The Necessity of Faith in Jesus Christ to Obtain Salvation

By Antoine Arnauld

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462863525

Antoine Arnauld

Guido Stucco holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University.

Book preview

PART I

CONTAINING THE PROOFS OF THE NECESSITY OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST IN ORDER TO BE SAVED

CHAPTER ONE

Philosophers and virtuous pagans cannot be saved through the mere knowledge of God and his Providence, without faith in Jesus Christ. To uphold the contrary amounts to destroying the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ established through Holy Scriptures.

There is a sentiment that has been upheld by some people in this century, including writers who profess the Christian and Catholic religion, according to which pagans who have led a morally good life and hated idolatry and polytheism have attained eternal happiness.

It does not seem necessary to identify by name those who have taught this false and erroneous doctrine,³⁴ which they dared to legitimize by claiming that several Church Fathers, both ancient and modern, shared the same sentiment. However, it is easy to show that these people have made sport of the most evident and clear words of Holy Scripture, and employed them in support of their false and dangerous view; such approach flies against the plain meaning of the texts and ends up leaving nothing certain in our religion.

For all practical purposes, this is exactly what heretics have done in the past, altering the meaning of the most holy and undisputed sayings of the Scripture. For instance, if one asks Calvinists whether they believe that the Eucharist is the body of the Son of God, they will not hesitate to admit that Jesus Christ undeniably said so, and yet they will not fail to superimpose their sacrilegious interpretation to the biblical texts, thus invalidating and cancelling their first admission. This is exactly what those who pretend to fill heaven with pagan philosophers have done, as they strive to honor their memory and elevate them to the rank of ‘spiritual fathers.’ Since they do not dare to directly challenge this cardinal principle of the Christian faith, namely that nobody can be saved other than through faith in Jesus Christ, they give the appearance of agreeing with it; and yet they do so in a very dangerous way, by changing the meaning of this principle and using ambiguous expressions, as they claim that pagans had an implicit faith in Jesus Christ. When pressured to explain what they mean, they reduce this implicit faith not to a knowledge of the future Messiah and Mediator, which the Jews had, but to the mere knowledge of a good and merciful God; in this way, these people take back with one hand what they appear to give with the other, having broken, so to speak, the door that bars the entrance to heaven to all pagans, whom they feel free to welcome in great numbers, as I will attempt to show in the course of my book. Thus, it seems that thanks to them our Martyrology has been increased with new martyrs, previously unknown to the Church.

It is easy to clearly show that this understanding of faith in Jesus Christ ruins the necessity of faith in Jesus established by the divine scriptures, just as the Calvinist understanding of the sacramental words of Jesus at the Last Supper ruins the truth of the Eucharist. It is sufficient to examine in what manner Holy Scripture distinguishes between this faith in a Redeemer which is necessary for salvation from the knowledge of one God, to clearly see that it is not enough to believe in God to attain eternal life, but that in addition to that, one also needs to believe in a Mediator, Jesus Christ. In light of what I have said, it is impossible to conceive something which is more contrary to the Word of God than this misguided view, according to which pagans who believed in the existence of God must be regarded as having faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that is necessary for salvation.

CHAPTER TWO

First proofs, drawn from Jesus Christ’s own words, exposing the falsity of the sentiment of those who claim that pagans and philosophers were able to be saved through the knowledge of God and his Providence, without faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ himself formally dismissed this sentiment when he said to his Father: This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ (Jn 17:3). For it is certain that this life spoken of by Christ, is nothing else than God’s own life, outside of which nothing else exists, but death brought by sin. Such life does not only include the life of glory, but the life of grace as well, since they are one and the same life: one is its beginning, and the other its consummation. Consequently, it is clear that to know that one God exists is not sufficient to partake of this divine life, but furthermore it is also necessary to know Jesus Christ, who was unknown to all philosophers; in fact, we cannot legitimately say that pagans have known this man-God, who was sent into the world to redeem and save it.

