Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Persecution, therefore, will never be lacking. For, when our enemies from without leave off raging and there ensues a span of tranquillity—even of genuine tranquillity and great consolation at least to the weak—we are not without enemies within, the many whose scandalous lives wound the hearts of the devout.… So it is that those who want to live piously in Christ must suffer the spiritual persecution of these and other aberrations in thought and morals, even when they are free from physical violence and vexation.

2 Timothy 3:13

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Make progress, make progress in well-doing, for, according to the apostle, there are certain people who go from bad to worse. If you are progressing, you are advancing. Progress in well-doing, progress in good faith, progress in good deeds. Keep singing. Keep advancing. Do not wander. Do not return. Do not remain stationary.

2 Timothy 3:14

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

It may happen that even with the assistance of holy men, or even if the holy angels themselves take part, no one rightly learns those things which pertain to life with God unless he is made by God docile to God.… Medicines for the body which are administered to men by men do not help unless health is conferred by God, who can cure them without medicines. Yet they are nevertheless applied even though they are useless without his aid. And if they are applied courteously, they are considered to be among works of mercy or kindness. In the same way, the benefits of teaching profit the mind when they are applied by men where assistance is granted by God, who could have given the gospel to man even though it came not from men nor through a man.

2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The Scriptures are holy, they are truthful, they are blameless.… So we have no grounds at all for blaming Scripture if we happen to deviate in any way, because we haven’t understood it. When we do understand it, we are right. But when we are wrong because we haven’t understood it, we leave it in the right. When we have gone wrong, we don’t make out Scripture to be wrong, but it continues to stand up straight and right, so that we may return to it for correction.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

I know that it is written, “In the multitude of words you shall not avoid sin.” But would that I were to speak only by preaching your word and by praising you, Lord! Not only would I avoid sin, but I would obtain a good reward, no matter how many words I spoke in this way. For the blessed Paul would not command a sin to his own true son in the faith, to whom he wrote, “Preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season.” For are we to say that a man did not speak many words, who not only in season but also out of season did not keep silent, O Lord, respecting your word? But they were not many, therefore, because they were only what was necessary.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

All the most foolish heretics who want themselves to be called Christians try to color the impertinencies of their inventions. At this human sensibility especially shudders, with the occasion of the sentence of the Gospel where the Lord says, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” These were the very things that at that time the disciples could not bear, and the Holy Spirit taught such things as an unclean spirit pales to teach and preach openly, by whatever impertinence he may be moved. These are the ones that the apostle foresees in the Holy Spirit and says, “For there will be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, itching to hear, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth but will be turned to fables.”

2 Timothy 4:6 · 2 passages

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

Hear Paul the apostle first acknowledging grace and afterwards seeking what was owed. What is the acknowledgment of grace in Paul? He “was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and contumelious,” he says, “but I obtained mercy.” He said that he was unworthy to obtain it, but that he obtained it not by his own merits but by the mercy of God. Hear him now ready to receive what is owed, he who had first accepted unmerited grace. He says, “For I am even now ready to be sacrificed, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice.” Now he demands what is owed. Now he exacts what is to be paid. For look at the following words: “Which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day.”

Let me say something about this; I am helped, you see, by their words, which have gone out to the ends of the whole wide world. Notice first of all his holy act of pouring himself out. He said he was being immolated, not that he was dying. It is not because one who is immolated doesn’t die but that not everyone who dies is immolated. So being immolated he is dying for God. The word is taken from sacrifice. Everything that is sacrificed is slaughtered for God.

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

There is, of course, the passage where he speaks of immortality after good works, as if he really demands it as his due, for he says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall render to me at that day.” Do you think, perhaps, that because he said “shall render” he meant that it was his due? But when “he ascended on high and took captivity captive,” he did not render but “gave gifts to men.” How could the apostle speak presumptuously as of a debt being paid back to him, unless he had first received grace which was not due to him, being justified by which, he fought the good fight?

2 Timothy 4:8

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

I have received the letter of your Reverence in which you urge on us the great good of loving and longing for the coming of our Savior. In this you act like the good servant of the master of the household who is eager for his lord’s gain and who wishes to have many sharers in the love which burns so brightly and constantly in you. Examining, therefore, the passage you quoted from the apostle where he said that the Lord would render a crown of justice not only to him but to all who love his coming, we live as uprightly as he and we pass through this world as pilgrims while our heart constantly expands with this love, and whether he comes sooner or later than he is expected, his coming is loved with faithful charity and longed for with pious affection.

2 Timothy 4:16

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

For we owe “fruits” to those who minister spiritual doctrine to us through their understanding of the divine mysteries. We owe these to them as men. We owe these fruits also to “the living souls” since they offer themselves as examples for us in their own continence.

