kingdom of heaven, which was revealed at the appropriate time for our salva
Book V 295
The mystery of the kingdom revealed to the angelsfrom the beginning
19, 37. He certainly does not need reporters to inform him about things lower down the scale, as if to keep him abreast of current affairs; but in that simple and wonderful way he has a steady and unchanging knowledge of all things. He does have reporters, however, both for our sake and for their own, because for them to wait upon God obediently in that manner, ready to consult him about these lower matters and to comply with his behests and commands from above, is good for them in accordance with their proper nature and mode of being. Now reporters are called angeloi, angels, in Greek; and this is the general name given to that heavenly city above in its entirety, which we consider to have been the first day that was fashioned.
38. The fact is, they were not even kept in the dark about that mystery of the kingdom of heaven, which was revealed at the appropriate time for our salva tion, so that once delivered from this exile we might be welcomed into their company. They would scarcely be ignorant of this, after all, seeing that the seed which came at the appropriate time was disposed through them in the hand of the mediator,24 that is, by the authority of him who is their Lord, both in the form of God and in the form of a servant.25 Again, the apostle says: To me the least of all the saints has been given this grace, to proclaim among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to shed light on what the disposition of the sacrament might be, which was hidden from the ages in God who created the universe, so that there might be made known to the principalities andpowers in the heavenlyplaces through the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the plan of the ages which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph 3:8-1 1).
So then, this was hidden from the ages in God, but in such a way nonetheless that the manifold wisdom of God would be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places through the Church, because that is where the original Church is, into which this Church too is to be gathered after the resurrec tion, so that we may be equal to the angels of God.26 So it was made known to them from the ages, because the total creation is not before the ages, but from the ages. It is from the creation, after all, that the ages arose, and it is from the ages, since its beginning is the beginning of the ages. But the Only-begotten Son,
24. See Gal 3:19. 1n the Revisions 11,2,24 he corrects this mistaken understanding of Saint Paul's words; it was the law, not the seed, that was mediated through angels, and not in the hand of the mediator, Christ, but of a mediator, Moses. See the extract from the Revisions printed before the beginning of Book 1 of this work. 25. See Phil 2:6.7. 26. See Lk 20:36. Augustine has also misinterpreted this passage from Ephesians; Paul is definitely saying that the mystery hidden from the ages in God is only made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places through the Church here below, when God's plan in Christ has been carried out.