None of these options is reconcilable with Gospel of Christ. On the contrary, Christ's promise overflow with hope. We can only conclude that Pelagian optimism is doomed to disappoint, and that its spirit will keep people from absorbing the authentic Gospel message. According to the teaching of Christ, the whole efficacy of the New Law results in the restoration and perfection of the imago Dei. We call this achievement the grace of justification.
Some persons suppose that grace is weak and inefficacious.
One phenomenon that persuades to such a view is the widespread evidence of sin that continues to exist in the world even millennia after Christ's salvific death. By insisting on the hopeless state of the sinner, the tactic urges believers to give up on believing in Christ's love and forgiveness. When this blackmail works, these people look for a remedy for their sins that moves them away from the holiness of Christ. But as Jesus himself instructs us, there is no moment in our lives when sin provides a reason for turning away from God. The truth about God's love for the sinner and the transformation that occurs in the lives of all those who seek to do God's will must accompany every instruction about morality.