Augustine's error - 001

These are not intended to be an article yet. Just a collection of notes which will be expounded upon using the methods of sensus plenior. Be sure to ask if a particular topic is of interest to you and I will move it up in my schedule.

Underestimating the wisdom of God

Possessing a classical education which included philosophy, rhetoric and grammar as well as a sophisticated and technical understanding of the nature and functioning of language, Augustine desired to convince his educated peers that the Bible was to be respected as fine literature. This was his first mistake.

1Co 1:20 Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The Bible is not merely fine literature. It is the infinitely sublime wisdom of God which is considered foolishness to the world and which makes the wisdom of the world to be foolishness. By attempting to make it conform to the standards of fine writing, he reduced it and limited discovery to those things which merely human methods could discover.

Philosophical arrogance

His fundamental error was the proposition that God spoke to man in stories in order that the most simple among fallen men could understand what he wished to communicate. This is contrary to what Jesus said:

Lu 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

God hid the true meaning from them.

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Although the message of the Gospel is simple, and can be understood from the literal message of the Bible, God has hidden the message of the Gospel in the scriptures from the beginning.

Eph 3:9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

An improper beginning

"We have wandered far from God, and if we wish to return..." hold that thought Augustine.

Ps 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

We did not merely wander from God. We were born sinful with carnal minds at war with God. (Ro 8.7)

God ineffable?

Augustine speaks about God being unspeakable, but he has created a God of his own imagination. If it were impossible to speak of God, then it would not be proper for him to command us to do so.

1Ch 16:24 Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

Ps 96:3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

Ps 145:6 And [men] shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.

Isa 66:19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, [to] Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, [to] Tubal, and Javan, [to] the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

The very purpose of Christ was to make God known:

Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

God a dead stone

Augustine philosophically declared God to be unchangeable. There is grave danger in declaring a doctrine then holding God to your declaration. Did God intend to say that he was effectively dead because he is unchangeable? When Christ became incarnate, wasn't that a change? Did he say it was impossible for the incarnation because he was unchangeable? Of course not! When Jesus moved from Galilee to Jerusalem did he change position? Did he cease to be God because he moved from place to place? Did he cease to be God because he grew from a baby into a man? Of course not.

Could God learn something?

Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Could God forget something?

Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Since the heaven of heavens cannot contain God, that is, nothing is larger than God. Where did God create the universe? He could not create it outside of himself, since there is nothing outside of God. All things exist "in him". He must have made room for us inside of himself. Is that not a change?

Augustine's unchangeable God is more of a slave to predestination than we are. He just exists in a stagnant eternal reality. Augustine's God is dead.

Augustine may not have intended to foist such a false God upon Christendom, and there is room to interpret his writings to limit his intention to speak only of God's unchangeable wisdom. However, his philosophy has been used to limit God's sovereignty to unimaginable extremes.

The God of the Bible changes in the ways that he chooses to change. He declared that his moral intent and his will does not change.

Mal 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mal 3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Augustine's wild philosophical/doctrinal imagination does not obligate God.

Augustine's sick bride

Augustine (ch 16) imagines that the bride of Christ is ill and needs to be purged of her afflictions. The bride of Christ is a prostitute which he makes into a virgin bride by bearing her iniquity and giving her new life. Perhaps our differences are semantic on this point.

The wrong keys

Augustine supposes that the keys to the Kingdom of heaven are the keys to membership in the church. The Kingdom of heaven is the New Jerusalem; the 'new teaching of peace', which Jesus ushered in with the sermon the mount. The keys to the new teaching are the prophecies of the cross in the Old Testament scriptures. see Keys of the kingdom Peter was given the keys (understanding) to unlock the mystery of the cross that was hidden from the beginning.

The wrong love

Augustine argues that love of ourselves is commanded in "love your neighbor as yourself". This comes from a misunderstanding of love. Love = 1, hate = 2 or more. The thing that is first is loved. Jacob I loved, Esau I hated". It has nothing to do with affection, but pre-eminence. Since we are to love even our enemy, then our self can never legitimately be first.