Was St. John Chrysostom Pelagian?
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In this answer about Pelagianism (https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/48621/did-pelagius-believe-in-faith-alone/52958#52958) the author makes a sort of apology for Pelagianism and claims that St. John Chrysostom was Pelagian himself. The author says in the comments: "early synergist fathers implicitly believed same that man can be saved without grace ... Chrysostom was a Pelagian". I haven't yet dug into the works of this St. John, but found a good article about the topic:
St John Chrysostom on Grace and Free Will
In which there is the following paragraph:
> Chrysostom then raises as a possible objection the famous statement of St. Paul in Romans, “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (9:16). His reply is that St. Paul here uses the common idiomatic device in which one who is the author of the greater part of a work is said to be its sole cause, as when a house is said to be an architect’s doing even though in fact he only designed it. Paul’s purpose, he says, is “that we should not be lifted up …Even though you run (he would say), even though you excel, do not consider the well-doing your own; for if you do not obtain the impulse from above, all is to no purpose.”
The footnote cites the source as:
> Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews 12.3 (PG 63 100); tr. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First
Series (= NPNF) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983 [reprint]), vol. 14. I have modified
translations from NPNF for the sake of style and to bring out important features of the Greek.
I think the author of the aforementioned post is conflating patristic synergism with Pelagianism and therefore teaching what mainline Christianity has considered heresy since the Pelagian controversies. However, I don't have a larger perspective on the views of St. John Chrysostom. Is the referenced article correct and does St. John Chrysostom indisputably teach synergism and that man cannot be saved without grace?
Asked by Ian
(1232 rep)
Jun 20, 2017, 02:48 PM
Last activity: Jun 20, 2017, 07:49 PM
Last activity: Jun 20, 2017, 07:49 PM