The Pelagian Error Revived

We said in the first book that the heresy which copies and follows the lead of Pelagianism strives and contends in every way to make people believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was only a mere man when he was born of the Virgin. It holds that he afterward took the path of virtue, and by his holy and devout life earned, because of this holiness, the right to be counted worthy of having the divine majesty unite itself to him. So, by cutting him off altogether from the honor of his sacred origin, it left him nothing but being chosen on account of his merits. Their aim and effort was this: by bringing him down to the level of ordinary men and making him one of the common crowd, they might claim that all men could gain by their good life and deeds whatever he had gained by his good life. This is a most dangerous and deadly claim indeed. It takes away what truly belongs to God and holds out false promises to men, and it deserves to be condemned for abominable lies on both counts, since it attacks God with wicked blasphemy and gives men the hope of a false security. It is a most perverse and wicked claim, because it gives to men what does not belong to them and takes away from God what is his. [a]

And so this new heresy, which has recently sprung up, is in a way stirring and reviving the embers of this dangerous and deadly evil, and raising a fresh flame from its ancient ashes, by claiming that our Lord Jesus Christ was born a mere man. Why, then, do we need to ask whether its consequences are dangerous, when it is utterly wrong at its very source? There is no need to examine what it is like in its outcome, since its starting point leaves us no reason to examine it. For what is the point of asking whether, like the earlier heresy, it holds out the same promises to man, if (and this is the most terrible sin) it takes the same things away from God? So it would almost be wrong, once we see how it begins, to ask what follows, as if some way might appear later on by which a man who denies God could prove that he was not irreligious.

The new heresy, then, as we have already said many times, says that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary only a mere man, and so Mary should be called Christotokos, not Theotokos, because she was the mother of Christ, not of God. To this blasphemous statement it adds arguments as wicked as they are foolish, saying, “No one ever gave birth to one who existed before her.” As if the birth of the only Son of God, foretold by prophets and announced since the beginning of the world, could be handled or measured by human reasoning! Or did the Virgin Mary (O you heretic, whoever you are, who slander her for her childbearing) bring about and accomplish what came to pass by her own strength, so that in a matter and event of such great importance human weakness can be raised as an objection? If there was anything in this great event that was the work of man, then look for human arguments. But if everything that was done was due to the power of God, why do you consider what is impossible for men, when you see that it is the work of divine power? But more of this later. Now let us follow up the subject we began to discuss a little while back, so that everyone may know that you are trying to fan the flame in the ashes of Pelagianism, and to revive its embers by breathing out fresh blasphemy.