Augustine of Hippo: source notes

Works: Spirit and Letter; Grace and Free Will; Enchiridion. Edition/translation: NPNF¹ vols. 3 and 5, as on New Advent.

Back to justification · reasoning · conventions

S1: Spirit and Letter 26.45

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1502.htm
Text: “Now he could not mean to contradict himself in saying, The doers of the law shall be justified, as if their justification came through their works, and not through grace; since he declares that a man is justified freely by His grace without the works of the law, intending by the term freely nothing else than that works do not precede justification. … so that justification does not subsequently accrue to them as doers of the law, but justification precedes them as doers of the law. For what else does the phrase being justified signify than being made righteous — by Him, of course, who justifies the ungodly man, that he may become a godly one instead?”
Context: His main gloss on Rom 2:13.
Bears on: Q3, Q1, Q2
Status: verified (English)

S2: Spirit and Letter 26.45 (alternative reading)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1502.htm
Text: “Or else the term They shall be justified is used in the sense of, They shall be deemed, or reckoned as just, as it is predicated of a certain man in the Gospel, But he, willing to justify himself, Luke 10:29 — meaning that he wished to be thought and accounted just.”
Context: He allows a declarative sense as well.
Bears on: Q1, Q3
Status: verified (English)

S3: Grace and Free Will 12–13 (chs. V–VI)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1510.htm
Text: Quotes Titus 3:4–7 (“being justified by His grace”) under the heading “The Grace of God is Not Given According to Merit, But Itself Makes All Good Desert”; and: “It is His own gifts that God crowns, not your merits, — if, at least, your merits are of your own self, not of Him.”
Context: Merit is real but is itself God’s gift. This is the background to Orange canon 18 and Trent’s language of merit.
Bears on: Q3, Q2
Status: verified (English)

Topic: baptism

See baptism reasoning.

BAP S1: On Merit and Forgiveness of Sins I.34 (ch. 24)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15011.htm
Text: “the Christians of Carthage have an excellent name for the sacraments, when they say that baptism is nothing else than salvation… from that primitive, as I suppose, and apostolic tradition, by which the Churches of Christ maintain it to be an inherent principle, that without baptism and partaking of the supper of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation”.
Context: Anti-Pelagian (412). He appeals to apostolic tradition for the necessity of baptism.
Bears on: B4, B1
Status: verified (English)

BAP S2: On Merit and Forgiveness of Sins I.21 (ch. 16)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15011.htm
Text: “such infants as quit the body without being baptized will be involved in the mildest condemnation of all.”
Context: The hardest edge of the necessity claim. It depends on his doctrine of original sin.
Bears on: B4, B2
Status: verified (English)

BAP S3: Letter 98.2, to Boniface

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102098.htm
Text: “so great is the virtue of that sacrament, namely, of baptism, which brings salvation, that so soon as he who owed his first birth to others… has been made partaker of the second birth by others…”
Context: Infants are reborn through the faith of others (the Church presenting them).
Bears on: B2, B1
Status: verified (English)

Topic: salvation

See salvation reasoning.

SAL S1: Predestination of the Saints 3 (ch. II)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15121.htm
Text: Chapter heading: “Even the Beginning of Faith is of God’s Gift.” And: “I ought first to show that the faith by which we are Christians is the gift of God”.
Context: A reply to the monks of Marseilles, who held that faith’s beginning is ours and its increase God’s.
Bears on: S1
Status: verified (English)

SAL S2: Predestination of the Saints 19 (ch. X)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15121.htm
Text: “between grace and predestination there is only this difference, that predestination is the preparation for grace, while grace is the donation itself.”
Context: Defines predestination in terms of grace.
Bears on: S3
Status: verified (English)

SAL S3: Rebuke and Grace 18 and 36

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm
Text: Ch. 18: “to some of His own children — whom He has regenerated in Christ — to whom He has given faith, hope, and love, God does not give perseverance also”. Ch. 36: “they who fall and perish have never been in the number of the predestinated.”
Context: Augustine holds that some who were truly regenerated fall away. Regeneration is not the same as election.
Bears on: S3, S4
Status: verified (English)

SAL S4: Gift of Perseverance 1 (ch. I)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15122.htm
Text: “the perseverance by which we persevere in Christ even to the end is the gift of God … Therefore it is uncertain whether any one has received this gift so long as he is still alive.”
Context: Assurance of final perseverance is denied in this life.
Bears on: S4
Status: verified (English)

Topic: eucharist

See eucharist reasoning.