This is what was taught by the Savior even more clearly through what he said to Nicodemus, who, as a Pharisee and one of the best teachers of the Law among the Jews, already knew well enough, without any need of further instruction, that one cannot be saved without acknowledging the unity of God and rejecting idolatry: And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (Jn 3:14, 15). Therefore, here we have a necessary condition in order not to perish and to be able to attain eternal life: not just to believe in a God, creator of the world, but in a God crucified for the redemption of the world! Just as an OT passage suggests, according to which it was not sufficient to believe that God had a general providence for all the Jews in order to be healed from the serpents’ bites, but an additional detail was added, namely that those bitten by snakes had to look up at Moses’ bronze serpent in order to be healed (Num 21:8, 9)—likewise, in order to be healed from one’s sins, it is not enough to believe that God has a general providence for the salvation of all men, but one also needs to believe that there is an additional factor responsible for the salvation of the faithful, namely that there is only one means of salvation, Jesus Christ crucified. This is also what the Son of God declared to Nicodemus with the divine words: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn 3:16). On the basis of these words we can establish whether or not pagans can be saved without believing in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, merely through the knowledge that the light of natural reason may bestow on them concerning the existence of one Author of all things. Moreover, if that was the case, what need is there to testify the love that God had for all people to the point of delivering to death his beloved Son, so that by believing in him, they may not die, considering that even without this faith people are able not to perish and attain eternal life?

I conclude that this doctrine is false and that it necessarily leads to the conclusion that Jesus Christ died in vain, as St. Paul said. However, it almost seems that the Son of God foresaw these delusions of the human spirit, and completely vanquished them by adding these words to the previous ones: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God (Jn 3:17, 18).

Clearly, the Son of God could not have used more evident and clear terms to express the absolute necessity of acknowledging and believing in him in order to be saved; for he said that one who does not believe, not only does not deserve to have his/her case considered, but he/she has already been condemned. The reason for this is that although people may have moral virtues and a knowledge of God, it suffices for their condemnation that they have not acknowledged God’s only Son and placed in him alone all their hopes of salvation, since the Son of God is the only Mediator between God and human beings.

CHAPTER THREE

More proofs concerning this truth, drawn from the reason for the Incarnation of the Son of God and the fact that he is the Way, the Life and the Door of the sheepfold.

The Son of God emphasized more clearly this truth when, as he instructed the Apostles about more secret mysteries on the eve of his death, he told them: I am the way, the truth and life: no one comes to the Father but through me (Jn 14:6). This saying suggests that these are two extremely different things, but that they are both equally necessary for salvation, namely a) to know God as ultimate happiness and good, whom we should yearn for and strive to attain; and b) to know Jesus Christ, who is the only path through which we may arrive to God. This is what Augustine explained very often through the concepts of quo and qua, which is to say, where one aims to go and the only path leading to it.

Also, this is the only reason one may give for the Incarnation of the Word, who is truth itself: our soul, due to the corruption of its nature, has become unable to save itself, and our spirit is so filled with darkness caused by our sins, that not only we are unable to fully rejoice in the truth, but we cannot, through our own unaided strength, endure its light. This is why it was necessary for God to become man, so that humanity may have a man-God who purified it through faith in his name, and who is its first remedy. Unfaithfulness was the cause of humanity’ sin, and therefore, through this man-God, we have a way to return to God, according to the saying: There would be no way to God unless God had become man.

Augustine wrote in The City of God XI. 2: For this is the mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus. For it is as man that he is the Mediator and the Way. If the way lies between he who goes and the place where he goes, there is hope of him reaching it; but if there be no way or if he does not know where it is, how does it help him to know where should he go? It follows that the greatest advantage pagan philosophers had was to have known about that place or where one must go, which is to say, they recognized that our souls cannot find any veritable place of rest other than in God alone and in the full enjoyment of immutable truth: this indeed is the highest and most spiritual insight that the wise men of this world ever attained. At the same time, one may add that among these so-called wise men, it was only the Platonic philosophers who went this far. Nevertheless, according to Sacred Scripture and the Church Fathers, no one was able to lead them to the blessed enjoyment of God, since they did not know Jesus Christ, who is the only way through which we may arrive at God, as God became man for the salvation of humankind; consequently, it proved pointless for them to know where they should strive to go, since they ignored the path leading to it.

