91557314 Augustine on God as Love and Love as God

7/31/2019 91557314 Augustine on God as Love and Love as God

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DOCTORES ECCLESIAE

AUGUSTINE ON GOD AS LOVEAND LOVE AS GOD

Lewis Ayres

HOW SHOULD WE CALL GOD LOVE?

There comes a point at which talking of God as love can seem intenselyspeculative or simply self-deluding. Love is a term which, perhaps

To say more than any other of those which Christians apply to God, is com-"God loves " prehensible only in the context of a personal relat ionship with another ,

has always or at least in terms of the love ofa person for something else. To saycome easily "God loves" has always come easily to the lips of Christians, and yet

to the lips perhaps too easily if such statements result in our failure to thinkof Christians, through the implications of what it means for the triune mystery of

God to "love." This does not mean that we should stop talking of Godas love, in fact one of the things I want to suggest here is that the veryambiguity of the term allows "love" to be one of the most important,most fruitful, theologically potent and suggestive terms which Christians apply to God.

Lewis Ayres, Lecturerin Systematic andHistorical Theology, School of Hebrew, BiblicalandTheological Studies, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.


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However, this complexity and suggestivenes should perhaps meanthat when we try to construct a theology ofGod's love we can bestproceed with a simultaneous discussion of the means by which welearn about that love, including, centrally, discussion ofhow and on

what basis our love may or may not be compared with God's. Goingfurther, the methodological discussion indicated in the last sentenceshould itself be understood as part ofa wider exercise in Christology,theological analogy, eclesiology, and, centrally, trinitarian theology.

My intention here is to offer an account of one key, but often controversial, resource in the theological taskoftalking about God's love, theworkofSt. Augustine ofHippo (AD 356-430). A great deal ofmodernsystematic theology has tended to offer a very clear story of theologicalhistory in which Augustine is both the originatorofmuch subsequent

thought in the West and in particular the originator ofmany thingstaken to be bad in that tradition. My own position is that this historyis often far too simplified: many of the later positions supposedly takenfrom him bear little relation to his actual thought; many ofthe thingshe is taken to have originated are the product or even commonplace ofhis day and can be found in many ofthose ofhis contemporaries andnear contemporaries that recent theologians have treated much moregenerously. However, we will best find the true nature ofhis genius,and the real problems with his thought, ifwe attend more carefully tohis actual text.

Augustine's corpus ofwriting is huge in quantity and vast in range. Iwill be centrally concerned here with his commentary in ten homilieson 1 John, delivered almost certainly in the year 407. I will also useAugustine's Tractates on the Gospel ofJohn as corroboration at somepoints; the tractates on 1 John were preached during the Easter octave,interrupting his series ofsermons on John, and we find in these two

1. For an attempt to describe some of the problems ofsuch readings ofAugustine in the areaof trinitarian theology see M. Barnes, "Augustine in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology/'Theological Studies 56 (1995), pp. 237-250.

2. The literature on these homilies is still rather thin, despite the frequency with whichAugustine's treatment of God as love is referred to. A key introduction to Augustine'sincarnational theology now available in English is to be found in B. Studer, Trinity and

Incarnation: The Faith ofthe Early Church (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993). On the homiliesthemselves see D. Dideberg, Saint Augustin etla premire ptre de s. Jean (Paris: Beauchesne,1975); for a brief introduction in English E. G. Cassidy, "Augustine's Exegesis of the First Epistleof John," in V. Twomey Se T. Finan (eds.), Scriptural Interpretation in the Fathers (Dublin: FourCourts Press, 1995), pp . 201-220. More generally on the subject oflove in Augustine see R.Canning's recent The Unity of Love for God and Neighbour in St. Augustine (Leuven: AugustinianHistorical Institute, 1993), on the specific theme ofthis paper see p. 301ff. I have used the editionof P. Agaaesse, Sources Chrtiennes, vol. 75 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1961). The translation usedhere is the very recent St. Augustine: Tractates on the GospelofJohn 112-24: Tractates on the FirstEpistle ofJohn, tr. J. W. Rettig, The Fathers ofthe Church, vol. 92 (Washington, DC: CatholicUniversity ofAmerica Press, 1995). References to homilies are given by section number in thetext.

3. For quotation here I have adapted the older translation: St. Augustine: Homilies on the GospelofJohn, et al, tr. J. Gibb & J. Innes, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids MI:Eerdmans, 1983). The Latin text is available in R. Willems (ed.), CCSL 36 (1990). Again,

A great dealof modernsystematic

theology hastended to offervery clear stortheological hisin which

Augustine is bothe originator much subsequethoughtin theWest andin

particular theoriginator ofmany thingstaken to be bain thattraditio


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works both many similar themes and very close mirroring of phraseol

ogy at a number of points. Once we are aware that the 1 John series

was preached at the time of baptising chatechumens and celebrating

the mystery of Easter, it is no surprise August ine focuses this work on

the nature of Christian faith, love and community.

Three sections of the homilies on 1 John will be considered here: in the

initial sections of the paper I concentrate on the first homily in the

series, which does not deal directly with God as love, but which to some

extent can be read as a microcosm of the whole series. My aim is to

follow the argument of this sermon to get a feel for that whole, and to

get a basic grasp of the interconnection of themes found in the homily.

The final sections of the paper are devoted to sections of later homilies,

in which Augustine looks directly at God as love.

THE CHURCH AS WITNESS TO THE INCARNATE WORD

Augustineintroduces a

key theme of

his Christology

by saying also

that the Word,

which should

naturally be

manifest to

the heart, is for us

manifest now intheflesh,

to the eyes.

