Augustine and Original Sin
In the Latin West, Augustine supported the doctrine of original sin, which held that predestination determined who entered the Kingdom of Heaven and who descended to Sheol. Under Augustine’s theory, an infant who was not baptized would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven because all humans were born with original sin (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou). Augustine believed that man could not avoid sin and all were born guilty from birth (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou). Critics asked why God would allow children to be born if He knew they would go to hell if they died before baptism. Augustine responded that God chose who would be saved, and therefore salvation was predetermined (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou). While Augustine is correct that God chose who to save (Eph. 1:4), his position contradicts the existence of man’s free will. If man’s fate was determined prior to birth, then nothing chosen by the individual would impact their salvation.
Saint John Cassian responded to Augustine with four main arguments (Socrates, M. S., 2013):
People come to God out of choice and there is no purpose of repentance if man does not have free will (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou).
Adam and Eve retained the knowledge of good. Therefore, they had the ability to choose not to sin (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou). This point is
Adam and Eve’s sin damaged the Image of God, which can be healed through acts like repentance (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou).
God’s will is for all of humanity to be saved. Therefore, those who choose not to be saved act against God’s will (Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou).
Problems with Augustine’s Pre-Determinism
If man has no free will, the purpose of Christ’s return has no meaning and God’s Word is imperfect. While Augustine’s intent may have been to defend the Church against a heretic, predeterminism attacks the foundation of Christianity.
If man has no free will, the incarnation of God as Christ has meaning. God became man to destroy death:
“that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2: 15, St.Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008, p. 1655).”
If God wanted man to suffer the consequences of original sin, He would not, as Christ, have conquered death. While man should fear God, man is not supposed to fear death. Death of the physical body is insignificant if you are a Christain, as eternal life is in the Kingdom of Heaven. God, as Christ, chose to suffer a painful and humiliating death. Christ did not simply tell mankind about eternal life. He showed, through His resurrection, that death was conquered. The Apostles bore witness to Christ after the resurrection, thus proving eternal life was possible despite original sin. The abyss could not hold Christ, as Christ was sinless. Christ defeated the temptations of the Devil, thus proving that, despite being God incarnate, He, too, faced trials like man. God chose to be an example to mankind to show man how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ was a teacher and an example. If man had no choice and their fate was predetermined by God, God would not try to intervene and show them a path to salvation. Christ demonstrates the power of God’s grace because God chose to forgive the sin of Adam and Eve and allow man another opportunity to avoid death and achieve righteousness.
John the Baptist baptized man to cleanse them from sin, while Christ baptized man with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11), which “was a sign of repentance and the forgiveness of sins only. It did not confer the power of total regeneration nor adoption as a child of God as does Christian baptism (St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008 p. 1270).” Christ, despite being God-man and born of the Ever-Virgin Mary, was baptized by water. Although Christ was sinless, He was baptized by water because baptism signifies more than forgiveness of sin. Baptism is required to join the Body of Christ, and the body of Christ is the Church that Christ established (Matthew 16:18). And Christ getting baptized showed He did not view himself above all other members of the Church. He thus created a standard of equality (conflicting with how the Pharisees acted). Christ demanded man to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17, St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008).” Christ also instituted the Eucharist and the New Covenant upon which the New Testament is erected:
“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins ( Matthew 26:28).”
The fact that the Pharisees and others refused to obey Christ’s call for repentance demonstrates free will exists. Christ could have compelled man to repent, but instead gave man a choice, for a master is no greater than his servant. Furthermore, Christ redeemed all man from Adam and Eve’s sin, granting eternal life to all those who choose to accept Christ, “for as one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19, St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008, p. 1553).” Christ freed man from death, and death was caused by Adam and Eve’s sin. Therefore, “sin shall have no dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:14, St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008, p. 1533).”
Thus, Christ fulfilled the curse of the law and established a New Covenant with mankind. Christ was sinless under the Mosiac Law of the Old Testament. Unjustly condemned based on a false accusation of treason, Christ descended, baptized those condemned to death, and provided a ladder to the Kingdom for those who were cursed by the law which condemned all of mankind prior to Christ.
Since Christ was God incarnate, Christ’s Word is perfect, absolute truth, and uncontradicted. When Christ spoke the words of the new covenant and the Commandment of love, it was created in the same way God created everything with his Word (Gen. 1:3). The new covenant was thus spoken into existence prior to Christ’s crucifixion. Eucharist, like baptism, unifies all members of the Church of Christ. God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would die (Gen. 2:16,17). Adam and Eve disobeyed God, resulting in death. And “for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22, St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008, p. 1570).” Since John the Baptist provides baptisms from sin and Christ invokes a New Covenant, it is God’s intent for man to repent. Adam and Eve failed to repent. Instead of admitting their transgression to God, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. God promised Adam and Eve death, but only a physical one (a return to the dust of the Earth). Since Christ is God incarnate, when He established the New Covenant and provided man a way to ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven, it had the same authority as God’s sentence of death upon Adam and Eve. It, therefore, created two paths for all mankind: life and death. The covenant of Adam is a rebellion against God’s will, while the path to eternal life requires love. Love created man and freed humanity from death. Despite God’s irreversible act of sentencing man to death in the Garden of Eden, Christ’s love for God and mankind, combined with an act of perfect obedience to God, created a new possibility for man: entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.