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F8 reasoning: Sin and the need for grace

Reasoning steps: Sin and the need for grace

Verdicts: F8 · Sin and the need for grace. Shared notes and post-750 development: original-sin · salvation.

F08.1 (was original-sin/O1): The fall and its effects

Step F08.1.1: Scripture

Gen 3; Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22; Eph 2:3 (τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς); Ps 51:5.

Step F08.1.2: Patristic evidence

irenaeus-osn-s1, athanasius-osn-s1, augustine-osn-s1.

Step F08.1.3: Weighing decision

All the fathers verified agree: a real, historical fall, with death and corruption passed on to all. Consensus.

  • Confidence: High

Step F08.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

See the proximity tiers.

  • Scripture (benchmark): Gen 3; Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Key sources by tier: Irenaeus (T2, w 0.8); Athanasius (T3, w 0.6). Proximity factor: 0.7 (mean tier weight of 2 key source(s)).
  • Assessment: T2 (Irenaeus) and Scripture agree. Verdict unchanged.

F08.2 (was salvation/S1): Grace and the beginning of faith

Step F08.2.1: Scripture

Eph 2:8–9; Phil 1:29 (granted to believe); John 6:44, 65; Acts 16:14 (the Lord opened Lydia’s heart); 1 Cor 4:7. There is a consistent emphasis that coming to faith is enabled by God.

Step F08.2.2: Patristic evidence

augustine-sal-s1, councils-carthage-orange-sal-s1 vs. john-cassian-sal-s1. On the ground of justification, see justification Q2.

Step F08.2.3: Weighing decision

Reading A: grace precedes even the beginning of faith (Augustine, Orange). Reading B: grace may meet a beginning of good will that is ours (Cassian). A is chosen. It is the conciliar outcome for the West (Orange 529, received) and fits Phil 1:29 and Acts 16:14. The Greek fathers before 400 did not address the question in these terms, so B is not ’the Eastern view’ by default. Weight: A is Western conciliar; for the East the question is not posed.

  • Confidence: High (West); medium as a whole-church verdict

Step F08.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

See the proximity tiers.

  • Scripture (benchmark): Phil 1:29; Acts 16:14; John 6:44, 65: coming to faith is God’s gift. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Key sources by tier: Augustine (T3, w 0.6); John Cassian (T3, w 0.6). Proximity factor: 0.6 (mean tier weight of 2 key source(s)).
  • Assessment: The earliest tiers are not explicit on prevenient grace. The firm statements are T3–T4 (Augustine, Orange 529). Scripture supports S1 directly, so the verdict stands on Scripture more than on proximity. Verdict unchanged.

F08.3: Have all sinned, Christ alone excepted?

Step F08.3.1: Scripture

Rom 3:23 (‘all have sinned’); Rom 3:10–12; 1 John 1:8; 1 Kgs 8:46; Heb 4:15 (Christ ‘without sin’). Scripture names no other exception; it is silent about Mary.

Step F08.3.2: Patristic evidence

Augustine (Era III), against Pelagius’s list of sinless saints, holds that all have sinned but adds: ‘We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord’. Sources: augustine-f08x-s1.

Step F08.3.3: Weighing decision

Universal sinfulness is the consensus against Pelagius; Augustine’s reserve about Mary is a pious exception about actual sin, not a doctrine. Verdict: all have sinned except Christ; Augustine declines to discuss Mary.

  • Confidence: High.

Step F08.3.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): ‘All have sinned’ (Rom 3:23); only Christ is said to be without sin (Heb 4:15). (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Assessment: Scripture is explicit on universality and names only Christ as sinless. Defining Mary as exempt (Catholic, Trent VI canon 23 and 1854) goes beyond Scripture but follows Augustine’s reserve.

F08.3 by tradition

  • Catholic (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Trent VI canon 23: no one avoids all venial sins ’except by a special privilege … as the Church holds in regard of the Blessed Virgin’ (verified); Immaculate Conception (1854).
  • Orthodox (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): All sinners; Mary held personally pure but sharing the ancestral condition.
  • Oriental Orthodox (fathers n/a; Scripture 4/4): Shenouda III, Salvation in the Orthodox Concept: ‘all have sinned … there is none who does good, no, not one … all the world became guilty before God’ (Rom 3) (verified)
  • Lutheran (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): AC II: ‘all men begotten according to nature are born with sin’ (verified title).
  • Anglican (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. XV: Christ ‘alone without sin’, ‘all we the rest … offend in many things’ (heading ‘Of Christ alone without Sin’ verified).
  • Presbyterian (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF VI.4; VIII.2.
  • Reformed Baptist (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 6.4.
  • General Baptist (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Orthodox Creed 15.
  • Anabaptist (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Dordrecht II (verified heading).