Augustine, Sermones 138-145 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). For He is one with the Father in one way, and one with us in another. He is one with the Father, because the substance of the Father and of the Son is one: He is one with the Father, because, being in the form of God, He did not think it robbery to be equal to God. But He was made one with us, because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant: He was made one with us according to the seed of Abraham, in which all nations shall be blessed. Having recalled this, the Apostle says: He does not say, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. And because we too belong to that which is Christ, being incorporated together and cleaving to that Head, Christ is one: and because He says to us also, Therefore you are the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:16, 29). For if the seed of Abraham is one, and that one seed of Abraham is understood to be none other than Christ; and we too are this seed of Abraham: then this whole, that is, head and body, is one Christ.

Chapter V. — 6. How the justice of Christ is ours. And therefore we ought not to think ourselves separated from that justice which the Lord Himself mentions, saying: Of justice, because I go to the Father. For with Christ we too have risen, and we are with Christ our Head, for the present by faith and hope: but our hope will be fulfilled in the final resurrection of the dead. And when our hope is fulfilled, then our justification too will be fulfilled. The Lord, who is to fulfil it, showed what we ought to hope for in His own flesh (that is, in our Head), in which He rose again and ascended to the Father. For thus it is written: He was delivered up for our offences, and rose again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). The world, therefore, is convicted of sin in those who do not believe in Christ: and of justice in those who rise again in the members of Christ. Hence it was said: That we might be the justice of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). For if not in Him, there is no justice at all. But if in Him, He goes whole with us to the Father, and this perfect justice will be fulfilled in us. For this reason the world is convicted also of judgement, because the prince of this world is already judged: that is, the devil, the prince of the wicked, who dwell in heart nowhere but in this world, which they love, and are therefore called the world; just as our conversation is in heaven, if we have risen with Christ. Therefore, just as with us, that is, with His body, Christ is one: so with all the ungodly, whose head he is, the devil is one with a certain body of his own. Wherefore, just as we are not separated from the justice of which the Lord said, Because I go to the Father: so the ungodly are not separated from that judgement of which He said, Because the prince of this world is already judged.

Sermon 145. On the words of the Gospel of John, chap. 16, v. 24, Until now you have asked nothing in My name. And on the words of Luke,

chapter 10, verses 17, 20, Lord, behold, in Thy name even the demons are subject to us.

1. How the passage of John is to be reconciled with the words of Luke. When the holy Gospel was being read, we heard something which ought truly now to move every attentive soul to seeking, not to giving up. For whoever is not moved is not changed either. But there is a dangerous movement, of which it is written, Give not my feet to be moved (Ps. 65:9). Another movement, however, is that of one who seeks, knocks, asks. What was read, then, we all heard; but I think that we did not all understand it. It reminds [us] that you should seek with me, ask with me, and knock with me for the receiving of it. For the grace of the Lord will be present, as we hope, so that, when I wish to minister to you, I too may deserve to receive. What is it, I beseech you, that we have just heard the Lord said to His disciples: Until now you have asked nothing in My name? Is He not speaking to those disciples who, when He had sent them, with power given to preach the Gospel and to do mighty works, returned rejoicing and said to Him: Lord, behold, in Thy name even the demons are subject to us? You recognize, you recall, what I mentioned from the Gospel, which is truthful in every place and in every sentence, nowhere false, nowhere deceiving. How then is it true, Until now you have asked nothing in My name; and, Lord, behold, in Thy name even the demons are subject to us? It certainly moves the mind to come to know the secret of this question. Therefore let us ask, let us seek, let us knock. This in us [is] faithful piety, not restlessness of the flesh but subjection of the mind; so that He may open to us Who sees us knocking.

