64 71te Gmc~o
71rt C!Jrist(J('ti Jtrlsm of Augustine 6l
60 Th• Gr!let of Chrirr ning became the ChriSL makes other~ Chri-..ti.m' from the begmning or by Christian hope. he reminds his bearers and reader.. in u great variety of e~ pressions and with great intensity that the whole Christ lives in hope and advartce> through faith, not through vision . .., Chri'l mu-. be born ever anew in the hean~ of the faithful.' .. ln his Church the city of God i' ,till always on pilgrimage. even though it is already awaited by the heavenly Church.'"'
fa Jth. From the Spiril from '"'hach he w.b born. che-.e are reborn. The
Spirit who made biru ~inles) eUec1s the forgavene.,;.). of sins in us.~
There is a hint here that the rightcou>tlC'>.\, in "hich Christ perse•-cred to the end and in wb.ich be died as a righteou< person for the wicked. is ultimately rooted in his eternal Sonsbip."" and that in this respect be is the model for the righteousness of Christians, who have in their own way become God's children ~1rougb the grace of baptism.''" Above nil, Christ is !he exemplar of nil g.mcc becnuse in his incamation it becmnc ciCM lhm grace is a complc Lcly
6. The Supt•cmc Grace. of God
Chl'is1. the one medjator between God and humanity. is :-t l~o Lhc way thm leads 10 the homchlnd; he i$ this for i ndividuaJs nnd for I he cm ire human race. l·lc is the foundation of Christian and ccclcsial lif..,. But this entirely Christoccntric undcrstandlng of human exjstence emerges into full clarity ooly when we bear in mind that for Augustine everything is God's g.race and that the incarnmion in patticular is the greatest or all gr:tcc>. On the other hand. it b precisely due to this that Augustinian Christocemrism becomes relativized. The "way to Christ through Christ" is. in the final analysis, "a way to God through Christ in the Spirit."
girt of God's love. ''You will not d(II"O to claim rhnt becnusc (l f previous merits the human being Jesus Christ became son or God from the very outse~ thnt is. in 1he womb of Lhe Virgin. Thcl·cf'orc. il was by the same. gmcc by which his membel's become good after being wicked, 1 h~H thm human being wa.~ good from the beginning.''''"
Augustine can hardly find satbt'uctory words for praising this freely be- 'towcd beginning of all grace. which ~ocs back ultimately to the predestination of Christ. Thus. he says. for example. in The Predestinarion of the Saims: "This, then. is the predestination of the saints. wb.ich shone out most clearly in the Saim of saints and which no one who ha.• correctly understood the words of tmth may deny. For we have learned that even the Lord of glory himself """S predestined insofar '" the human being became the Son of a) The Forn1 of Righ teousnes.~
A life lived in fuitl1 is entirely a gift of God. Augu>tine therefore const:mtly cites the text: "What do you have that you have not ,·eceived'? And if yuu received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it" (I Cor 4:7)198
Moreover, "the one who made for us the Christ in whom we believe is the one who lllso made us believe in Christ; the one who made the human being Jesus 'the pioneer and perfCC1C1'
1 or OUI' fai1h also gave human beings the origin and completion of faith in Jesus.''210 it also goes without saying thfll the Clu·ist who without any merits on his part was anointed the Son of God in the incarnation and tilled with the grace or God, is also the exemplar of all p1·cdestinatioo.211
This is already 1111c of creatjon, whiclt came into being through the eternal
Word: but it is even more tmc of the greater grace thnnks to which human being• have become believers through the incamate Word.''"' This grace of God, however. ha,;; its ciY'ccl through Jesus Christ our Lord .J(fl h originme.o; in his saving wot·k on earth. a.o; becomes clc;:tr especially in the theme of the reconciliation by which God's enemies become God's l'riends.20' So. too, all justi-
Implicit in all these assertions is that Augustine regards the incarnation of Chri•t as a unique grace. He also say' as much explicitly: ''As regards that
(human being) taken up by the Word. it's all grace. it'~ unique grace. it's perfect grace.""' 1t is the supreme ~ample of the graciousness of grace. At a decisive point in his attack on Roman pag:mism he writes: fication goc\ back to Christ: be baptizes in the Church: his ;acrilicc is celebr~led in his name: he suficrs and conquers in his members: he constantly intercedes for them m the right hand of the Father."" Those who acknowledge all thh are on the way of Christ.""
