Augustine in His Own Words
building up our faith, has been handed down to our memory not on the authority of any chance writers, but on that of the Apostles themselves, and has been received with the sanction of the highest canonical authority, and that it remains true in every part and not subject to doubt—this fact has the greatest bearing on the question that I have raised. If what Peter did was what he ought to have done, then Paul lied when he said that he had seen Peter not walking rightly according to the truth of the Gospel. Surely, when anyone does what he ought to do, he acts rightly, and therefore whoever says that the accused has not done rightly what he knew he ought to do, that accuser accuses him falsely. If, however, Paul wrote the truth, then it is true that Peter was not then walking rightly according to the truth of the Gospel; therefore, Peter was doing what he ought not to have done. And if Paul had done the same thing himself, I prefer to believe that, having been himself corrected, he could not pass over the correction of his fellow Apostle rather than that he put some lying statement in his Epistle or in any Epistle, much less in the one Epistle which he prefaced with the words: "As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying" (Gal 1:20).
(2.8) For my part, I believe that Peter did act so as to compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews. For I read that Paul wrote this, and I do not believe he lied.64
Biblical Polysemy
Augustine argued that Scripture's obscurity may lead to the possibility of multiple orthodox interpretations. He was convinced, in other words, of the Bible's polysemy. "Polysemy" is a term post-modern literary critics use to speak of the way a text contains, or gives birth to, multiple meanings. In Augustine's view, biblical texts contained a treasure trove of hidden meanings that exceeded the explicit intention of their human author. For him, the Bible was divine speech compressed into human speech. It thus possessed a density and a multivalence that providentially anticipated the abilities of multiple interpreters and the needs of multiple audiences. From On Christian Teaching, Book 3:
(27.38) Not just one but sometimes two or more interpretations are understood from the same words of Scripture. And even if the writer's meaning lies hidden, there is no danger, provided that one can show from other passages of the Holy Scriptures that each of these interpretations is consistent with
64. Ep. 82.1.2–2.8 (CCL 31A:98–101); trans. Parsons, FOTC 12:391–419 (modified). In one of the new Dolbeau sermons, Augustine alludes to this dispute with Jerome on the interpretation of Galatians; see s. 162C.3–4 (= Dolbeau 10). This offers an interesting example of the way Augustine popularized his more erudite disputes.