Augustine of Hippo has great impact upon the medieval theology of justification to such extant that all medieval theology can be considered as “Augustinian”. His discussion of the doctrine of justification is the first discussion of significance to emerge and set the framework of which future discussion is to take place.
Augustine’s discussion of justification went through significant development and the watershed is his elevation to the see of Hippo Regis in 395. His ‘first of two books to Simplicianus’ recorded his change of mind regarding his discussion of justification. We need to note also that his discussion developed before the Pelagian controversy, i.e. in a non-polemic context.
Initially, Augustine believed that man can take the initiative in his spiritual ascent to God by believing him and calling upon god to save him, however, was forced to rethink the matter after he was challenged by Simplicianus. This resulted in a change in Augustine’s thoughts about justification and among the important changes are these:
1. Man’s election is based on eternal predestination;
2. Man’s response of faith is God’s offer of grace; and
3. While man possessed free will, it is compromised by sin.
The last of these liberum arbitrium is one of the most difficult aspects of Augustine’s thought. His teaching regarding man’s free will may be regarded as anti-thesis to Pelaganism’s emphasis on the role of human free will in his justification. In his de peccatorum meritis et remissione (411) he refuted the error without denying human free will. He affirmed both grace and free will; the problem is how to relate them. Augustine maintained that man possesses free will but not freedom. Man still has free will after the fall but it is taken captive and does not avail for righteousness but to sin. This does not mean that human free will is lost but it loses its ability to desire for righteousness. The liberum arbitrium captivatum becomes liberated through healing grace. This teaching of liberum arbitrium captivatum resolves the dialectic between free will and grace.
Augustine drew a distinction between operative and cooperative grace. God operates to initiate man’s justification by giving him a will capable of desiring good, and man cooperates with this good will to bring that justification to perfection. Hence, man’s justification is an act of God’s mercy because he does not desire it nor does he deserve it.
Man’s free will is not denied in Augustine’s discussion on justification, but the free will crippled/made dysfunction by sin. God initiates the act of justification by giving man the will to desire good, and man cooperates with that good will to perfect his justification. God operates upon man in the act of justification and cooperates with him in the process of justification. After man is justified, he begins to acquire merit as a divine gift – not man’s work. Merit is God’s gift and eternal life is the result of merit. God is not under obligation to man on account of his merit; it is his liberality that that undergirds the whole idea of merit.
The ‘righteousness of God’ is center to Augustine’s thought. This righteousness is not God’s intrinsic character but that by which he justifies the sinner, i.e. God bestows it to man to make him righteous. This raise the question of theodicy: how can God, being just, justify a sinner? Augustine shows no interest in this question as he was only interested in the mission of Christ (to reveal divine love) rather than his work.
In Augustine’s understanding of justification man needs both the prevenient (operative) and perseverance grace (cooperative) to perfection his justification. This means that God could give someone prevenient grace but not perseverance grace and so the question of predestination. Grace is understood as the operative work of the Holy Spirit and the love of God is given to individual in justification. Our hearts are inflamed to love God and others.
Augustine’s understand of faith as an adherence to the Word of God introduces a strong intellectualism element into his concept of faith, which means it is possible for man to have faith without love. This, however, will not bring us to God if it is not accompanied with love. So faith by itself is inadequate to justify man, it is love rather than faith which is the power that brings about the justification of man. It is inaccurate to say that Augustine’s doctrine of justification is justification by faith; rather it is love that brought about his justification.
For Augustine, man’s righteousness is inherent rather than imputed which means that the righteousness received from God is part of his being and intrinsic to his person. By charity, God comes to inhabit the soul of the justified sinner and there’s a interior renewal of the sinner by the Holy Spirit, i.e. a participation in the divine substance itself (deification). The sinner is given the power to participate in the divine being. The righteousness man received is ontological and not relational (status), and so becomes righteous and a son of God, not just being treated as if he is righteous and a son of God.
Iustificare is understood to mean ‘to make right’ for Augustine and this is significant for his ethical and political thought. The iustitia of an act is defined by the act itself and its motivation. The correct motivation for a righteous act can come only through the work of the Holy Spirit within a believer, so an act may be good but if performed outside the context of faith, it is sterile or even sinful. An act may be moral but not meritorious.
His political thought is also closely related to his doctrine of justification. Justice in community is related to God as the one who orders the universe according to his will. Justice in community, then, is about the right order of the physical world and the right ordering of human affairs and his relationship with the rest of creation. It has nothing to do with forensic or legal categories for Augustine but the ‘right-wising’ of the God-man relationship in all its aspects.
Justification in Augustine’s thought is about ‘making just’ and primarily not about legal or moral rightness. This is where his concept and Ciceronian’s concept of justification differs. God’s righteousness is not about justifying the righteous/godly but the ungodly, and so iustitia Dei is about God’s fidelity to his promises of grace, irrespective of the merits of those to whom the promises was made.
In summary, Augustine’s doctrine of justification can be summarized in three points:
1. Justification encompass the whole process from the moment of justification to its final perfection;
2. Justification is about being ‘made just’ or ‘made to live as God intends man to live’; and
3. It has to do with the restoration of order in the universe or cosmic redemption.
McGrath, Iustitia Dei, 23-36.