EUC S1: Tractates on John 26.11

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701026.htm
Text: “For even we at this day receive visible food: but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament another. How many do receive at the altar and die, and die indeed by receiving?”
Context: Distinguishes the sign from its saving power, and treats eating spiritually as what matters.
Bears on: E1, E3
Status: verified (English)

EUC S2: Letter 98.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102098.htm
Text: “As, therefore, in a certain manner the sacrament of Christ’s body is Christ’s body, and the sacrament of Christ’s blood is Christ’s blood, in the same manner the sacrament of faith is faith.”
Context: Uses the language of sign and likeness (“in a certain manner”). Reformed writers often cite this passage.
Bears on: E1, E3
Status: verified (English)

Topic: atonement

See atonement reasoning.

ATN S1: On the Trinity XIII (book summary)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130113.htm
Text: NPNF summary of Book XIII: “it was needful that the devil should be conquered by Christ, not by power, but by righteousness.”
Context: The editor’s summary. The text of XIII.13–14 is to extract.
Bears on: A1
Status: verified (editor’s summary only)

Topic: original-sin

See original-sin reasoning.

OSN S1: City of God XIII.14

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120113.htm
Text: “man, being of his own will corrupted, and justly condemned, begot corrupted and condemned children. For we all were in that one man, since we all were that one man … the seminal nature was there from which we were to be propagated; and this being vitiated by sin, and bound by the chain of death, and justly condemned, man could not be born of man in any other state.”
Context: Seminal presence in Adam. Guilt (“condemned”) and corruption together.
Bears on: O2, O4
Status: verified (English)

OSN S2: On Merit and Forgiveness of Sins I.10 (ch. 9)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15011.htm
Text: He rejects the Pelagian reading of Rom 5:12 that Adam is “he in whom all have sinned by imitation”.
Context: Augustine’s own reading uses the Latin in quo (“in whom”). The Greek is ἐφ᾽ ᾧ (“because”); see O3.
Bears on: O2, O3
Status: verified (English)

OSN S3: On Merit and Forgiveness of Sins I.21 (cross-ref)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15011.htm
Text: Unbaptized infants receive “the mildest condemnation of all”. See augustine-bap-s2.
Context:
Bears on: O2
Status: verified (English)

Topic: relics

See relics reasoning.

REL S1: City of God XXII.8

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120122.htm
Text: “When the bishop Projectus was bringing the relics of the most glorious martyr Stephen to the waters of Tibilis … a blind woman … applied them [the flowers] to her eyes, and immediately saw.”
Context: Augustine catalogues miracles at Stephen’s relics in North Africa.
Bears on: R3
Status: verified (English)

Topic: afterlife

See afterlife reasoning.

AFT S1: Enchiridion 109–110

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm
Text: “the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned … Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead are benefited by the piety of their living friends, who offer the sacrifice of the Mediator, or give alms in the church on their behalf. But these services are of advantage only to those who during their lives have earned such merit, that services of this kind can help them.”
Context: Intermediate state and the benefit of prayers for the dead, with conditions.
Bears on: L1, L2
Status: verified (English)

AFT S2: City of God XXI.13

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120121.htm
Text: “temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment … to some … what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next”.
Context: Post-mortem temporary purification. Augustine elsewhere voices hesitation: whether ‘some believers shall pass through a kind of purgatorial fire’ is ‘a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful’ (Enchiridion 69, verified, New Advent).
Bears on: L3
Status: verified (English)

AFT S3: City of God XXI.17 and 23

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120121.htm
Text: XXI.17: “Origen was even more indulgent; for he believed that even the devil himself and his angels … should be delivered from their torments … But the Church, not without reason, condemned him”. XXI.1, citing Matt 25:46: “These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”
Context: Reports both the merciful view and Origen’s universalism, and rejects them.
Bears on: L5
Status: verified (English)

Topic: scripture-and-tradition

See scripture-and-tradition reasoning.