Acts 1:1

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

This statement teaches us that, previous to this, Luke had written one of those four books of the gospel which are held in the loftiest authority in the church. At the same time, when he tells us that he had composed a treatise of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he commissioned the apostles, we are not to take this to mean that he actually has given us a full account in his Gospel of all that Jesus did and said when he lived with his apostles on earth. For that would be contrary to what John affirms when he says that there are also many other things which Jesus did, and if they should all be written down, the world itself could not contain the books. And besides, all agree that many things are narrated by the other Evangelists, which Luke himself does not mention in his history. The sense, therefore, is that he wrote a treatise of all these things to the extent that he made a selection out of the whole mass of materials for his narrative and introduced those facts which he judged fit and suitable to fulfill the duty laid upon him.

Acts 1:7

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

But when His disciples (who are our apostles) put this question to the all-knowing Christ, they were told: "It is not yours to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." [Acts 1:7] What if Christ, who knows what is expedient for us, knows this knowledge not to be expedient? Through Him I know that it is not ours to know the times which God has placed in His own power; but concerning the origin of souls, I am ignorant whether it is or is not ours to know. If I could be sure that such knowledge is not for us, I should cease not only to dogmatize, but even to inquire. As it is, though the subject is so deep and dark that my fear of becoming a rash teacher is almost greater than my eagerness to learn the truth, I still wish to know it if I can do so. It may be that the knowledge for which the psalmist prays: "Lord, make me to know mine end," [Ps. 39:4] is much more necessary; yet I would that my beginning also might be revealed to me.

Acts 1:11

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

How did they see him go? In the flesh which they touched, which they felt, the scars of which they even probed by touching; in that body in which he went in and out with them for forty days, manifesting himself to them in truth, not in any falsity; not as an apparition, not as a shadow, not as a spirit, but as he himself said, not deceiving, “Handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have.” Now, indeed, that body is worthy of a heavenly dwelling place, not subject to death, not changeable through ages. For as he had grown to that age from infancy, so he does not decline to old age from the age which was young adulthood. He remains as he ascended. He is going to come to those to whom, before he comes, he wanted his word to be preached. So, therefore, he will come in a human form. The ungodly, too, will see this. Those placed to the right will see it too; those separated to the left will see it too, as it was written, “They shall see him whom they have pierced.” If they will see him whom they have pierced, they will see the same body which they thrust…

How did they see him go? In the flesh which they touched, which they felt, the scars of which they even probed by touching; in that body in which he went in and out with them for forty days, manifesting himself to them in truth, not in any falsity; not as an apparition, not as a shadow, not as a spirit, but as he himself said, not deceiving, “Handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have.” Now, indeed, that body is worthy of a heavenly dwelling place, not subject to death, not changeable through ages. For as he had grown to that age from infancy, so he does not decline to old age from the age which was young adulthood. He remains as he ascended. He is going to come to those to whom, before he comes, he wanted his word to be preached. So, therefore, he will come in a human form. The ungodly, too, will see this. Those placed to the right will see it too; those separated to the left will see it too, as it was written, “They shall see him whom they have pierced.” If they will see him whom they have pierced, they will see the same body which they thrust through with a spear; [for] the Word is not struck by a spear. Therefore, the ungodly will be able to see this very one whom they were also able to wound. They will not see the God lying hidden in the body; after the judgment he will be seen by those who will be on the right. This, therefore, is why he said, “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,” because the Son will come, clearly visible, to the judgment, appearing in human body to human beings, saying to those on the right, “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom”; saying to those on the left, “Go into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Acts 1:26 · 3 passages

And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

He reproved them by saying, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day, he does not stumble.” Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble: do not give counsel to me, from whom you ought to receive it. To what, then, refer the words “Are there not twelve hours in the day”? So as to point himself out as the day, he chose twelve disciples. If I am the day, he says, and you the hours, is it for the hours to give counsel to the day? The day is followed by the hours, not the hours by the day. If these, then, were the hours, what in such a reckoning was Judas? Was he also among the twelve hours? If he was an hour, he had light; and if he had light, how was the Day betrayed by him to death? But the Lord, in so speaking, foresaw not Judas himself but his successor. For Judas, when he fell, was succeeded by Matthias, and the twelvefold number preserved. It was not, then, without a purpose that the Lord chose twelve disciples, but to indicate that he himself is the spiritual Day. Let the hours then attend upon the Day, let them preach the Day, be made known and illuminated…

He reproved them by saying, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day, he does not stumble.” Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble: do not give counsel to me, from whom you ought to receive it. To what, then, refer the words “Are there not twelve hours in the day”? So as to point himself out as the day, he chose twelve disciples. If I am the day, he says, and you the hours, is it for the hours to give counsel to the day? The day is followed by the hours, not the hours by the day. If these, then, were the hours, what in such a reckoning was Judas? Was he also among the twelve hours? If he was an hour, he had light; and if he had light, how was the Day betrayed by him to death? But the Lord, in so speaking, foresaw not Judas himself but his successor. For Judas, when he fell, was succeeded by Matthias, and the twelvefold number preserved. It was not, then, without a purpose that the Lord chose twelve disciples, but to indicate that he himself is the spiritual Day. Let the hours then attend upon the Day, let them preach the Day, be made known and illuminated by the Day, and by the preaching of the hours may the world believe in the Day. And so in a summary way it was just this that he said, “Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble.”

