A) Religious concepts of free will

Pelagius

• Ascetic monk, wrote 'On nature' and 'Defense of the freedom of the will'
• Was deeply concerned with moral standards in Rome- blamed the abundance of sin: believed people were not trying to control their urge to sin as they felt it was predestined
• Pelagius argued that people had the free will to resist sin
• He was partly influenced by St. Justin (said humanity had to have free will otherwise good actions would have no Godly moral worth)
• Argued an omnibenevolent God would not punish all of humanity for the sins of Adam and Eve: Adam's sin only affected Adam
• Supported this argument with Deuteronomy 24:16, where Moses stated 'each will die for their own sins'
• Believed it is participation in the 'fallen world' that leads to sin, not an inherited tendency
• Adam and Eve (eating from forbidden tree) illustrated that humanity were mature enough to receive the gift of free will
• All humanity could independently choose to either do good and follow God's laws or turn to sin
• Pelagius gave examples of people from the old testament who had used their free will in a mature fashion, e.g. Abraham, Job
• Believed the 10 commandments were introduced by God as a reminder to humanity that they have the capacity to choose between good and evil
• A loving God would not create commandments that humans did not have the capacity to follow
• However, he still recognised the importance of God's grace in salvation- enables 'good works', rather than determining them
• Humanity still has the free will capacity to ignore the grace of God 
• 'Free will…