The first homily comments on 1 John 1:1-2:11, and links together the

theology of incarnat ion and an unders tanding of the role and function

of the church in witnessing to that event. The homily begins with the

statement that Christ is the manifestation of God. This a key theme of

the whole series, and is immediately interpreted as meaning that the

Word which previously had been manifest only to the angels is now

manifest to people. Augustine introduces a key theme of his Christology by saying also that the Word, which should naturally be manifest

to the heart, is for us manifest now in the flesh, to the eyes (1):

"And the life itself was manifested" ... and in what way was itmanifested? For "it was from the beginning," but it was not manifestedto men; it was, however, manifested to the angels, seeing [it] and feedingupon [it] as their bread. But what does Scripture say? "Man ate the breadof angels" Therefore, life itself was manifested in the flesh ... in orderthat that the reality that can be seen by the heart alone might be seenalso by the eyes, in order that it might heal hearts.

This initial statement, which follows fairly closely the actual words of

1 John 1, hints both at the importance for Augustine of Christ as the

one who can lead us through and in the material and tempora l world

to "see" God, and also that Christ is usually portrayed by Augustine

not abstractly or generally as the manifestation of "God," but concrete

ly as the manifestation of "life itself," of the "one through whom all

things were made." This reading of the importance of "life itself" is

borne out strongly by the second of Augustine's tractates on John's

Gospel (10):

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him." Do not thinkthat he was in the world as the earth is in the world ... [as] the stars,


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trees, cattle and men.... But in what manner then? As the artist andmaker ruling what he had made... God, infused (infusus) into theworld, fashions it; being everywhere present he fashions... his presencegoverns what he made.... "The world was made by him and the world

knew him not." Did not the heavens know their Creator? ... "he cameunto his own" because all these things were made by him "andthe world knew him not." Who are they? The men whom he made.

Returning to the first homily on 1 John, in the par agr aph s which follow

his initial description of Christ's manifestation, Augustine continues

his commentary on 1 John 1:2-3, emphasizing both the physical, the

material side to the Word's appearance and the nature of Christian

reaction to that appearance. Augustine takes the example of the mar

tyrs and, in 2 of the homily, plays on the wording of his text of 1 John

to make the equation between witnesses and martyrs. The martyr s and

witnesses that is the members of the contemporary church are

living testimony to the Wor d's appearance and thus those in the church

bearing witness to Christ are parallel to the marty rs bearing witness by

dying for their beliefs. In context, August ine 's point seems to be

and this will I hop e be borne out by the development of the homily

not only that the act of witnessing is a serious one involving a poten

tially life-threatening commitment but, more subtly, that the act of

witnessing is a material, a physical, "fleshy" act which witnesses to the

material, "fleshy" manifestation of Christ.

Augustine ends this section (2) with the complex and interestingstatement, "the martyrs are God's witnesses. God wanted to have men

as witnesses in order that men also may have God as a witness." This

statement parallels one in 8 of the second tractate on John's Gospel:

there Augus tine explains that evil came into the world not because God

departed but because people were deceived into willing against God.

Our "witness" to God ideally involves speaking of the truth present to

us , "witnessing" to that truth; in present circumstances we need some

means of restoring and preserving our attendance on that truth. God

has not ever turned from us, our primal act of will has "wounded our

hearts" (factus es sanctus corde), the organ by which he was previously

"seen," with the result that we can no longer "see" him. In such a

situation it is as if God has turned from humanity, as if we have been

The martyrs an

witnesses are

living testimon

to the Word's

appearance and

thus those in th

church bearing

witness to Chri

are parallel to th

martyrs bearing

witness by dyin

for their beliefs.

4.1 have translated the one Latin word artifex as "artist and maker": the word implies here bothone who plans and makes, and also one who does so with great skill and artistry.

5. Augustine's text reads "the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and are witnesses (etuidimus et testes sumus). The Vulgate reads "...we saw it, and testify..." {et uidimus et testamur).This is a small point but it does make more easy Augustine's statement Vidimus, ettestes sumus:uidimus, et martyres sumus (SC 75,114).

6. In so doing Augustine continues the fourth and fifth century trend to find candidates to take

over the role of the martyrs in the structures of Christian rhetoric and theology. It is of partiuclarinterest here that a) Augustine does not opt for the frequent substitut ion of ascetic for martyrin Christian discourse, and b) that Augustine locates a theology of witness in general termswithin Christology as described in the text of this paper


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We come to"see" Godin

the growing inour status as

image of God,through

performanceofour status

as image.

Because Christ'slife was the realmanifestation of"life itself," wemay be assured

that our inabilitythrough sin to see

God's presencecan slowly be

overcome throughmitation of Christ.

deserted. In allowing us to offer testimony or not to God, God allowsus to judge ourselves. Christ has come in the flesh, in a way which wecan now see, to enable us to offer testimony to that which hasalways beenpresent. When we testify to Christ, to God's presence in Christ, we grow

again in awareness of the presence of God who never departed.

Thus one of the tasks of these sermons, and of this essay, is to pointtowards the full paradox of "seeing" God: witness to God in the fleshworks through the development of accord between the spiritual andthe material, between our conception of ourselves and our task in theworld and the presence of God to us. And yet, as we shall see, thisaccord does not result in our being able to "see" "directly": we cometo "see" God in the growing in our status as image of God, through

performance of our status as image. "Seeing" God is not what we

imagine when we think of seeing an object (remember that for Augustine seeing "through a glass darkly" does not mean looking through awindow at some-thing, but seeing in a mirror, by means of a mirror,that fails to reflect fully because God is not an object to be reflected: cf.On the Trinity XV, 8,14ff.).

