Grace With Word

The idea man could not naturally understand and obey God without further grace was a doctrine of Augustine. It was later supported by Prosper of Aquitaine in defense of Augustine. Both taught a mystical power must accompany the preachers of the word that changed the hearers.

Whenever, then, the word of God enters into the ears

of the body through the ministry of the preachers, the

action of the divine power fuses with the sound of a human

voice, and He who is the inspirer of the preacher's office

is also the strength of the hearer's heart. Then the food

of the word becomes sweet to the soul; the darkness of

old is expelled by the new light; the interior eye is freed

They failed to see that the Word was a grace that man could act upon without further grace. Once a man was taught the Gospel including baptism, and he understood the concept through explanation, then Grace was sufficient for freewill to act. He simply had to consent to it in faith.

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Augustine taught God's power must accompany the word in a mystical way for believers to be born and act. He refused to acknowledge the word was vested in the authority of Christ so that all those who heard and acted in belief were added to the church.

Salvation wasn't without grace, but there came a time in which the human was sufficiently enlightened for man to choose or not choose salvation. Grace had finished its initial work and it was time for man to decide. Salvation in its future stages would not be finished until man's decision was finished.

The grace of enlightenment did not force man to choose God's course of salvation. Since much of the content of enlightment was future, it had not been realized and had to be viewed by faith and hope. A person could choose what he currently had over future promises if he chose.