If only you [PO!phyry) had nlCO&JU7cd the grao: of God through our Lord Jesus Chrisl! If only you h3d been ;1bk: to~ IChris1's) incarnation,
Dui Chri\1 i' nOt ;imply the source and origin of grace."" I lis human life is also the ~emplar of all grace. Through the gra<.'C by which the human being Jesus beclmle the Son of God and therefore a completely righteous person. they. too,""' j1"titied who believe ut him: as Christ was born of the Spirit, so believers are rchom or the ~wme Spirit.
10 which (Christ] took a hum:m soul and body, ;h lhe supreme instance of g,race! . . . The gmce of God could nol be commcnded in a way more likely to evoke a grateful response. 11""' I he way by which the oo1y Son of God, while retna.ining uoclwngcably in (the Son·~ I own proper being, clo1hed (1he Son·s sclll in hu1nani1y and gnvc to lhumtl•lkindl rhe spirit of fthc Sol)'sllove by the mcdialjon of a lhumml being).
In ou•· head. !hcrcl'o.·e, let IJle fo 11u t:~iu vf gra ~.:c -.how ito;clr to us: from there i1 i~ poured o~• l •)n ~· 11 his •ncmbcrs acconling Ul the mcasu!'c of each. 1'hc NtUllC grace by which that human being frOn'l hi~ v,~ ry he gin· love (human beings 1 11)ight come to (the SQnj whv fol'merly was so fm:
11rr Clm'srocemrism of Augustine 63
62 Tl~e Groce of Christ the Father and dte Son). for we ho:lVC lc~1rnc:d th~u the actions of tbc Trinity are indhri~ble.!ll'l away from them, far from monals in [the Son"sl unmormlity. from the chnnge•b~ on (!he Soc.-s)ehnn~lessnes.<, from che wicked in (the Son's) rig.hteou...,~. frorn the wretched in (lhc::: Son'~J blcssc.."dncss.1U
This last statement certainly bears the stamp of the anti-Arian tradition of the founh century. a stamp that becomes more noticeable in the later works of Augustine. But the same trinitarian orientation also marks the more personal
In this view, it i~ also perfectly clear that no human bemg. either before or after the incarnation of Christ, can be justified without this grace. Even in the Old Tc.,tamcnt. the grace of Christ was needed for justillcation.'" it was through the grace of Christ that the righteous of that time believed in the promises, while later on it was by the same grace-given faith that Christians belic\•eU in lhc one who had come.
Confessions. In the.~c. Augustine constantly addresses himself to God who through the Son and Spirit has bestowed God's mercy on Augustine,221 or else he speaks of "tl1e Christ of God.".w God's mercy had from the beginning placed in his heart the name of Cl1rist. which he did not find in tlle pbilosophcrs, the name of his Savior, the Son vf God. m
Saving foith in lhc mediator between God and hunumkind n~scucd the. l'i81Ucvus who prior lo (Christ's] incarnation belic\•ed thtU [chc Son)
In fact, we will conectly interpret Augustine's "Christ is all" only if we keep in mind that Christ's gift of grace begins wh~rc all life has its source."''
would come in the flesh. Our f~'lith and their'S is Que •md the same because '"'hat we believe has occul'l't:d, they believed wa!) 10 come. . . . The soornlllents could din(;r uccording to different times and yet roke rheir place most hannoniou.sly in the unity of the same faith."J
Even LhC watchword of AuguSLines Leaching on gmce-the grace or God which sets us free through Jesus Christ (Rom 7:241'.)-alrcady forbids a Christological reduction."' Such a reduction is even more clearly excluded by the hasic concept of sending. apan from which the narne '·Christ'' loses its deeper meaning' " E.-en though. by reason of Christ's sending in the incarna-
Even in that fonncr time, justifying faith "'"S possible because Christ had appeared to the ancestors and had spoken through the prophetS.',. In the Old Testament. there were even manyrs who accepted <lcath in the name of tion. Christ doe.~ not cease to be equal to the Father. the Father is nonetheless the one who seods Christ'" The .cry anointing by which the human being is nnointed as the Christ is understood by Augustine in trinitarian tenus: 'The Son was anointed by God the Father when (the Son( became a human being,
Christ.' " Even then, there was an ecooomy of salvation. that of "the Church that began with Abel.""'
