Original Sin. Part 6. Back To The Early Church

Original Sin

Part 6

Back to the early church fathers before Augustine

🏛️ 1. Augustine vs. the Greek Fathers (before him) per ChatGPT

Here we’re comparing Augustine of Hippo with earlier Eastern figures like:

• Irenaeus
• Origen
• John Chrysostom
• Gregory of Nyssa

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🔹 A. Human nature after the Fall

Greek Fathers: Humanity is corrupted and mortal, but not totally incapacitated.

Example (Chrysostom): “All depends on God, yet not so that our free will is hindered.”

(As I have noted in other articles, what does this actually mean in practical terms. If we are born somewhat incapacitated, then are we still fully responsible and culpable? And if our will is hindered, what does that mean? And did Jesus have these handicaps as well? If not, he doesn’t know what it is like to be tempted as we are.)

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Augustine:

Humanity fell in Adam, and the will is unable to choose God rightly without grace.

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🔹 B. Original sin

Greek Fathers:

• Emphasize death and corruption
• Not a strong doctrine of inherited guilt contained in Original Sin

Example (Irenaeus, paraphrased concept): Humanity suffers from Adam’s disobedience but grows toward restoration

(Are we born with a weak versus a strong form of inherited guilt? What does that mean? And what does it mean that we grow toward restoration? Is God unable to fully resurrect us from the dead? Or is it a slow but never fully completed new birth until we die? None of this makes sense to me. It all seems like pandering to the great Augustine.)

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Augustine:

• Strong doctrine of inherited guilt
• All humanity “sinned in Adam.”

(This error permeates everything in Augustinian Calvinism theology.)

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🔹 C. Grace

Greek Fathers:

• Grace is essential
• But works in cooperation (synergy) with human will (and both are essential, or there is no salvation)

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Augustine:

• Grace is not just helpful
• It is what causes the will to turn to God

(Here, Augustine’s full determinism is on display. If we are not saved, God did not will it. And why didn’t God will the salvation of everyone? He passed over the majority for His own glory, we are told.)

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🔹 D. Free will

Greek Fathers:

Free will remains real and active, though weakened

(But again, what exactly does that mean? We have free will, but it is weakened. How free is it? Did Jesus have any of these handicaps as we do? If not, how does he know what it is like to be tempted with a weakened will that we inherit from Adam?)

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Augustine:

Free will exists—but is “bound” and not free without grace

(More sophistry from Augustine. We all know why he is reluctant to state that we, as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, do not have free will. Our will is a slave of sin. If he were transparent and honest, Augustine would admit the truth as Luther did. Mankind doesn’t have free will.)

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🔹 E. Big difference in tone

• Greek Fathers → therapeutic model (healing, restoration)
• Augustine → forensic/juridical model (guilt, condemnation, pardon)

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⚖️ Summary of the contrast

Theme	Greek Fathers	Augustine
Fall	Corruption, mortality	Guilt + depravity
Will	Weakened	Bound
Grace	Cooperative	Initiating, decisive
Salvation	Healing	Rescue from condemnation

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✝️ 2. How this plays out in practical theology

Now let’s see how these differences actually affect Christian life.

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🔹 A. Conversion (How someone comes to God)

Augustinian / Reformed:

• God changes the heart first
• Then the person believes

Conversion is something that happens to you, and you have no part in it.

(We all know by consciousness that we do have a part in our own salvation. It takes religious indoctrination to make us believe otherwise, but God’s testimony still speaks to those who will listen.)

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Catholic:

• Grace comes first
• But the person freely cooperates

Conversion is a grace-enabled response

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Orthodox:

• God draws
• The person responds in synergy to God

Conversion is a cooperative process between God and man.

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🔹 B. Assurance of salvation

Reformed (strong Augustinian):

• Assurance based on:
  • God’s election
  • God’s unchanging grace

Can be a very strong assurance

(I do not believe that is true. When what we do matters very little, then assurance can only be presumed. Based on what, do they have any assurance that they are the elect? They may turn from Christ later in life if God decrees it.)

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Catholic:

• Assurance is moral, not absolute
• One can fall away

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Orthodox:

• Less focus on “assurance” as a category
• Emphasis on:
  • ongoing faithfulness
  • humility

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🔹 C. Christian life (sanctification)

Reformed:

• Growth is driven by God’s work in you
• Emphasis on dependence

(But this process of sanctification will never bring about full repentance on our part, by their own admission. So much for progressive sanctification, which replaces genuine repentance.)

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Catholic:

• Growth through:
  • grace
  • sacraments
  • cooperation

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Orthodox:

• Strong emphasis on:
  • ascetic struggle
  • participation in divine life (theosis)

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🔹 D. Sin and repentance

Augustinian traditions:

• Sin rooted in fallen nature, we are born sinners
• Repentance = turning back through grace

(But repentance is a vain notion for no Christian actually stops sinning in their theology.)

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Orthodox:

• Sin is often described more as:

spiritual sickness

• Repentance = healing and restoration

(Both of these (healing and restoration) imply the forsaking of sickness is like the forsaking of sin, which it is not. We can stop sin, but we can’t stop an illness or disease.)

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🔹 E. Spiritual tone

Tradition	Tone
Reformed	Dependence on God’s sovereignty
Catholic	Cooperation with grace
Orthodox	Healing and transformation

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🧠 Big-picture synthesis

Putting both sections together:

Before Augustine:

• Christianity largely (near universally) spoke in terms of:

freedom + cooperation (ability) + healing

Augustine:

• Introduces a sharper emphasis on:

sin as bondage (no free will and not ability) + irresistible grace as decisive cause

After Augustine:

• West develops along his lines (with variations)
• East largely preserves the earlier framework of free will and the ability to obey God

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🧭 Final takeaway

The biggest difference is not just doctrine—it’s how salvation is imagined:

• Augustine (and those following him strongly):
  → Humanity must be rescued from inability and imputed guilt
• Greek / Orthodox tradition:
  → Humanity must be healed and restored
• Catholic tradition:
  → A synthesis: healing + grace-initiated cooperation

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Summary

Augustine changed Christian Orthodoxy and departed significantly from the teaching of the early church fathers, including the apostles and those who followed them in the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th centuries.

Yet, Augustinian Calvinists today like to think of their false teachings as Christian Orthodoxy when that is not the case. Their 5th-century departure from the truth is anything but orthodox.