Semi-Pelagianism
Protestant accounts range from monergist to synergist explanations, but classical confessions reject the claim that fallen humanity can begin saving faith without grace.
Historical context
The controversy developed in fifth- and sixth-century monastic and Latin theological debates after the Pelagian controversy. Writers associated with southern Gaul defended human responsibility and cooperation, while opponents argued for the priority of grace in the beginning of faith. Later Western traditions used the category differently, so the term requires historical care.
Reception
Protestant accounts range from monergist to synergist explanations, but classical confessions reject the claim that fallen humanity can begin saving faith without grace.
Memory hook
Grace awakens and heals the response; it is not merely added afterward.
Key points
- Human consent and cooperation can be real without being an independent source of salvation.
- The question concerns the beginning of faith and conversion, not whether Christians should act, repent, or persevere.
- Grace can be understood as healing and enabling the will rather than replacing it.
- Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions use different accounts of the relation between grace, freedom, and cooperation.
Common questions
- Can grace be prior without making human response meaningless?
- Is synergy the same as self-salvation?
- How does this debate differ from Pelagianism?
Doctrinal connections
- Grace
- Free will
- Conversion
- Synergy
- Justification
Scripture
- 1 Corinthians 4:7 — Paul asks what anyone has that was not received.
- Philippians 2:12–13 — Human response is real, yet God is at work in willing and acting.
Primary sources
The Second Council of Orange states:
Orange's fourth canon says that even the will to be cleansed is already a work of the Holy Spirit's grace.
even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit
Passage context and translation
Canon 4 rejects making divine cleansing wait upon a wholly unaided first movement of the human will. The later label 'Semi-Pelagianism' should not erase the variety of positions in the historical dispute.
Before the excerpt
If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin
After the excerpt
For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure