22 March 2013

Patristic Quote of the Day

Is it, then, fitting for us to say, that to mortify the deeds of the flesh is not a gift of God, and not to confess it to be a gift of God, because we hear it required of us, with the offer of life as a reward if we shall do it? Away with this being approved by the partakers and champions of grace! This is the condemnable error of the Pelagians, whose mouths the apostle immediately stopped when he added, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; Romans 8:14 lest we should believe that we mortify the deeds of the flesh, not by God's Spirit, but by our own.—St. Augustine, On the Predestination of the Saints, Book I, Chapter 22.

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