Augustine, Sermones 158-163 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

to apostatize from God (Sir. 10:15, 14). Whoever is a stranger to this general evil of fornication, whatever other sin he may have been able to incur as a man still corruptible and mortal, let this be understood to be outside the body; that is, to be outside the evil of all bodily and temporal concupiscence, to be foreign to it, to be, as has often been said, outside the body. For only by the evil of carnal and general concupiscence does the soul commit fornication away from God in all things, being as it were bound and fettered by bodily and temporal desires and delights; it sins against its own body, and, serving its concupiscence universally, it is bent down towards the world and estranged from God: which is, as has been said, The beginning of man's pride is to apostatize from God. Because of this the blessed John warns that the evil of general fornication must be guarded against, saying: Do not love the world, nor the things which are in the world; for the things which are in the world are the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the ambition of the age, which is not from the Father, but from the world. And the world passes away, and its concupiscence. But whoever has done the will of God abides for ever, as He also abides for ever (1 John 2:15–17). This love of the world, therefore, which contains within itself the universal concupiscence of the world, is general fornication, by which sin is committed against one's own body; because the human mind ceaselessly serves all bodily and visible and temporal desires and pleasures, forsaken and abandoned by the very Creator of all things.

Sermon 163. On the words of the Apostle, Walk in the Spirit, and do not bring to completion the concupiscences of the flesh. Gal. chap. 5, vv. 16-21. Preached in the Honorian Basilica on the eighth day before the Kalends of October.

Chapter One. — 1. The dedication of a formerly profane temple. If we consider, brethren, what we were before the grace of the Lord, and what we have begun to be through the grace of the Lord, we surely find that, just as men are changed for the better, so also places on earth which formerly were against the grace of God are now dedicated to the grace of God. For we, as the Apostle says, are the temple of the living God; for which reason God says, I will dwell in them, and will walk about among them. But the idols which were here knew how to be fixed in place; they did not know how to walk. But the presence of the Majesty walks about in us, if it finds the breadth of charity. Exhorting us to this, the Apostle says: Be enlarged, do not be drawing the yoke with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:16, 13, 14). If we are enlarged, God walks about in us: but that we may be enlarged, let God Himself work it. For if charity makes breadth, which knows no narrowness, see that God makes breadth for Himself in us, as the Apostle himself says, The charity of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit

who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). Because of this breadth, I say, God walks about in us.

Chapter II. — 2. In us, as in a profane temple, some things are to be thrown down, others to be consecrated. Just now, when the Epistle of the Apostle was being read, we heard: Walk by the Spirit, and do not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. He was saying this to the baptized: but he was still building the temple of God, not yet dedicating it. See, my brothers, how, when earthly places themselves are converted to something better, some things are demolished and broken, others are changed to better uses; so too are we. The works of the flesh were in us. You heard when they were listed: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, he says, which are fornications, impurities, servitude to idols, poisonings [veneficia], not benefits [beneficia], that is, named not from good things [bonis] but from poisons [venenis]; quarrels, enmities, heresies, envies, drunkennesses, and things like these; they are to be thrown down, not changed: of which I forewarn you, he says, as I have forewarned you, that those who do such things will not possess the kingdom of God. These things in us are to be broken like idols. But the very members of our body are to be turned to better uses, so that those which used to serve the impurity of desire may serve the grace of charity.

Chapter III. — 3. Building through faith, dedication through resurrection. But see what he said, and pay careful attention. We are God's workers; the temple of God is still being built. In its Head it has already been dedicated, since the Lord rose from the dead, and, death being overcome and mortality consumed, ascended into heaven: for the Psalm of the dedication of the house had been written about Him. Therefore after the passion He says: Thou hast turned my mourning into joy for me, Thou hast torn my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; so that my glory may sing psalms to Thee, and I may not be pierced with sorrow (Ps. 29:12–13). That dedication, then, after the passion took place in the resurrection. So our building also is now being done through faith, so that the dedication itself may also take place through the last resurrection. Moreover, after this psalm of the dedication of the house, in which the raising again of our Head is shown, there is another psalm, after this one, not before it, whose title runs thus: When the house was being built after the captivity. Call to mind the captivity, where we were before, when the devil possessed the whole world as a mass of unbelievers. Because of this captivity the Redeemer came; He shed His own blood as our price: by the shedding of His blood He blotted out the instruments of our captivity. The law, says the Apostle, is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin (Rom. 7:14). Formerly sold under sin, but afterwards set free by grace. After that captivity, houses are now being built; and in order that it may be built, the Gospel is preached. For thus the Psalm itself begins: Sing to the Lord a new song. And lest you think that this house is being built in one corner, as schismatics or heretics build, attend to what follows: Sing to the Lord, all the earth (Ps. 95:1).

