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5th–6th centuries (the label is from the 16th century) · Grace and the beginning of faith

Semi-Pelagianism

As historically labeled, the view of John Cassian and other monks of southern Gaul that the first movement toward God, the beginning of faith, can arise from the human will before grace, after which grace assists and completes salvation. It is a serious error about grace rather than a denial of the Trinity or of Christ's person.

The central claim

The first step toward God can come from man, and then grace helps him.

ClassificationError
PeriodPatristic
Dates5th–6th centuries (the label is from the 16th century)
Doctrine affectedGrace and the beginning of faith

This is a serious error, not a heresy. It does not deny the Gospel or the God it reveals, but it departs from Scripture and needs correction (Acts 18:24–26).

Historical origins

Where It Began

In the 420s monks around Marseille and Lérins rejected Pelagius, but they were troubled by Augustine's late teaching on predestination, which they feared made human effort pointless. John Cassian, in his thirteenth Conference, argued that God sometimes draws the unwilling, but sometimes the first movement of a good will arises in the person, and grace then supports it.

Historians often call these teachers the Massilians, after Marseille. The name semi-Pelagian was coined in the sixteenth century and applied to them afterward.

Major figures

The People Involved

John CassianMonk; founder of monasteries at Marseille · c. 360–c. 435Augustine of HippoBishop of Hippo; theologian of the catholic church · 354–430

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In a sentence

Why This Is Dangerous

It lets the sinner take the first step, as if grace waited for man to move. God always moves first, so the credit for salvation belongs to Him alone: We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Visit The Second Synod of Orange · AD 529