Asher Sisneros

Few theologians live up to the legendary status of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). His theological treatises are vast and extensive. In fact, St. Isidore of Seville said if anyone claimed to have read all of St. Augustine’s writings, they were lying because he wrote so much. However, some say St. Isidore’s comment is commonly misinterpreted as, in an age before the Gutenberg printing press, it referenced limited accessibility to the writings, not their volume.¹ However, he still wrote a ton, and that is unambiguous. His sermons and books covered a multitude of topics including eschatology, Mariology, predestination, just war, free will, and determinism, to name a few. All that said, his writings were prevalent in Christian thought for centuries after his death, heavily influencing protestant reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther. 

The City of God (413-326 AD) and Confessions (397-398 AD) are two of his most notorious books. The City of God was written after the Visigoths sacked Rome. Much of the populace blamed Christianity for making the Roman Empire weak and incapable of withstanding a military attack. Christians were easy scapegoats given Jesus’ emphasis on love over military strength, but St. Augustine refuted the accusations and wrote The City of God as a defense. The book emphasized the importance of salvation. To Augustine, politics wasn’t important, but salvation was. He argued that God would use any means—even the destruction of Rome—to save souls. The City of God elaborated on a war between two kingdoms—earth and heaven. Augustine believed that was the most important war. 

Confessions is among the most influential autobiographies ever written and was the first Christian autobiography in the West. It told the tale of Augustine’s slow conversion. As a young boy, Augustine studied Latin in Madarus. It was there that he stole fruit with his unruly friends. He didn’t steal the fruit because he was hungry, for his colleagues never ate the fruit—it was purely to be rebellious. The group gloated by breaking the law and causing mischief. Augustine described his behavior as an addiction to sin. Something within his soul gloated in sin and he loved it. By 17, he moved to Carthage to study rhetoric. After reading Cicero, he became fixated on attaining wisdom. The worldly influences of astrology, skepticism, and Manichaeism persuaded the young Augustine to abandon Christianity, his childhood religion. He spent most of his teenage life rejecting all religions. However, Augustine converted to Manichaeism as a young adult. The philosophy believed in two gods—Good and Evil—who fought. It attracted him because it answered the question of how evil could exist. Many religions worship a “good god,” but Augustine wondered how a good god could allow evil to permeate. However, when the great Manichaean scholar Faustus couldn’t answer Augustine’s question about why the two gods fought, he abandoned the religion. Afterward, he dabbled in astrology, Neoplatonism, and skepticism. After gloating in sin and fornication for much of his adult life, he was saved, an answer to his mother Monica’s steadfast prayers. As much as he tried, philosophy and his fornicating love affairs could not conduce happiness. After befriending Saint Ambrose, he told his friend Alypius that he was considering Christianity. As they sat in a garden, he heard a child’s voice say, “Tolle lege,” which means, “Take up and read.” Immediately after, he opened a Bible and read Romans 13:13-14: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”² The verse struck Augustine as particularly speaking to his affairs. Shortly after, he was converted by Saint Ambrose. The book Confessions elaborates on God’s goodness in saving Augustine. He gloated in sin but was purified in holiness through God’s grace. The book is a classic to this day. 

Donatism was a popular heresy that believed pastors needed to be near perfect. It gained momentum following the persecutions when many pastors caved and recounted Christ in fear. Donatists believed in the perfection of the visible church and said the sacraments given by such pastors were futile. Augustine devoted time to disproving it as he did with many other philosophies and heresies. He emphasized the important distinction between the visible and invisible churches. The visible church consisted of the institution itself and its members. The invisible church addressed all who were saved. Only God knows the condition of the heart. It was hubris for anyone to assume they could properly judge someone’s salvation to create a perfect church with only true believers. St. Augustine cited Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the tares.³ All that to say, Augustine believed Donatism couldn’t be accepted because Jesus Himself said the church would have counterfeit Christians who were not saved. 

After abandoning skepticism, he denounced it. Skeptics believed that truth was illusive; nothing could be known with certainty. However, St. Augustine said, “I doubt, therefore I am.” Descartes later plagiarized that by saying, “I think, therefore I am.” Augustine’s point was even if nothing else was true, as long as he doubted all truth, he needed to exist. Otherwise, how can something which doesn’t exist simultaneously be doubting? Existence is necessary for anything to be doubted. So, even the skeptics who doubt everything can find assurance in their existence. Meaning their existence was a truth and the refusal to accept any truths was absurd.