SCT S1: Christian Doctrine II.8.13

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm (NPNF/ANF English translation)
Text: “There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles.”
Context: Augustine’s canon list includes Tobit, Judith and Maccabees.
Bears on: C2
Status: verified (English)

Topic: trinity

See trinity reasoning.

TRI S1: On the Trinity XV.17.29

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130115.htm (NPNF/ANF English translation)
Text: “Trinity the Son and none other is called the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit and none other the Gift of God, and God the Father alone is He from whom the Word is born, and from whom the Holy Spirit principally proceeds.”
Context: The Father the principal source of the Spirit.
Bears on: T2
Status: verified (English)

TRI S2: On the Trinity XV.17.29

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130115.htm (NPNF/ANF English translation)
Text: “And therefore I have added the word principally, because we find that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son also.”
Context:
Bears on: T2
Status: verified (English)

Topic: other-sacraments

See other-sacraments reasoning.

OSR S1: On the Good of Marriage 24.32

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For faithfulness, it is observed, that there be no lying with other man or woman, out of the bond of wedlock: for the offspring, that it be lovingly welcomed, kindly nourished, religiously brought up: for the Sacrament, that marriage be not severed, and that man or woman divorced be not joined to another even for the sake of offspring.”
Context: Faith, offspring, sacramentum.
Bears on: K4
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S18

See S18 reasoning.

S18 S1: On Nature and Grace 36.42

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.”
Context:
Bears on: S18.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F15

See F15 reasoning.

F15 S1: Letter 82.3 (to Jerome)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102082.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For I confess to your Charity that I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error.”
Context:
Bears on: F15.1
Status: verified (English)

F15 S2: On Christian Doctrine II.9.14

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life — to wit, hope and love, of which I have spoken in the previous book. After this, when we have made ourselves to a certain extent familiar with the language of Scripture, we may proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages, and in doing so draw examples from the plainer expressions to throw light upon the more obscure”
Context: Era III. Plain passages carry the rule of faith and life; obscure passages are read by the plain. See also II.6.8: almost nothing from obscure passages is not set forth plainly elsewhere.
Bears on: F15.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F16

See F16 reasoning.

F16 S1: City of God XX.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “speaking of the present intermingling and future separation of the good and bad — the separation which shall be made in the day of judgment — He adduced a comparison drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among them, and gave this explanation of it to His disciples: He that sows the good seed is the Son of man, etc.”
Context: Against a pure church.
Bears on: F16.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T09X

See T09X reasoning.

T09X S1: On the Care of the Dead 16

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1316.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Hence too is solved that question, how is it that the Martyrs, by the very benefits which are given to them that pray, indicate that they take an interest in the affairs of men, if the dead know not what the quick are doing.”
Context:
Bears on: T09.2
Status: verified (English)

T09X S2: Enchiridion 109

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “During the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man’s death and the final resurrection, the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on earth.”
Context: The state of the soul between death and resurrection.
Bears on: T09.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T10X

See T10X reasoning.

T10X S1: Enchiridion 93

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “st punishment of all will fall upon those who have added no actual sin, to the original sin they brought with them; and as for the rest who have added such actual sins, the punishment of each will be the more tolerable in the next world, according as his iniquity has been less in this world.”
Context:
Bears on: T10.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T01

See T01 reasoning.

T01 S1: City of God XX.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Therefore the Church even now is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven.”
Context:
Bears on: T01.1
Status: verified (English)

T01 S2: City of God XX.6

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “two resurrections — the one the first and spiritual resurrection, which has place in this life, and preserves us from coming into the second death; the other the second, which does not occur now, but in the end of the world, and which is of the body, not of the soul, and which by the last judgment shall dismiss some into the second death, others into that life which has no death. …”
Context:
Bears on: T01.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T03

See T03 reasoning.

