The Centrality of Scripture as seen in st. augustine’s confessions

The intimacy and power of the Word is a tender treasure which Saint Augustine ardently depends upon in his Confessions, where he recalls his sinful life, conversion, and quest for the Truth. Central to his story is Scripture, which Augustine includes to praise God and to explore His Essence. By using the Word for this end, Augustine understands that the aim of Scripture is not only to amplify the intellect, but the heart; a Word powerful enough to convert the most ardent of sinners into the greatest of saints. 

The Scriptures that Augustine intimately venerates are the Psalms, the Words of God that converted his heart to image the Being of Love. He often quotes them after reflecting upon his sinful life and God’s triumphant mercy. Augustine begins the book by recalling his childhood when he stole fruit for the thrill of theft: “My desire was to enjoy not what I sought by stealing but merely the excitement of thieving and the doing of what was wrong.”1 Yet Augustine's heart bursts with pain as he cries out, “Such was my heart, O God . . . I had no motive for my wickedness except wickedness itself. It was foul and I loved it. I loved the self-destruction . . . I was seeking not to gain anything by shameful means, but shame for its own sake.”2 He shares his theft as a means for comparison: his life without God as one of evil, compared to his life with Him. But to further humble himself, he confesses to his intimate relationship: “In those years, I had a woman . . . how wide a difference there is between the partnership of marriage . . . and the mutual consent of those whose love is a matter of physical sex, and for whom the birth of a child is contrary to their intention.”3 Augustine begins to explore something radically beautiful and uniquely Catholic in this part of the book. He describes the sexual culture that festered around him, justifying sexual relationships, yet now understands them as immoral through the revelation of the New Testament and the teachings on authentic love. Thus Augustine cries, “have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.”4 As explored in the chapters, it is important to note that Augustine does not remain in a state of swollen wallow, for he is wise and knows that a sinful past does not define a man. Instead, he prays, “It is in him that the just person takes delight; he is the joy of those who are true of heart.”5 The way Augustine prays with the Psalms appears to mimic the abyss of God’s mercy through the Davidic example of the redefining power of His Word. The Psalms, mostly written by David, are songs of praise for God’s love and mercy, a poetic artistry that encapsulates the heart, inviting man into a love which is the source and summit of our very breath. They are our teachers and their effect is one that does not just leave the intellect swooning, but the heart aflame. When Augustine recalls his sinful past but proclaims God’s loveliness through the Psalms, he allows the Word to penetrate more than just his mind, but his heart, conforming to Love and thus, becoming a new Being.  

Augustine also explores an essential fact—the more of one's essence is revealed, the more intimately they can be loved—and Augustine showcases how man can love God more deeply by learning about His nature, such as through time, creation, and eternity, in Scripture. With a natural intellect and desire to seek the Truth, near the end of the book, Augustine poses the question many ask: “What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?”6 He does not question this out of pride, but infatuated love. It is as if a bridegroom says to his bride, “What did you love before me?” He does not ask to condescend, but uplifts to seek Truth and love Him more as the result. Such is why Augustine responds lovingly, “Before God made heaven and earth, he was not making anything…time could not elapse before you made time.”7 Augustine goes on to explore God's eternal essence but then asks, “What is time?”, to which he responds, “I do not know . . . we cannot truly see that time exists except in the sense that it tends towards non-existence.”8 He reasons this from his knowledge of Scripture, “To say that God has never done something is to say that there is no time when he did it. Let them therefore see that without the creation no time can exist, and let them cease to speak that vanity.”9 God is not bound to time like man is, whose beginning was marked by the eternal Word that spoke life into being (“In the beginning was the Word”).10 Augustine furthers this point by referring to the ‘beginning’ from John 1:1-5 and John 8:25 as ‘in the beginning’ or “simply to mean first he made.”11 Yet because Christ called man "very good,” our finite beings marked with a beginning and destined for death, may embrace the infinite: “whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”12 This gift of eternal perfection is beyond comprehensible yet given freely and unreservedly. Pondering through time, creation, and eternity leaves us, much like Augustine, baffled by the mystery of its beauty. But it is precisely because of God’s mystery that Augustine is led to quote Scripture so often, for it reveals much about our Creator. In so doing, he not only learns about God’s Essence, but deepens his relationship with God through the intimate embrace of himself with the Word.

Relying upon Scripture was essential throughout Augustine’s work in the Confessions. By using the Psalms when offering praise to God, notably when describing his past life of theft and adultery, and by using the New Testament to better understand God’s nature, specifically through time, creation, and eternity, Augustine offers a beautiful invitation to the centrality of Scripture as it holds the answers to the deepest longings of both the intellect and the heart. Indeed, Scripture is not just a record of history with a Teacher, but a love-story with a promise. This promise in the Word has the power to define a man, to make a whole creation new. As the life of Saint Augustine showcased, the Word, the language of Love from which all others will derive, amplifies the intellect and heart not just for the redemption of this world, but for the embrace of the next.  

Footnotes:

1. Augustine, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 29.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., 53.

4. Reference to Psalm 40:5; 91:2 in Augustine, 54.

5. Reference to Psalm 63:11 in Augustine.

6. Augustine, 230.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., 230-231.

9. Reference to Psalm 143:8 in Augustine, 244.

10. John 1:1 (RSVCE).

11. Augustine, 268.

12. Genesis 1:31; John 3:16.