2. The sweetness of God is hidden from those who fear, revealed to those who hope. What, then, the Lord may give to be ministered to you, receive attentively, that is, hungrily: when I have said it, you will without doubt approve, with the healthy palate of the heart, what is set before you from the Lord's storeroom. The Lord Jesus knew whence the human soul, that is, the rational mind made in the image of God, could be satisfied, namely as being satisfied with Him Himself. He knew this, and He knew that it still lacked that fullness. He knew that He appeared, He knew that He was hidden. He knew what was shown in Him, what was hidden. He knew this. How great, says the Psalm, is the multitude of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden from those who fear Thee, but hast perfected for those who hope in Thee (Ps. 30:20). Thy sweetness, both great and abundant, Thou hast hidden from those who fear Thee. If Thou hidest it from those who fear Thee, to whom dost Thou open it? Thou hast perfected it for those who hope in Thee. A twofold question has arisen, but each is solved by the other. If anyone should inquire into the one, what is this: Thou hast hidden from those who fear Thee, Thou hast perfected for those who hope in Thee? Do some fear and others hope? Are not the very same people those who fear God and those who hope in God? Who hopes in Him who does not fear Him? Who fears Him piously and does not have hope in Him? Therefore let this be solved first. I wish to say something about those who hope and those who fear.

3. Fear under the Law, hope under grace. The Law has fear, grace has hope. But what is the difference between the Law and

grace, since there is one giver both of the Law and of grace? The Law terrifies the one who presumes on himself; grace helps the one who hopes in God. The Law, I say, terrifies: do not despise it because it is short; weigh it, and it is great. See what I have said, take what we are serving out, test from where we take it. The Law terrifies the one who presumes on himself; grace helps the one who hopes in God. What does the Law say? Many things, and who counts them up? I call to mind from it one precept, small and slight, which the Apostle called to mind, very small: let us see who bears it. You shall not covet. What is this, brothers? We have heard the Law; if there is no grace, you have heard your punishment. Why do you boast to me, whoever you are who, hearing this, presume on yourself, why do you boast to me of your innocence? Why do you flatter yourself about it? You can say, "I have not seized other people's property": I hear it, I believe it, perhaps I even see it; you do not seize other people's property, [but] You shall not covet, you have heard. "I do not go in to another man's wife": this too I hear, believe, see. You shall not covet, you have heard. Why do you look around outside yourself, and do not look within? Look within, and you will see another law in your members. Look within; why do you pass yourself by? Go down into yourself. You will see another law in your members, fighting against the law of your mind, and taking you captive in the law of sin, which is in your members. Rightly is the sweetness of God hidden from you. The law set in your members takes you captive, fighting against the law of your mind. Of that sweetness which is hidden from you the holy Angels drink: you cannot, a captive, endure and taste the sweetness. You did not know covetousness, unless the Law had said, You shall not covet. You heard, you were afraid; you tried to fight, you could not overcome. For, taking occasion, sin through the commandment worked death. Surely you recognize them; they are the Apostle's words: Taking occasion, sin through the commandment worked in me all covetousness. Why did you boast in your pride? See, the enemy has conquered you with your own weapons. You indeed sought the commandment for admonition: see, through the commandment the foe found occasion to enter. For, taking occasion, sin through the commandment deceived me, he says, and through it killed [me]. What is it that I said, The enemy has conquered you with your own weapons? Hear the same apostle going on and saying: So the Law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Now answer the Law's critics: answer with the Apostle's authority, The commandment is holy, the law is holy, the commandment is just and good. Did what is good, then, become death to me? Far from it: but sin, that it might appear [sin], worked death in me through what is good (Rom. 7:7–15, 23). Why is this, unless because, having received the commandment, you feared and did not love? You feared punishment, you did not love justice. Whoever fears punishment wishes, if it can be done, to do what he pleases and to have nothing to fear. God forbids adultery; you have coveted another man's wife; you do not go in to her, you do not do it; the occasion is given, you have the time, the place lies open, there is lacking

a witness, you nevertheless do not do it; why? Because you fear punishment. But no one will know. Not even God? Just so: because God knows what you are going to do, you do not do it. But you also tremble at God Himself when He threatens; you do not love Him when He commands. Why do you not do it? Because if you do it, you will be sent into Gehenna. It is fire that you fear. Oh, if you loved chastity, you would not do it, even if you were to be wholly unpunished. If God were to say to you, "See, do it, I will not condemn you; I will not condemn you to Gehenna, but I will deny you My face": if on account of this threat you were not to do it, you would be not doing it out of love of God, out of fear of judgement. But you would do it; for perhaps you would do it in that case: for it is not mine to judge. Grace, which makes saints, is helping you, if you refrain thus: because you shrink from the defilement of adultery, because you love the Commander, so that you may claim [His promise] from the Promiser, not because you fear the Condemner: then it is of grace; do not take this to yourself, do not attribute it to your own strength. If you act from delight, good; if you act from charity, good; I nod, I consent. Charity is at work from you when you act willingly. Now you taste the sweetness, if you hope in the Lord.