This is what God’s eternal providence wanted to make known through a person like St. Augustine, who learned through his own experience what he later taught others with much authority and certainty. In his Confessions, Augustine expressed his admiration for the secret ordinances of God’s wisdom, who caused him to stumble upon Platonic books prior to his conversion, in order to teach him that God resists the proud and gives his grace to the humble, as well as with what excessive mercy he showed human beings the path of humility, as they learned that the Word became flesh and lived among them. This saint believed that

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (Jn 1:1-3) and that of his fullness, souls receive (Jn 1:16) so that they may be blessed; and that by participation of the wisdom remaining in them they are renewed, so that they may be wise. (Confessions 7. 9)

But this great saint nonetheless gives witness that these Platonic books were not able to teach him that that the Word became flesh, or that the Son, being equal to the Father, lowered himself to take the form of a slave, becoming obedient unto death on a cross. The knowledge of all other truths only helped pagans to become prouder and involved in yet more sins, as they were not able to find any way to avoid the loss of their souls, by seeking the way leading to God in Jesus Christ our Savior. Augustine wrote: But if I had not sought your Way in Christ our Savior, my knowledge would have turned out to be not instruction, but destruction (Confessions. 7. 20). Augustine went on to say:

For where was that love which builds upon the foundation of humility, which is Jesus Christ? Or, when would these books teach me this? I now believe that it was your pleasure that I should fall upon these books before I studied your Scriptures, that it might be impressed on my memory how I was affected by them; and then afterward, when I was subdued by thy Scriptures and when my wounds were touched by your healing fingers, I might discern and distinguish what a difference there is between presumption and confession—between those who saw where they were to go even if they did not see the way, and the Way which leads, not only to the observing, but also the inhabiting of the blessed country. (Idem)

And further on:

For it is one thing to see the land of peace from a wooded mountaintop: and fail to find the way thither—to attempt impassable ways in vain, opposed and waylaid by fugitives and deserters under their captain, the lion and dragon; but it is quite another thing to keep to the highway that leads thither, guarded by the hosts of the heavenly Emperor. (Confessions 7. 21)

Consequently, it did not help at all the most enlightened pagan philosophers to know where one must go (quo eundum esset), but not how one gets there (qua eundum esset); to have known their homeland, but not the road which alone leads there; and finally, to have known an eternal and unchanging God, but not a humbled, abased God, covered with the infirmities and miseries of human beings, so that he may heal human pride and teach them humility. Therefore, one can see that all the mistaken beliefs and glosses of the human spirit were not able to obscure the words of Jesus Christ, assuring us that he alone is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can go to the Father other than through him (Jn 14:6).

But this is what the Son of God teaches us again through another example, when he tells us that he is the only door through which one may enter the sheepfold, in order for us to be included among those happy ewes whom the eternal Shepherd feeds with divine nourishment, which is to say, with himself: I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (Jn 10:9). One can be certain that pagan philosophers could not have known this door, namely Jesus Christ; consequently, they could not have entered the sheepfold to join his ewes; for they could not have entered through other entrances without turning out to be robbers, as Jesus Christ himself claimed: Whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber (Jn 10:1).

St. Bernard wrote to the blessed Ailred of the abbey of Rieval³⁵ that there are three things to be considered in the heavenly Jerusalem: the courtyard, or front-yard; the gates; and the Temple itself. The courtyard is sometimes open to the enemies themselves; the gates are open only to those who are trusted friends; however, the entrance of the Temple is accessible only to those who are perfect. Thus, one who is able to contemplate eternal realities within the temporal order; the heavenly ones in the earthly; the eternal things in those of this world; the Creator in the created things—may rejoice for having entered the courtyard of the heavenly Jerusalem. Bernard consistently suggested that ancient pagan philosophers have never been able to proceed further than this courtyard. As Paul himself claimed, even though they have known the invisible God through the visible things, they have not worshipped him as God (Rom 1: 21); thus, they have joined the ranks of God’s enemies.

Therefore, to wish to make others proceed further on, or to introduce them not only past the gates, but all the way to the Temple itself, amounts to contradict Jesus Christ, or to consider his enemies (as this abbot calls them) as his heirs, notwithstanding their knowledge of God. It amounts to allow them to enter the holy city through doors other than the One who claimed to be the only one.

