livered up the kingdom to God, even the kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but
ON THE TRINITY. 2)
CuHap. XI.]
lieve this will be thought worthy of being brought by faith to sight, that is, to that very sight, in bringing them to which He is said to "* deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father."' For His faithful ones, whom He has redeemed with His blood, are called His kingdom, for whom He now intercedes; but then, making them to abide in Himself there, where He is equal to the Father, He will no longer pray the Father for them. '' For," He says, "'the Father Himself loveth you.'' For indeed He ''prays,'* in so far'as He is less than the Father; but as He is equal with the Father, He with the Father grants. Wherefore He certainly does not exclude Himself from that which He says, '' The Father Himself loveth you;'? but He means it to be understood after that manner which I have above spoken of, and sufficiently intimated,—namely, that forthe most part each Person of the Trinity is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood. Accordingly, "* For the Father Himself loveth you," is so said that by consequence both the Son and the Holy Spirit also may be understood: not that He does not now love us, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all;5 but God loves us, such as we shall be, not such as we are, For such as they are whom He loves, such are they whom He the carnal nature of my soul is more another substance in relation to my soul itself, although in one and the same man, than the soul of another man is in relation to my soul. *
21. When, therefore, He "*shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,''—that is, when He shall have brought those who believe and live by faith, for whom now as Mediator He maketh intercession, to that contemplation, for the obtaining of which we sigh and groan, and when labor and groaning shall have passed away,—then, since the kingdom will have been delivered up to God, even the Father, He will no more make intercession for us. And this He signifies, when He says: °' These things have I spoken unto you in similitudes;? but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in similitudes,? but I shall declare? to you plainly of the Father: " that is, they will not then be "* similitudes,"' when the sight shall be '' face to face.'' For this it is which He says, '** But I will declare to you plainly of the Father;'' as if He said, I will plainly show you the Father. For He says, I will ''declare'' to you, because He is His word. For He goes on to say, ** At that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.''4 What is meant by "*I came forth from the Father,'' unless this, that I have not appeared in that formin which I am equal to the Father, but otherwise, that is, as less than the Father, in the creature which I have taken upon me? And what is meant by ''I am come into the world," unless this, that I have manifested to the eyes even of sinners who love this world, the form of a servant which I took, making myself of no reputation? And what is meant by "' Again, I leave the world,'' unless this, that I take away from the sight of the lovers of this world that which they have seen? And what is meant by "'I go to the Father,'' unless this, that I teach those who are my faithful ones to understand me in that being in which Iam equal to the Father? 'Those who bekeeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now maketh intercession for us shall have *'delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,'' so as no longer to ask the Father, because the Father Himself loveth us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by which we believe before we see that which is promised? For by this faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He may love us, being such, as He loves us in order that we may become; and not such, as He hates us because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be always.
CHAP. II —BY WHAT RULE IN THE SCRIPTURES
IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SON IS NOW EQUAL AND NOW LESS.
22. Wherefore, having mastered this rule for interpreting the Scriptures concerning the Son of God, that we are to distinguish in them what relates to the form of God, in which He is equal to the Father, and what to the form of a servant which He took, in which He is less than the Father; we shall not be disquieted by apparently contrary and mutually repugnant sayings of the sacred books. For both the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to the form of God, are equal to the Father, t {The animal soul is different in kind from the rational soul, though both constitute one person; while the rational soul of a man is the same in kind with that of another man. Similarly, says Augustin, there is a difference in kind between the human nature and the divine nature of Christ, though constituting one theanthropic person, while the divine nature of the Son is the same in substance with that of the Father, though constituting two different persons, the Father and Son.—W. G. T.S
S Rom. viii. 32.
