Augustine of Hippo was one of the greatest theologians and early Church Fathers. The best way to look into the life of this titan is to read his book
Confessions (a book I recommend to all Christians). He was raised by a devout Catholic mother and an atheistic father. He was brilliant even at a young age. At the age of 15, he had serious doubts about the existence of God (primarily struggled with the question, "How can God exist when there is so much evil in the world?"). He joined the group of Manichaeism. This is what he had to say about Manichaeism:
I still thought that it is not we who sin but some other nature that sins within us. It flattered my pride to think that I incurred no guilt and, when I did wrong, not to confess it... I preferred to excuse myself and blame this unknown thing which was in me but was not part of me. The truth, of course, was that it was all my own self, and my own impiety had divided me against myself. My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner.
He moved around several times teaching at various schools. He soon moved from doubt to Manichaeism and then to pure skepticism. Manichaeism became dissatisfying to Augustine because the existence of two gods was just silly to him. Augustine moved to Milan to teach. He got ahold of his mother (who was really clingy and he was sort of a mama's boy). His mother began attending a church where the bishop was Ambrose. Ambrose was a phenomenal pastor. Augustine had studied rhetoric (the art of using speech to persuade, often with the use of deception) in college. He was amazed at how persuasive Ambrose was in rhetoric (not in the deceptive sense, but he was able to persuade others well in his preaching). At this point, Augustine admitted to his mother that Christianity was true, but he was not a Christian. You could say he had an intellectual conversion. On his way home one day, he hears children playing and singing a song. They are singing, ???Take and read.??? He goes into his house and there is the copy of Paul???s letters that Ambrose lent him. He read Romans 13:13-14, which says, "Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." This changed his life. He became a Christian. This was the beginning of a legacy of a Christian man who did great things for God. He wrote around 20,000 pages of literature, including two of his major works City of God and Confessions. His greatest contribution to the Christian religion is his development of the doctrine of salvation (soteriology). There are six main statements that summarize his belief about salvation: (1) Original Sin- Adam fell into sin. All that descended from Adam are tainted with the original sin. Original sin is not the first sin committed by a person, but rather is the sin nature we are born with. (2) Free will- There is not a necessity for humans to sin in every situation, but it is inevitable for every human to sin. Unbelievers are held in bondage to sin (the original sin nature). Regeneration is the breaking of that bondage. (3) Grace- Grace is God???s willingness to save us despite of the fact that we are sinful. He held to a monergistic approach to regeneration. We do not have to merit grace. If it is merit, it is not grace. (4) Predestination- Predestination is unconditional. People are chosen by God to salvation, not based on anything that they do. Reprobation is conditional. When God damns people to Hell, it is based on the sinfulness of man. (5) Regeneration- This is where we would differ with Augustine. He would say regeneration is brought about through infant baptism (which we believe there is no Scriptural support for). God is the one who regenerates. We play no part in this process. (6) Perseverance- He held to a weaker view of the doctrine of perseverance of the Saints. Perseverance of the Saints means none who are truly saved can be condemned for their sins or finally fall away from the faith.
His contributions would lead to many more movements by men we will discuss later.
"For there is a joy that is not given to the ungodly, but only to those who love you [God] for [God's] own sake, and you yourself are their joy. And this is the happy life--to rejoice in you and to you and because of you. This is the happy life; there is no other. And those who think there is another, are in pursuit of another joy which is not the true joy."
"I have met many people who wanted to deceive, but no one who wanted to be deceived."
"Is there any evil that I have not done in my acts, or, if not in my acts, in my words, or, if not in my words, in my will?"
One of my favorite quotes is this:
(God speaking) "Run and I will hold you and I will bring you through and there also I will hold you."
Be encouraged from this man's life and what God has done through him.