It is in light, tl1eo, of the ·'grace of the Head.'' the gruciou•ness of the incarnation of Christ, that the magnific.,nce of Augustine's Christocenrric vision of history becomes fully clear. Because at the same time he nnchors the myswhile yet remaining God; [the Son) was filled with this anointjng, that is, with the Holy Spirit."'"'
The same is trtle of the revelation given by Cluist, for in the fim!l analysis Litis is attributed to the Father. Augustine indeed says, "Christ is shown to Christ through Christ,'' but we must nol overlook the context in which d1is is said: "When, then, tl1e Father shows [Christ( to the members of Christ, !the tery of Christ in Christ's eternal Sonship and this in the life of the uiune God. he 111akes il clear. in additiOn1 that the economy of sa_lvalion is likewise a relloction of the everlasting love that unites Father and Son frQm all eternity. Bm this is something thut must be discussed in greater detail.
Father( shows [Christ] to Chrisl. This is a great but real marvel: Christ is shown what Christ already knew, and [Christ] is shown to Christ through Christ.""'
Finally, the extent to which the faith in Christ. by which believing Christians joumey to the everlasting homeland. has its origin in the Father is shown by passages in which Augustine. referring to John 6:44, explains that the Father dmws us to Christ. For example. he ~ays, ''To be drawn by the Father to Christ and to hear and learn from the Father tlmt we should come to Christ is nothing else btu to receive from the Father the gift or faith in Christ.''"" Along the same line, he comments on Psalm 85:11 that God always extends God's hand to those who joumey on the way: "For in giving [God's] Christ, God extends [the divine] hand; extending [the divine] hand, (God] gives b) Through Christ. in the Holy Spirit. to God tlte Father',.
"l"hrough Christ as human being to Christ as God." This faith in Christ undoubtedly pem!Catc' the entire theological thinking and feeling of Augustine.
His "Christ is all" must not, therefore {as I ba>l! already suggested), be turned into an absolute. He himself leaves no doubt on thi• point. for in one of his final works he speaks of the school of the Trinity:
This school is fa I' removed from lhe Ocshly !)Cnses. There the Fmher i1< heor<l on<l teaches in order that hu111an beings mny thcn;hy come to the Son. There. too. is the Son . . .. fo1· [the Son 1 is the Word through whom rGod's] Christ. [God]le.~ds to the way by lending to your Christ; [God] leads along the way by leading in [God's] Clwisl; Christ, however. is the truth."" ' F.lscwhcrc, he says more precisely Lhlll ~~c FathCt' leads us to Christ by re· venting Christ to be God.zn Lastly, the love th•H is poured out in hearts
(the Flnhcrl thus l.enchr..s, but nhe Son] accomplishes this nor llli'OUSh rhe er.r of the ncsh but the car of the heart. At the same time. th~~ Spirit of the
F:uhcr and the Son is also thel'e. it too teaches. but 1Wt scpunnely (from
64 71te Gmc~o/ChnSI
11te Chrinocemrum of Augusmw 65 through ~le Eloly Spirit. and without whkh full f:1ith in Christ is not pOS>ible. has ils origin in lhc Father.2.u
1(:1' how much we iu.:knuwledge 1hc lhcocentrism of Augus1ine, it would be in· con·cc1 lO imcrprtt 1he fonnu1a "lhrough C lu~st as humnn being to Chri:\1 us
The way of faith not only begin, in the Fatl1er; ic also ends in the Fmher. 1t is true th:u Chri't is not only the way but also tho truth and the life.~" In Christ. all who belie' cd in him amid the darkness of this world "'ill hm c ctcrnullife i.n the light of the vision.' '' So. too. Chri>~ is wi\dom for all souls.> .. and in Chrbt thc~c :-;ouls become themselves the throne of wisdon1,1'" As
God" as meaning thnt the incan Jation of the Word lose' its meaning after the l:hljudgmenL E'en though it migh1 be po~~ible lhus to in1erpret cenain ~•ate· men~ in which Augu~ine dis Lingui\hc~ between 1he order of faith and 1he order of vision.1;u we muM take into nccoum (hat he cvidcntlv did not dcol • with the question of the salvific meaning Lhat ~.e glorificcl humanity of.lc"'"
Word, Christ is the bread of the angels and the snints. '" Some day, moreovor. ho will be the ;vhole Christ along wi~t the angels nnd all human beings who have believed 111 him."" In ~1is '>Cnsc. then. Christ himself is also ~IC homeland.'"' both for the indi\·idual soul and for the pilgrim Church-now m hope. some day in reality.
