Augustine on Perseverance

The Light Shines in the Darkness...

“It is certain that no writer, other than those of scripture, has exercised so great an influence over the development of western Christian thought as Augustine of Hippo…Anselm of Canterbury spoke for the theological tradition of the west when he equated orthodoxy with conformity to the writings catholicorum patrum et maxime beati Augustini.” –Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2^nd edition (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1998), p.24.

Augustine is perhaps the most influential theologian in Christian history. Much of Medieval theology has been called “Augustinian”, and the theology of the Reformers was greatly influenced by Augustine. In the author index of my copy of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, the number of citations of Augustine takes up 7 pages whereas most other authors do not even take up a tenth of one. Martin Luther himself was an Augustinian monk and was greatly influenced by Augustine’s Anti-Pelagian writings. [I must note that I am not saying that Augustine didn’t believe in mortal sin. He did, but his doctrines of grace are very similar to the Calvinist doctrines.] Here are some excerpts from his A Treatise on the Perseverance of the Saints (emphasis mine):

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-05/npnf1-05-44.htm#P6934_2648698

I assert, therefore, that the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift of God; and I call that the end by which is finished that life wherein alone there is peril of falling. Therefore it is uncertain whether any one has received this gift so long as he is still alive. For if he fall before he dies, he is, of course, said not to have persevered; and most truly is it said. How, then, should he be said to have received or to have had perseverance who has not persevered…But how should he who has not persevered have ever been persevering, since it is only by persevering that any one shows himself persevering,-and this he has not done?

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 1

Because perseverance is much more difficult when the persecutor is engaged in preventing a man's perseverance; and therefore he is sustained in his perseverance unto death. Hence it is more difficult to have the former perseverance,-easier to have the latter; but to Him to whom nothing is difficult it is easy to give both. For God has promised this, saying, “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.” And what else is this than, “Such and so great shall be my fear that I will put into their hearts that they will perseveringly cleave to me”?

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 2

[The quote is from Jeremiah 32:40, a wonderful passage about the power of God that keeps believers in the faith unto the end. Their perseverance is not of their own doing, it is the gift of God.]

Now, moreover, when the saints say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” what do they pray for but that they may persevere in holiness? For, assuredly, when that gift of God is granted to them,-which is sufficiently plainly shown to be God's gift, since it is asked of Him,-that gift of God, then, being granted to them that they may not be led into temptation, none of the saints fails to keep his perseverance in holiness even to the end. For there is not any one who ceases to persevere in the Christian purpose unless he is first of all led into temptation. If, therefore, it be granted to him according to his prayer that he may not be led, certainly by the gift of God he persists in that sanctification which by the gift of God he has received.

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 9

[“plainly”: In passing, it must be noted that throughout the writings of Augustine, he assumes that the common layperson can easily understand most of Scripture, especially those parts which contain doctrine necessary for salvation (On the Psalms 8:2.8, Reply to Faustus the Manichean 19.31, On Christian Doctrine 2.42, Letters of St. Augustine, Letter 137.5.18).]

For we are speaking of that perseverance whereby one perseveres unto the end, and if this is given, one does persevere unto the end; but if one does not persevere unto the end, it is not given, which I have already sufficiently discussed above. Let not men say, then, that perseverance is given to any one to the end, except when the end itself has come, and he to whom it has been given has been found to have persevered unto the end… But since no one has perseverance to the end except he who does persevere to the end, many people may have it, but none can lose it.

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 10

Augustine on “Irresistible Grace”:

Therefore He is powerful both to turn wills from evil to good, and to convert those that are inclined to fall, or to direct them into a way pleasing to Himself. For to Him it is not said in vain, “O God, Thou shalt turn again and quicken us;” it is not vainly said, “Give not my foot to be moved;” it is not vainly said, “Give me not over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner;” finally, not to mention many passages, since probably more may occur to you, it is not vainly said, “Lead us not into temptation.”

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 12

Back to “Perseverance”:

For “in Christ we have obtained a lot, being predestinated according to His purpose who worketh all things.” This, therefore, is God's hand, not ours, that we depart not from God. That, I say, is His hand who said, “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they depart not from me.”

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 14

[Again, he uses the quotation from Jeremiah 32:40, a verse used frequently by the Reformers when debating free-will.]

Augustine on the true nature of apostates:

Let the inquirer still go on, and say, “Why is it that to some who have in good faith worshipped Him He has not given to persevere to the end?” Why except because he does not speak falsely who says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us.” Are there, then, two natures of men? By no means. If there were two natures there would not be any grace, for there would be given a gratuitous deliverance to none if it were paid as a debt to nature. But it seems to men that all who appear good believers ought to receive perseverance to the end. But God has judged it to be better to mingle some who would not persevere with a certain number of His saints, so that those for whom security from temptation in this life is not desirable may not be secure. For that which the apostle says, checks many from mischievous elation: “Wherefore let him who seems to stand take heed lest he fall.” But he who falls, falls by his own will, and he who stands, stands by God's will. “For God is able to make him stand;” therefore he is not able to make himself stand, but God.

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 19

["Wherefore let him who seems to stand take heed lest he fall": Notice how he interprets 1 Corinthians 10:12. This is not the way most Roman Catholics interpret this verse.]

Augustine on “Particular Redemption”:

But of two pious men, why to the one should be given perseverance unto the end, and to the other it should not be given, God’s judgments are even more unsearchable. Yet to believers it ought to be a most certain fact that the former is of the predestinated, the latter is not. “For if they had been of us,” says one of the predestinated, who had drunk this secret from the breast of the Lord, “certainly they would have continued with us”…Nevertheless, in respect of a certain other distinction, they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they certainly would have continued with us. What then is this distinction? God’s books lie open, let us not turn away our view; the divine Scripture cries aloud, let us give it a hearing. They were not of them, because they had not been “called according to the purpose;” they had not been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world; they had not gained a lot in Him; they had not been predestinated according to His purpose who worketh all things. For if they had been this, they would have been of them, and without doubt they would have continued with them.

-Augustine, On the Gift of Perseverance 21

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Also, some helpful audio on this topic can be found at:

http://www.straitgate.com/aom/dl/99.htm (Feb. 13)

Some helpful online reading can be found here:

http://aomin.org/eternalsecurity.html

http://aomin.org/johnchapter6.html

http://members.aol.com/jasonte2/law.htm

http://www.the-highway.com/assurance_Ryle.html