Second Council of Orange

Canon 1 — On the Sin of Adam

If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only the body is subject to corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says, "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:20), and "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey?" (Rom. 6:16), and "for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved" (2 Pet. 2:19).

Canon 2 — On the Grace of God

If anyone asserts that Adam's sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human race, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who says, "Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

Canon 3 — On Grace

If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom. 10:20; Isa. 65:1).

Canon 4 — On Those Who Toil in Prayer

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 who says through Solomon, "The will is prepared by the Lord" (Prov. 8:35 LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

Canon 5 — On the Correction of Sickness

If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism — if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles. (Phil. 1:29; Eph. 2:8–9)

Canon 6 — On Those Who Think That Mercy Is Ours

If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is through the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).

Canon 7 — On the Spirit That Blows Where It Will

If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospel, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, "Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).

Canon 8 — On the Grace by Which We Are Christians

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, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation of God.

Canon 9 — On the Calling of God

God's grace is not given in response to prayer, but grace itself causes the prayer to be offered. For how shall they call on one in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14) And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Therefore even those who desire the grace of God are themselves unable to desire it without the aid of grace.

Canon 10 — On the Grace of God

The assistance of grace is to be sought by the healthy as well as by the sick, so that when healed they may give thanks to him who heals, and when helped they may honor him who helps. For no man is as wise that he has no need of help from him by whom wisdom was given to men. (Jas. 1:5)

Canon 11 — On Vows

None make any offering to the Lord as of their own, that he should not give grace, but all that is good to us is from him of whose gift it is that we can offer anything at all to his service. For no man has anything of his own but untruth and sin. (1 Chr. 29:14)

Canon 12 — On What God Loves in Us

God loves us for what we shall be by his gift, and not for what we are by our own merit.

Canon 13 — On 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, for what is lost can be returned only by the one who was able to give it. Hence the Truth itself declares: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

Canon 14 — On the Miserable and the Wretched

No mean wretch is freed from his sorrowful and miserable state, however strenuously he may will it, unless he is anticipated by the compassion of God. For he says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" (Rom. 9:15).

Canon 15 — On Adam and His Descendants

Adam was changed, but for the worse, through his own iniquity from what God made him. Through the grace of God the believer is changed, but for the better, from what his iniquity has done for him. The one, therefore, was the change brought about by the first sinner; the other, according to the Psalmist, is the change of the right hand of the Most High. (Ps. 77:10)

Canon 16 — On Those Who Seem to Excel

No man shall be honored by his seeming attainment if he lacks that which comes of true attainment. For the apostle says, "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Cor. 4:7)

Canon 17 — On Christian Courage

Worldly courage, with which we resist the devil, is a gift of God. For the Apostle exhorts, saying, "Resist the devil" (Jas. 4:7), and it is said to him, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might" (Eph. 6:10).

Canon 18 — Gratuitous Grace

That grace is not preceded by merit. Recompense is due to good works if they are performed; but grace, to which we have no claim, precedes them, to enable them to be done. (Rom. 11:6)

Canon 19 — On Man

That a man can be saved only when God's mercy anticipates him. Man's nature, even though it remained in that integrity in which it was created, would be absolutely unable to save itself without the assistance of its Creator; hence since without the grace of God it cannot guard the health and good estate which it received, how without the grace of God will it be able to recover what it has lost?

Canon 20 — That Good Is in Man Only Through God

That a man does nothing good without God. God does much that is good in a man that the man does not do; but a man does nothing good for which God is not responsible, so as to let him do it.

Canon 21 — On Nature and Grace

As the Apostle most truly says to those who would be justified by the law and have fallen from grace, so also to those who think that grace is to be sought after by nature: "Christ will be of no advantage to you" (Gal. 5:2). For faith in Christ and the love of God are not in us naturally, and come to us only through the grace given to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:8)

Canon 22 — On What Belongs to Man

No man has anything of his own but untruth and sin. But if a man has any love of truth and righteousness, it comes from that fountain for which we must thirst in this desert, so that we may be refreshed from it as by drops of water and not faint on the way. (John 4:14)

Canon 23 — On the Will of God and Man

Men do their own will and not the will of God, when they do what displeases him; but when they follow their own will and comply with the will of God, however willingly they do so, yet it is his will by which what they will is both prepared and instructed. (Prov. 21:1)

Canon 24 — On the Branches of the Vine

The branches in the Vine do not give life to the vine, but receive life from it; thus it is in no way advantageous to the vine to have the branches, but it is advantageous to the branches to cleave to the vine. Thus also Jesus himself, in whom we live, and without whom we can do nothing, is himself the vine and we are the branches. (John 15:1–5)

Canon 25 — On the Love by Which We Love God

It is wholly a gift of God to love God. He who loves, even though he is not loved, allowed himself to be loved. We are loved, even when we displease him, so that we might have means to please him. For the Spirit, whom we have not of ourselves but only of him, stirs up our desires, says the Apostle, "because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5).

And thus according to the passages of holy scripture quoted above or the interpretations of the ancient Fathers we must, under the blessing of God, preach and believe the following: The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him. We therefore believe that the glorious faith which was given to Abel the righteous, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and to all the saints of old, and which the Apostle Paul commends in extolling them (Hebrews 11), was not given through natural goodness as it was before to Adam, but was bestowed by the grace of God.

We also believe and confess to our benefit that in every good work it is not we who take the initiative and are then assisted through the mercy of God, but God himself first inspires in us both faith in him and love for him without any previous good works of our own that deserve reward, so that we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism be able by his help to do what is pleasing to him. We must therefore most evidently believe that the praiseworthy faith of the thief whom the Lord called to his home in paradise, and of Cornelius the centurion, to whom the angel of the Lord was sent, and of Zacchaeus, who was worthy to receive the Lord himself, was not a natural endowment but a gift of God's kindness.