2 Proverbs—A. V. 3 Show--A.V. 4 John xvi. 25-28.
30 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book I. ee because neither of them is a creature, as we have already shown: but according to the form of a servant He is less than the Father, because He Himself has said, '' My Father is greater than I;''? and He is less than Himself, because it is said of Him, He emptied Himself ;'' * and He is less than the Holy Spirit, because He Himself says,
CHAP. 12.—IN WHAT MANNER THE SON IS SAID
NOT TO KNOW THE DAY AND THE HOUR WHICH THE FATHER KNOWS. SOME THINGS
SAID OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FORM OF GOD, OTHER THINGS ACCORDING TO THE FORM OF A SERVANT. IN WHAT WAY IT IS OF CHRIST TO GIVE THE KINGDOM, IN WHAT NOT OF CHRIST. CHRIST WILL BOTH JUDGE AND NOT JUDGE. Again, '* Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven; neither the Son, but the Father.''" For He is ignorant of this, as making others ignorant; that is, in that He did not so know as at that time to show His disciples: as it was said to Abraham, '' Now I know that thou fearest God,'' * that is, now I have caused thee to know it; because he himself, being tried in that temptation, became known to himself. For He was certainly going to tell this same thing to His disciples at the fitting time; speaking of which yet future as if past, He says, ** Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you;''*" which He had not yet done, but spoke as though He had already done it, because He certainly would do it. For He says to the disciples themselves, **I have yet many things to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now." * Among which is to be understood also, *' Of the day and hour." For the apostle also says, ''I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; '?*? because he was speaking to those who were not able to receive higher things concerning the Godhead of Christ. To whom also a little while after he says, °* I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,but as unto carnal." 3 He was '' ignorant," therefore, among them of that which they were not able to know from him. And that only he said that he knew, which it was fitting that they should know from him. In short, he knew among the perfect what he knew not among babes; for he there says: '' We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.''*4 For a man is said
''Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven Him.''3 And in the Spirit too He wrought miracles, saying: *' But if I with the Spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." And in Isaiah He says,—in the lesson which He Himself read in the synagogue, and showed without a scruple of doubt to be fulfilled concerning Himself,—'* The Spirit of the Lord God,"' He says, ''is upon me: because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives," 5 etc.: for the doing of which things He therefore declares Himself to be ''sent,''? because the Spirit of God is upon Him. According to the form of God, all things were made by Him;° according to the form of a servant, He was Himself made of a woman, made under the law.? According to the form of God, He and the Father are one;* according to the form of a servant, He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him.' According to the form of God, ''As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;"* according to the form of a servant, His "* soul is sorrowful even unto death;" and, ''O my Father,'' He says, ''if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.''™ According to the form of God, *' He is the True God, and eternal life;"'*? according to the form of a servant, ** He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."" 8—23, According to the form of God, all things that the Father hath are His," and '*All mine," He says, '' are Thine, and Thine are mine;''* according to the form of a servant, the doctrine is not His own, but His that sent Him."
t Joh& xiv. 28. 2 Phil. ii. 7. 3 Matt. xii. 32. 4 Matt. xii. 28, 5 Isa Ixi. 1; tute iv. 18, 19. 6 John i. 3. 7 Gal. iv. 4. 8 John. x. 30. 9 John vi. 38. to John v. 26. [In communicating the Divine Essence to the Son, in eternal generation, the essence is communicated with all its attributes. Self existence is one of these attributes. In this way, the Father " gives to the Son to have life in himself.' when he makes common (xo.vwveiv), between Himself and the Son, the one Divine Essence.—W. G. T.S.]
17 Mark xiii. 32. 18[The more common explanation of this text in modern exegesis makes the ignorance to be literal, and referable solely to the human nature of our Lord, not to his person as a whole. Augustin's explanation, which Bengel, on Mark xiii. 32, is inclined to favor, escapes the difficulty that arises from a seeming division of the one theanthopic person into two portions, one of which knows, and the other does not. Yet this same difficulty besets the fact ofa growth in knowledge, which is plainly taught in
Luke i. 80. In this case, the increase in wisdom must relate to the humanity alone.—W.G.T.S.1
1m Matt. xxvi. 38, 39. 13 Phil. ii. 8. 1§ John xvii. 10.
12 y John v. 20. 14 John xvii. 15. 16 John vii. 16.
19 Gen. xxii. 12, 20 John xv. 15. 22 1 Cor. ii. 2. 24 1 Cor, ii. 6.
2t John xvi. 12, 23 x Cor, iii, 1,