The Grace of Christ and the Grace of God in Augustine of Hippo
God in thl' \Vrill'trJ;.\ of 1\ugusriJIC the SeeJ..er 85
84 Tile Grtlt't'. of God h is not easy. however. to define more c1o'iely the enlightenment or illu· nunauon to which Augustine keep$ coming b:lCk in various contexts. Perhaps we may brieOy descrihc hb conception of it a< follows. The enlightenment doe• not affect sense knowledge nor does it extend to the entire range of intellectual knowledge. Rather. it make.' judgoncnt possible on accocd with roles derived from the highest trutlls of an ethical. esrhetie. and logical kind. When human beings tun> to these truths-the good. the bcautjful, and the troe-tbey expeoience the nearness of Gud. ·n,is cxplnnntion by E. Gilsou was al'o udoptccl ))y R. Holte, altl1ough the lattel' extended it 10 ~he '·natural" human
8. I 2.29f.: 7.8. I 2). This entire outlook corresponded in l:trgc measure to the mind of antiquit). according to which philowphical re Oection wns always accompanied by moml effon. But Augustine went e'en funhcr. lie also re Oected on hb return to God in light of the discovery which he made in about 396-397 of tl1e neces<ity of gmce. while he was studying the Letter to the Romans."
Because of his religious experiences. Augusline cam~.: to \CC the dist::mce and nearness of God in connection with sin, which sepamted sinful human beings from their holy God." Consequently. God's diswnce signified God's anger and demand for cvcrlas Ling righteousness. God's ne~ll'ncss. on Lhc other being, who glimpses the etenml ldcas in a mcdintcd way:'~ hand. signi r,cd 1 he divine mercy and the completely free condescension of the ctcmal God (sec Cm!f: 4.4.7).
teaching on culightcnmcnl thus poims w (he bridge that to some extent enables human beings to CI'Ol)S the nbys:-: dividing their crcmure-
Consequently. when Augu~tinc speaks of ~1e mystery of God at the be· ginning of 1 he Confess/oilS, he invokes God as "most merciful and most just" a.nd refers lO God~s unger and jen Jousy while at the sanu.: time calling God "my holy sweetness" (Cottl 1.4.4). In like manner. he praise$ the divine mercy that ha' called him from "the region of dis.~irnilarity" to n closeness in which the human being knows God and realizes that he or 'he I"" heen cre- :oted in the image of God."' When Augustine thus places himself in this historical and existential perspecti>'e. be recalls. before all else, the etemallo,•e of God. which he him;•clf has come so late to love: "Late hme I loved you, beauty w old and so new: late have I loved you. And sec. you were within and J was in tl>e external world nnd sought you there. . . . You touched me and J am on fire lO annin the pc~1ce which is yours."40 lincss from the divine Crentor. But the Conji-ss;tms also speak of a more radjc:tl sclf-trnnscendence. Sinful human beings also return to clheir Father. That h. Augustine confesses not only the sublimity and closeness of God; he tells also and above all of the mercy in which. while safeguarding the divine justice. God reaches out to human \HCtchedness.
This basic t11en>e of the Co11[essions finds its most profound expression in what Augustine has to say about the "memory" of God and human heings."
In hi< intcrprelation of the first verses of Gene<i< in the last three books of the Ctmfes.<iorrs (I J-13). he stresses that God has been mindful of humanity. TI1anks 10 this mindfulness of God. if nothing else, human beings can remcmhcr their own pa.~t and place themselves before God in the present; clhey can remember God and lhus exist in chc imugc of God.~'
This teaching on memory obviously brings humnol beings close to God. it allows them 10 be seen as beings who share in the sp i ri~ual life of God. They.
cc) G"d Who EnligllfeiiS and R<mlembers
In the seventh book of the Confessions, lhere i~ a famous pnssage in which Augu:,tinc dcscdbcs his ascem to lhe always existiug God:11 F.vcn I hough he had nevet· doubted the existence of God. he felt the need of a rational justification of the fnith in God that he had inherited from his family. The cfJ'on 10 do tl>is wu' ; timulmed b)' his reading of Ciccru·, Hortensiur:'' The great like God. are spirits." Moreover. this conception of memory. with the aid of allusions to the Bible, heightens the necessity of God's healing human heiogs.
it is po"ible for wretched humanity to confess and be delivered from their wretchedness because God bas not forgotten them. They owe their very salvation to the immutable will of God who shows mercy on those to whom God shows mercy and is compassionate toward those to whom God is compassionate (see Rom 9:15). I must show. later on. why and when Augustine can>e
Roman orator had taught him that human heings must seek their happiness in wisdom. in God who is Truth.'' lllerefore. his journey to God consi$ted to a large extent in an e'-er new reaching out for truth. And, in f11Ct. he never ceased to invoke the truth. to speak of it. to reflect on u ...
10 deepen fun her this intuition of 396 -397 which aln.-ady fully comrols his Confessions.-':!: lo order to understand bcucr this seeking after the troth. we muM take two things into con~ideration. First we must not overlook the fact lhal Augustine fo·equently auends to tnoth of a mathematical, scientific kind. lt is in view of this kind of truth thnt he comes to certainty abomthe existence of God.'' Second. and chb is even more imronant, he shows hjmseJf COI\Vinced that hurnan beings have God alone to thank for the truth.'" A~ ha repeats over and over, God is ouo· light:" Thus. human beings cannot know the L1111h unless they are enlightened by GO<I.
If we review what Augustine says in the Ctmf~•sions about his Lord and God. we find that his spiritual joumey led him. by way of the troth. 10 the unchangeable and solely good God. But tlli' God b also the God of personal dialogue, the God who helps human beings and intervenes in lheir history, the God whom one may address as "Thou." 11 was p1·cciscly in this continual exchnnge with God that Augustine ex pcl'icnccd lhC 11'nnscendence and closeness of his God, but of a God who also enlightens God's sinful creatures and cannnl forget them because God has al w:\y~ been rnindful or them.