psalmist, is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 77:10).
CANON 16. No man shall be honored by his seeming attainment, as though it were not a gift, or suppose that he has received it because a missive from without stated it in writing or in speech. For the Apostle speaks thus, "For if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21); and "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men" (Eph. 4:8, quoting Ps. 68:18). It is from this source that any man has what he does; but whoever denies that he has it from this source either does not truly have it, or else "even what he has will be taken away" (Matt. 25:29).
CANON 17. Concerning Christian courage. The courage of the Gentiles is produced by simple greed, but the courage of Christians by the love of God which "has been poured into our hearts" not by freedom of will from our own side but "through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5).
CANON 18. That grace is not preceded by merit. Recompense is due to good works if they are performed; but grace, to which we have no claim, precedes them, to enable them to be done.
CANON 19. That a man can be saved only when God shows mercy. Human nature, even though it remained in that sound state in which it was created, could be no means save itself, without the assistance of the Creator; hence since man cannot safe- guard his salvation without the grace of God, which is a gift, how will he be able to restore what he has lost without the grace of God?
CANON 20. That a man can do no good without God. God does much that is good in a man that the man does not do; but a man does nothing good for which God is not responsible, so as to let him do it.
CANON 21. Concerning nature and grace. As the Apostle most truly says to those who would be justified by the law and have fallen from grace, "If justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21), so it is most truly declared to those who imagine that grace, which faith in Christ advocates and lays hold of, is nature: "If justification were through nature, then Christ died to no purpose." Now there was indeed the law, but it did not justify, and there was indeed nature, but it did not justify. Not in vain did Christ therefore die, so that the law might be fulfilled by him who said, "I have come not to abolish them
CANON 22. Concerning those things that belong to man. No man has anything of his own but untruth and sin. But if a man has any truth or righteousness, it from that fountain for which we must thirst in this desert, so that we may be refreshed from it as by drops of water and not faint on the way.
CANON 23. Concerning the will of God and of man. Men do their own will and not the will of God when they do what displeases him; but when they follow their own will and comply with the will of God, however willingly they do so, yet it is his will by which what they will is both prepared and instructed.
CANON 24. Concerning the branches of the vine. The branches on the vine do not give life to the vine, but receive life from it; thus the vine is related to its branches in such a way that it supplies them with what they need to live, and does not take this from them. Thus it is to the advantage of the disciples, not Christ, both to have Christ abiding in them and to abide in Christ. For if the vine is cut down another can shoot up from the live root; but one who is cut off from the vine cannot live without the root (John 15:5ff).
CANON 25. Concerning the love with which we love God. It is wholly a gift of God to love God. He who loves, even though he is not loved, allowed himself to be loved. We are loved, even when we displease him, so that we might have means to please him. For the Spirit, whom we love with the Father and the Son, has poured into our hearts the love of the Father and the Son (Rom. 5:5).
CONCLUSION. And thus according to the passages of holy scripture quoted above or the interpretations of the ancient Fathers we must, under the blessing of God, preach and believe as follows. The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him. We therefore believe that the glorious faith which was given to Abel the righteous, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and to all the saints of old, and which the Apostle Paul commends in extolling them (Heb. 11), was not given through natural goodness as it was before to Adam, but was bestowed by the grace of God.
And we know and also believe that even after the coming of our Lord this grace is not to be found in the free will of all who desire to be baptized, but is bestowed by the kindness of Christ, as has already been frequently stated and as the Apostle Paul declares, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29). And again, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). And as the Apostle says of himself, "I have obtained mercy to be faithful" (1 Cor. 7:25, cf. 1 Tim. 1:13). He did not say, "because I was faithful," but "to be faithful." And again, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). And again, "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (Jas. 1:17). And again, "No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). There are innumerable passages of holy scripture which can be quoted to prove the case for grace, but they have been omitted for the sake of brevity, because further examples will not really be of use where few are deemed sufficient.
According to the catholic faith we also believe that after grace has been received through baptism, all baptized persons have the ability and responsibility, if they desire to labor faithfully, to perform with the aid and cooperation of Christ what is of essential importance in regard to the salvation of their soul. We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema. We also believe and confess to our benefit that in every good work it is not we who take the initiative and are then assisted through the mercy of God, but God himself first inspires in us both faith in him and love for him without any previous good works of our own that deserve reward, so that we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism be able by his help to do what is pleasing to him. We must therefore most evidently believe that the praiseworthy faith of the thief whom the Lord called to his home in paradise, and of Cornelius the centurion, to whom the angel of the Lord was sent, and of Zacchaeus, who was worthy to receive the Lord himself, was not a natural endowment but a gift of God's kindness.
You sure did spend a lot of time and space copying stuff.
What I don't see is any real evidence that churches are actively engaged in 'heresy' based on semipelagianism. You say it a lot, but I see no evidence.
You opine that "The church in the United States has been ooozing with the heresy known as Semipelagianism since the time of Finney and the frontier revivalists."
You mention (in an incendairy and insulting way) that because churches open their arms and welcome visitors and because they go out of their way to help them feel comfortable, that they are guilty of this "semipelagianism".
MOST PEOPLE are not theologians. MOST PEOPLE aren't interested in understanding the nuances of the philosophy of religion or in studying the various politics surrounding the early church from crucifixion through the 14th or 15th centuries. You attempt to promote yourself as an academecian or a 'learned theologian', but all you are doing is confusing people.