T03 S1: City of God XI.6

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120111.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “What kind of days these were it is extremely difficult, or perhaps impossible for us to conceive, and how much more to say! Chapter 7.— Of the Nature of the First Days, Which are Said to Have Had Morning and Evening, Before There Was a Sun.”
Context:
Bears on: T03.1
Status: verified (English)

T03 S2: City of God XII.10

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120112.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “They are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of many thousand years, though, reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that not 6000 years have yet passed.”
Context:
Bears on: T03.1
Status: verified (English)

T03 S3: City of God XII.21

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120112.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For from one man, whom God created as the first, the whole human race descended, according to the faith of Holy Scripture, which deservedly is of wonderful authority among all nations throughout the world; since, among its other true statements, it predicted, by its divine foresight, that all nations would give credit to it.”
Context:
Bears on: T03.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T07

See T07 reasoning.

T07 S1: Enchiridion 100

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “hich are in heaven are gathered together when what was lost therefrom in the fall of the angels is restored from among men; and the things which are on earth are gathered together, when those who are predestined to eternal life are redeemed from their old corruption.”
Context:
Bears on: T07.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T08

See T08 reasoning.

T08 S1: Letter 166.8 (to Jerome)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102166.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “example, some think that they urge a conclusive argument against this opinion when they ask, how God finished all His works on the sixth day and rested on the seventh day, Genesis 2:2 if He is still creating new souls.”
Context:
Bears on: T08.1
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S13X

See S13X reasoning.

S13X S1: On Rebuke and Grace 40

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “But, moreover, that such things as these are so spoken to saints who will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain whether they will persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise to hear these things, since it is well for them not to be high-minded, but to fear.”
Context:
Bears on: S13.2
Status: verified (English)

S13X S2: Enchiridion 71

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “The Daily Prayer of the Believer Makes Satisfaction for the Trivial Sins that Daily Stain His Life.”
Context: Augustine on the daily sins of believers.
Bears on: S13.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F08X

See F08X reasoning.

F08X S1: On Nature and Grace 36.42

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.”
Context: Against Pelagius’s list of sinless saints.
Bears on: F08.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F07

See F07 reasoning.

F07 S1: City of God XI.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120111.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name evil.”
Context: Against the Manichees.
Bears on: F07.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T22

See T22 reasoning.

T22 S1: City of God XX.29

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Malachi 4:5-6 It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them.”
Context: A future conversion of the Jews before the judgement.
Bears on: T22.1
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T24

See T24 reasoning.

T24 S1: Letter 55 (to Januarius)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102055.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “burdensome ceremonies so oppressed, that the condition of the Jewish Church itself is preferable: for although they have not known the time of their freedom, they are subjected to burdens imposed by the law of God, not by the vain conceits of men. …”
Context: Human ceremonies should not burden consciences.
Bears on: T24.1
Status: verified (English)

T24 S2: Letter 93 (to Vincentius)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102093.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “You are of opinion that no one should be compelled to follow righteousness; and yet you read that the householder said to his servants, Whomsoever you shall find, compel them to come in.”
Context: Coercion of the Donatists defended.
Bears on: T24.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S21

See S21 reasoning.

S21 S1: City of God XI.10

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120111.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “ther alone possesses it, or the Son alone, or the Holy Ghost alone; nor do we say, with the Sabellian heretics, that it is only nominally a Trinity, and has no real distinction of persons; but we say it is simple, because it is what it has, with the exception of the relation of the persons to one another.”
Context: God is identical with his attributes, the relations of the persons excepted.
Bears on: S21.1
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S22

See S22 reasoning.

S22 S1: On the Good of Marriage 24.32

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “is observed, that there be no lying with other man or woman, out of the bond of wedlock: for the offspring, that it be lovingly welcomed, kindly nourished, religiously brought up: for the Sacrament, that marriage be not severed, and that man or woman divorced be not joined to another even for the sake of offspring.”
Context: Separation allowed, remarriage not, while the spouse lives.
Bears on: S22.1
Status: verified (English)

S22 S2: On the Good of Marriage 24.32 (sacramentum)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1309.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “or faithfulness, it is observed, that there be no lying with other man or woman, out of the bond of wedlock: for the offspring, that it be lovingly welcomed, kindly nourished, religiously brought up: for the Sacrament, that marriage be not severed, and that man or woman divorced be not joined to another even for the sake of offspring.”
Context: Marriage’s ‘sacrament’ is its indissoluble bond.
Bears on: S22.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S23

See S23 reasoning.

