Saint Augustine of Hippo began work on The City of God in 413 A.D., after the fall of Rome. This book was one of the first doctrinal works to discuss in print many of the complex questions of the Christian faith. Augustine’s initial goal in writing the book was first to show that it was not Christianity but the paganism of Rome itself that was responsible for its fall. Second, he also defines and distinguishes between the “city of God” and “the city of Man”. Despite the fact that the book was originally intended to apply to this Roman situation, due to the description of the cities of God and man, The City of God discusses many subjects that are still argued, debated, and disagreed upon today. Three such topics are addressed in books XI and XII. Augustine discusses how creatures created by a perfect God became imperfect, what purpose an all-knowing God has in allowing evil to remain on the earth He created good, and how all of God’s creations give glory, even in their twisted imperfection, to their Creator. Augustine covers these topics thoroughly; however there is one hard question that does not seem to be answered.
Augustine maintains that since God is completely good, everything He creates must be good; therefore man was created good but his will was twisted to do evil. Augustine argues against all those who would say that God did not create man completely good by pointing out that God Himself “looked at everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Gen.1:31) In explaining how man is no longer perfect, as he was created, Augustine says that “the flaw of wickedness is not nature, but contrary to nature, and has its origin, not in the Creator, but in the will.” (XI.17) He says that man’s nature was originally good—that nature in itself is good, therefore it is not man’s nature but vice which does evil and opposes God. It is vice that twisted man’s pure will to do evil. At first, Adam and Eve existed in a perfect state of fellowship with God, and that is how God created man to be. Vice is the serpent that flattered and tempted Adam into sinning and twisted his will to do evil. Therefore, Augustine tells us, “Even the vice which by force of habit and long continuance has become second nature, had its origin in the will.” (XII.3) So Augustine asserts that our perfect God created a perfect man whose will was then corrupted by vice.
Augustine replies to those who would ask what use or purpose an all-knowing, all-powerful God has in allowing sin to remain and harm His people, by speaking of the concept of antithesis. For “God would never have created any… unless He had equally known to what… good He could turn him, thus embellishing the course of ages, as it were an exquisite poem set off with antithesis.” (XI.18) Webster, in his 1828 Dictionary of the English Language, defines antithesis as “opposition of opinions; controversy. In rhetoric, an opposition of words or sentiments; contrast.” In literature an antithesis would be something or someone who provides a contrast by which you see the qualities—usually good—of another. Artists such as Rembrandt and Thomas Kincaid use shadows as an antithesis to better bring out the light and the colors in their paintings. Augustine shows antithesis as God using evil to bring out the goodness of the good. This is why James tells believers to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” (Ja.1:2-3) There are many other examples that prove this theory of antithesis reasonable.
One example of antithesis, or “God using evil to bring out the goodness of the good,” is persecution of the church. It would seem that the church actually grows larger and stronger under persecution. An example of this would be the early church in Ancient Rome, where Christianity was considered a radical and dangerous sect that should be wiped out. Many were arrested, crucified, fed to the lions, etc, and yet “the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts6:7) Peter and John were called before the Sanhedrin and told to stop preaching the gospel or be punished, and as opposed to praying for safety, the believers prayed that God would “enable [His] servants to preach [His] word with great boldness.” (Acts4:29) Another example is the modern church in China, which is underground due to widespread persecution of Christianity in that country. An underground church leader stated that Christians in other countries should “stop praying for persecution in China to end,” adding that “it is through persecution that the church has grown.” (World Magazine, Praying for Persecution, by Gene Edward Veith) The Chinese church leader also stated that Chinese Christians are praying that the churches of other countries “might taste the same persecution so revival would come to [them] like we have seen in China.” So, in fact, it is during times that are hardest for the church and the believer individually that the Christian grows stronger and surer in their faith. This is one example of antithesis at work.
Another example of antithesis, which Augustine covers, is the fact that controversy over doctrine and the interpretation of Scripture, while it does stir up strife and divide believers, causes Christians to study and meditate on God’s Word, to discover for themselves its meaning. Augustine says that “this obscurity is beneficial, whether the sense of the author is at last reached after the discussion of many other interpretations, or whether, though that sense remain concealed, other truths are brought out by the discussion of the obscurity.” (XI.19) So, although it took argument to cause the study, every time a person reads the Bible they can learn something new, whether it’s relevant only to themselves, or to all. So through antithesis believers can come to a new and more extensive understanding of the Scriptures.
Augustine also states that not only is that which is not good used to give glory to God by showing the goodness of that which is good, but it itself gives Him glory. All things in creation, even that which is not perfect, give Him glory. Augustine speaks of “all natures… [which] have a rank and species of their own, and a kind of internal harmony… places assigned to them by the order of their nature…” (XII.5) The simple fact that all created things have a place and a purpose in the order of nature glorifies God. Every plant, every animal, every person has a reason and a calling to exist, through which they give glory to their Creator, whether they are aware of it or not. Augustine stresses th
at despite the fact that man’s perfection has been marred by sin, still God has a purpose for him and still He uses man for His glory. Augustine says that the sinful will, “though it violated the order of its own nature, did not on that account escape the laws of God, who justly orders all things for good. For as the beauty of a picture is increased by well-managed shadows, so, to the eye that has skill to discern it, the universe is beautified even by sinners.” (XI.23) In Romans, the apostle Paul says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23) As Augustine points out, despite the fact that God’s creation is peopled with sinners, still it points to and gives glory to the One who created it.
Augustine’s coverage of the topics of the will, of antithesis, and of God’s glory is impressive. However, through it all there is one question that begins on the subject of the will, and so affects the rest, and does not seem to be clearly addressed. On the subject of the will, Augustine says that “vice… had its origin in the will,” (XII.3) yet he also says that man’s nature is good, because he was created by a God that cannot create anything that is not good. Surely the will is a part of the created man. If this is so, a question arises of how a perfect will can make a decision for evil. If every man were born with a perfect will, he would naturally make decisions for good; or so it would seem. Yet humans begin to make wrong, sinful decisions from the moment they are born. There must be an explanation for this if man is created good, just as God uses even evil for good, even though it seems questionable that an evil will could do good. However, Augustine does not seem able to supply this explanation. He attempts to, yet the question is not satisfied. When Augustine points out that even a sinner brings glory to God, he says that that sinful will “violated the order of its own nature.” (XI.23) This statement seems to address the issue of how a completely good will could make a decision that was not good, yet the question still remains: how can a man’s will violate its own nature? To this question Augustine offers no answer.
It would seem that Saint Augustine experienced firsthand the antithesis of the obscurity of God’s Word. Aside from the question that presents itself and seems impossible to answer, it is obvious that through constant, detailed study of the Scriptures, Augustine has come to satisfactory conclusions. He explains in detail his conclusions about the corruption of the will, how God uses evil, and how the corrupted will can bring glory to God, and these are only three of the many investigations into the Word of God that Augustine speaks of in his City of God. Augustine concludes that God created man good, as is confirmed in Genesis where it says “behold, it was very good,” (Gen.1:31) then man allowed his will to become polluted by vice. God uses evil to provide a contrast by which the good can be seen to be very good, and He uses everything in His creation, now marred by sin, to point to and to bring glory to Him as creator.