Chapter IV. 4. — The new song. Christ, the salvation of God, longed for by those of old. — Sing to the Lord a new song: as against the old song, the New Testament, because the Old Testament came first: the new man, so that there may be laid aside

the old man. Put off, he says, the old man with his deeds; and put on the new, who has been created according to God in justice and holiness of truth (Col. 3:9–10, and Eph. 4:22–24). Therefore, Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing, and build; sing, and sing well. Announce day from day His salvation: announce day from day His Christ. For what is His salvation, if not His Christ? For this salvation we were praying in the Psalm: Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and give us Thy salvation (Ps. 84:8). The just men of old longed for this salvation, those of whom the Lord was saying to the disciples: Many have wished to see what you see, and could not (Luke 10:24). And give us Thy salvation. The just men of old said this, Give us Thy salvation: let us see Thy Christ while we live in this flesh. Let us see in the flesh Him Who may free us from the flesh: let flesh come cleansing flesh; let flesh suffer, and redeem soul and flesh. And give us Thy salvation, O Lord. In this longing was that holy old man Simeon: in this longing, I say, was that holy old man Simeon, who had deserved well of God; without doubt he too was saying, Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and give us Thy salvation. In this longing, in such prayers, he received the answer that he would not taste death unless he had seen the Christ of the Lord. Christ was born; He was coming, the other was going: but until the One came, the other was unwilling to go. Ripe old age was already shutting him out, but sincere piety was holding him back. But when He came, when He was born, when he saw Him carried in His mother's hands, and pious old age recognized the divine infancy, he took Him in his hands and said: Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, in peace; for my eyes have seen Thy salvation (Luke 2:26–30). See why he was saying, Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and give us Thy salvation. The old man's longing was fulfilled while the world itself was declining into old age. He came to an old man, He Who found the world old. Therefore, if He found the world old, let the world hear: Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth Let oldness be destroyed, let newness rise up.

Chapter V. — 5. The preaching of Christ. — Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord. See the contest of the builders. Sing to the Lord, bless His name. Announce good news, which is in Greek: evangelize. What? Day from day. What day from day? His salvation. What day from day? Light from light, the Son from the Father, His salvation. Announce His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. See how the house is built after the captivity. He is terrible above all gods. Above what gods? For all the gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord made the heavens (Ps. 95:1–5). He made the saints, He made the Apostles. For the heavens declare the glory of God. There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth (Ps. 18:2, 4, 5): because all the earth sings a new song.

6. The struggle of flesh and spirit. Let us hear, then, the Apostle too, the master's architect: As a wise architect, he says, I have laid the foundation. Let us hear, then, this

architect, building some new things, pulling down some old ones. Walk, he says, by the Spirit: this is the new construction; and do not bring the lusts of the flesh to completion: this is the destruction of the old. For the flesh, he says, lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to one another, so that you do not do the things that you will. For you are still being built, not yet dedicated. So that you do not do the things that you will.

Chapter VI. — For what do you will? That there be no lusts at all for evil and unlawful delights. What saint would not will this? But he does not bring it about: as long as one lives here, this is not fulfilled. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to one another, so that what you will to do, namely that there be in you no lusts whatever for unlawful things, you cannot. What then remains? Walk by the Spirit; and, since you cannot bring it about that you consume the lusts of the flesh, do not bring the lusts of the flesh to completion. To consume them indeed and make an end of them, and to root them out utterly, you ought to will by every means: but as long as they are in you, and there is another law in your members fighting against the law of your mind, do not bring the lusts of the flesh to completion. For what do you will? That there be no lusts of the flesh at all. They do not allow you to fulfil what you will; do not allow them to fulfil what they will. What do you will? That they should not exist at all. But they do exist. The flesh lusts against the spirit: let the spirit lust against the flesh. So that you do not do the things that you will, that is, that the lusts of the flesh themselves should not be in you; nor let them do what they will, so that you complete their work. If ground is not wholly yielded to you, do not you yield to it. First let the fight be made even, so that at some time there may be victory.