S23 S1: On the Predestination of the Saints 5

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15121.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “in such wise as to attend them, as it were, in closest conjunction, it is yet necessary that everything which is believed should be believed after thought has preceded; although even belief itself is nothing else than to think with assent.”
Context: Belief as assent.
Bears on: S23.1
Status: verified (English)

S23 S2: Tractates on John 29.6

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701029.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Romans 4:5 What then is to believe in Him? By believing to love Him, by believing to esteem highly, by believing to go into Him and to be incorporated in His members.”
Context: ‘Believing in’ Christ includes love and incorporation.
Bears on: S23.1
Status: verified (English)

S23 S3: On Rebuke and Grace 13.40

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Romans 11:20 For who of the multitude of believers can presume, so long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that should be kept hidden; since here we have to beware so much of pride, that even so great an apostle was buffetted by a messenger of Satan, lest he should be lifted up.”
Context: No one can be sure in this life of being predestined.
Bears on: S23.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T20

See T20 reasoning.

T20 S1: Letter 138 (to Marcellinus)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102138.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “cast away their arms, and withdraw themselves wholly from military service; whereas the word spoken to such was, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages, Luke 3:14 — the command to be content with their wages manifestly implying no prohibition to continue in the service. …”
Context: Luke 3:14 implies no prohibition of military service.
Bears on: T20.1
Status: verified (English)

T20 S2: Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount I.17.51

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/16011.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “But yet, since he who takes God to witness swears, this section must be carefully considered, lest the apostle should seem to have acted contrary to the Lord’s precept, who often swore in this way, when he says, Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not; and again, The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knows that I lie not.”
Context: Paul’s oaths show that solemn oaths are allowed.
Bears on: T20.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S24

See S24 reasoning.

S24 S1: On Grace and Free Will 15

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1510.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “nd what have you, that you did not receive? Now, if you received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7 To a man who holds such views, it is perfect truth to say: It is His own gifts that God crowns, not your merits, — if, at least, your merits are of your own self, not of Him.”
Context: Merits are God’s gifts.
Bears on: S24.1
Status: verified (English)

S24 S2: Enchiridion 67

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “I have written a book on this subject, entitled Of Faith and Works, in which, to the best of my ability, God assisting me, I have shown from Scripture, that the faith which saves us is that which the Apostle Paul clearly enough describes when he says: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love.”
Context: Saving faith works by love.
Bears on: S24.2, F12.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine T25

See T25 reasoning.

T25 S1: Expositions on the Psalms 99

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801099.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “And because He walked here in very flesh, and gave that very flesh to us to eat for our salvation; and no one eats that flesh, unless he has first worshipped: we have found out in what sense such a footstool of our Lord’s may be worshipped, and not only that we sin not in worshipping it, but that we sin in not worshipping.”
Context: Worship in receiving.
Bears on: T25.2
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F13

See F13 reasoning.

F13 S1: City of God XX.14 — dead judged according to their works

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “And I saw the dead, great and small: and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of the life of each man: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. … and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Context: Final judgement of all the dead according to deeds, from the Apocalypse; duration of punishment is treated under T10.
Bears on: F13.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F14

See F14 reasoning.

F14 S1: City of God XX.6 — resurrection of life and of judgement

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. … in the second, of which He goes on to speak, all, as we shall learn, have a part, both the blessed and the wretched.”
Context: The second (bodily) resurrection is universal: both the blessed and the wretched rise; the destinies differ (life vs judgement/damnation). Distinct from F13.3 (judgement criterion) and T10 (nature of punishment).
Bears on: F14.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S02X

See S02X reasoning.