To say that, hence, God may now be ourwitness is, I think, to say thatGod's presence now may be aseffective as it once was before we turnedaway. This theme is in continuity with a number of other usages ofsemi-legal terminology in the homilies, all of which seem to argue that

our witness, our active co-operation in the redemptive structures of thechurch is mirrored by God's faithful return of our witness through anew effectiveness of his continual presence. Further, the language ofGod answering our witness with his own for us needs also to beunderstood as saying that, with the beginning of Christian practice inthe material life of Christ, we may have real hope that our material andtemporal witness may again be in accord with God's faithful presenceto us. Because Christ's life was the real manifestation of "life itself,"we may be assured that our inability through sin to see God's presencecan slowly be overcome through imitation of Christ. He creates the

possibility ofa new accord between our action and the reality of God'spresence. In this light we can understand Augustine's frequent insistence that the testimony of Christian hope may be relied on as something that will be taken up and fulfilled by God, Christ has establisheda mysterious analogy between our growing hope and the reality which

7. Another instance of this semi-legal terminology is given below in the discussion of Christ's advocacyof our cause; the "loving community" is discussed further in the latter sections of this paper.

8. For similar reasons Augustine strongly holds out against any justification oflying. In On theTrinity, Books 8 and 15, he uses the Stoic theme of the inner word which is conceived in themind and the outer word spoken on its basis as a metaphor for Christ's relationship to the

Father. In both places Augustine unfavourably compares the absolute accord between Son andFather to our own ability for deception and self-deception. Overcoming this lack of accord inus is at the heart of recovering the sense of God's presence to which Augustine so often returns:hence his horror at lying


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awaits. Later I hope to show that God 's "witness " for us takes the form

of the prevenient Spirit continually offering himself to realise the

accord between human willing and acting and the divine exchange of

love. However, in the next paragraphs this initial conception of the

incarnation is expanded through seeing the accord between Christ's twonatures, and between God's presence and the "body" of Christ.

Just as, in 1-2.1 of the first homily on 1 John, Augustine links the

manifestation of the Word to the physical witness of the mar tyrs , in the

next sections, 2.2-3, Augustine links the two-natures of Christ's per

son both to his revelation of the order of creation and to the need to

educate his "body," the church. First, then, Christ is a manifestation

not of himself but of the true relationship of the world and God, of the

physical and the spiritual. Augustine works initially, in 2.2, through

using the picture of Christ as the bridegroom and champion in Psalm 19and Isaiah 61 who pitches his tent in the sun that all may see him:

But how could he who made the sun be seen in the sun except that "hehas pitched his tent in the sun and he, as a bridegroom coming out ofhis bridal chamber, has rejoiced as a giant to run the course..." the trueCreator... in order that he might be seen by carnal eyes that see the sun,he pitched his tent in the sun, that is, he showed his flesh in themanifestation of this natural daytime light.

Augustine's allusion to Psalm 19 in particular emphasizes that Christ

manifests at a particular point what should already be clear: as the

bridegroom or champion Christ takes a place in the created order so

that those who now see only according to the material part of that order

may understand him. He does not take his place as part of this order

he is not himself created but in order that we might see that of

which this orde r should be a many faceted manifestation.

Augustine places the doctrine of the two natures at the core of his

exposition. He continues, immediately after the passage quoted in the

previous paragraph (2.2):

And the bridal chamber of that Bridegroom was the womb ofa Virgin,

for two have been conjoined in that virginal womb... For it has beenwritten, "And they will be two in one flesh" [Gen. 2:24]... One personseems to speak, and he has both made himself the Bridegroom and thebride, because not two, but one flesh for "the word was made fleshand dwelt among us." To that flesh the Church is joined, and therecomes to be the whole Christ, Head and Body.

The bridegroom coming forth from his chamber in order to be marri ed

is symbolic for Augustine of the Word taking flesh, the two natures

becoming one. The significance of this equation (which has many other

parallels in Augustine's work) is hinted at strongly through the last

9. This point is the essence of Augustine's annoyance at Cicero's scepticism about the relationship between present hope and the actual reality of God, see On the Trinity, XIV, 19,25-26.

Augustine links

the two-natures

Christ's person

both to his

revelation of the

order of creation

and to the need

educate his

"body," the

church.

Augustine place

the doctrine of th

two natures at th

core of his

exposition.


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As the Father hasshown grace

through the unionofGod andhumanity in the

person of Christ,so we are united

by grace to theperson of Christ

Our participationin and learning ofthat mystery takes

the form of acomplex

interweaving ofour Christian

practice and ourcontemplation, in

which we learnthat we may keep

God'scommandments

only ifwe accepthis priorlove.

sentence of this particular passage: the union of the two natures inChrist enables both the manifestation of the God who is continually inhis creation, andthe assumption of redeemed humanity into the bodyof Christ. The whole Christ is manifest to us when the head is joined

to the bodythe mediation of the Word is completed through Christ'sassumption of the church as his body. Augustine's exegesis in thesepassages is theologically very dense, but it should now be apparentthat, like so many of the best exegetes of the early church, his presentation of the incarnation is inseparable from his presentation of howwe participate in the incarnation as part of the body of Christ.

It will be helpful here to note one aspect of Augustine's 82nd tractateon John's gospel, a short sermon on the relationship between theFather's love for his Son and Christ's love for humanity. There, in a

fairly dense argument, Augustine interprets John 15:9 ("As the Fatherhas loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love") as refering to thehumanity of Christ, not to his divinity. For Augustine this statementreflects the truth that humanity is united to divinity in Christ throughthe grace of God, and that Christ functions as mediator because hishumanity has been the subject of sucha great act of grace. As the Fatherhas shown grace through the union of God and humanity in the personof Christ, so we are united by grace to the person of Christ (this isargued through sermons 82-89). That primal act of grace in Christdemonstrates the absolute priority of love, and the way in which we

are incorporated into Christ: neither we nor Christ are saved throughmerit, and we may see that we are not by looking to the structure ofthe incarnation. This theological picture may help to show that Augustine does not conceive of the incarnation as something through whichwe "see" God: rather the incarnation is that which makes God's creating and sustaining mystery (sacramentum) present. Our participationin and learning of that mystery takes the form ofa complex interweaving of our Christian practice and our contemplation, in which we learnthat we may keep God's commandments only if we accept his prior

love. In this "complex interweaving" we may then progress towardsa redeemed, created and transformed bodily existence in which welearn to act in ways in accord with that always present love. The earlierpicture I offered of a new accord between our bodily existence and thepresence of God is here deepened and given further theological coherencethrough the link Augustine draws between the two-natured person ofChrist and the nature of our incorporation into a redeemed humanity.

