36. Trin. 8.4.7–5.7 (CCL 50:275–77); trans. McKenna, FOTC 45:251–52 (modified).
On the Trinity 295
Imagining Jesus and Paul
For centuries, Christian artists have painted scenes from the Gospels, imagining what Jesus and the apostles may have looked like, and in so doing have profoundly shaped Christian imaginations. Augustine plays on this and, in the midst of meditating on what it means to know and love God, discusses the fact that the Gospels do not give any description of what New Testament figures looked like, neither Paul nor Mary nor Jesus Himself. How, Augustine asks, can we truly say that we know them and thus rightfully say that we love them if we have never seen them face-to-face? From On the Trinity, Book 8: (4.7) Who, upon reading or listening to the writings of Paul the Apostle or what has been written about him, does not draw a picture in his mind of the face of the Apostle himself, and of all those whose names are mentioned there? And since, among the vast number of people whom those writings are known to, one person imagines their physical features and figures in one way, and another in a different way, it is certainly uncertain whose thoughts are closer to and more like the reality. But our faith is not busied there with the physical faces of those men, but only with the lives that they led through the grace of God, and with the deeds that those Scriptures bear witness to. This is what is useful to believe, and this must not be despaired of but must be sought for. For even the face of the Lord Himself in the flesh is represented differently by reason of the diversity of countless imaginations, even though Jesus had only one face, whatever it was. But in terms of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not the image that leads to salvation, an image that the mind forms for itself and that may perhaps be far different from what it actually was. What matters is what we think of Him as a human being. For an idea has been impressed upon human nature, as if it were a law, according to which, when we see such-and-such a thing, we at once recognize it as a human being or in the shape of a human being.
(5.7) Neither do we know the face of the Virgin Mary, from whom, without contact with a man and without any detriment in the birth itself, Christ was born in a wondrous manner. Nor have we seen what were the characteristic features of the body of Lazarus, nor Bethany, nor the sepulcher, nor the stone that Christ ordered to be removed when He raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11:1–44), nor the new tomb hewn out of the rock from which He Himself rose (Mt 27:60), nor the Mount of Olives, from which He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9–12). Those of us who have never seen these things do not even know whether they were as we imagine them to be. In fact, I regard it as more probable that they were not as we imagine it.36
36. Trin. 8.4.7–5.7 (CCL 50:275–77); trans. McKenna, FOTC 45:251–52 (modified).
Trinitarian Analogy of Lover,
Beloved, and Love
At the end of Book 8, Augustine proposes the first of his interior (or psychological) analogies for the Trinity. Playing on 1 Jn 4:7 ("God is love"), Augustine suggests the structure of human loving—namely, a lover, the beloved, and the love between them— and offers a possible mirror of the Trinity. From On the Trinity, Book 8: (7.10) In this question concerning the Trinity and the knowledge of God, nothing else is to be considered other than what is true love, or rather, what is love. For only true love may properly be called "love"; otherwise it is lust (cupiditas). Therefore, it is a misuse of terms to say about those who lust, that they "love," just as it is a misuse of terms to say about those who love, that they "lust." But this is true love: that while holding fast to the truth, we live justly and, therefore, despise every mortal thing for the sake of the love of humanity by which we wish every person to live justly. For in this way we can be prepared even to die usefully for our brothers and sisters, something that the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us by His example. For since "the whole Law and Prophets depend on these two commandments," the love of God and the love of neighbor (Mt 22:40), it is not without reason that Scripture generally names one of these for both of them. At times it mentions only the love of God, as in this passage: "We know that for those who love God all things work for good" (Rom 8:28), and again: "But if one loves God, one is known by Him" (1 Cor 8:3), and again: "Because the love of God is poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5:5), and so on in many other texts. It follows logically that the one who loves God must do what God has commanded and love Him in the way He commands; therefore, one must also love one's neighbor since God has commanded this. At other times, Scripture mentions only the love of our neighbor, as in the following text: "Bear one another's burden, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2), and again: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Gal 5:14), and in the Gospel: "All the good that you wish people to do to you, that is what you are to do to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Mt 7:12). And we can discover many other passages in the sacred Scriptures where the love of our neighbor alone seems to be commanded for perfection, and the love of God is passed over in silence, although the Law and the Prophets depend on both commandments. But this also follows logically, for the one who loves his neighbor must also love love itself above everything else, for "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God" (1 Jn 4:16). Therefore, it follows that one must love God above everything else. . . .
(7.11) Behold, "God is love." Why then, if we want to be with Him, do we