Chapter VII. — 7. Victory after the resurrection. Why victory is deferred. For without doubt, my brothers, it will come: let us believe, let us hope, let us love; there will at some time be victory, at the dedication of the house which is now being built after the captivity. For the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality. Rehearse beforehand the words of those who triumph: Where, O death, is your contention (1 Cor. 15:26, 53, 54, 55)? This is the voice of those who triumph, not of those who fight. But the voice of those who fight is: Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak: heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled, and my soul is greatly troubled; and Thou, Lord, how long (Ps. 6:3–4)? See one labouring in the contest. And Thou, Lord, how long? What is How long? Until you prove that I come to help. For if I came to help quickly, you would not feel the struggle: if you did not feel the struggle, you would be proud as though of your own strength; and through that pride you would never arrive at victory. It is indeed said: While you are still speaking I will say: Behold, I am here (Isa. 58:9): but God is present even when He defers, and in that He defers He is present, and by deferring He is present; lest, in fulfilling an over-hasty wish, He should fail to fulfil perfect health.

Chapter VIII. — 8. The remedy for elation in Paul. For it is not, my brothers, that He was not present to the apostle Paul, who, while he was contending, feared lest he be lifted up. In the greatness, he says, of my revelations, lest I be lifted up. See

him struggling in conflict, not yet triumphing in security. Lest I be exalted by the greatness of my revelations. Who says, Lest I be exalted? O terror, O trembling! Who says, Lest I be exalted? When his words are so great, beating down elation, restraining swelling, and does he say, Lest I be exalted? It is a small thing that he says, Lest I be exalted: see the remedy which he says was applied to him. Lest I be exalted, he says, there was given to me a goad of my flesh, an angel of Satan. O poison, which is not cured except by poison! There was given to me a goad of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. The head was being struck, so that the head might not be lifted up. O antidote, which is made as it were from the serpent, and for that reason is called theriac! For that serpent persuaded to pride. Taste, and you will be as gods (Gen. 3:5): that is the persuasion of pride. Whence he fell, thence he cast down. Rightly therefore is the serpent's poison healed by means of the serpent. What does the Apostle say? For which thing I asked the Lord three times, that He would take it away from me. Where is, While you are still speaking I will say, Behold, I am here? For which thing, not once, but a second and a third time I asked the Lord. Was he not then himself also saying, And Thou, O Lord, how long? But surely, because He was delaying, He was not therefore absent, and, While you are still speaking I will say, Behold, I am here, was not therefore false? For what? When a physician gives what you desire, he is present; when he cuts, is he not present? Do you not cry out under the physician's knife that he should spare you; and the more he is present, the more he cuts? Finally, that you may know that He was present, see what He answered to the one asking three times. He said to me, he says: My grace is sufficient for you; for strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:7–9). I, He says, know: the best physician; I, He says, know into what swelling that which I wish to heal is proceeding. Be still, let Me apply what I know. My grace is sufficient for you: your own will is not sufficient for you. These were certainly the words of one struggling, and of one in peril in the struggle, and of one asking for divine help.

Chapter IX. — 9. Victory is to be obtained by humility. But what will be the words of one triumphing? The words of one struggling, while the house is being built: the words of one triumphing, when the house is at the last dedicated. Where, O death, is your contention? where, O death, is your sting? But the sting of death is sin. Thus the Apostle was saying these things, as if he himself were already there. Finally, after these words, which it is clear concern the future attainment, not the present conflict; since he says, Then it shall come to pass: not, it comes to pass now, but, then it shall come to pass. What shall then come to pass? The saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your contention? where, O death, is your sting? Then it shall come to pass that nowhere is there the sting of death, nowhere can sin be found. Why do you hasten? Then it shall come to pass, then it shall come to pass. Let humility merit in you that then it may come to pass in you; lest pride not permit it to come to pass in you even then. Then it shall come to pass. Now meanwhile, while you fight, while you labour, while you are in peril, say, say, Forgive us our debts (Matt. 6:12). Say it by all means while you fight, say it, say it truly, say it from the heart: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). You will be a devil to yourself. We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. For we do not

speak the truth in saying that we have no sin, since here we are not without sin. Let us therefore speak the truth, so that at some time we may find security. Let there be truth in the fight, so that security may be acquired in the victory. Then it will come to pass: Where, O death, is your sting? For the sting of death is sin.