In 2.3 of the first homily on 1 John Augustine returns to the meaningof witness, adding also to his picture of the incarnation and the church.

10. Augustine's development of this theme in the slightly later context of the Pelagian disputeis clearly presented in R. Dodaro, "Sacramentum Christi: Augustine on the Christology ofP l i " S di P i i 27 (1993) 274 805


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At the core of this second mention of the witness theme is the figure of

the apostle Thomas:

...we, therefore, have heard, but we have not seen... And yet how does

he add, "that you may also have fellowship with us?" They have seen,we have not seen, and nonetheless we are fellows, for we hold a certainfaith. For a certain one, even in seeing, did not believe and wanted totouch and so believe... And at a suitable occasion he offered himself tobe touched by the hands of men, he who always offers himself to beseen by the eyes of angels. And that disciple touched him and exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." Because he touched the Man, heconfessed the God. And the Lord now sitting in heaven, comfortingus who cannot with the hand physically touch him, but can come intocontact [with him] by faith said to him, "Because you have seen youhave believed; blessed are they who do not see and believe."

The physical touch led to the confession of what lies beyond: "Because

he touched the Man, he confessed God" (quia tetigit hominem, confessus

est Deus). It is important that we notice how closely this follows

Augustine's earlier presentation of Christ's role: Thomas does not

confess Christ himself, but sees the significance of the Word's pedagogi

cal appearance in the flesh and Godis immediately confessed as present

in Christ, as having acted in Christ. As Augustine says in 1 of tractate 79

on John: "he perceived and touched the living flesh, which he had seen in

the act of dying, and he believed in the God enfolded in that flesh."

In the course of offering this interpreta tion of Thomas ' actions Augus

tine also passes comment on present-day Christians: "Christ, now

sitting in heaven, comforting us who cannot with the hand physically

touch him, but can come into contact [with him] by faith..." Post-

Thomas Christians stand in the light of Thomas: just as he touched and

confessed, so too we may "touch" in faith and confess. In the case of

Thomas, Christ's human nature acts as a pointer to God's action: God

is not seen by Thomas but confessedly him. The event of touch ing Christ

results in Thomas having faith: he has seen and believed as opposed

to those who do not see and believe, but the result in both cases is faith,belief which forms hope and love. In our case we also cannot see Christ,

but we may have the same faith as Thomas through believing without

seeing. We believe it for August ine on the author ity of those who have

seen, and if we do so believe then we may have faith in what lies beyond

sight. Our belief, repetition and imitation of the belief of those who

have seen is answered by the gift of faith through the presence of the

Spirit. The two discussions of witnessing both mirror each other and

are both dependent on the account of the Incarnation which forms their

constant background. The end of this paragraph offers a vision of the

result of faith: faith results not primarily in fellowship (societas) with

11. For an account of the distinctions between faith, hope and love, and for hints of what counts

Post-Thomas

Christians stand

in the light of

Thomas: just as

he touched and

confessed, so

too we may

"touch" in faith

and confess.

In ourcase we

also cannot see

Christ, but we

may have the

samefaith

as Thomas

through believin

without seeing.


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This ecclesiology

of witness is

directly dependent

on a Christology

which sees the

two-natured

person of theincarnate Word as

enabling the

restoration of a

createdpractice

in accordwith

God's sustaining

presence in

his creation.

other people understood without reference to God's presence, but infellowship with the love and unity of Father and Son.

This section ofthe paper has followed a path from noting the impor

tance ofChrist's manifestation ofthe Word to seeing how Augustineconceives of the church as a community of witnesses. This ecclesiologyof witness is directly dependent on a Christology which sees thetwo-natured person of the incarnate Word as enabling the restorationofa created practice in accord with God's sustaining presence in hiscreation. Seeing' in these texts is a concept used with conscious ambiguity to explore the nature of "seeing" God. In the next section I wantto follow the way in which this account is immediately taken up anddeveloped through more detailed discussion of Christian practice.

FAITH, LOVE AND HUMILITY

Augustine pursues this theme at the beginning of2.4 by discussing 1John 1:5: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimto you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all." ForAugustine the second half of the verse gives us the very confession orteaching (adnuntiatio orpraeceptum) essential for true faith in answer tothe question posed in the first half of the verse. The argumentationwhich draws out this reading is again very dense, but vital for thewhole enterprise of these homilies.

The opposition oflight and darkat the core ofthe "answer" given by1 John 1:5 is to be understood as an exhortation to a new way oflife.This style ofinterpreting biblical metaphor follows through a keyprinciple outlined previously in his On Christian Teaching (De doctrinaChristiana): whatever in the biblical text is unclear should be taken torefer to the building up of virtue or the expunging of vice: "So anyonewho thinks he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them,but cannot by his understanding build up this double love of God and

neighbor, has not yet succeeded in understanding them." Augustinethus tries to interpret 1 John 1:5 by describing how we should grow inawareness that "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all": suchgrowth in awareness pertains directly to our love of God and neighbor.

We come to understand this statement in three stages: first comes therealization that God's light far surpasses what we know, second adesire grows as sinful people to see that light and to be enlightened by it,and third we realize that such "seeing" will only come when we learnto live in such a way that we do not sin. Thus mirroring the Thomas

episode, true confession ofGod, true faith in the reality ofGod leads12. On Christian Teaching 1,36,40.1 have used the new translation with text in R. P. H. Green, ed.


