Theological Term of the Week: Augustinianism

Augustinianism

The theological position that since the fall, all people have been corrupted by original sin, and are unable to love God or follow his commands. It is only by God’s gracious work that anyone can truly obey God or excercise faith in him, so human salvation is a work of God from start to finish.

• From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6:

Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof.



1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.

2. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

3. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.

4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

• From Outlines of Theology by A. A. Hodge, on the Augustinian view of grace:

If nevertheless man in his present state, wills and does good, it is merely the work of grace. It is an inward, secret, and wonderful operation of God upon man. It s a preceding as well as an accompanying work. By preceding grace, man attains faith, by which he comes to an insight of good, and by which power is given him to will the good. He needs cooperating grace for the performance of every individual good act. As man can do nothing without grace, so he can do nothing against it. It is irresistible. And as man by nature has no merit at all, no respect at all can be had to man’s moral disposition, in imparting grace, but God acts according to his own free will.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is Augustinianism?
2. Matthew Barrett: The Battle of the Will, Part 1: Pelagius and Augustine
3. Monergism:  Comparing Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, and Augustinianism
4. A. A. Hodge: A Comparison of Systems: Pelagianism, Semipelagianism, and Augustinianism

Related terms:

• Pelagianism
• Semi-Pelagianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Sunday Hymn: Let Us Plead for Faith Alone

Let us plead for faith alone
Faith which by our works is shown;
God it is who jus­ti­fies,
Only faith the grace ap­plies.

Active faith that lives with­in,
Conquers hell and death and sin,
Hallows whom it first made whole,
Forms the Sav­ior in the soul.

Let us for this faith con­tend,
Sure sal­va­tion is the end;
Heaven al­rea­dy is be­gun,
Everlasting life is won.

Only let us per­se­vere
Till we see our Lord ap­pear,
Never from the Rock re­move,
Saved by faith which works by love.

—Charles Wesley

Theological Term of the Week: Author of Sin

author of sin

A term sometimes used when describing the relationship between God’s agency and evil human acts, usually used negatively [as in “God is not (or cannot be) the author of sin”], but rarely defined. Possible definitions include: one who is the efficient cause of an evil act, one who forces someone to commit and evil act, one who tempts someone to commit an evil act, or one who does an evil act.

• From scripture:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one (James 1:13 ESV). 

• From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 3:

1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, pages 107-108, on the objection that the teaching that God decrees whatever happens makes God the author of sin:

 IT MAKES GOD THE AUTHOR OF SIN. This, if true, would naturally be an insuperable objection, for God cannot be the author of sin. This follows equally from Scripture, Ps. 92:15; Eccl. 7:29; Jas. 1:13; I John 1:5, from the law of God which prohibits all sin, and from the holiness of God. But the charge is not true; the decree merely makes God the author of free moral beings, who are themselves the authors of sin. God decrees to sustain their free agency, to regulate the circumstances of their life, and to permit that free agency to exert itself in a multitude of acts, of which some are sinful. For good and holy reasons He renders these sinful acts certain, but He does not decree to work evil desires or choices efficiently in man. The decree respecting sin is not an efficient but a permissive decree, or a decree to permit, in distinction from a decree to produce, sin by divine efficiency. No difficulty attaches to such a decree which does not also attach to a mere passive permission of what He could very well prevent, such as the Arminians, who generally raise this objection, assume. The problem of God’s relation to sin remains a mystery for us, which we are not able to solve. It may be said, however, that His decree to permit sin, while it renders the entrance of sin into the world certain, does not mean that He takes delight in it; but only that He deemed it wise, for the purpose of His self-revelation, to permit moral evil, however abhorrent it may be to His nature. 

Learn more:

1. Michael Horton: FAQ: Does Predestination Mean God Is the Author of Sin?
2. Steve Hays: Is God the author of sin? Part 1, Part 2
3. James N. Anderson: Does Divine Determinism Make God the Author of Sin?
4. Richard Phillips: The Origin of Sin

Related terms:

• compatibilism (coming soon)
• order of God’s decrees
• unconditional election

Filed under Reformed Theology

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.