Chapter X. — 10. The law without grace. But you presume upon the law, because the law has been given to you, and the commandment has been given to you. It is good for you that the Spirit should give you life, lest the letter kill. I want you to will; but it is not enough that you will. You must be helped, so that you may will fully and fulfil what you will. For do you want to see what the letter that commands can do without the Spirit helping? There he has said it. When it had been said, Where, O death, is your sting? But the sting of death is sin; he immediately added, But the strength of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:54–56)? What is: The strength of sin is the law? Not by commanding evil things or forbidding good ones: no indeed, but by forbidding evil things and commanding good ones. But the strength of sin is the law: because, he says, The law came in, so that the offence might abound. What is: so that the offence might abound? Because where grace was not, the prohibition increased the desire: and when a man presumes as though upon his own strength, a great vice has resulted. But what did grace do? Where sin abounded, grace has superabounded (Rom. 5:20). The Lord came: all that you drew from Adam, all that you added by your own depraved ways, He forgave it all, He blotted it all out; He taught prayer, He promised grace; He proclaimed the contest, He came to the aid of the one labouring, He crowned the victor. Therefore, says the Apostle, the Law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Far from it. But sin, so that it might appear as sin. For when you were not forbidden, it was there; but it did not appear. For I did not know concupiscence, he says, unless the Law had said, You shall not covet. Sin, therefore, taking occasion, deceived me through the commandment, and by it killed me (Rom. 7:7–13). Here is what is meant by: The letter kills (2 Cor. 3:6).

Chapter XI. — 11. The necessity of divine help. If, therefore, you wish to escape the threatening law, flee to the helping Spirit. For what the law commands, faith hopes for. Cry out to your God, that He may help you. Do not remain guilty under the letter, but let God help you by His Spirit: lest the proud Jew be like you. For since the sting of death was sin, and the strength of sin the law, what was human weakness to do, in which the will was wearied? To will, he says, lies close at hand for me; but to accomplish the good I do not find (Rom. 7:18). What then was it to do? Behold, the sting of death is sin, behold, the strength of sin is the law. But the law came in, so that the offence might abound. For if a law had been able to give life, righteousness would wholly have been from the law. But Scripture has shut up all things under sin. How has it shut them up? So that you might not wander, might not plunge headlong, might not be drowned; the law made a fence for you, so that, finding no way by which to get out, you might fly together to grace. But Scripture has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise. He who promises, promises what He does, not what you do. If you were going to do it, God would be a foreteller, not a promiser. But

Scripture, he says, has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:21–22). Hear: might be given. Why are you proud? Hear: might be given. For what do you have that you have not received (1 Cor. 4:7)? Therefore, since the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; and this too comes from the good providence of God, that men should be shut up under sin, and should seek a helper, seek grace, seek God, and not presume upon their own strength; for this reason here also, when he had said, But the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law: why are you afraid? why do you toil? why do you sweat? Hear what follows: But thanks be to God, Who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:56–57). Do you, then, give yourself the victory? Thanks be to God, Who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter XII. — 12. God's help must be called upon. Therefore, when you have begun to toil, fighting against the lusts of the flesh, walk by the spirit, call upon the Spirit, seek the gift of God. And if the law in your members fights against the law of your mind from the lower part, that is, from the flesh, and holds you captive under the law of sin: this too will be amended, this too will pass under the rights of victory. Only cry out, only call upon Him. One ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1). Call upon Him by all means, call upon His help. While you are still speaking, He says, Behold, I am here. Afterwards understand, and you hear Him saying to your soul, I am your salvation (Ps. 34:3). When, therefore, the law of the flesh has begun to fight against the law of the mind, and to lead you captive in the law of sin, which is in your members: say in praying, say in confessing, Wretched man that I am. For what else is man? What is man, except that Thou art mindful of him (Ps. 8:5)? Say, Wretched man that I am: because, had the Son of man not come, man would have perished. Cry out in your distress, Who will deliver me from the body of this death? where the law in my members fights against the law of my mind. For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? If you say this faithfully, if humbly, the answer given is most true: The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:22–25). Turning to the Lord, etc.