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to the expression of appropriate love, not to introspective despair aboutthe possibility of "seeing" God. Confession of God here involvesconfession of his existence symbiotically with confession of our sinful

ness; in this process we do not first discover God's nature and then formour desire for him, the process is far more complicated. The third stage,the realization that seeing God comes only through learning to livecorrectly is developed in the next section of the homily.

5 of the hoirJly concentrates on the difficulty of following this road tobeing enlightened by God. We are able to talkof drawing near to Godall too easily without noticing the purpose of the revelation that Godis light. As we saw earlier, the purpose and goal of this revelation asdescribed in 1 John 1:3 is fellowship (societas) with the Father and Son.Augustine reinforces the imperative nature of the metaphorical light

and dark image used by John by commenting on 1 John 1.6, "If we saywe have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie anddo not live according the truth," which makes clear that we cannotsimply talkof light but must also "walk" in it. Once we realize that thisis the case then we might find ourselves in despair at the seeminglyabsolute separation of light and darkness, and the seemingly completeseparation of sinful humanity (inescapably part of darkness) from thesocietas Dei (5,2). However, we should not stop at this point because theattempt to walk in the light is immediately pre-empted, followed, andfacilitated by Christ's removal of our sins (5,3): "Therefore, let a man dowhat he can; let him confess what he is, so that he may be healed by himwho always is what he is. For he always was and is;we were not and are."

"Light" and "Truth" are equivalent here for Augustine: 1 John 1:8, "Ifwe say that we have no sin, we decieve ourselves, and the truth is notin us," indicates that we cannot come near to God's "light" withoutentering a process of confession. In the first two part-sections of 6Augustine balances confession, humility and love within the processof Christian life. In 6.1, then, our confession is essential to beginning alife offormedlove: "Before all, therefore, confession, then love" (ante

omnia ergo confessio, deinde dilectio). In 6.2 love and humility aredescribed as essential to correct confession and to the attempt to movebeyond sin: "...humility strengthens love, love extinguishes offenses.Humility is conducive to confession by which we confess that we aresinners." Thus John calls us to love as the best way to avoid beingovercome by the strains of post-baptismal life.

This dynamic of humility, love and confession is again linked toChristology and to the invocation of God in 7 of the homily. Augustine

13. My argument is not that Augustine is unaware of the possibility ofself-deception, or of thepossiblity ofunquestioning fideism; rather I am pointing towards a way ofreading Augustinewhich does not accuse him of a modernist interiority, and which takes full account of theclassical rhetorical origins of his notion offaith, in which the building up ofappropriate faithis all important.

Confession of Ghere involvesconfession of his

existencesymbiotically wiconfession of ousinfulness.

The attempttowalkin the light

immediatelypre-empted,followed, andfacilitated byChrist's removaofoursins.


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We come to

understand true

reliance on God

through reflection

on the true

advocate, and we

come to see the

full nature

of Christian

humilityby reflection

on Christ's

universal

advocacy.

Augustine's

interpretation of

loving one'senemies is

thus given

a christological

foundation

through

interpretation

of Christ's attitude

to the thieves

crucifiedwith him.

again uses semi-legal imagery to emphasize the nature of invocation

of God in two ways: first, to attempt persuasion before the final court

while having lived badly will be to no good end; only true invocation

of our only advocate will prepare us. Secondly, and taking up thecentrality of Christ's removal of sin in 5, Augustine connects the

possibility of constant confession, which is necessary for us, with

reliance on the constancy of our advocate. In this second sense he says,

Make the effort not to sin, but if from the weakness of life sin stealthilycreeps upon you, immediately look to it... immediately condemn it.And when you have condemned it, you will come before the judge, freeof anxiety. There you have an advocate; fear not that you may lose thecase due to your confession... you are entrusting yourself to the Word... shout out "we have an advocate before the Father/'

We come to und erstand true reliance on God throu gh reflection on the

true advocate, and we come to see the full nature of Christ ian humili ty

by reflection on Christ's universal advocacy: in 8, John himself is taken

to be careful to say that we have an advocate, not you. Augustine charac

terizes the church as a community of equals: although the bishops pray

for the people, the people must also pray for the bishops, and all must pray

to Christ as the one who will intercede. Taking account of Augustine's

earlier emphasis on the link between confession of God and learning how

to live connecting awareness of God with awareness of the right

relation between God and creation humility is the virtue of beings

taught by Christ to be aware of the constancy of their Creator.

In 9 of the homily, commenting on 1 John 2.3, Augustine explores

further how Christians come to knowledge of God. Once again the key

is love: "and in this we know him, if we keep his commandments."

Augustine then resolves "his commandments" into the one command

of love and makes the statement that for us ultimate love is and "even

to love enemies, and to love them to this end, that they may be

brothers. " To love our enemies is to love them in orderthatthey become

our brothers, to love someone is to love them that they may be at one

with us, that they also may love. We love them that they may love, and

hence also that they may equally desire humil ity before God: to be "at

one" is always in this sermon to be at one under Christ, as we saw in

discussion of Christ's advocacy. Augustine's interpretation of loving

one's enemies is thus given a christological foundation through inter

pretation of Christ's attitude to the thieves crucified wi th him: Christ prays

for them absolute forgiveness, which is complete fellowship with him.

