Augustine, sin and grace

I am nearing the end of the remarkable biography 'Augustine of Hippo' by Peter Brown, first published 1967, new edition 2000.

There is much more I want to work at, but two things have deeply impressed themselves on me. First, the unshakeable grip Augustine had on the depravity of human nature, inherited from Adam - original sin. His defence of this against the pride, optimism ans superficiality of Pelagius and his disciples is an object lesson in tenacity as well as in unscrupulousness. He held firm to his convictions, and whenever Augustine was convinced of something, he really was convinced, and fought for it. His errors were big too, but his efforts on behalf of the church were heroic.

How ironic it is that in an age when we are witnessing the empirical truth of what Augustine taught about human depravity, in wars and rumours of wars, collapsing regimes, corrupt politicians and financial leaders, in moral perversion and cruelty to the weak, at a time that is when you would have thought people may have lent a listening ear to the doctrine of original sin, on the contrary, they are busy proclaiming the opposite. In other words, the more that sin has dominion, the more it conceals its true nature; the more depraved man becomes, the less he is aware of the real nature of his problem. How right Augustine was, whatever reservations we may have about elements of his arguments. He was right on the big issues. Unlike some of us today, too, he fought for them.

Second, Augustine was a hero of grace. Nick Needham calls his book on Augustine 'The Triumph of Grace' and it is a good reflection of the man's great vision of God and of God's ultimate victory. The triumph of God and his church was, to Augustine, assured, in the midst of all the moral decay, superficial intellectuality and political collapse he saw around him. God was sovereign and would conquer. Grace will reign through righteousness unto everlasting life; sin abounds, but grace superabounds.

That is a vision of God worth going to bed on; and waking up with; and taking into the pulpit; and living and dying for.