Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Trinity, Book One, Chapter Four

Augustine concludes Book I with further discussion on the resonances of Christ and God. He sets forth this exegetical formula: we need to "distinguish the two resonances" [...] one turned to the form of God in which he is and is equal to the Father, the other turned to the form of a servant in which he too is and is less than the Father" (82). So Augustine is considering again the problem of forms: the form is God vs. the form of the servant.

One important aspect of faith is unpacked with the passage "He who believes in me does not believe in me" (Jn 12:44). This apparent contradiction seems initially shocking. By this, Augustine explains that faith is not what one sees--he further points out and interprets--he "who believes does not believe in what he sees" or he who believes is not limited to only seeing. Thus, a truly faithful person sees Jesus, but also sees beyond Jesus to God. If we believe in God, who we do not see, Jesus invites us to believe in him in the same way. Jesus is inviting the faithful to believe in the beyond of the flesh in order to believe in the univocity of the Trinity. As long as one is hung-up on (so to speak) Jesus as flesh then faith is limited to the sensory, and, thus, is not really faith in the Augustinian sense.

Augustine concludes this book with an invitation to try out different interpretations of understanding the connection between Jesus and God as long as they do not contradict "sound doctrine." By this, Augustine hopes to side-step the "trap" of the heretics--who are "dogmatists" (according to the notes).

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