I want to leave this homily here, but one can perhaps summarize its

theological progress, and the direction in which it point s in three steps:

14 1 h f d G J ' E b d i F i A Th l i l A l i (G d R id MI


12/19

first, Christ manifests the one through whom all things were createdthrough combining two natures in his one person. Second, Thomastouches Christ and confesses God's action, and we may repeat thatconfession as response to true teaching about true witnessing to

God's appearance in the flesh. Third, through a dynamic of love andconfession we may come to see how our witness reveals God's constantfaithful and prior witness for us: our act of faith is responded to by God,is found to have been the result of God's presence. Through themystery of the two-natured one person of the incarnation, we may beincorporated by the Spirit into the fellowship of Father andSon, which,as we shall see in the next section, is itself the communion of Father,Son and Spirit. Third, such an incorporation takes the form ofa struggleto see the presence of this movement in all, the struggle to be in accordwith God's forming of a community in which we love that love maybe in all.15 This third point has begun to hint at ways in whichAugustine insists that the struggle for a life of correctly formed lovein the body of Christ is at the core of our attempts to understand thescope of doctrine and Scripture, and of attempts to understandourselves: we seek such understanding within the dynamic of loveand confession. The temporal and bodily practice of love of neighbor is the process at the core of all our attempts to come to termswith the mystery of God's presence.

Before moving on, it is important to note that Augustine's picture of

the theological foundation of the Christian communityas a communitydrawn into active participation in and manifestation of the "fellowshipof God" is deeply eschatalogical. This theme is not at the forefront onthe first homily in the series, but is central to a number of the laterhomilies. In 6 of the fourth homily, for instance, Augustine uses thepicture of a pocket stretched by what is put in it to describe the soulbeing "stretched" by God. The longing and training which we learnthrough Christian lives is described as stretching our capacity toreceive God when the longing is ended. The stretching is, note, a

training, and appropriate hope is formed through learning to loveproperly. This image follows in 5 a picture of the just at the last dayas those who will see Christ as Word andas "Word made flesh," but inseeing the latter will finally see the truth of Christ's manifestation inthe flesh.16 Thus, our "training" again depends on the confession ofGod in Christ and the development ofa life which longs to see and livethe mystery of God's presence to all. The image is a profoundlytemporal one: Augustine's metaphors emphasize the process of longing, the growth of our love and hope.

15. My understanding oflove here is greatly indebted to R. Williams, "Sapientia and the Trinity:Reflections on the De trinitate," in B. Bruning et al. (eds.), Collectanea Augustiniana: Mlanges T.J. VanBavel (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1990) [=Augustiniana 40-41 (1990-91)], vol. 1, pp. 317-332.

16 Cf O th T i it 1 13 30 31

Augustine'spicture of thetheological

foundation ofthe Christiancommunity as a

community drawinto active

participation inand manifestatiof the "fellowshofGod" is deepeschatalogical.


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GOD'S TRINITARIAN LOVE

Thus we

understand

Christ's laying

down his life as an

expression of the

common willing

of Father and

Son in love,

an expression

of the love

of the Trinitytowards us.

I want now to turn to some of the passages later in the series where

August ine directly comments on the theme of God as love. The central

passage in this examination is Augustine's commentary on 1 John 4:4-12which is the subject of Sermon 7 in the series. In 1 of homily 7 God is

said to have indicated to the Church that love {caritas) is the fountain,

the pillar, which directs through our desert. Indeed the whole of the

gospel can be explained as the command of love, and love, says

Augustine, is the reason for the incarnation.

In 2 denial of love, a failure to practice love, is also a denial of the

incarnation, for one must judge the presence of the Spirit by acts rather

than by words (Augustine here takes up a key theme of homily 6).

August ine goes on to say that we learn the nature of love by watchinghim who embodies love most fully. John 15:13, "Greater love has no

man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" is to be

understood as pointing to the example of Christ. Christ has shown us

the su preme act of love and has done so as part of his taking flesh. The

two themes of love as the test of faith and Christ as the focus for the

formation of faith are joined: "How could the Son of God lay down his

life for us unless he put on flesh whereby he could die? Whoever, then,

violates love, whatever he may say with his tongue, by his life denies

that Christ has come in the flesh..." Later in the same sermon, in 7,

August ine links this display of love by Christ with the Father's displayof love in sending his Son: both display the love of God. Again the key

is Christology: God does not hand over Christ as Judas hands over:

God hands over himself m love, while Judas betrays his master. Thus

we understand Christ's laying down his life as an expression of the

common willing of Father and Son in love, an expression of the love of

the Trinity towards us (7 is discussed again below).

Turning back to 4, we find Augustine commenting on that most

famous passage of the letter 1 John, 4:6-9:

We are ofGod. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is notofGod does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and thespirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, andhe who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not lovedoes not know God; for God is love {quia Deus dilectio est). In this thelove of God was manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into theworld, so that we might live through him.

18

August ine is happ y to take the step from which so man y theologians

have fought shy and say that not only is God love, but hence, love is

17. A similar interpretation of John 15:13 is to be found in the 84th tractate on John's Gospel.

18. Unimpeded, it is important to note, by the significance of the article in the original Greek

which prevents the linguistic, if not theological move in that language.


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God. He moves to this statement in a number of stages. First, Scripture

says we are "of God" because of the presence of love in us; second,

Augustine adds that to act against love is to act against God; third,

because the Spirit dwells in those who love, true love is thus the

presence of God.

This third stage thus depends on trinitarian theology, in 6 we find:

How then... "love is of God," and now "love is God"? The Son is GodofGod; the Holy Spirit is God ofGod. And these three are one God notthree gods. For God is Father and Son and Holy Spirit... If the Son isGod and the Holy Spirit is God and he in whom the Holy Spirit dwellsloves, therefore love is God, but God because [it is] of God. For you haveboth in the epistle, both "love is of God" and "love is God."

19

This is a dense argument , and depends on the exegetical principle that,

because of the principium of the Father, things said to be God and to beof God are best understood to refer to the Son or to the Spirit.

