what we are; but I don't mean "we" in the sense of just those of us who are here,
144 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS
Christ, our judge and our advocate
6. And what's that? From there to come to judge the living and the dead. Let us confess him as savior, in order not to fear him as judge. Whoever believes in him now, you see, and carries out his commands, and loves him, won t be afraid when he comes to judge the living and the dead; not only won t be afraid, but will wish he would come. After all, what could be more fortunate for us than the coming of the one we desire, the coming of the one we love?
But we should be afraid, because he will be our judge. The one who will be our judge then is the one who is our advocate now. Listen to John: If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, he said, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to purify us from all iniquity. I have written this to you, so that you should not sin; and if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just one;'* and he is the appeasement for our sins (1 Jn 1:8-9; 2:1-2). If you had a case, to be tried by some judge, and you instructed counsel, you would be defended by the counselor, who would conduct your case as best he could; and if he didn't complete it, and you heard he was going to come as the judge, just imagine how overjoyed you would be, because the one who a short while before had been your advocate could now himself be your judge.19 And now he is praying for us himself, he himself is interceding for us.20 We have him as our advocate, and are we to fear him as judge? On the contrary, because we have sent him ahead as our advocate, we can hope without a qualm for his coming back as judge.
The Holy Spirit
7. That's the end in the creed of what concerns Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, our Lord. It goes on, And in the Holy Spirit, to complete the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.21 But about the Son many things are said, because the Son took on a man; the Son, the Word, became flesh; not the Father, not the Holy Spirit. But the whole Trinity made the flesh of the Son; the Trinity, you see, works inseparably. So take the Holy Spirit in such a way that you don't believe him to be less than the Son, to be less than the Father. The Father, you see, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the whole Trinity, are one God; there is no difference here, no variation, nothing defective, nothing contrary to another; eternal equal¬ ity, invisibility, immutability of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. May the Trinity deliver us from the multitude of our sins.
The Church is like Mary because it is a virgin and gives birth
8. Now follows what concerns us: In the holy Church. The holy Church is what we are; but I don't mean "we" in the sense of just those of us who are here, you that are listening to me now; as many of us as are here by the grace of God Christian believers in this Church, that is in this city, as many as there are in this