Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

D. What do we mean when we insist that everything we have is Sola Gratia , by grace alone?

1. First of all, we mean that every human being who has ever lived comes into the world locked up under sin and is in a completely hopeless position, Rom. 3.10-12. The Pelagian error or heresy, is the belief that a person is not born with a sinful nature and can seek and believe in God completely out of their own free will. The Church has rejected the Pelagian error and taught from the Scriptures that a person can come to God only because the grace of God is already working in them. If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle John who says the same thing, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me” . . . The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God’s sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him.

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~ The Council of Orange (529 A.D).

2. Secondly, we mean that because salvation comes only through faith it cannot ever be earned by anyone. Salvation can only be received as a free gift, not deserved through acts of goodness. Salvation is completely a gift of God’s grace.

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a. Eph. 2.8-9

b. Acts 20.24