4. Charity is not from ourselves, but from God. But where does this charity of yours come from? If indeed it exists: for I fear that you are still refraining out of fear, and seem great to yourself. Now if you refrain out of charity, you are truly great. Do you have charity? "I have," you say. From where? "From myself." You are far from the sweetness, if you have it from yourself. You will love yourself; because you will love the source from which you have it. But I prove that you do not have it. For in that you think you have so great a thing from yourself, by that very fact I do not believe that you have it. For if you had it, you would know where you had it from. Do you have charity from yourself, as if it were something light, as if it were something slight? If you spoke with the tongues of men and of angels, but did not have charity, you would be sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. If you knew all mysteries and had all knowledge, all prophecy and all faith, so that you could move mountains, but did not have charity, these things could not profit you. If you distributed all your goods to the poor, and handed over your body to be burned, but did not have charity, you would be nothing (1 Cor. 13:1–3). How great is this charity, which if it is lacking, all things profit nothing? Compare it not with your faith, not with your knowledge, not with your tongue; compare charity with lesser things, with the eye of your body, with your hand, your foot, your belly, with some outermost member; are these least things in any respect to be compared with charity? So then you have your eye and your nose from God, and you have charity from yourself? If you gave yourself charity, which surpasses all things, you have made God worthless to yourself. What more can God give you? Whatever He gives will be less. Charity, which you gave yourself, surpasses all things. But if you have it, you did not give it to yourself. For what do you have that you did not receive (1 Cor. 4:7)? Who gave it to me, who gave it to you? God. Acknowledge the Giver, lest you experience the Condemner. Through your believing from the Scriptures, God gave you charity, a great good, charity surpassing all things. God gave it to you: because the charity of God is poured out in our hearts; by yourself, perhaps? Far from it; through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5).

5. Man's presumption through the Law, captivity through

grace is taken away. Return with me to that captive, return with me to my proposition. The Law terrifies the one who presumes on himself; grace helps the one who hopes in God. For see that captive. He sees another law in his members fighting against the law of his mind and leading him captive in the law of sin, which is in his members. Behold, he is conquered, behold, he is dragged off, behold, he is taken captive, behold, he is subjugated. What did "You shall not covet" profit him? He heard "You shall not covet" so that he might know the enemy, not so that he might conquer. For he did not know covetousness, that is, his enemy, unless the Law had said, "You shall not covet." Now you have seen the enemy; fight, free yourself, claim yourself into freedom; let the pleasant suggestion be suppressed, let the illicit delight be destroyed. Arm yourself, you have the law; go forward, conquer, if you can. For what does it mean that, by some small measure of the grace of God already, you delight in the law of God according to the inner man? But you see another law in your members fighting against the law of your mind: not fighting and availing nothing, but leading you captive in the law of sin. See, this is why that multitude of sweetness is hidden from you who fear: it is hidden from the one who fears, how is it perfected for the one who hopes? Cry out beneath the enemy, because you have an assailant, you have also a helper Who watches you fighting and raises you up as you labour; but only if He finds you hoping: for He hates the one who is proud. Beneath the enemy, then, what do you cry? "Wretched am I, a man." Now you see that you have cried out. Let this be your cry, when perhaps you labour beneath the enemy; say it, say it in your innermost heart, say it with sound faith, "Wretched am I, a man." Wretched am I, and wretched precisely because I am I. Wretched am I, a man, both because I am I and because I am a man. For he is disquieted in vain. For although man walks in the image (Ps. 38:7): "Wretched am I, a man, who will free me from the body of this death?" Will you? Where is your strength, where is your presumption? Surely you are silent in some respect: you are silent, but silent from exalting yourself, not from calling upon God. Be silent and cry out. For God Himself also is silent and cries out; He is silent as to judgement, He is not silent as to precept: so you too, be silent from pride, do not be silent from invocation; lest God say to you, "I have been silent; shall I always be silent?" (Isa. 42:14). Cry out, then, "Wretched am I, a man." Acknowledge yourself conquered, confound your own strength, and say, "Wretched am I, a man, who will free me from the body of this death?" What had I said? The Law terrifies the one who presumes on himself. Behold, the man presumed on himself, he tried to fight, he could not overcome; he was conquered, he was laid low, he was subjugated, he was taken captive. He learned to presume on God, and the one whom the law terrified as he presumed on himself, it remains for grace to help as he hopes in God. Confident in this he says, "Who will free me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:22–25). Now see the sweetness, taste, let it be savoury to you: hear the Psalm, "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet" (Ps. 33:9). He has become sweet to you, because He freed you. You were bitter to yourself, when you presumed on yourself. Drink the sweetness, receive the pledge of so great a granary.

