Grant What Thou Commandest

We, who have been instructed through the grace of Christ and born again to better manhood,... ought to be better than those who were before the law, and better also than those who were under the law. --Pelagius.

This is indeed a very pious sounding statement. Those who were before the law, I assume he meant those who were born before the law was given, and those who were under the law, I assume he was referring to the Jews. So he was saying that we Christians who are born again by the grace of God are better man, we ought to be able to perform the duty of God.

And again he said: "God commanded nothing impossible, that man possessed the power of doing the good if only he willed, and that the weakness of the flesh was merely a pretext." He wrote these words because he was 'roused to anger by an inert Christendom, that excused itself by pleading the frailty of the flesh and the impossibility of fulfilling the grievous commandments of God."

To summarize his points:
1. We Christians should be better than unbelievers.
2. We Christians should have the power to do God's commandments.
3. God will not command something that we cannot do.
4. Stop saying that your flesh is weak and use that as an excuse for your disobedience.

To put it in even simpler words:
1. You Christians need to stay pure, stop lusting, stop sinning because you are better than the unbelievers, you have been born again!
2. Just obey God, just do it, stop making excuses!

Oh how pious is this man's teaching. We ought to be encouraged to do good works, because God has already given us the power to do it! You will hear this teaching in almost all modern day Christian churches. "Would you be free from the power of sin? There is power in the blood, come and claim it, it's yours. If you still live under power of sin, you are just making excuses!"

Oh God, this teaching is actually heresy! The church of Pelagius' time condemned him as a heretic. How can this be? Look at what he is saying, what is wrong?

Pelagius was initially roused against Augustine by his prayer: "Grant what thou commandest, and command what thou dost desire."

Pelagius has no problem with the 2nd phrase: "command what thou dost desire." God by His will always command us to do what He desires. No one should raise any objections to that. What is troubling to him and to many of us today is Augustine's first clause, "Grant what thou commandest."

What is Augustine implying? He is implying that God needs to grant us obedience, or give us obedience, to do His will. What is this obedience given by God? If it is given by God, is it still our obedience? If He does not grant this obedience, then why does He blame man for not obeying? All these debates results in the earliest teaching on the original sin of man, and eventually the T in TULIP of Reformation. Total Depravity of man, that man is incapable of doing God's will even though he wanted to. And the deeper problem is that man does not want/desire to do God's will.

As I was pondering on John Piper's "Desiring God" I came to realize that there is nothing in me to make me want to desire God. I don't desire God that much. I would rather sleep in than wake up early to pray. I would rather to lust than to desire God. I would rather choose laziness, TV, computer games, than to spend an hour on my knees praying. What is wrong with me? How can I have that desire for God that John Piper talks about? I can't! I have found that through many failures, miserable failures. The more I want to desire God the more I don't desire Him. So I prayed a prayer last night:"Lord, grant me a desire to come near you, and grant me obedience to follow that holy desire." Then it dawned on me. I have neither the desire nor the obedience to come near God. Augustine's prayer became extremely important. All these years I have actually and subconsciously followed the heretic Pelagius, and no wonder I feel frustrations over and over. I found myself not desiring God and I get frustrated.

Grant what thou commandest. What a profound prayer. It leaves no room for man to glory in his obedience. Sola Gratia--Grace alone. Solo Deo Gloria--To God alone be the glory. Hey, guess what, I woke up early this morning and prayed. To God be the glory, he heard my prayer last night. Will I fail again tomorrow? I may. I will always fail if not by God's grace and His gift of obedience.

Ezekiel 36:26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

2 Corinthians 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Eph. 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus for works, which God beforehand so that we would walk in them.