Angelus' Quote: The Triune God Is Uncomprehend

 

This is a good read 😊 Augustine (of Hippo) was once walking by the seashore pondering the doctrine of the Trinity. He came upon a little boy who dipping water from the ocean with a shell and pouring the water into a hole of sand. "What are you doing?" Augustine asked the child. "I'm going to put the ocean in this hole," the boy replied.

Augustine went his way. But, he confided to his friends later that he was struck with the thought: "And are you doing the like in thinking to comprehend the depths of God in the limits of your finite mind?" If you try to understand the Trinity, you will lose your mind. But if you deny the Trinity, you will lose your soul ⚡📖👈 #ServeToLead #GodTheTrinity

FB Page: https://facebook.com/LEGASI.tv/              
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/LEGASI.tv/           
YouTube: http://bit.ly/LEGASItv

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Book Review: The Confession (2001 Translation) by St. Augustine

The Confessions [Everyman's Library] (2001)
by St. Augustine translated by Philip Burton

“Great are you, O Lord, and worthy of high praise. Great is your strength, and of your wisdom there is no counting. Even man is, in his way, a part of your creation, and longs to praise you; every man, who carries in himself his own mortality, that testimony of his sin, that testimony also that you resist the proud; for all that, man is part of your creation, and longs to praise you. You stir us up to take delight in your praise; for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in you” (Book 1.1.1). With that, St. Augustine of Hippo begins his confessions.

It is said that Augustine’s Confessions are our most brilliant evidence for the spiritual and intellectual progress of a man in the ancient world. Indeed, this autobiographical work is one of the most read books in the ancient time since it was written in Latin between AD 397 and 400… but not so today (maybe in the theological schools?). The works outline Augustine’s sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity, sex life and immorality, his friendships and godly mother, his inner struggles with the Truth and Meaning of life, God’s hiddenness, mercy and grace. What unique about this book is that it is written as prayers or conversations with God – Augustine is a rhetorician by training – and actually meant to be read out loud.

[The word ‘confessions’ here come from the Hebrew word meaning ‘praise.’ ‘Confession’ can be understood in two ways: with reference to our sins, or as praise to God.”]

Augustine quoted lots of Bible verses especially the Psalms of David, and few pagan writers and works. Philip Burton, translator of this book, done a great job at translating this work and noted from which verses and books Augustine quotes. Confessions is not an easy read, but this Everyman’s Library translation is better than Penguin Classic’s, in my opinion. This book consisting of 13 smaller books (first nine actually autobiographical and the last four are commentary):

Book #1 Our Heart is Restless

Book #2 Sinner Without a Cause

Book #3 The Love of Wisdom

Book #4 Half My Soul

Book #5 The Flight from Carthage

Book #6 Farewell My Concubine

Book #7 Not in Our Stars

Book #8 God’s Civil Servants

Book #9 Monica

Book #10 Remembrance of Things Present

Book #11 ‘In the Beginning…”

Book #12 ‘Heaven and Earth’

Book #13 ‘Let there be Light’

Once I talked with a self-claimed Reformed Christian and asked him, “Have you read St. Augustine?” “Who?” he puzzled. “Okay, do you know who St. Augustine is?” “No… who?” “Never mind,” I said. In the area of God’s grace and salvation, the church and sacraments, predestination and freewill, famous Reformers like John Calvin, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox, John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards were greatly influence by Augustine. Augustinian Theology influence the Reformation. Either you’re Reformed (or Reformed in theology but doesn’t realized it) or not, read Augustine.

To me, what make Augustine’s story compelling is that it’s our story too. In a world where morality is generally low and lack of spiritual sensitivity, many of us wanted to pursuit God but don’t know where to start. This book can help you. The sovereign grace that he describes in this book is the same sovereign grace that lost and thirsty souls need today.

Oh yeah :)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on the Divine Election

“Has the potter no right over the clay,
to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”
(Romans 9:21, ESV)

Augustine here argues that all humanity are contaminated by sin, with the result that salvation is a human impossibility. In his grace, God chose to save some from this “mass of perdition.” [A doctrine that I’m still struggling with and of course this (and many other statements by Augustine) contributed to The Augustine & the Pelagian Controversy]. Note the appeal below to the analogy of the potter and the clay (Romans 9:21), which becomes a frequent element in Augustinian and Reformed discussions of election and predestination. He said,

“There are lump of perdition (massa perditionis) out of Adam to which only punishment was due; from this same lump, vessels were made which are destined for honour. For the potter has authority over the same lump of clay (Romans 9:21). What lump? The lump that had already perished, and whose just damnation was already assured. So be thankful that you have escaped! You have escaped the death certainly due to you, and found life, which was not due to you. The potter has authority over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for contempt. But, you say, why has He made me to honour and another to contempt? What shall I answer? Will you listen to Augustine, if you will not listen to the Apostle [Paul] when he says, ‘O man, who art you who argues with God’? (Romans 11:33). Two little children are born. If you ask what is due to them, the answer is that they both belong to the lump of perdition. But why does its mother carry the one to grace, while the other is suffocated by its mother in her sleep? Will you tell me what was deserved by the one whom its sleeping mother suffocated? Both have deserved nothing good; but the potter has authority over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel for honour, and the other for contempt.”