We should not forget that the Church emphasizes in her Office one of the greatest of our mysteries, namely Pentecost, upholding these very same words for the instruction of all her children. Remarkably, she also infers the condemnation en bloc of pagans as a necessary consequence of this heavenly doctrine, through the oracle of one of her most excellent doctors. Augustine remarked very pointedly in his homilies on John’s Gospel:

Pagans may say, then, ‘We live well.’ If they enter not by the door, what good will that do them, whereof they boast? For to this end ought good living to benefit everyone, that it may be given him to live forever: for to whomsoever eternal life is not given, of what benefit is the living well? For they ought not to be spoken of as even living well, who either from blindness know not the end of a right life, or in their pride despise it. But no one has the true and certain hope of living always, unless he know the life, that it is Christ; and enter by the gate into the sheepfold. (Homilies on John’s Gospel 45, 2)

In order to leave no doubt that ancient philosophers were indeed included in this condemnation, St. Augustine added:

And thus there have been certain philosophers, holding many subtle discussions about the virtues and the vices, dividing, defining, drawing out to their close the most acute processes of reasoning, filling books, brandishing their wisdom with rattling jaws; who would even dare to say to people, ‘Follow us, keep to our sect, if you would live happily.’ But they had not entered by the door: they wished to destroy, to slay, and to murder. (Ibid.,3 )

CHAPTER FOUR

More proofs, drawn from the testimonies of Peter and Paul, showing the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ to be saved.

We could go on and on, exploring all the scriptural passages that include this cardinal truth of the Christian faith; but we could not omit a famous quote of the apostle Peter, the meaning of which could not be distorted other than through bad-faith and erroneous interpretation. In this text, the prince of the apostles, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, gave a speech to the assembly of the teachers of the law and the people:

If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name given under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved. (Acts 4: 9-12)

The same apostle tells us how salvation must be obtained through this name of Jesus Christ when, speaking to the people about the same miracle, he claims that it took place through faith in the name of Jesus, namely through the faith which one has in him and through him: By faith in his name, this man his name has made strong, and the faith that comes through it, has given him perfect health (Acts 3;16). Here we see that the name of Jesus Christ and the faith in Jesus Christ mean the same thing in Holy Scripture, since this name bestows salvation only on those who invoke him, as Paul said For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10:13).³⁶ However, no one may invoke him without faith, according to what Paul wrote: But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? (Rom 10:14) Consequently, it cannot be argued that one can be saved through knowledge of God, according to which divine providence watches over human affairs (which is what pagan philosophers believed), without entirely contradicting Holy Scripture. As Peter and Paul expressly told us, there cannot be salvation other than through Jesus Christ, which is to say, other than through the faith and the invocation of his divine name.

In effect, it is evident that the entire speech of St. Peter is making this point: that one cannot be saved other than through faith in our only Liberator. This point was made to the teachers of the law and to the people, in order to teach them about the only means of salvation. It was to enable him to make this point that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. These words of his contain a great mystery, for they clearly teach us that all the just, which is to say, the true worshipers of God (both those who lived before the Incarnation of the Word and those who lived after it), have not lived, nor will live eternally other than through faith in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, in which the fullness of God’s grace is to be found. Therefore, this saying, which prescribes for us the only means of salvation for the whole world, does not draw its power from a specific time, but rather from the happy fault (felix culpa) in which our human nature became lost in Adam, as Augustine suggested:

Hence all the righteous, that is, the true worshipers of God, whether before the Incarnation or after the Incarnation of Christ, lived or live only because of faith in the Incarnation of Christ, in whom there is the fullness of grace, the statement of Scripture, ‘There is no other name under heaven in which we must be saved (Acts 4:12), holds true for the salvation of the human race from the time when the human race was damaged in Adam.³⁷

This is what Jesus is quoted again as saying in the Gospel, when he said he is the light who came into the world so that whoever believes in him will not remain in darkness (Jn 12:46). It is also what Peter wanted to say when he announced to the Gentiles that Jesus Christ is the one appointed by God as the judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness (Acts 10:42,43).

Finally, this is what Paul teaches to the Romans when he tells them that the righteousness of God bestowed through faith in Jesus Christ, is extended to all who believe in him (Rom 3:22). And to show that this manner of saving human beings through faith in Jesus Christ does not know of any exception, he added that There is no distinction: all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood (Rom 3:23-25). He confirms this by saying: For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law; for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith (Rom 3:28). The apostle proves this by upholding Abraham’s faith as a model of this justifying faith, which without a doubt had as its object the Incarnation of the Son of God, which was promised him with the following words: All the nations of the earth shall find blessing in you (Gen 12:3), which is to say, in Jesus Christ. Again, Paul made the same point when he declared to the Galatians as a capital truth of our religion that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 2:16).