S02X S1: On Baptism, against the Donatists IV.24.32

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14084.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “er of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by apostolic authority, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the sacrament of baptism in the case of infants, from the parallel of circumcision, which was received by God’s earlier people, and before receiving which Abraham was justified, as Cornelius also was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit before he was baptized.”
Context: Augustine argues for infant baptism from apostolic custom and from circumcision.
Bears on: S02.3
Status: verified (English)

S02X S2: On Baptism IV.24.32

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14084.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “as in Isaac, who was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, the seal of this righteousness of faith was given first, and afterwards, as he imitated the faith of his father, the righteousness itself followed as he grew up, of which the seal had been given before when he was an infant; so in infants, who are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration is given first, and if they maintain a Christian piety, conversi …”
Context: Isaac’s eighth-day circumcision as the pattern for infant baptism.
Bears on: S02.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S04X

See S04X reasoning.

S04X S1: Tractates on John 26.18

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701026.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “neither eats His flesh [spiritually] nor drinks His blood [although he may press the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ carnally and visibly with his teeth], but rather does he eat and drink the sacrament of so great a thing to his own judgment, because he, being unclean, has presumed to come to the sacraments of Christ, which no man takes worthily except he that is pure: of such it is said, Blessed are the pu …”
Context: On John 6:56. The bracketed words are the NPNF translator’s; textual status to verify against the Latin.
Bears on: S04.3
Status: verified (English)

S04X S2: Tractates on John 59.1

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701059.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “The bread they ate was the Lord Himself; he ate the Lord’s bread in enmity to the Lord: they ate life, and he punishment.”
Context: On John 13:18: Judas and the other apostles.
Bears on: S04.3
Status: verified (English)

S04X S3: On Baptism V.8.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14085.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “For as Judas, to whom the Lord gave a morsel, gave a place within himself of the devil, not by receiving what was bad, but by receiving it badly, John 13:27 so each person, on receiving the sacrament of the Lord, does not cause that it is bad because he is bad himself, or that he has received nothing because he has not received it to salvation.”
Context: Against the Donatists: a sacrament is not made bad by a bad recipient.
Bears on: S04.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S14X

See S14X reasoning.

S14X S1: On Marriage and Concupiscence I.23(25)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15071.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “As arising from sin, it is, I say, called sin, although in the regenerate it is not actually sin; and it has this designation applied to it, just as speech which the tongue produces is itself called tongue; and just as the word hand is used in the sense of writing, which the hand produces.”
Context: Against Julian’s charge that Augustine condemns marriage; why concupiscence is called sin.
Bears on: S14.4
Status: verified (English)

S14X S2: On Marriage and Concupiscence I.25(28)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15071.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “e of a baptized parent concupiscence and not be sin, why should this same concupiscence be sin in the offspring?— the answer to be given is this: Carnal concupiscence is remitted, indeed, in baptism; not so that it is put out of existence, but so that it is not to be imputed for sin.”
Context: What baptism does to concupiscence.
Bears on: S14.4
Status: verified (English)

S14X S3: Against Two Letters of the Pelagians I.13.27

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15091.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “But although this is called sin, it is certainly so called not because it is sin, but because it is made by sin, as a writing is said to be some one’s hand because the hand has written it.”
Context: The same point against the Pelagians.
Bears on: S14.4
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S11X

See S11X reasoning.

S11X S1: On Rebuke and Grace 38 (ch. 12)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Therefore aid is brought to the infirmity of human will, so that it might be unchangeably and invincibly influenced by divine grace; and thus, although weak, it still might not fail, nor be overcome by any adversity.”
Context: On the grace of perseverance given to the elect.
Bears on: S11.3
Status: verified (English)

S11X S2: On the Predestination of the Saints 13 (ch. 8)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15121.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “It is true that that grace is exceedingly secret, but who doubts that it is grace? This grace, therefore, which is hiddenly bestowed in human hearts by the Divine gift, is rejected by no hard heart, because it is given for the sake of first taking away the hardness of the heart.”
Context: On John 6:45, the Father’s inward teaching.
Bears on: S11.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S24X

See S24X reasoning.