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) Sermo 26, xii, 13; in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, 38.177A-B.

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1995), p.217 

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on the Relation of God and Evil

In his early period, Augustine was attracted to Manicheism, partly because it provided a simple explanation of the origin of evil (You can read this in Augustine’s autobiography The Confessions). According to this movement, evil had its origins in an evil or defective deity, who was opposed to the true and righteous God. On becoming a Christian, Augustine rejected this dualism, and was therefore obligated to give an alternative explanation of the origins of evil. In this passage, written in Latin during the period 388-395, he argues that evil represents a free turning away from God, rather than a positive entity in its own right. However, he is unable to provide a convincing explanation of why someone should wish to turn away from God in this manner. He writes:

“If there is a movement, that is a turning away of the human will from the Lord God, which without doubt is sin, we can then say that God is the author of sin? God, then, will not be the cause of that movement. But what will its cause be? If you ask this question, I will have to answer that I do not know. While this will sadden you, it is nevertheless a true answer. For that which is nothing cannot be known. But hold to your pious opinion that no good thing can happen to you, to your senses or to your intelligence or to your way of thinking which does not come from God. Nothing of any kind can happen which is not of God… For all good is from God.

Hence there is no nature which is not from God. The movement of turning away, which we admit is sin, is a defective movement; and all defect comes from nothing. Once you have understood where it belongs, you will have no doubt that it does not belong to God. Because that defective movement is voluntary, it is placed within our power. If you fear it, all you have to do is simply not to will it. If you do not will it, it will not exist. What can be safer than to live a life where nothing can happen to you which you do not will? But since we cannot rise by our own free will as we once fell by our own free will spontaneously, let us hold with steadfast faith the right hand of God stretched out to us from above, even our Lord Jesus Christ, and look forward to receiving the certain hope and love which we greatly long for.”

You might want to read this quote one more time… maybe twice and slowly.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) de libero arbitrio, II.xx.54; in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 74, ed. W. M. Green (Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1961), 87.18-88.20

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1995), p. 104

So You Often Quote Him? Augustine of Hippo on Philosophy and Theology

Pic from the Movie 'Restless Heart' based on Augustine's The Confession

In this writing, originally written in Latin around 397, Augustine of Hippo deals with the relation between Christianity and pagan philosophy. Using the exodus from Egypt as a model, Augustine argues that there is no reason why Christians should not extract all that is good in philosophy, and put it to the service of preaching the gospel. Just as Israel left behind the burdens of Egypt, while carrying off its treasures, so theology can discard what is useless is philosophy, and exploits what is good and useful. He writes:

“If those who are called philosophers, particularly the Platonists, have said anything which is true and consistent with our faith, we must not reject it, but claim it for our own use, in the knowledge that they possess it unlawfully. The Egyptians possessed idols and heavy burdens, which the children of Israel hated and from which they fled; however, they also possessed vessels of gold and silver and clothes which our forebears, in leaving Egypt, took for themselves in secret, intending to use them in a better manner (Exodus 3:21-22; 12:35-36)….

In the same way, pagan learning is not entirely made up of false teaching and superstitions… It contains also some excellent teachings, well suited to be used by truth, and excellent moral values. Indeed, some truths are even found among them which relate to the worship of the one God. Now these are, so to speak, their gold and their silver, which they did not invent themselves, but which they dug out of the mines of the providence of God, which are scattered throughout the world, yet which are improperly and unlawfully prostituted to the worship of demons. The Christian, therefore, can separate these truths from their unfortunate associations, take them away, and put them to their proper use for the proclamation of the gospel…

What else have many good and faithful people from amongst us done? Look at the wealth of gold and silver and clothes which Cyprian – that eloquent teacher and blessed martyr – brought with him when he left Egypt! And think of all that Lactantius brought with him, not to mention Marius Victorinus, Optatus, and Hilary of Poitiers, and others who are still living! [at the time of Augustine writing this]. And look at how much the Greeks have borrowed! And before all of these, we find that Moses, that most faithful servant of God, had done the same thing: after all, it is written of him that “he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ (Acts 7:22)” [bracket mine].

I would like to add, not only Moses was a learned man from pagan Egypt; but Daniel, Shadrach, Mishael and Azariah also men learned pagan philosophies of the Babylon empire. And yet, all of these men are considered great among God’s people and who showed great theology of the One true God and remain faithful until their last breathe.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

References:

1) de doctrina Christiana (or On Christian Doctrines or On Christian Teachings), II.xI.60-61; in Florilegium Patristicum, vol. 29, ed. H. J. Vogels (Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1930), 46.7-36.

2) The Christian Theology Reader, edited by Alister E. McGrath (Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1995), p. 6