Sunday Hymn: Jesus Is All the World to Me

Jesus is all the world to me,
My life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day,
Without him I would fall.
When I am sad, to him I go,
No other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad he makes me glad,
He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me,
My friend in trials sore;
I go to him for blessings, and
He gives them o’er and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain,
He sends the harvest’s golden grain,
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,
He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me,
And true to him I’ll be;
Oh, how could I this Friend deny,
When he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right,
He watches o’er me day and night;
Following him, by day and night,
He’s my Friend.

Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when
Life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a Friend;
Beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy,
He’s my Friend.

 —Will L. Thomp­son

Sunday Hymn: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Saviour, like a Shepherd lead us,
Much we need thy tend’rest care;
In thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use thy folds prepare:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, thine we are.

We are thine; do thou befriend us,
Be the Guardian of our way;
Keep thy flock, from sin defend us,
Seek us when we go astray:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Hear the children when they pray.

Thou hast promised to receive us,
Poor and sinful though we be;
Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
Grace to cleanse, and pow’r to free:
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Let us early turn to thee.

Early let us seek thy favor;
Early let us do thy will;
Blessed Lord and only Saviour,
With thy love our bosoms fill
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still.

 —Dorothy Thrupp

Theological Term of the Week: Pelagianism

Pelagianism
A heresy condemned by two church councils. Pelagianism teaches that humankind is naturally able to do good, or, to put it another way, “that the human will [is] capable of spiritual good without the aid of God’s grace.”1 

• Scripture that argues against Pelagianism:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—[13] for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. [14] Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

[15] But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. [16] And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. [17] For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

[18] Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. [19] For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12–19 ESV)

[A]s it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12 ESV)

• From the Belgic Confession: 

Article 15: The Doctrine of Original Sin 

We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race. 

It is a corruption of all nature—an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother’s womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God’s sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring.

Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God’s children for their condemnation but is forgiven by his grace and mercy—not to put them to sleep but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from the “body of this death.”

Therefore we reject the error of the Pelagians who say that this sin is nothing else than a matter of imitation.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, pages 256-7:

Pelagius takes his starting point in the natural ability of man. His fundamental proposition is: God has commanded man to do that which is good; hence the latter must have the ability to do it. This means that man has a free will in the absolute sense of the word, so that it is possible for him to decide for or against that which is good, and also to do the good as well as the evil. The decision is not dependent on any moral character in man, for the will is entirely indeterminate. Whether a man will do good or evil simply depends on his free and independent will. From this it follows, of course, that there is no such thing as a moral development of the individual. Good and evil are located in the separate actions of man. From this fundamental position the doctrinal teaching of Pelagius respecting sin naturally follows. Sin consists only in the separate acts of the will. There is no such thing as a sinful nature, neither are there sinful dispositions. Sin is always a deliberate choice of evil by a will which is perfectly free, and can just as well choose and follow the good. But if this is so, then the conclusion inevitably follows that Adam was not created in a state of positive holiness, but in a state of moral equilibrium. His condition was one of moral neutrality. He was neither good nor bad, and therefore had no moral character; but he chose the course of evil, and thus became sinful. Inasmuch as sin consists only in separate acts of the will, the idea of its propagation by procreation is absurd. A sinful nature, if such a thing should exist, might be passed on from father to son, but sinful acts cannot be so propagated. This is in the nature of the case an impossibility. Adam was the first sinner, but his sin was in no sense passed on to his descendants. There is no such thing as original sin. Children are born in a state of neutrality, beginning exactly where Adam began, except that they are handicapped by the evil examples which they see round about them. Their future course must be determined by their own free choice. The universality of sin is admitted, because all experience testifies to it. It is due to imitation and to the habit of sinning that is gradually formed. Strictly speaking, there are, on the Pelagian standpoint, no sinners, but only separate sinful acts. This makes a religious conception of the history of the race utterly impossible.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is Pelagianism?
2. Monergism.com: Comparing Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism and Augustinianism
3. Sam Storms: 10 Things You Should Know about Pelagius and Pelagianism
4. Stephen Nichols: 3 Types of Theology
5. R. C. Sproul: The Pelagian Controversy
6. Gerald Bray: Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy

Related terms:

• Augustinianism
• federal headship
• heresy
• original sin
• Pelagius
• semi-Pelagianism

1 From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton, page 999.

 Filed under Defective Theology and Salvation

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