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On Nature and Grace

St. Augustine of Hippo

3h 29m read
Post-Nicene

De Natura et Gratia, Augustine's reply to Pelagius's On Nature, showing that fallen nature cannot achieve righteousness without the healing and liberating grace of Christ.

Table of Contents

1Extract from Augustin’s Retractations2Note on the Following Work3Argument4The Occasion of Publishing This Work; What God’s Righteousness is5Faith in Christ Not Necessary to Salvation, If a Man Without It Can Lead a Righteous Life6Nature Was Created Sound and Whole; It Was Afterwards Corrupted by Sin7Free Grace8It Was a Matter of Justice that All Should Be Condemned9The Pelagians Have Very Strong and Active Minds10He Proceeds to Confute the Work of Pelagius; He Refrains as Yet from Mentioning Pelagius’ Name11A Distinction Drawn by Pelagius Between the Possible and Actual12Even They Who Were Not Able to Be Justified are Condemned13He Could Not Be Justified, Who Had Not Heard of the Name of Christ; Rendering the Cross of Christ of None Effect14Grace Subtly Acknowledged by Pelagius15In Our Discussions About Grace, We Do Not Speak of that Which Relates to the Constitution of Our Nature, But to Its Restoration16The Scope and Purpose of the Law’s Threatenings; 'Perfect Wayfarers.'17Refutation of Pelagius18Not Everything [of Doctrinal Truth] is Written in Scripture in So Many Words19Pelagius Corrupts a Passage of the Apostle James by Adding a Note of Interrogation20Explanation of This Text Continued21Who May Be Said to Be in the Flesh22Sins of Ignorance; To Whom Wisdom is Given by God on Their Requesting It23What Prayer Pelagius Would Admit to Be Necessary24Pelagius Denies that Human Nature Has Been Depraved or Corrupted by Sin25How Our Nature Could Be Vitiated by Sin, Even Though It Be Not a Substance26Adam Delivered by the Mercy of Christ27Sin and the Penalty of Sin the Same28God Forsakes Only Those Who Deserve to Be Forsaken. We are Sufficient of Ourselves to Commit Sin; But Not to Return to the Way of Righteousness. Death is the Punishment, Not the Cause of Sin29Christ Died of His Own Power and Choice30Even Evils, Through God’s Mercy, are of Use31The Disposition of Nearly All Who Go Astray. With Some Heretics Our Business Ought Not to Be Disputation, But Prayer32A Simile to Show that God’s Grace is Necessary for Doing Any Good Work Whatever. God Never Forsakes the Justified Man If He Be Not Himself Forsaken33Sin is Removed by Sin34The Order and Process of Healing Our Heavenly Physician Does Not Adopt from the Sick Patient, But Derives from Himself. What Cause the Righteous Have for Fearing35God Forsakes Us to Some Extent that We May Not Grow Proud36Not Every Sin is Pride. How Pride is the Commencement of Every Sin37A Man’s Sin is His Own, But He Needs Grace for His Cure38Why God Does Not Immediately Cure Pride Itself. The Secret and Insidious Growth of Pride. Preventing and Subsequent Grace39Pride Even in Such Things as are Done Aright Must Be Avoided. Free Will is Not Taken Away When Grace is Preached40Being Wholly Without Sin Does Not Put Man on an Equality with God41We Must Not Lie, Even for the Sake of Moderation. The Praise of Humility Must Not Be Placed to the Account of Falsehood42Pelagius Glorifies God as Creator at the Expense of God as Saviour43Why There is a Record in Scripture of Certain Men’s Sins, Recklessness in Sin Accounts It to Be So Much Loss Whenever It Falls Short in Gratifying Lust44Whether Holy Men Have Died Without Sin45The Blessed Virgin Mary May Have Lived Without Sin. None of the Saints Besides Her Without Sin46Why Scripture Has Not Mentioned the Sins of All47Pelagius Argues that Abel Was Sinless48Why Cain Has Been by Some Thought to Have Had Children by His Mother Eve. The Sins of Righteous Men. Who Can Be Both Righteous, and Yet Not Without Sin49Shall We Follow Scripture, or Add to Its Declarations?50For What Pelagius Thought that Christ is Necessary to Us51How the Term ‘All’ Is to Be Understood52A Man Can Be Sinless, But Only by the Help of Grace. In the Saints This Possibility Advances and Keeps Pace with the Realization53God Commands No Impossibilities54State of the Question Between the Pelagians and the Catholics. Holy Men of Old Saved by the Self-Same Faith in Christ Which We Exercise55The Whole Discussion is About Grace56Pelagius Distinguishes Between a Power and Its Use57There is No Incompatibility Between Necessity and Free Will58The Same Continued59The Assistance of Grace in a Perfect Nature60It Does Not Detract from God’s Almighty Power, that He is Incapable of Either Sinning, or Dying, or Destroying Himself61Even Pious and God-Fearing Men Resist Grace62In What Sense Pelagius Attributed to God’s Grace the Capacity of Not Sinning63Pelagius Admits ‘Contrary Flesh’ In the Unbaptized64Paul Asserts that the Flesh is Contrary Even in the Baptized65Concerning What Grace of God is Here Under Discussion. The Ungodly Man, When Dying, is Not Delivered from Concupiscence66Does God Create Contraries?67Pelagius’ Admission as Regards the Unbaptized, Fatal68'This Body of Death,' So Called from Its Defect, Not from Its Substance69The Works, Not the Substance, of the 'Flesh' Opposed to the 'Spirit.'70Who May Be Said to Be Under the Law71Despite the Devil, Man May, by God’s Help, Be Perfected72Pelagius Puts Nature in the Place of Grace73Whether Any Man is Without Sin in This Life74Augustin Replies Against the Quotations Which Pelagius Had Advanced Out of the Catholic Writers. Lactantius75Hilary. The Pure in Heart Blessed. The Doing and Perfecting of Righteousness76He Meets Pelagius with Another Passage from Hilary77Ambrose78Augustin Adduces in Reply Some Other Passages of Ambrose79John of Constantinople80Xystus81Jerome82A Certain Necessity of Sinning83Augustin Himself. Two Methods Whereby Sins, Like Diseases, are Guarded Against84Augustin Quotes Himself on Free Will85How to Exhort Men to Faith, Repentance, and Advancement86God Enjoins No Impossibility, Because All Things are Possible and Easy to Love87The Degrees of Love are Also Degrees of Holiness