Therefore, one cannot assign to such clear and formal passages, a different meaning than the one assigned to them by the Holy Spirit who dictated them. Also, we are rightly horrified by the impious exegesis of heretics concerning the words of Eucharistic consecration, when they take Jesus’ words: This is my body, this is my blood to mean that bread is a figure of his body (this is where they corrupt the sacred Scriptures, by denying the Real Presence in the Eucharist). In the same fashion, we must reject the blasphemous interpretation of those who explain the formal passages that I just quoted, to the effect that one cannot be saved simply by acknowledging the existence of a God and his providence, the way the pagan philosophers did.

Truth is, the knowledge of God and his providence on the one hand, and the faith in Jesus Christ on the other hand, are two such different things that not only people were able to believe in one without believing in the other—they also denied and formally opposed the latter, just as all pagan philosophers and, later on, the followers of Mohammed and the Deists did, all of whom do not want Jesus Christ; for all these people believe in the existence of God and do not deny his providence. Thus, it is impossible that faith in Jesus Christ is contained and encompassed in the mere belief in the unity of God, since non-Christians believed in the latter, but also mightily opposed the former.

CHAPTER FIVE

In which it is shown that what Paul says about the works of the Law and the good deeds of the Jews, establishes the impossibility of the salvation of the pagans through the sole knowledge of God without faith in Jesus Christ.

It is agreed that the good deeds of the Jews and the works of the Law, concerning which Paul spoke when he claimed that No one is justified by works of the Law, include the knowledge of God and of Providence more evidently and specifically than some deeds of pagan philosophers: however, one can read that Paul formally declared that no one can be justified through the works of the Law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is wrong and contrary to this view of Paul’s to say that these philosophers may have been saved and justified through their alleged good works and some knowledge they may have had about God and his providence. Moreover, Holy Scripture teaches us very clearly that faith in Jesus Christ was not found among pagans prior to his birth, since Jesus himself told Paul he chose him to give witness to him to the nations: This man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). Such statement would have been useless if the name of Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ which are necessary for salvation had already been present among the pagans, the best of whom recognized the unity and providence of God. Also, it would appear that Paul unwarrantedly flaunted his having been sent to announce a faith necessary for salvation, if indeed pagans could already be saved. For the same reason, this apostle would have been wrong to complain that the Jews were trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles, that they may be saved (1Thess 2:16).

Just as Jesus and the apostles teach us so clearly this fundamental Christian doctrine, namely that no one can be cleansed of their sins other than through faith in a Redeemer, which is entirely distinguishable from a mere knowledge of God—likewise, we see that the apostles’ own disciples did not fail to spread this doctrine and divine seed in the world. Take for instance the example of St. Ignatius, in his letter to the Magnesians.³⁸ In this letter, Ignatius told them that all the Jews who were saved before the coming of Christ were saved only thanks to their faith in and hope of his coming. Ignatius goes on to attribute the persecutions they suffered to this faith in Jesus Christ, according to which they lived their lives. Insofar as they lived by this faith, they incurred what Paul warned Timothy about: All who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12). After quoting the example of the prophets and patriarchs, he claimed that as they died before the Incarnation of the Savior, they nevertheless joined the company of those who share a common hope, since they awaited the same Christ as the Redeemer whom God must send, whom we adore today as heaven-sent. These people have obtained eternal life only in him and through him. We certainly have an obligation to become attached to the Savior, now that he has openly revealed himself to us. For how can we live without the one whom the prophets served, envisioned in spirit, and regarded as their preceptor, teacher and Savior, when we read in the OT: Here is your God, he comes to save you (Is 35:4)?

For sure, none of these pagan philosophers, whom some wanted to imagine to be in heaven despite many sayings of the Scripture to the contrary, had the least of these ideas; or ever assumed that human beings are in need of a Redeemer and that without his help one cannot avoid eternal damnation; or placed the hope of their salvation into the hands of the future Redeemer. How could have they, since they never knew the illness, nor the Physician, nor the remedy? The illness, being the Fall; the Physician, Jesus Christ; and the medicine, faith in his name. Just as they have not known the illness, they never thought of the Physician in order to be healed, nor did they ever think they needed him. By implicitly collapsing faith in Jesus Christ (the Mediator and Savior of human beings) in the knowledge they have had of God’s providence, they formally excluded and rejected this faith; consequently, it is impossible to claim they have been saved, without entirely reversing what the prophets, patriarchs and apostles believed, and what St. Ignatius learned from his divinely inspired teachers.