eternal life 11fler 1he las:t judgment.253 In any cusc, he expressly re .. jcc1ed, although wi1hou1 further discussion, the theory of a transform:uion of the human nature of Christ into the Word.'"
Above all. relyins on the New Te,tamem. he uoder.>tood eternal life to include a ·'reigning with Christ.''"' At the end of The Ci1y of GO<I. be describe>
But in ils fullest sense, the formula "through Christ as human being l<J Chrisl a~ God" say~ I hat Christ the human being k:ads 10 1he wisdom nnd tl111h of God, that is. to ~1c one who in the final analysis reveals the Fmher. "Through Christ as human being to Christ as God: through the Word made flesh I~ the Word that was in the begimting. God with God.""' Accordingly.
life in heaven as also including "'\inging Lhe Lord's me,·cic:; for ever." HNoth· illS will give more joy to Lhm Ci1y 1han 1hjs song ro the giOI')' or the grace of Christ by whose blood we have been <et free. There. thnt precept will tind fulfillrncnt: 'Be still, and know that I am God: .. ,. Astonished at tbc mystery of Otrist. the saints will d\\cll in the 'ision of God, tbc author of all 2race.'" If - God is then all in all. they will know thm it ;. God who fill, them: "Restor<:<! by ]Christ] and perfected by [Christ's] greater grace we shall be still and nt
God as the homeland: "There we shall alwa>"' have one Jiv. mg Falber, we shall have our homelund."Z42 In the same line of thought, he speaks of the ;ision of God''' and describes ~lis vbicm as never ending happaness (frwtw)lM a~ well as c.tcmal salvation (Uld an everlaslh1g song of pnaise . .:"' leisure for eternity, seeing that ]Christ I is God, :md hoing Jilled by [Chdst l when !Christ I will be all in all."'·"
Nor is the basic theme of mediatorship opposed to this oriemmion that is theocemric in the New Testament sense of 1/teos. 1t is true that in keeping with the N1cene ttad1110n. Augustine understands the "God"' w1th "horn the human being Christ Jesus unites humanity to include Christ :ts God. He gives even the ··God" of I Timothy 2:5 a tl'iniwi:m meaning'" Nevertheless, Clwist always remains for him ~~c "door to the FHther'': "If Christ p1·eachcs himscl r and by preaching enters into you. it is through himself thm he enters. He is also the door ~o the Father, for tbere is no way of reaching the Father excep1 through htm. for there is one God and one mediator between ('1()<1 and hu· rnanity. the human being Christ Jc.,u,."247 lt is also to be noted ~lat the mcdi· ation.or Christ nOl only awakens o purifying failh 1ha1 causes human beings to tunt 111 upon thclllsclvcs and lind the truth of God in their hearts. it also re· vcals the depths of the wholly other God: God's humility and ~tc proof of God's generotL•Iove. the love. that is. that ha.• its origin in the Father.""
All this is confinned by Augustine's conception of prayer. Not only does he stress. with the tradition, that the Eucharistic Prayer is addressed to the l'tllhcr;''' he also sees the psalms as lir>t and foremost :• prayer to the J' mhcr. Uvcu though he is f'::unilinr with prnyl!r 10 Chlisl as (iod,l!() he gives far gi'CU1Cr preference to "pr11ying with Christ. in the Spili t, to the f'athcr."lS'
This orientation of ~tc economy of -.:livatioo to its first source and ultimate end will emerge more clearly in the \cC<Jnd part of this book. which will be devoted to Augu<tine·, concept of God. Out it rnu.<t he noted here !hat no mm-
PART 11
The Grace of God