R.C. Sproul

I didn't invent this designation, but I agree with it.

These are the three major generic types of theology that have influenced church history.

And I see plagianism as the father of liberalism.

So Sinianism that came in the 16th century, liberalism in the 19th century.

And so that you'll know where I'm coming from, I would consider Pelagianism as unchristian, fundamentally anti-Christian, not an option for a Christian thinker.

Now, the debates that have gone on within the church between semi-Pelagianism and Augustinianism, which reflected later on in history between the remonstrants in the 16th century and the Calvinists and so on and the Methodists, these I would regard as debates within the household of faith.

the arguments between semi-Pelagianism and Augustinianism.

Semi-Pelagianism says that man cannot be saved apart from the grace of God.

But there is something man must do, even in his still fallen state, to cooperate with and assent to that grace of God before God will save him.

That is to say, he can't be saved apart from grace,

but it is left for man in the final analysis to either cooperate with God's grace or reject God's grace, and that becomes the convincing point of whether or not a person is saved or not saved.

Augustinianism says that man is so seriously fallen

that he is totally dependent upon the grace of God even for his initial response to the gospel, even for the very cooperating and assenting to the gospel of Christ in the first place.

And so you can see at the outset that the debate has its roots in the question of man's ability to respond to the gospel in his fallen state.

And I would say, as we enter into any discussion of predestination, that lurking always behind the scenes of discussions on predestination is this fundamental debate right here between the semi-Pelagians and the Augustinians.

And I also need to warn you at the outset that I am persuaded of the Augustinian view of predestination.

And I will be setting forth the Augustinian view of predestination in these seminars.

I will be trying to explain it, to clarify misunderstandings that I think abound concerning it, and I will try to respond to objections that are brought to it from semi-Belagian brothers and sisters, and try to convince you and persuade you

that the Augustinian view is the Pauline view and consequently the biblical view and therefore the right one.

But of course not everybody believes that, not everybody agrees with that.