Following this principle, Romans 5:5, "...God's love has been poured

into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us,"

indicates for Augustine that the presence of love within us is most

proper ly the presence of the Spirit. To show love is to accept the gift of

the Spirit, which is to accept the Spirit itself: "...even an evil man can

have all these mysteries [the sacraments]. But he cannot have love and

be evil. This then is the peculiar gift.... For drinking of this the Spirit of

God encourages you; for drinking of himself the Spirit of God encourages

you...." It is this theology of the Spirit's presence which completes the

vision of the redeemed, loving community, loving through God's

presence, which I began to outline in the first sections of the paper.

The gift of the Spirit is cont inually offered, and in 7 in the passage

mentioned only a few paragraphs ago Augustine relates this theme

of God as love to the overall thrust of the homilies by using 1 John 4.9,

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent

his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him," to

emphasize that the gift is offered prior to our acceptance. The

prevenience of the gift is demonstra ted through the act of incarnation.This picture is reinforced in 9 where Augustine emphasizes the in

timate relationship between the form and purpose of God's love. God

has loved us in order that we might love, and has offered himself as

sacrifice: the way in which he offers himself thus mirrors the offering

of love within the Trinity itself. Turning to Book XV of On the Trinity

God has loved u

in order that we

might love, andhas offeredhims

as sacrifice: the

way in which he

offers himself

thus mirrors

the offering of lo

within the

Trinity itself.

19. Most commentators agree that the parallel with John 1 is important in Augustine makingthe equation between "of God" and being God.

20. Things which are both said to he and to be o/God are taken to most appropriately refer tothe persons who are both God and of God, i.e., Son and Spirit. This is one exegetical principlewhich needs to be understood in the context of others which cannot be set out here: but seealso On the Trinity XV, 19,37, where it is also made clear that to call the Spirit "love" is also tospeak of the Trinity as a whole as love.


15/19

The Father is

principium in

the Trinity, but is

the originator of a

truly self-giving

reciprocal

communion, not

of a hierarchy of

powers.

The Spirit, as

the gift of God

which is God,

continues and

is a central part of

his theology of

God's self-offering

on the cross.

(26, 47), we might note first the importance Augustine places on the

Father giving the Son "to have life in himself," taking this to imply that

the Son is not temporally "after" the Father, and that the Father's utter

self-gift to the Son does not imply a subordinationist Trinity. Second,

in the same section, one might note that the Father's gift to the Son

includes the power to bestow the Spirit, wh o is also the communion of

both: the Father's act of generation and spiration involves an act of

sharing himself absolutely as loving, continually self-offering com

munion. The Father is principium in the Trinity, but is the originator of

a truly self-giving reciprocal communion, not of a hierarchy of powers.

Thus, returning to homily 7 of the 1 John series, if we are to love, love

involves this form: he offered himself. "Most beloved, if God has so

loved us, we also ought to love one another ."

Two aspects of this vision of love which have been hinted at now need

to be drawn out again. First, Augustine does not here offer a theologyin which God offers his Son as propitiation, an exchange simply

analogous to one subject's offering of an object. August ine rather

combines an unders tanding of the Son's self-offering wi th a conception

of the Father's self-gift through the use of their unity and separation in

the Trinity. Although we use the language of a father sending his son,

we only understand the form of the transaction when we see that

although the son comes to make an appropriate sacrifice he actually

offers himself as victim. The Son offers himself as sacrifice, showing

the extent of God's love for us. Also the absolute accord between thewill of the Father and the will of the Son means that the whole

"sending" is an act expressive of the exchange of love of the Trinity.

The second aspect which needs drawing out concerns Augustine's

conception of the Spirit as the gift of love. The Spirit, as the gift of God

which is God, continues and is a central part of his theology of God's

self-offering on the cross. God 's redempt ive dispensation {dispensatici)

involves both the life death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, and

the sending of the Spirit. The incarnation reveals God's prior love for

us, the Spirit leads us to share in that love through forming the church

into a community which participates in the love of the Trinity throughincorporation into the body of Christ. Augustine's understanding of

the work of the Spirit seems to involve two aspects. On the one hand

the Spirit is a "unifying" force, drawing us all into a form of loving which

participates in the always prior loving exchange of God; on the other

hand the Spirit permits a diversity through calling us to participate in this

love by showing love to others that they may be our "brothers." Only

21. Despite their different understandings of God's unchangeability this theology is in someways paralell to von Balthasare theology of the cross: especially as seen in Mysterium Paschale:The Mystery ofEaster, tr. A. Nicholls (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990).

22. See On the Trinity, XV, 17, 31; 19, 37.

23. See On the Trinity, XV, 19, 34.


16/19

in the love of neighbour can we "see"

revealed in Christ.

the priority of God's love

This section has attempted to draw out Augustine's discussion of

God as love and love as God. Because of the presence of the Spirit

with us when we love, love is God. This picture is reliant on a

theology of the Christian community as the community taken up by

the gift of incarnation and Spirit into the life of the Trinity, and that

in turn is understood here as expressive of the potential of creation:

Christian practice is understood as a realisation and discernment of

God's presence to creation through attendance on the practices

inaugurated within the body of Christ. Because of Augustine's

theology of the person of Christ these practices draw us to par

ticipate in the incarnation which manifested God to us. In the finalsection of the pap er I want to turn aga in to the relationsh ip between

"seeing" God and the practice of love.

Because of the

presence of the

Spirit with us

when we love,

love is God.

"SEEING" THE TRINITY

The "seeing" of God in the practice of Christian charity is the subject

of the next few sections of homily 7, and provides clearer textual

justification for the hints about the ambiguit ies of "see ing" God that

have been offered in earlier sections of the paper. In 10 Augustinesearches for a way to reconcile 1 John 4:12, "No man has ever seen

God," with Matt. 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

God." We should avoid trying to imagine God with the "desire of the

eyes" {concupiscentiaoculorum) because we would in that way be unable

to avoid imagining God according to size and limit: we need rather to

see him according to the "eyes of the heart." This leads Augustine to

state that we see God in love, and in the actions of love:

[This] is what you should imagine if you wish to see God: "God is love."