CHAPTER SIX

The condemnation of Pelagians is a sensible proof of the mistaken nature of this sentiment, namely that ancient pagans and philosophers were able to be saved through the knowledge of God without faith in Jesus Christ.

God tolerates heresies only to make known the right sentiments of his church, which are never as clear as when she battles them, as Augustine said: For the refutation of heretics makes the tenets of your Church and sound doctrine to stand out boldly (Confessions 7, 19).

God allowed the Pelagian heretics to spread the poison of their heresy over this divine doctrine, so that the foundation of our religion might receive a new light and a new confirmation, using the writings of holy theologians to bring this heresy to its knees. We learn through the writings of the Fathers that one among the various errors of the Pelagians was that these impious people attempted to nullify the scandal of the Cross of Jesus Christ by claiming that before the Incarnation people could be saved without faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior and Mediator of humankind. This is the point of contention between the Church and the Pelagians, who never denied that those who lived under the Law did not believe in the providence of God, and never questioned whether this faith in Providence was necessary for salvation, but only that, in order to be saved, it was necessary to believe (which is something no pagan ever did) that all human beings are lost because of sin and that Jesus Christ was the only one who could deliver them.

We can see this point made with particular precision in Augustine’s Opus imperfectum against Julian. Since this heretic upheld the doctrine of his teacher Pelagius concerning this point, the holy Doctor replied to him: We recognize your heresy, according to which Pelagius taught that in ancient times Jews could not have lived by faith in the Incarnation, since Christ had not yet taken on human flesh (Opus imperfectum 2, 188).

How is it possible that Pelagius was found guilty of heresy on this point, if before the coming of Christ it was only necessary to have an implicit faith³⁹ in his Incarnation, in the manner Pelagius understood it, namely as knowledge of a God and of a general providence for all people, including all the means to attain eternal happiness? In effect, it does not seem that Pelagius, whose spirit Augustine admired, had fallen in such a horrible and extravagant belief so as to teach that ancient Jews had been saved insofar as they could not have known divine providence, which yearns for the salvation of human beings. But it would seem ridiculous not to recognize that the heresy Augustine reproached in these enemies of grace, is not different from the sentiment of those who today claim the same thing this heresiarch claimed (something Pelagius expressly claimed he believed), namely that before the coming of Jesus Christ human beings could be saved through the mere knowledge of God and natural law, without having received any particular teaching concerning a future Redeemer. Instead, these people say the same thing, this time using the cover of wrongly understood implicit faith, which may indeed make them more culpable before God; for while it is an evil thing to introduce erroneous beliefs, it is yet a greater evil to introduce them under misleading disguises, which, as they cover the poison, end up deceiving simple souls more easily.

However, we may conclude that this evil doctrine will only deceive those who want to be deceived, since those who are less intelligent may already understand what has been said so far, namely that faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of human beings, could not be found in the knowledge that pagans had concerning divine providence. For pagans did not merely fail to appreciate that human beings needed a Redeemer in order to attain eternal happiness: in fact, they did not believe that because of sin man fell to the lowest level of misery where he currently dwells, and into the captivity of the devil. Thus, Pelagius shared this sentiment of theirs, by denying with them the truth of original sin. This is what caused his doctrine to be compared to that of ancient pagans, and condemned as such by the Fathers and by some local church councils. And just like the Fathers who refuted the heretics, we too must recognize the true sense of Catholic doctrine, and oppose their heresies; all we need to do is to consult Saint Augustine, in order to learn from him what were, concerning this matter, the true feelings of the Church, as he defended her cause against these heretics. One may also say that both groups [i.e., Pelagians and modern supporters of pagans’ salvation] perfectly resemble each other, in that they attempt to portray their dogmas as problematic questions but not, as they saw it, at the expense of the faith.

Augustine responded to them:

It is true that one may overlook many things without thereby compromising the Catholic faith, and that one may err on some matters without falling into the crime of heresy. However, when it comes to original sin, the Incarnation of the Son of God, and the two men, the first due to whom we have been enslaved to sin, and the second through whom we have been redeemed from all sins—this is where the substance of the Christian faith and Religion lies (The Grace of Christ and Original Sin II, 23. 27; 24.