Early Church Fathers

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 5

Edited by Philip Schaff · AD 412–428 (English edition 1886–89)

Augustine’s anti-Pelagian writings on grace, free will, original sin and predestination.

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Early Church Fathers

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 5

Edited by Philip Schaff · AD 412–428 (English edition 1886–89)

Augustine’s anti-Pelagian writings on grace, free will, original sin and predestination.

Start reading

Reading on more than one device? Sign in and your place in NPNF 1.5 follows you.

A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants by aurelius augustin, bishop of hippo; In Three Books, Addressed to Marcellinus, a.d. 412153 pages

Book I
Chapter 1 [I.]—Introductory, in the Shape of an Inscription to His Friend Marcellinus
Chapter 2 [II.]—If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died
Chapter 3 [III.]—It is One Thing to Be Mortal, Another Thing to Be Subject to Death
Chapter 4 [IV.]—Even Bodily Death is from Sin
Chapter 5 [V.]—The Words, Mortale (Capable of Dying), Mortuum (Dead), and Moriturus (Destined to Die)
Chapter 6 [VI.]—How It is that the Body Dead Because of Sin
Chapter 7 [VII.]—The Life of the Body the Object of Hope, the Life of the Spirit Being a Prelude to It
Chapter 8 [VIII.]—Bodily Death from Adam's Sin
Chapter 9 [IX.]—Sin Passes on to All Men by Natural Descent, and Not Merely by Imitation
Chapter 10.—The Analogy of Grace
Chapter 11 [X.]—Distinction Between Actual and Original Sin
Chapter 12.—The Law Could Not Take Away Sin
Chapter 13 [XI.]—Meaning of the Apostle's Phrase "The Reign of Death."
Chapter 14.—Superabundance of Grace
Chapter 15 [XII.]—The One Sin Common to All Men
Chapter 16 [XIII.]—How Death is by One and Life by One
Chapter 17.—Whom Sinners Imitate
Chapter 18.—Only Christ Justifies
Chapter 19 [XV.]—Sin is from Natural Descent, as Righteousness is from Regeneration; How "All" Are Sinners Through Adam, and "All" Are Just Through Christ
Chapter 20.—Original Sin Alone is Contracted by Natural Birth
Chapter 21 [XVI.]—Unbaptized Infants Damned, But Most Lightly; The Penalty of Adam's Sin, the Grace of His Body Lost
Chapter 22 [XVII.]—To Infants Personal Sin is Not to Be Attributed
Chapter 23 [XVIII.]—He Refutes Those Who Allege that Infants are Baptized Not for the Remission of Sins, But for the Obtaining of the Kingdom of Heaven
Chapter 24 [XIX.]—Infants Saved as Sinners
Chapter 25.—Infants are Described as Believers and as Penitents. Sins Alone Separate Between God and Men
Chapter 26 [XX.]—No One, Except He Be Baptized, Rightly Comes to the Table of the Lord
Chapter 27.—Infants Must Feed on Christ
Chapter 28.—Baptized Infants, of the Faithful; Unbaptized, of the Lost
Chapter 29 [XXI.]—It is an Inscrutable Mystery Why Some are Saved, and Others Not
Chapter 30.—Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable
Chapter 31 [XXII.]—He Refutes Those Who Suppose that Souls, on Account of Sins Committed in Another State, are Thrust into Bodies Suited to Their Merits, in Which They are More or Less Tormented
Chapter 32.—The Case of Certain Idiots and Simpletons
Chapter 33.—Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer Even of Infants
Chapter 34 [XXIV.]—Baptism is Called Salvation, and the Eucharist, Life, by the Christians of Carthage
Chapter 35.—Unless Infants are Baptized, They Remain in Darkness
Chapter 36.—Infants Not Enlightened as Soon as They are Born
Chapter 37.—How God Enlightens Every Person
Chapter 38.—What "Lighteth" Means
Chapter 39 [XXVI.]—The Conclusion Drawn, that All are Involved in Original Sin
Chapter 40 [XXVII.]—A Collection of Scripture Testimonies. From the Gospels
Chapter 41.—From the First Epistle of Peter
Chapter 42.—From the First Epistle of John
Chapter 43.—From the Epistle to the Romans
Chapter 44.—From the Epistles to the Corinthians
Chapter 45.—From the Epistle to the Galatians
Chapter 46.—From the Epistle to the Ephesians