S24X S1: Of Holy Virginity 14

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1310.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “restrained by command, not by counsel, on this account, because it is matter of condemnation not to obey the Lord when He commands: but that, which, within the kingdom of God itself, might be more largely possessed, if there were larger thoughts how they were to please God, will assuredly be less, when as this very thing is less thought of by necessity of marriage. …”
Context: On 1 Cor 7:25.
Bears on: S24.3
Status: verified (English)

S24X S2: Of Holy Virginity 14

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1310.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “certain or more excellent glory, to be assigned not unto all who shall live for ever, but unto certain there; in order to obtain which it is not enough to have been set free from sins, unless there be vowed unto Him, Who sets us free, something, which it is no matter of fault not to have vowed, but matter of praise to have vowed and performed; he says, I give counsel, as having obtained mercy from God that I should b …”
Context: Why Paul gives counsel about virgins.
Bears on: S24.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine F04X

See F04X reasoning.

F04X S1: Tractates on John 50.13

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701050.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “In other words, in respect of His divine presence we always have Christ; in respect of His presence in the flesh it was rightly said to the disciples, Me ye will not have always.”
Context: On John 12:8, ‘Me ye have not always’.
Bears on: F04.4
Status: verified (English)

F04X S2: Tractates on John 50.4

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701050.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “word is true, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, Matthew 28:20 He is away, and He is here; He has returned, and will not forsake us; for He has carried His body into heaven, but His majesty He has never withdrawn from the world.”
Context: Christ’s bodily departure and his continuing presence.
Bears on: F04.4
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S03X

See S03X reasoning.

S03X S1: On Baptism III

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14083.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “But the baptism of Christ, consecrated by the words of the gospel, is necessarily holy, however polluted and unclean its ministers may be; because its inherent sanctity cannot be polluted, and the divine excellence abides in its sacrament, whether to the salvation of those who use it aright, or to the destruction of those who use it wrong.”
Context: Augustine answers Cyprian’s arguments against the Donatists.
Bears on: S03.3
Status: verified (English)

S03X S2: On Baptism IV

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14084.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “And just as baptism is of no profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him.”
Context: Valid but unprofitable until the person amends.
Bears on: S03.3
Status: verified (English)

S03X S3: On Baptism V

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14085.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “rian, that the custom of the Catholic Church is at present retained, when men coming from the side of heretics or schismatics, if they have received baptism as consecrated in the words of the gospel, are not baptized afresh.”
Context: Augustine describes the Catholic custom of his day.
Bears on: S03.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S06X

See S06X reasoning.

S06X S1: Tractates on John 80.3

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701080.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “The word is added to the element, and there results the Sacrament, as if itself also a kind of visible word.”
Context: On John 15:3, ‘Now ye are clean through the word’.
Bears on: S06.5
Status: verified (English)

S06X S2: On Baptism IV

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/14084.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “t as baptism is of no profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him.”
Context: Baptism received in schism, and its benefit after amendment.
Bears on: S06.5
Status: verified (English)

S06X S3: Letter 98.9

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102098.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “As, therefore, in a certain manner the sacrament of Christ’s body is Christ’s body, and the sacrament of Christ’s blood is Christ’s blood, in the same manner the sacrament of faith is faith.”
Context: Augustine to Boniface on infant baptism.
Bears on: S06.5
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S05X

See S05X reasoning.

S05X S1: Confessions IX.11

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/110109.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “This only I ask, that you will remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be.”
Context: Monica’s request before her death.
Bears on: S05.3
Status: verified (English)

S05X S2: Enchiridion 110

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1302.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead are benefited by the piety of their living friends, who offer the sacrifice of the Mediator, or give alms in the church on their behalf.”
Context: Augustine on what helps the souls of the dead.
Bears on: S05.3
Status: verified (English)

Doctrine S18X

See S18X reasoning.

S18X S1: Nature and Grace 42 (ch. 36)

Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm (public-domain English translation)
Text: “We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.”
Context: Augustine replying to Pelagius’s list of sinless saints.
Bears on: S18.4
Status: verified (English)