Regarding eschatology, Saint Augustine believed in amillennialism, which countered premillennialism. Amillennialism stated Christ would rule the earth spiritually for a thousand years before His second coming, i.e., the end of time. However, premillennialism believed in a literal kingdom—Christ would conquer militarily for a thousand years before His second coming. There is still a division between amillennialism and premillennialism, but Saint Augustine was an amillennialist. 

The doctrine of predestination and free will was another area where St. Augustine made substantial groundwork for the church. He believed salvation was a product of God’s grace, not the other way around. The story of Jacob and Esau was one proof of predestination. Romans 9:10-13: “And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’”⁴ The doctrine of predestination states that God calls people to salvation and without the call, people cannot be saved. It is derived from passages like Romans 9. The doctrine of free will means men are free to choose life or death—salvation or Hell—God or Satan. From the surface, the two doctrines appear to contradict each other. However, they were reconciled considering the nature of man. Free will means people have the freedom and duty to choose salvation. However, because of the inherent sinful nature they inherit from Adam, their fundamental nature changes into a sinful one. St. Augustine stressed the prevalence of that sinful nature in his younger self. He was fixated on sin and loved it. Why? Because of his sinful nature. That said, by God’s grace, God planted a seed of the Holy Spirit which sprouted into faith. Without God actively changing a person’s nature, they will not choose salvation. The Protestant Reformers built this understanding of predestination and free will on Augustine’s arguments that (1) individual faith is a product of God’s grace and (2) anyone who wishes to be saved can be, but they needed what he called, “divine illumination.” 

Another noteworthy area where St. Augustine furthered the church’s understanding was just war. In the middle of Rome’s chaotic fall, the church needed an understanding of what constitutes a just war. The first criterion for a just war addressed motive. Peace needed to be the motive. If a nation participated in a war for anything other than preserving peace, it was unjust. The second criterion was whether it was defensive or offensive. Augustine wasn’t a pacifist who believed all war and violence were wrong. However, he condemned any nation that was the aggressor. It was only just to participate in a war if there were no other options, the participant sought peace at all costs, and it was defensive. 

Augustine also developed a common ground with Plato, who believed in an inherent understanding of truths inside all men. For example, even the smallest infants understand the concept of beauty. Something inside everyone informs them of a universal standard. Mathematics is another example. Regardless of human whims, math is true. Plato called these truths the Forms. He believed there was a perfect “form” for everything that did not physically exist, but was immortal and engrained in all people. St. Augustine agreed with this theory of a universal standard but argued that “the forms” were eternal ideas in the mind of God. God was the standard. 

Similarly, he held a position on the existence of natural law, i.e., a universal standard of justice. Such theories were popularized in Rome and mainstream in today’s culture, but Augustine believed this standard was derived from God. Dr. Greg Bahnsen, in his famous debate with Gordon Stein on the existence of God, said natural law could not be a standard created by men because human standards can change. If human standards can change, and men craft natural law, then natural law can change. But natural law cannot change! Otherwise, it isn’t natural law, it’s just law. Dr. Greg Bahnsen pointed out that without God, natural law cannot exist.⁵ Bahnsen’s argument was built on St. Augustine’s truth that natural law comes from the mind of God. 

In conclusion, St. Augustine lived an unruly life, but by the grace of God, he was saved and became one of the greatest theologians in history. His book Confessions elaborated on his sinful life and journey to faith and The City of God addressed heaven and earth’s conflict over souls. Eschatology, predestination and free will, just war, natural law, and eternal truths were a few of the subjects he taught. Few theologians have had such a tremendous impact on the church as St. Augustine. 

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1.  Saint Isidore’s comment:  https://verbatimetapothegm.blogspot.com/2009/11/man-who-claims-to-have-read-all-of.html ↩︎
2.  Romans 13:13-14: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+13%3A13-14&version=NKJV ↩︎
3.  Matthew 13:24-30: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+13%3A24-30&version=NKJV ↩︎
4. For further context, read Romans 9:6-12: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+9&version=NKJV ↩︎
5. Dr. Greg Bahnsen’s debate with Gordon Stein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIgzRWPVAw ↩︎