I read through this and tried to see it from an average "joe the plumber" perspective and I say - but God has granted me free will, and in that free will I choose to follow Jesus. You are telling me that I am not "capable of making a free will decision to love and follow God" and to believe so is heresy. The nuance that Grace, given by God, has paved the way for me to have this "free will" isn't apparent, and is probably just a bit more convoluted and complicated than the average person would care to spend the time trying to grasp.
Again, semantics comes into play. You use words to obfuscate the very simple message of the Gospel which is that Christ died on the cross for our sins and through His sacrifice we are saved. Make it so complicated that only the very studied and elite can understand it and you take away so much of what Christ taught. Christ taught in parables because parables were easily understood - stop trying to 'EDIFY' and start just teaching, leading, talking and conversing with people.
I fell into the trap of believing I could never follow all the rules of Christianity and neither was I interested in learning all the gobbledy gook & catechistic language that 'good christians' were supposed to learn. As a result, I turned away from God for 30 years, or more. When I finally understood that I am saved by Grace and that God loves me and I am accepted by Him as a good and faithful servant whether I can pronounce semipelagianism or not - then I understood what being a Christian was about. Only then did I believe that I could 'measure up'. Only then did I embrace my love of Christ and began to let Him change my life.
You make it hard, you make it scary (by crying HERESY all the time), you make it so very intense and confusing that I fear people will turn away rather than open themselves to the possibility that they are God's beloved creation and are offered the gift of salvation by Jesus.
It makes for fiery rhetoric, but bad theology.
Posted by: Shirley | 06/28/2010 at 08:10 PM
This post brings two things to mind.
First, there is a feeling of hopelessness—that the church is still screwing up stuff the same way we always have.
Second, there is a feeling of hope—that we have already seen the twisting of Scripture and the catering to man's ears come and go.
All in all... I love that you posted these canons. Reading the historical accounts of the church defending itself against heresy shows me that those of us who stand vigilant, trying our best and by whatever means reasonable to protect the message of the Gospel are not alone; we stand in the company of many intelligent people before us who have studied the Scripture (probably moreso than all of us) and who have come to similar if not identical conclusions in its defense.
@Shirley - The reason these canons were written is because of the consequence of relinquishing the intellectual part of theology. Without studying and understanding Scripture—without coming into a better understanding and knowledge of Christ from the very book He provided—we are in danger of reverting to messages that omit or obfuscate the Gospel, not the other way around!
If we don't ensure that people understand the nuances of theology, they will be swayed in believing things like mysticism, gnosticism, and the like. Things that "sound spiritual". Without the discernment of an understanding of Scripture, Joe the Plumber will not know how to determine if something that "sounds spiritual" is actually Scriptural. The degrees may only be a bit off at the *beginning* of the journey, but by the *end*, who knows what he'll believe?!
The beauty of canons, creeds, catechisms and hymns is that they DO try to condense the essentials of theology into something digestible. With them, people are more inclined to have answers to questions like, "So why do you believe in the Trinity?" Instead, nowadays, most people say something like, "Oh, I don't get into all of that. I just love Jesus."
That sort of argument sounds good until someone says, "Well, then you can agree with me that there is only one God who manifests Himself in different modes, right?" And then they start listing verses from Scripture. Now Joe doesn't have an argument, and can be swayed into modalism, then maybe into the belief that if he wasn't "baptized in the name of Jesus—the onlyoOne true God" that he's not saved (this is a common belief held by Oneness Pentecostals). Joe's very SALVATION is now in question, and he has no information with which to respond.
And this, of course, is one of hundreds of examples throughout history.
I vote for more intelligent theology to be taught in more churches every Sunday and more (classes available throughout the week or in Sunday School, etc.). People need to know more about their faiths to be less susceptible to false doctrine.
Posted by: Frank Rue | 07/03/2010 at 12:35 AM
@Shirley,
What happened to you was monsterous and my heart goes out to you. People did not present the gospel of Christ to you and that is a terrible tragedy.
You were a victim of the very thing that Chris and others are trying to stop. Your previous bad experience with Christians who taught you a legalistic list of "does" and "don'ts" instead of the clear love of Christ is happening all over the place. One of the reasons why this happens is because common folk innocently trust people to teach about God, but those people know next to nothing about their professional field: Christian Teaching. Because of this, they mislead people... lots of people.
The reason why Semi-pelagianism is so important is because church leaders who believe this teaching often push "making a decision for Jesus" on people to the point where they can only see THE CHOICE THAT THEY HAVE TO MAKE ALL ALONE BY THEMSELVES instead of seeing the love of Christ. This teaching of free will gets in the way of Christ and his love for us and puts the burden on you and your choice to follow God. Many teachers use this false teaching to guilt people into becoming Christians through emotional manipuation and half-truths about what the Bible actually says.
What's worse is that when people start to worry about their salvation and worry that God does not love them, instead of pointing them to Christ and His love, these teachers point people to their own decision and will to follow Jesus... which is the very thing that they are having doubts about. They turn your faith into trust about the decision you made rather than faith in Jesus' work to save people on the cross.
I hope that you can see that, while this may seem complicated, it is vitally important. You want your preachers and teachers to know this stuff for the same reason you want your politicians, judges, and police to understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It's a bunch of words on a page that can be confusing, but it protects everyone's rights. When leaders ignore the complex issues and teachings of the Bible, they can easily trample on the consciences of the Christians that they are supposed to care for.
You have a right to receive the truth of Scripture from compitent preachers that you can trust. That only happens when they fully understand the Scriptures that they are supposed to study in great detail. That is what Chris is trying to get people to see... that the complex issues of church doctrine directly effect the folks sitting in the pews.
Posted by: Mike Baker | 07/20/2010 at 01:42 PM