Written by Dr. Marcus J. Serven
“Thou made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.” Augustine, Confessions, Book 1
Augustine (A.D. 354-430) stands as the one of the foremost leaders and thinkers of the early church. He set the direction and tone of theological inquiry for centuries to come. Although Roman Catholics claim him as one of the most profound theologians within their tradition, many people today, especially Protestants, still read the writings of Augustine with great profit. What were the forces and events that shaped the thinking of this gifted and courageous man?
Aurelius Augustine was born in Northern Africa to a pagan father, Patricius, and a Christian mother, Monica. Of Monica’s three children, Augustine was often on her mind and in her prayers. She had a powerful influence upon Augustine’s early life by the example of her sincere devotion to Christ and pious lifestyle. This, however, did not keep her overly adventurous son from falling prey to iniquity. At sixteen he became a thief. He writes at a later date the following confession,
I lusted to thieve, and did it, compelled by no hunger, nor poverty, but through a cloyedness of well-doing, and a pamperedness of iniquity. For I stole that, of which I had enough, and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy what I stole, but joyed in the theft and sin itself. A pear tree there was near our vineyard, laden with fruit, tempting neither for color nor taste. To take and rob this, some lewd young fellows of us went, late one night (having according to our pestilent custom prolonged our sports in the streets until then), and took huge loads, not for our eating, but to fling to the very hogs, having only tasted them. And this, but to do what we liked only, because it was misliked…It was foul, and I loved it…Fair were those pears, but not them did my wretched soul desire; for I had store of better, and those I gathered, only that I might steal. For, when gathered, I flung them away, my only feast therein being my own sin, which I was pleased to enjoy.
Augustine, Confessions, Book 2
In time he gave way to sensuality and immorality, and at the age of eighteen he took a mistress and fathered a son. He also became deeply interested in philosophy and religion, but in not the Christianity of his Mother. The youthful Augustine felt that the moral demands of Christianity were too difficult to follow. Hence, he devoted himself to the Manichaean sect.
The Manichaeans followed the teachings of the ancient Persian philosopher, Mani (A.D. 216-c.277). He believed that the universe was dominated by two coeternal and coequal principles Light and Dark, or Good and Evil. Later this system was merged with Christianity by his followers who taught that the “god” of the Old Testament was evil and the “god” of the New Testament was good. This radical dualism explained for Augustine the conflict between good and evil that raged within the human soul. Each person was ultimately not responsible for their own sin, because in Augustine’s words, “It was not I who was sinning, but some other nature within me.” Eventually, Augustine abandoned the Manichaeans because of unresolved questions within their system of thought regarding the nature of evil. Augustine came to realize that all mankind was responsible before a single holy God for impure thoughts and actions. Although Augustine was slowly moving towards the safe-harbor of Christianity, he still had to travel through the stormy waters of Greek philosophy before he would find the Gospel.
During his period of searching Monica faithfully prayed for her wandering son, of which he gives glowing testimony in his book Confessions. Monica also continued to witness to him while he lived in Rome, where he founded a school of oratory and philosophy, and later in Milan, where he served as a professor of rhetoric (A.D. 384). She constantly kept the Holy Scriptures in front of him, and advocated that he speak personally with Bishop Ambrose in Milan (A.D. c.340-397) about Christianity. One day Augustine was sullenly sitting in the courtyard of his home contemplating his life when he suddenly heard a young boy’s voice (from a nearby home) repeatedly saying, “Take up and read, take up and read!” (Latin: Tolle Lege, Tolle Lege!). Dumbfounded, he reached for a copy of the Bible which his Mother had given him. He expressively writes,
I seized it and opened it, and in silence I read the first passage on which my eyes fell. “No orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. Take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ; stop giving attention to your sinful nature, to satisfy your desires” (Romans 13:13-14). I had no wish to read more and no need to do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of faith flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.
Augustine, Confessions, Book 8
From that time on Augustine resolved to lead a life of purity and simplicity. The God of the Bible had opened his eyes to his need for the Savior. Great intellectual that he was, though, he felt that he must satisfy his mind that the gospel of Christianity was truly reasonable. And so, he entered into a formal dialogue with a few friends (using the Socratic method of question and answer) in order to satisfy his understanding. As Augustine considered the truth claims for biblical Christianity he became convinced that God had revealed Himself in history through Jesus Christ and that the Bible was, indeed, an accurate and trustworthy guide to spiritual truth. Moreover, faith and reason were compatible and not incompatible. These conclusions were recorded by scribes and became the foundation for many of his future books. It was because of his personal acquaintance with so many of the immoral practices and philosophies of the world that he later became such a formidable spokesman for orthodox Christianity. He had been delivered by the Lord from guilt, sin, and sensuous living. He would never go back to his former way of life.
Immediately after this time of inquiry and discovery Augustine was baptized in Milan by Bishop Ambrose on Easter Sunday, A.D. 387. This was a great answer to prayer, and his mother rejoiced that her son was now a member the family of God. Unfortunately, Monica died soon after his conversion just before they were to return home to North Africa.