What sort of face does love have? What sort of form does it have? ... Noone can say. Nonetheless it does have feet, for they lead to the Church.It does have hands, for they are stretched out to the poor man... It doeshave ears, about which the Lord says, "he who has ears to hear, let himhear." They are not members separated by places, but by means of theunderstanding he who has love sees the whole at one time. Dwell andyou will be a dwelling, abide and you will be an abode.

Towards the end of 10 Augustine insists that love is something

present to all people, and that the acceptance of love is not dependent

on our taking something external to us; it is there with us prior to our

acceptance. Nevertheless the preservation of love, the subject of 11,involves the formation of loving habits, a process of discernment and

We see Godin love, and

in the actions

of love.


17/19

The dove which

descends rests

above the head

of Christ

symbolising thatChristreceives

baptism in order

at he may give it.

We neverbecome

equal to God

because he is the

one whose love

is always prior;

we love because

he loved us.

correction. The dove which descends on Christ at his baptism is apeculiarly appropriate form for the Spirit: the dove is both loving andyet defends its children; the dove expresses love and anger with love.The dove which descends rests above the head of Christ symbolising

that Christ receives baptism in order that he may give it (just as hereceives love and all that he is from the Father so that he may showlove); we receive baptism from Christ and must refer all that we dobackto him. His baptism is thus an expression of the trinitarian life intowhich we are drawn.

This passage can be helpfully supplemented with one from homily 9in the series where Augustine directly examines the question oftheological analogy. In 3, commenting on 1 John 4:17, "...because ashe is so are we in this world," Augustine asks how far we may draw

analogies between our lives and our love andGod. The answer followsthe general thrust of what we one finds in considerations of analogy inthe series (and Augustine himself points back to 9 of homily 4), buthere Augustine adds to the picture his conception of our being madein the image and likeness ofGod. The argument can perhaps be set outin three stages: first, the "as" in the phrase "we are as he is" is to beunderstood as indicating not equality but resemblance. There is acertain appropriate place in creation for us, a certain "measure" appropriate to us, and only by understanding this can we see how weresemble the creator and how we do not. Second, this growth towardsresemblance must be understood in the light of the theology of love inthese sermons; we may be like him in this world by following hisexample of love and attempting to love our enemies. Third, we neverbecome equal to God because he is the one whose love is always prior;we love because he loved us.

This passage takes up and follows again the structure of homily sevenwhere we learn to love through our learningto attend to the love shownin Christ. Perhaps we can identify three key facets of Augustine'sview of theological analogy here: first, our drawing analogies from our

world to God is dependent always on God's prior act towards us in theincarnation; second, our drawing analogies is integrally related to ourparticipation in the redemptive life of Christian love (because that loveis simply God present in us), learning to see how the material acts asrevelation of the divine, the created of the uncreated; third, that life isa continual movementinto a theology of creation: only as we learn to

25.1 have attempted to set out and hint at the possible appropriation of the theological dynamicof this text without appropriating the particulars of its clear polemical context. Augustine isopposing the Donatists as schismatics on the grounds that they are claiming the right to havepower over the sacraments which is properly Christ's (this parallels other treatments of Simon

Magus in Augustine's work).26. What we often take to be "love" is what we might perhaps call a "love-shaped desire," a"love-shaped space," not love itself. I am grateful to Rowan Williams for suggest ing this way


18/19

see God as love under the impetus of the incarnation and the sending

of the Spirit do we come to see the purpose of the creation and the true

appropr iate relations between Creator and created.

Thus talk of learning to "see" God in love must be understood in thecontext of Augustine's insistence that true love is the presence of the

Spirit. We are not called to see in our human love an image of the

trinitarian God, as some readings of his trinitarian theology suggest:

we are called to see through the process of faith and longing how God

is present to us, and how the redemptive dispensation of God takes us

up into the trinitarian life, which God has always intended to share

with his creation. The process of theological analogy for Augustine

depends on coming to see beyond our picture of a material or simply

distan t God and learning to see how our created lives may be both like

and unlike the exchange of love which is the Trinity, ho w our love may

both be simply a realisation and a shar ing of God's love and yet always

dependent on the prior love of God towards us. To draw analogy

properly is to come to terms with the reality of God's love for his

creation. It is because of this perception that Augustine is so insistent

on the need for us to undergo the discipline of actual love in com

munity, if we are to see how God may be called love, and hence how

he may be loved.

We cannot understand what it means for Augustine to call God love,

and to call love God, wi thout beginning to get an overall picture of theinterrelationship between his theology of the Trinity, his theology of

incarnation and his ecclesiology. I hope here I have offered the begin

nings of such an account. I have not been able to consider how one

might read in any detail the process of drawing analogies for the Trinity

which is so famous a part of his On the Trinity, bu t I have offered a

context within which those texts should be considered. Augustine's

theological point of departure here and elsewhere I would like to

suggest is our participation in the mystery of Easter, the participa

tion of the contemporary Christian community in the saving events of

God's redemptive dispensation. His vision is always that this dispen

sation is a revealing and sharing anew of that sharing of the tr initarian

God which we call creation. On this basis he is able to build up a

profoundly trinitarian theology which is also a theology attentive to

the process of actual Christian life and formation, attentive to the

central place of our created temporal existence as a gift of God, a gift

enabling our sharing in God. Calling God love is for Augustine an

activity which thus only makes sense within the slow process of

coming to realize that the one who is love has revealed himself and

inauguarted a practice of formed love and confession through whichwe may share in the Triune life of love itself. D

We cannot

understand wh

it means for

Augustine to c

God love, and

call love God,

without begin

to get an overa

picture of theinterrelationsh

between his

theology of the

Trinity, his

theology of

incarnation an

his ecclesiolog


19/19

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91557314 Augustine on God as Love and Love as God