Chapter 47.—From the Epistle to the Colossians
Chapter 48.—From the Epistles to Timothy
Chapter 49.—From the Epistle to Titus
Chapter 50.—From the Epistle to the Hebrews
Chapter 51.—From the Apocalypse
Chapter 52.—From the Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 53.—The Utility of the Books of the Old Testament
Chapter 54.—By the Sacrifices of the Old Testament, Men Were Convinced of Sins and Led to the Saviour
Chapter 56.—No One is Reconciled to God Except Through Christ
Chapter 57 [XXIX.]—The Good of Marriage; Four Different Cases of the Good and the Evil Use of Matrimony
Chapter 58 [XXX.]—In What Respect the Pelagians Regarded Baptism as Necessary for Infants
Chapter 59.—The Context of Their Chief Text
Chapter 61 [XXXII.]—The Serpent Lifted Up in the Wilderness Prefigured Christ Suspended on the Cross; Even Infants Themselves Poisoned by the Serpent's Bite
Chapter 62 [XXXIII.]—No One Can Be Reconciled to God, Except by Christ
Chapter 63 [XXXIV.]—The Form, or Rite, of Baptism. Exorcism
Chapter 64.—A Twofold Mistake Respecting Infants
Chapter 65 [XXXV.]—In Infants There is No Sin of Their Own Commission
Chapter 66.—Infants' Faults Spring from Their Sheer Ignorance
Chapter 67 [XXXVI.]—On the Ignorance of Infants, and Whence It Arises
Chapter 68 [XXXVII.]—If Adam Was Not Created of Such a Character as that in Which We are Born, How is It that Christ, Although Free from Sin, Was Born an Infant and in Weakness?
Chapter 69 [XXXVIII.]—The Ignorance and the Infirmity of an Infant
Chapter 70 [XXXIX.]—How Far Sin is Done Away in Infants by Baptism, Also in Adults, and What Advantage Results Therefrom
Book II
Chapter 1 [I.]—What Has Thus Far Been Dwelt On; And What is to Be Treated in This Book
Chapter 2 [II.]—Some Persons Attribute Too Much to the Freedom of Man's Will; Ignorance and Infirmity
Chapter 3 [III.]—In What Way God Commands Nothing Impossible. Works of Mercy, Means of Wiping Out Sins
Chapter 4 [IV.]—Concupiscence, How Far in Us; The Baptized are Not Injured by Concupiscence, But Only by Consent Therewith
Chapter 5 [V.]—The Will of Man Requires the Help of God
Chapter 6.—Wherein the Pharisee Sinned When He Thanked God; To God's Grace Must Be Added the Exertion of Our Own Will
Chapter 7 [VI.]—Four Questions on the Perfection of Righteousness: (1.) Whether a Man Can Be Without Sin in This Life
Chapter 8 [VII.]—(2) Whether There is in This World a Man Without Sin
Chapter 9.—The Beginning of Renewal; Resurrection Called Regeneration; They are the Sons of God Who Lead Lives Suitable to Newness of Life
Chapter 10 [VIII.]—Perfection, When to Be Realized
Chapter 11 [IX.]—An Objection of the Pelagians: Why Does Not a Righteous Man Beget a Righteous Man?
Chapter 12 [X.]—He Reconciles Some Passages of Scripture
Chapter 13.—A Subterfuge of the Pelagians
Chapter 14.—Job Was Not Without Sin
Chapter 15.—Carnal Generation Condemned on Account of Original Sin
Chapter 16—Job Foresaw that Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those that are Perfect
Chapter 17 [XII.]—No One Righteous in All Things
Chapter 18 [XIII.]—Perfect Human Righteousness is Imperfect
Chapter 19.—Zacharias and Elisabeth, Sinners
Chapter 20.—Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner
Chapter 21 [XIV.]—All Righteous Men Sinners
Chapter 22 [XV.]—An Objection of the Pelagians; Perfection is Relative; He is Rightly Said to Be Perfect in Righteousness Who Has Made Much Progress Therein
Chapter 23 [XXI.]—Why God Prescribes What He Knows Cannot Be Observed
Chapter 24.—An Objection of the Pelagians. The Apostle Paul Was Not Free From Sin So Long as He Lived
Chapter 25.—God Punishes Both in Wrath and in Mercy
Chapter 26 [XVII.]—(3) Why No One in This Life is Without Sin
Chapter 27.—The Divine Remedy for Pride
Chapter 28 [XVIII.]—A Good Will Comes from God
Chapter 29.—A Subterfuge of the Pelagians
Chapter 30.—All Will is Either Good, and Then It Loves Righteousness, or Evil, When It Does Not Love Righteousness
