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Augustine

Augustine’s View on OT Theophanies in Anti-Arian Polemics

June 30, 2023 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Augustine and Vidu have made me re-think the notion that the Son is the Person usually revealed in Old Testament theophanies. If we say this, it makes it sound as if the Son is visible unlike the Father and Spirit who invisible (1 Tim 6:16). 
 
I now think that the God generally reveals himself in OT theophanies by a created form (fire in the bush, angel of the Lord, a thunderous voice, etc.).
 

Theophanies Reveal God

Some theophanies by appropriation may better fit one Person, I suppose. But generally, the one God—Father, Son, and Spirit—reveals himself in the burning bush, and who names himself as “I AM.” “I AM” is the one God of Israel—Father, Son, and Spirit. 
 
Augustine particularly convinces me of this argument as it’s easy to think that the Son would pre-reveal himself in the OT because he alone as a Person infleshes. But God is Spirit, and no one has seen God. We see Christ and thus see the F. in a unique way in the Incarnation. 
 
To see the Son is to see the Father in the face of Christ. But if God by nature is invisible (1 Tim 1:17), then the Son and Spirit must too be invisible by nature or we have three gods. But we have one God (Deut 6:4). 
 
Therefore, it’s inappropriate to say that the Son by nature is more likely to be visible in OT theophanies. The Incarnation is a unique event. It’s fitting due to relations of origin, not because the Son is more visible than the invisible Father.
 

Augustine’s Theological Context

Why does Augustine believe that OT theophanies are created effects of the one God, not a revelation of the Son in particular? To answer that question, we need to look at his anti-Arian theological context.
 
Although scholars like Vidu and Michel Barnes clarify Augustine’s anti-Arian context in De Trinitate, I also think Augustine makes it clear in his debate with Maximinus as to why he takes theophanies to be of God, not the Son in particular. 
 
In his debate with Maximinus (an Arian Bishop), Maximinus argues strongly that the only-begotten God cannot have the name nature as the one God, the Father, because the Son was made visible in the OT through theophanies, and the one God is invisible (e.g., 1 Tim 1:17).
 
This likely explains why in De Trinitate Book II-IV Augustine spends so much time on theophanies. He wants to show that theophanies of God in the OT are of God under the form of a created effect, and not the Son Himself in a pre-Incarnate revelation of Himself.
 
Were that true, it would both suggest that the Son is by nature visible (so not the one God who by nature is invisible and whom nobody has ever seen) and that the Incarnation is a sort of progressive event. Both can’t true, since the Son is the one God of Israel made flesh in time.
 
However, this position does not mean a theophany cannot by appropriation say something of one Person. Maybe Jesus’s Baptism would illustrate the point, I am not sure yet. 
 

Conclusion

For now, I find myself persuaded by Augustine. Theophanies reveal God.  
 
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Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Augustine, Theophanies

Could Adam not Have Sinned? Some Augustinian Considerations

April 30, 2022 by wagraham Leave a Comment

pen on paper

When Adam and Eve sinned, God exiled them from the garden, and through them, sin entered the world. Christ came to redeem sinners and make them into saints. But if Adam had not sinned, then would Christ have come? Could Adam have not sinned? 

Here are some Augustinian considerations.  [Read more…] about Could Adam not Have Sinned? Some Augustinian Considerations

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Augustine, Free Will, Grace, sin

Reviewing Michael Foley’s New Translation of Augustine’s “Against the Academics” and “On the Happy Life”

January 12, 2021 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Michael Foley’s new translations of Augustine’s Against the Academics and On the Happy Life are brilliant. Every feature that I want in a translation appears here.  [Read more…] about Reviewing Michael Foley’s New Translation of Augustine’s “Against the Academics” and “On the Happy Life”

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Augustine

How Desire Becomes Sin (according to Augustine)

March 22, 2020 by wagraham Leave a Comment

We often define ourselves by what we desire most. Be yourself. Fulfill your dream. I can love who I want. But it is not always right to be yourself, nor to fulfill any dream, nor even to love who you want. God cares about how you define yourself, what you dream of, and even whom you sexually desire. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes this last point clear when he names looking after someone with lustful intent as the equivalent to adultery. Here, Jesus warns us against following certain desires. He tells us that desire can become sin. 

While these words may be commonplace to many Christians, we sometimes struggle to grasp the difference between good desire and bad desire as in looking at someone with “lustful intent.” The Holy Spirit has gifted the church with many gifted teachers throughout the ages, and in particular Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was given insight into Jesus’ words here. 

So below, I offer a brief overview of Jesus’ words followed by Augustine’s pastoral reflection to help us understand how our desires can turn into sin so that we can know what is good (good desires) and avoid what is not (sinful desires).  [Read more…] about How Desire Becomes Sin (according to Augustine)

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Augustine, Desire, Early

What Can Spiritual People Understand That Others Cannot? (Or Can the World Teach Christians Anything?)

August 20, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

The apostle Paul declares that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). So unlike the spiritual person (1 Cor 2:13), the natural person does not accept nor is able to understand spiritual truths.

So that’s what Paul says. But what does he mean? Surely, natural people have something to say when it comes to grammar, maths, sciences, or even giving directions to the local market! So what is it that natural people do not accept or understand? [Read more…] about What Can Spiritual People Understand That Others Cannot? (Or Can the World Teach Christians Anything?)

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Augustine

How to Read the Bible to Know What It Means by What It Says

July 14, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Numerous books

When Augustine wrote his manual on biblical interpretation, he observed that reality is made up of signs and things. Here’s an illustration to explain what he meant. A wedding ring signifies a promise of marital union. So a wedding ring is a sign. Yet it also a ring, which means that a wedding ring both signifies and is a thing. While such a distinction might seem pedantic or obtuse, it provides easy categories to explain why I am suggesting that we sometimes misunderstand the Bible’s meaning.

To understand the importance of signs and things, we first need turn to the Bible to see how it talks about heaven and earth and the Bible. [Read more…] about How to Read the Bible to Know What It Means by What It Says

Filed Under: Hermeneutics, Theology Tagged With: Augustine, Hermeneutics

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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