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There were two synods, or councils, that met in Orange, a city in France. The first Council of Orange assembled in AD 441 to decide some matters of church discipline and conduct. The second met in AD 529 to resolve theological disputes about God’s grace, human freedom, and salvation.
Presiding over the first Synod of Orange was Hilary of Arles, and sixteen other bishops were present as well. Various issues addressed by the council included the administration of sacraments, the celibacy of priests, the office of deaconess, and matters relating to widowhood and virginity.
The second Synod of Orange was much more significant and had a lasting effect on theology. This council was overseen by Caesarius of Arles, with over a dozen other regional bishops in attendance. The council deliberated over a current controversy concerning grace and free will.
As a background to the controversy, a century earlier, a monk named Pelagius had denied original sin and argued that men could choose not to sin and thus could obtain eternal life apart from God’s grace. This position, Pelagianism, was countered by Augustine of Hippo, who stressed the depravity of man and the essential role of God’s grace in salvation. Several church councils, including the Council of Carthage, condemned Pelagianism. However, a modified view known as semi-Pelagianism emerged. Semi-Pelagianism contended that sinners, though fallen, could still choose to reach out for God’s grace by an act of their natural (unregenerate) will. God’s intervention was unnecessary, since the men had enough natural morality to choose salvation. In opposition to semi-Pelagianism stood the Augustinian view that the human will is corrupted by sin to the extent that men cannot of their own choosing find God; they need the application of God’s grace to even begin the search.
Caesarius and the other bishops met to establish a clear understanding of God’s grace, human freedom, and salvation. In the end, they condemned Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism, concluding that salvation is a gift of God’s grace; it is not deserved and cannot be earned:
Canon 4, “If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself.”
Canon 7, “If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, . . . or that we can be saved . . . through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, . . . he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God.”
Canon 8, “If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man.”
The Synod of Orange pointed to passages such as John 6:44; 15:5; Ephesians 2:8–9; and Philippians 2:13 in support of their decision.Canon 7, “If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, . . . or that we can be saved . . . through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, . . . he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God.”
Canon 8, “If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man.”
Moreover, the synod stated that God’s grace is received through baptism. In the Conclusion of their published document, the council wrote, “We also believe that after grace has been received through baptism, all baptized persons have the ability and responsibility, if they desire to labor faithfully, to perform with the aid and cooperation of Christ what is of essential importance in regard to the salvation of their soul.” In other words, salvation is mediated through the specific means established by God, which the council saw as baptism.
Baptismal regeneration is also alluded to in Canon 13: “Concerning the restoration of free will. The freedom of will that was destroyed in the first man can be restored only by the grace of baptism.”
Pope Boniface II endorsed the Canons of the Synod of Orange and cemented their authority for the church.
The Synod of Orange significantly impacted Thomas Aquinas’ Scholasticism and the Reformation debates of the sixteenth century. In many respects, the synod’s conclusions foreshadowed later theological doctrines related to predestination, justification, and sanctification.
The councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon often overshadow the Synod of Orange, but the latter council’s perspective on God’s grace and human freedom was foundational to Western theological thought. By rejecting Pelagian and semi-Pelagian doctrine, the synod ensured a monergistic, theocentric soteriology.