Chapter 31.—Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and Truth
Chapter 32.—God's Sovereignity in His Grace
Chapter 33.—Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which It Affords
Chapter 34 [XX.]—(4) That No Man, with the Exception of Christ, Has Ever Lived, or Can Live Without Sin
Chapter 35 [XXI.]—Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man
Chapter 36 [XXII.]—Man's State Before the Fall
Chapter 37 [XXIII.]—The Corruption of Nature is by Sin, Its Renovation is by Christ
Chapter 38 [XXIV.]—What Benefit Has Been Conferred on Us by the Incarnation of the Word; Christ's Birth in the Flesh, Wherein It is Like and Wherein Unlike Our Own Birth
Chapter 39 [XXV.]—An Objection of Pelagians
Chapter 40.—An Argument Anticipated
Chapter 41.—Children of Believers are Called "Clean" By the Apostle
Chapter 42.—Sanctification Manifold; Sacrament of Catechumens
Chapter 43 [XXVII.]—Why the Children of the Baptized Should Be Baptized
Chapter 44.—An Objection of the Pelagians
Chapter 45 [XXVIII.]—The Law of Sin is Called Sin; How Concupiscence Still Remains After Its Evil Has Been Removed in the Baptized
Chapter 46.—Guilt May Be Taken Away But Concupiscence Remain
Chapter 47 [XXIX.]—All the Predestinated are Saved Through the One Mediator Christ, and by One and the Same Faith
Chapter 48.—Christ the Saviour Even of Infants; Christ, When an Infant, Was Free from Ignorance and Mental Weakness
Chapter 49 [XXX.]—An Objection of the Pelagians
Chapter 50 [XXXI.]—Why It is that Death Itself is Not Abolished, Along with Sin, by Baptism
Chapter 51.—Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death
Chapter 52 [XXXII.]—Why Christ, After His Resurrection, Withdrew His Presence from the World
Chapter 53 [XXXIII.]—An Objection of the Pelagians
Chapter 54 [XXXIV.]—Why Punishment is Still Inflicted, After Sin Has Been Forgiven
Chapter 55.—To Recover the Righteousness Which Had Been Lost by Sin, Man Has to Struggle, with Abundant Labour and Sorrow
Chapter 56.—The Case of David, in Illustration
Chapter 57 [XXXV.]—Turn to Neither Hand
Chapter 58 [XXXVI.]—"Likeness of Sinful Flesh" Implies the Reality
Book III
Chapter 1 [I.]—Pelagius Esteemed a Holy Man; His Expositions on Saint Paul
Chapter 2 [II.]—Pelagius' Objection; Infants Reckoned Among the Number of Believers and the Faithful
Chapter 3.—Pelagius Makes God Unjust
Chapter 4
Chapter 5 [III.]—Pelagius Praised by Some; Arguments Against Original Sin Proposed by Pelagius in His Commentary
Chapter 6.—Why Pelagius Does Not Speak in His Own Person
Chapter 7 [IV.]—Proof of Original Sin in Infants
Chapter 8.—Jesus is the Saviour Even of Infants
Chapter 9.—The Ambiguity of "Adam is the Figure of Him to Come."
Chapter 10 [V.]—He Shows that Cyprian Had Not Doubted the Original Sin of Infants
Chapter 11.—The Ancients Assumed Original Sin
Chapter 12 [VI.]—The Universal Consensus Respecting Original Sin
Chapter 13 [VII.]—The Error of Jovinianus Did Not Extend So Far
Chapter 14.—The Opinions of All Controversialists Whatever are Not, However, Canonical Authority; Original Sin, How Another's; We Were All One Man in Adam
Chapter 15 [VIII.]—We All Sinned Adam's Sin
Chapter 16.—Origin of Errors; A Simile Sought from the Foreskin of the Circumcised, and from the Chaff of Wheat
Chapter 17 [IX.]—Christians Do Not Always Beget Christian, Nor the Pure, Pure Children
Chapter 18 [X.]—Is the Soul Derived by Natural Propagation?
Chapter 19 [XI.]—Sin and Death in Adam, Righteousness and Life in Christ
Chapter 20.—The Sting of Death, What?
Chapter 21 [XII.]—The Precept About Touching the Menstruous Woman Not to Be Figuratively Understood; The Necessity of the Sacraments
Chapter 22 [XIII.]—We Ought to Be Anxious to Secure the Baptism of Infants
Chapter 23.—Epilogue
Extract from Augustin's "Retractations," Book II. Chap. 37, On the Following Treatise, "De spiritu et littera."

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 5

Contents

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Volume 5

Contents