After becoming an ordained priest, Augustine put his enormous literary and verbal skills to use and wrote extensively about the major controversies of the day. He defended the doctrine of the Trinity, he preached on humility from the Sermon on the Mount, and he wrote on the concept of original sin and mankind’s fallen nature. In A.D. 396 the people of Hippo Regius, in northern Africa, strongly prevailed upon Augustine to become their Bishop. He humbly agreed and entered a period of life which was especially fruitful. In particular, Augustine distinguished himself by writing against the heretic, Pelagius (A.D. c.354-c.420). Pelagius was a British monk teaching in Rome who denied that mankind was born with the sin and guilt of Adam. He argued that each person became a sinner when they sinned in their own life. Pelagius made the following statements in his teaching,
“Everything good and everything evil…is done by us, and not born with us.” He also taught, “Adam’s sin injured him alone, not the human race.” And, “New-born infants are in the same condition as Adam before the Fall.” And, “That man can be without sin, if he choose.” And finally, “The Law, as well as the Gospel, leads to the Kingdom.”
Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church, 56-57
Augustine was the main opponent of Pelagius throughout his lifetime and argued that the Scriptures clearly taught the doctrine of original sin and the imputation of that sin through Adam to every human being (see Romans 5:12-21). Pelagius’ heretical views were finally defeated at the council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) primarily through the writings of Augustine.
Augustine is also widely known for his attack on Roman paganism in his book, The City of God. What were the circumstances for writing this lengthy and polemical treatise? The generally accepted explanation is as follows,
When the Germanic Goths captured Rome in 410, it sent shock waves across the empire, with pagans blaming Christians for the disaster. To refute these charges Augustine penned his masterpiece, The City of God. In it he argued that there are two “cities” or communities—the City of Man and the City of God. The former is temporal and transitory; the latter is spiritual and eternal. He also rejected the premillennialism (also known as chiliasm, from the Greek word “one thousand”) of the early church and equated the reign of Christ and his saints with the entire history of the church, thus denying the idea of a literal, future kingdom of God on earth. He was the first orthodox theologian to teach amillennialism.
R. Clouse, R. Pierard, E. Yamaucchi, Two Kingdoms: The Church and Culture Through the Ages, 81
Thus, in this profound treatise Augustine builds a case for Christian involvement in the political sphere (the City of Man), yet not to the neglect of the theological sphere (the City of God). He colorfully writes,
Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self, leading to contempt of God and the heavenly city by the love of God, leading to contempt of self. The former glories in itself, the latter in the Lord…In the one city, the rulers and the nations that it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other city, rulers and subjects serve one another in love—the subjects by obeying, the rulers by caring for all…These two cities are two communities of men. One is predestined to reign eternally with God, the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil…Citizens are born into the earthly city by a nature spoiled by sin, but they are born into the heavenly city by grace freeing nature from sin.
Augustine, The City of God, 14:28-15:2
Some theologians have erroneously used Augustine’s work The City of God as justification for the overly-authoritarian actions of certain Christian rulers, or for the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church over all other human institutions. However, Augustine’s main point is that “the City of God” (ie: God’s Kingdom) is a present reality in the lives of all believers and that wherever they are involved the influence of God’s Kingdom will be dramatically felt. The final fulfillment of the Kingdom will come at Christ’s return with the creation of the new Heavens and the new Earth. God is the victor, not the political schemes or ecclesiastical endeavors of man.
Augustine died at seventy-five years of age, in A.D. 430, while the Barbarian Vandals besieged his fortified town of Hippo Regius. God’s Kingdom and his Gospel message would prevail despite the uncertainties of the post-Roman age. The precious doctrines of the Bible: the imputation of man’s sinful nature from one generation to another, Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross, and God’s ever expanding Kingdom here on earth had been defined, defended, and documented by this great champion of orthodox theology. Even in death, and the imminent defeat by warfare of his own home town, Augustine was certain of God’s triumph. As Jesus Christ himself boldly affirmed, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b)
Resources for Further Study:
Augustine, Aurelius. The City of God. Translated by Marcus Dodds. New York, NY: The Modern Library, 1993.
Augustine, Aurelius. The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Translated by E. B. Pusey. New York, NY: The Modern Library, 1999.
Bentley-Taylor, David. The Apostle from Africa: The Life and Thought of Augustine of Hippo. Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2002.
Bettenson, Henry and Chris Maunder, eds.. Documents of the Christian Church. 4th Edition. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1963.
Carr, Simonetta. Augustine. From the series: “Christian Biographies for Young Readers.” Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009.
Chadwick, Henry. Augustine of Hippo: A Life. London, England: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Clouse, Robert G., Richard V. Pierard, Edwin M. Yamauchi. Two Kingdoms: The Church and Culture Through the Ages. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1993.
Douglas, J. D., ed. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.
Douglas, J. D., ed. Who’s Who in Christian History. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992.
Dowley, Tim, ed. The History of Christianity. Revised Edition. Oxford, England: Lion Publishers, 1990.
Elwell, Walter A., ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Second Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.
- “Ambrose,” by Victor L. Walter
- “Augustine of Hippo,” by Norman L. Geisler
- “Donatism,” by Victor L. Walter
- “Pelagius, Pelagianism,” by Bruce L. Shelly
- “Mani,” by W. Andrew Hoffecker
- “Manichaeism,” by W. Andrew Hoffecker
Hollingworth, Miles. Saint Augustine of Hippo: An Intellectual Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Houghton, S. M. Sketches From Church History. Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1980.
Lane, Tony. A Concise History of Christian Thought. Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.
Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity. Vol. 1. Revised Edition. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1975.
Warfield, Benjamin B. Calvin and Augustine. Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1956.
Woodbridge, John D., ed. Great Leaders of the Christian Church. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1988.
Dr. Marcus J. Serven, ThM and DMin
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