This saying, “I have chosen you twelve,” may be understood in this way, that twelve is a sacred number. For the honor of that number was not taken away because one was lost, for another was chosen into the place of the one that perished. The number remained a sacred number, a number containing twelve. These twelve were to make known the Three [the Trinity] throughout the whole world, that is, throughout the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three times four. Judas, then, only cut himself off; he did not profane the number twelve. He abandoned his Teacher, but God appointed a successor to take his place.

What lesson then, my brothers, did our Lord Jesus Christ wish to impress on his church, when it pleased him to have one castaway among the twelve, but this, that we should bear with the wicked and refrain from dividing the body of Christ?… Such was this man Judas, and yet he went in and out with the eleven holy disciples. With them he came even to the table of the Lord: he was permitted to converse with them, but he could not contaminate them. Both Peter and Judas partook of one bread, and yet what communion had the believer with the infidel? Peter’s partaking was to life, but that of Judas to death. For that good bread was just like the sweet savor. For as the sweet savor, so also does the good bread give life to the good and bring death to the wicked. “For whoever eats unworthily eats and drinks judgment against himself”: “judgment against himself,” not against you. If, then, it is judgment against him, not against you, bear as one that is good with him that is evil, that you may attain the rewards of the good and not be hurled into the punishment of the wicked.

Acts 2:1

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Fifty days are reckoned from the celebration of the Passover (which, as Moses ordered, was accomplished by slaying the lamb, a type to signify the future passion of the Lord) to the day on which Moses received the law on tablets written by the finger of God. Likewise, when fifty days had passed from the slaying and resurrection of him who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, the finger of God, that is, the Holy Spirit filled the believers gathered in one place.

Acts 2:2

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

But I am surprised that you think it possible for the sound of that voice which said, “You are my Son,” to be produced by the divine will acting on physical nature without the agency of a living being, and you do not think it possible for the physical appearance of any living creature and of movement like that of life to be produced by the divine will in the same way without the agency of any animal life-principle. If created nature obeys God without the actions of a vivifying soul, so that sounds are uttered such as are usually uttered by a living body and the form of articulate speech is brought to the ears, why should it not obey him so that without the agency of a vivifying soul the form and movement of a bird should be presented to the sight by the same power of the Creator?… Therefore, there is no need to inquire how the corporeal appearance of the dove was produced, just as we do not inquire how the words of an articulate body produce their sound. For, if it were possible for a soul not to be the medium by which a voice is said to have been made audible and not as a voice usua…

But I am surprised that you think it possible for the sound of that voice which said, “You are my Son,” to be produced by the divine will acting on physical nature without the agency of a living being, and you do not think it possible for the physical appearance of any living creature and of movement like that of life to be produced by the divine will in the same way without the agency of any animal life-principle. If created nature obeys God without the actions of a vivifying soul, so that sounds are uttered such as are usually uttered by a living body and the form of articulate speech is brought to the ears, why should it not obey him so that without the agency of a vivifying soul the form and movement of a bird should be presented to the sight by the same power of the Creator?… Therefore, there is no need to inquire how the corporeal appearance of the dove was produced, just as we do not inquire how the words of an articulate body produce their sound. For, if it were possible for a soul not to be the medium by which a voice is said to have been made audible and not as a voice usually is, how much more possible was it when the dove was spoken of that this word should signify merely a physical appearance presented to the eyes without the actual nature of a living creature! These words, also, were said in that sense, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind coming, and there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire,” where a certain phenomenon is said to be “as of a wind” and “as it were” a visible fire, like the natural fire with its customary nature, but it does not seem to mean that natural fire of the customary kind was produced.

Acts 2:3

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Therefore, when he sent the Holy Spirit he manifested him visibly in two ways—by a dove and by fire: by a dove upon the Lord when he was baptized, by fire upon the disciples when they were gathered together.… The dove shows that those who are sanctified by the Spirit should be without guile. That their simplicity should not continue cold is shown us by the fire. Nor let it trouble you that the tongues were divided; for tongues are diverse, therefore the appearance was that of cloven tongues. “Cloven tongues,” it said, “as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” There is a diversity of tongues, but the diversity of tongues does not imply schisms. Do not be afraid of separation in the cloven tongues, but in the dove recognize unity.