Augustine’s discussion of justification went through significant development and the watershed is his elevation to the see of Hippo Regis in 395. His ‘first of two books to Simplicianus’ recorded his change of mind regarding his discussion of justification. We need to note also that his discussion developed before the Pelagian controversy, i.e. in a non-polemic context.
Initially, Augustine believed that man can take the initiative in his spiritual ascent to God by believing him and calling upon god to save him, however, was forced to rethink the matter after he was challenged by Simplicianus. This resulted in a change in Augustine’s thoughts about justification and among the important changes are these:
1. Man’s election is based on eternal predestination;
2. Man’s response of faith is God’s offer of grace; and
3. While man possessed free will, it is compromised by sin.
The last of these liberum arbitrium is one of the most difficult aspects of Augustine’s thought. His teaching regarding man’s free will may be regarded as anti-thesis to Pelaganism’s emphasis on the role of human free will in his justification. In his de peccatorum meritis et remissione (411) he refuted the error without denying human free will. He affirmed both grace and free will; the problem is how to relate them. Augustine maintained that man possesses free will but not freedom. Man still has free will after the fall but it is taken captive and does not avail for righteousness but to sin. This does not mean that human free will is lost but it loses its ability to desire for righteousness. The liberum arbitrium captivatum becomes liberated through healing grace. This teaching of liberum arbitrium captivatum resolves the dialectic between free will and grace.
Augustine drew a distinction between operative and cooperative grace. God operates to initiate man’s justification by giving him a will capable of desiring good, and man cooperates with this good will to bring that justification to perfection. Hence, man’s justification is an act of God’s mercy because he does not desire it nor does he deserve it.
Man’s free will is not denied in Augustine’s discussion on justification, but the free will crippled/made dysfunction by sin. God initiates the act of justification by giving man the will to desire good, and man cooperates with that good will to perfect his justification. God operates upon man in the act of justification and cooperates with him in the process of justification. After man is justified, he begins to acquire merit as a divine gift – not man’s work. Merit is God’s gift and eternal life is the result of merit. God is not under obligation to man on account of his merit; it is his liberality that that undergirds the whole idea of merit.
The ‘righteousness of God’ is center to Augustine’s thought. This righteousness is not God’s intrinsic character but that by which he justifies the sinner, i.e. God bestows it to man to make him righteous. This raise the question of theodicy: how can God, being just, justify a sinner? Augustine shows no interest in this question as he was only interested in the mission of Christ (to reveal divine love) rather than his work.
In Augustine’s understanding of justification man needs both the prevenient (operative) and perseverance grace (cooperative) to perfection his justification. This means that God could give someone prevenient grace but not perseverance grace and so the question of predestination. Grace is understood as the operative work of the Holy Spirit and the love of God is given to individual in justification. Our hearts are inflamed to love God and others.
Augustine’s understand of faith as an adherence to the Word of God introduces a strong intellectualism element into his concept of faith, which means it is possible for man to have faith without love. This, however, will not bring us to God if it is not accompanied with love. So faith by itself is inadequate to justify man, it is love rather than faith which is the power that brings about the justification of man. It is inaccurate to say that Augustine’s doctrine of justification is justification by faith; rather it is love that brought about his justification.
For Augustine, man’s righteousness is inherent rather than imputed which means that the righteousness received from God is part of his being and intrinsic to his person. By charity, God comes to inhabit the soul of the justified sinner and there’s a interior renewal of the sinner by the Holy Spirit, i.e. a participation in the divine substance itself (deification). The sinner is given the power to participate in the divine being. The righteousness man received is ontological and not relational (status), and so becomes righteous and a son of God, not just being treated as if he is righteous and a son of God.
Iustificare is understood to mean ‘to make right’ for Augustine and this is significant for his ethical and political thought. The iustitia of an act is defined by the act itself and its motivation. The correct motivation for a righteous act can come only through the work of the Holy Spirit within a believer, so an act may be good but if performed outside the context of faith, it is sterile or even sinful. An act may be moral but not meritorious.
His political thought is also closely related to his doctrine of justification. Justice in community is related to God as the one who orders the universe according to his will. Justice in community, then, is about the right order of the physical world and the right ordering of human affairs and his relationship with the rest of creation. It has nothing to do with forensic or legal categories for Augustine but the ‘right-wising’ of the God-man relationship in all its aspects.
Justification in Augustine’s thought is about ‘making just’ and primarily not about legal or moral rightness. This is where his concept and Ciceronian’s concept of justification differs. God’s righteousness is not about justifying the righteous/godly but the ungodly, and so iustitia Dei is about God’s fidelity to his promises of grace, irrespective of the merits of those to whom the promises was made.
In summary, Augustine’s doctrine of justification can be summarized in three points:
1. Justification encompass the whole process from the moment of justification to its final perfection;
2. Justification is about being ‘made just’ or ‘made to live as God intends man to live’; and
3. It has to do with the restoration of order in the universe or cosmic redemption.
McGrath, Iustitia Dei, 23-36.
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