6. The disciples under the Law not yet free from desires. Those who ask temporal things of God ask for nothing. The disciples

therefore of the Lord Jesus Christ, still under the law of the world, still to be nourished, still to be corrected, still to be directed. For they still coveted, although the law says, You shall not covet (Exod. 20:17). By the leave of those holy rams, the leaders of the flock, let me say it; by their leave let me say it, because I speak the truth: the Gospel says it: they were contending which of them was the greater (Luke 22:24), and while the Lord was still set on earth, they were tossed about in dissension over pre-eminence. Whence this, if not from the old leaven? Whence this, if not from the law in the members, fighting against the law of the mind? They sought the summit: indeed they desired it; they were thinking who was the greater: therefore their loftiness is put to shame by a child. Jesus calls to Himself the humble age, that He may tame swollen desire (Mark 9:33–36). Rightly, therefore, also when they returned and said, Lord, behold, the demons are subject to us in Thy name: (they were rejoicing over nothing: how great was it, what was it, compared with that which God was promising)? The Lord therefore, the good teacher, calming fear, building up firmness, says to them: Do not rejoice in this, that the demons are subject to you. Why this? Because many will come in My name saying, Behold, in Thy name we have cast out demons; and I will say to them, I do not know you (Matt. 7:22–23). Do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens. You cannot yet be there, and yet you are already written there: rejoice therefore. And that saying, Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name. For what you have asked, compared with what I wish to give, is nothing. For what have you asked in My name? That the demons should be subject to you? Do not rejoice in this; that is, what you have asked is nothing: for if it were something, He would bid them rejoice. So it was not altogether nothing, but it was slight in comparison with that greatness of God's rewards. For Paul the apostle was not truly not something; and yet in comparison with God, Neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters (1 Cor. 3:7). We say it both to you and to ourselves, to ourselves and to you we say it, when we ask in the name of Christ for these temporal things. Certainly you have asked. For who does not ask? One asks for health, if he is sick; another asks for release, if he is placed in prison; another begs for harbour, if he is tossed about in a ship; another begs for victory, if he is fighting with an enemy; and in the name of Christ he begs for everything, and what he begs for is nothing. What then is to be asked? Ask in My name. And He did not say what, but in the words we understand what we ought to ask. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. Ask, and you shall receive, in My name. But what? Not nothing: but what? That your joy may be full: that is, ask for this, which may suffice you. For when you ask, [you ask] nothing: he who drinks of this water will thirst again (John 4:13). He lets down into the well the pitcher of desire, he draws up something to drink, so that he may thirst again. Ask that your joy may be full: that is, that you may be satisfied, not that you may be delighted for a time. Ask for what may suffice you: speak the word of Philip, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. The Lord says to you, Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known Me? Philip, he who sees Me,

sees the Father also (John 14:8–9). Therefore give thanks to Christ on behalf of you who are weak, and make ready your throats, to be satisfied, for the divinity of Christ. Turning to the Lord, etc.