What was Augustine's soteriology?
score:3
Upon examining the second book of Calvin's Institutes, I found that Calvin and Augustine are pretty much 100% on the same page.
Calvin, Institues, 2.5.2
Thus [Augustine] asks, "What is human merit? He who came to bestow not due recompense but free grace, though himself free from sin, and the giver of freedom, found all men sinners" (Augustine, In Psalmum 31). Again, "If you are to receive your due, you must be punished. What then is done? God has not rendered you due punishment, but bestows upon you unmerited grace. If you wish to be an alien from grace, boast your merits" (In Psalmum 70). Again, "You are nothing in yourself, sin is yours, merit God's. Punishment is your due; and when the reward shall come, God shall crown his own gifts, not yoru merits" (Epist. 52) To the same effect he elsewhere says (De verb. Apost. serm. 15), that grace is not of merit, but merit of grace.
Considering the wealth of quotes, it's pretty obvious Calvin agrees with Augustine on God's grace. Considering the total shunning of any human merit, this at least distinguishes Calvin and Augustine from the Catholics.
Later, in 2.5.8, Calvin quotes Augustine again:
As Augustine says, "What God promises, we ourselves do not through choice or nature, but he himself does by grace."
The mention of the inability of human choice (based, likely, on passages like Romans 9:16) separates Calvin and Augustine again from the Arminians.
The one disagreement I found was in 2.4.3, where Augustine appears to differ on the views of God's "hardening." Calvin believed that God "hardened the hearts" of those whom he did not choose. So here, perhaps, Calvin was even more "frozen-chosen-ish" than Augustine, but otherwise they are in agreement regarding God's grace as the sole means of salvation.
Upvote:1
Augustine's Soteriology is hard to nail down because in the particular work we most cite when we think of his soteriology as though it were so fixed, he was reacting to Pelagius who was basically promoting a kind of Deism where God made man able to save himself and had to do nothing to help him. Of course, not everyone would achieve it, only people who were very exceptional. So you must know a bit about Pelagius' supposed teaching when reading Augustine - I somewhat doubt we actually know Augustine's final position on the issue. Those who quote his works to favor a Monergist approach abuse him greatly.
More post
- 📝 How does St Peter's view on salvation reconcile with that of Jesus?
- 📝 Am I considered to be Catholic?
- 📝 How do Cessationists view "being filled with the Holy Spirit"?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, what are concrete and practical ways by which Christians can be filled (and stay filled) with the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Did the Romans not breaking Jesus' legs fulfill a prophecy?
- 📝 Why didn't God forgive Saul when he asked for it?
- 📝 Did Jonah think that God exists only in Israel?
- 📝 When did people start to deny Jesus as a historical person?
- 📝 What do I do when watching a video of someone praying?
- 📝 Are there any authors that who believe Eph. 4:11 is not describing titles but general characteristics of how God created the church to work together?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church mean by "beatific vision"?
- 📝 Can a sin lead one to hell even under grace? (this is not a Catholic post regarding mortal and venial sin)
- 📝 Does the Bible list any "miracles" specifically accomplished by the Devil?
- 📝 Who is the pardoning authority for Sin against the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Does Christianity claims that congenital deaf-blindness could never be cured by humans?
- 📝 Do any Christian denominations forbid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton?
- 📝 Why did Jesus not stone the adulteress?
- 📝 What are the practical applications of "two will become one flesh"?
- 📝 What are the claims of authenticity of these two sites of Jesus' burial, the Garden Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?
- 📝 Do any Christian traditions hold the belief that Adam was androgynous?
- 📝 Where in the Biblical narrative does God first reveal himself as the only living and true god?
- 📝 Do Catholics converts enter into any covenants with God?
- 📝 Who in the fourth century had milk instead of wine at communion?
- 📝 Has a Pope ever encouraged separated or civilly-divorced spouses to strive toward reunion?
- 📝 Identifying a Saint on a Greek Orthodox icon?
- 📝 How do Catholics speak with their Guardian angels?
- 📝 Can Angels die?
- 📝 Has the Roman Catholic Church ever officially condemned the Croatian Ustashi?
- 📝 How do you explain the Christian Message to people who have no Christian vocabulary or context?
- 📝 How can trinitarians profess co-equality when Jesus said the Father was greater?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What evidence is there that Jesus was a carpenter?
- 📝 What was it about the death of Jesus that allows God to forgive us?
- 📝 What denominations, besides JWs, hold that the Star of Bethlehem was sent by Satan?
- 📝 What color was Augustine's skin?
- 📝 At what time of day was Jesus crucified?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus was the "second Adam"?
- 📝 What was the difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees?
- 📝 What crime was committed by the "thieves" crucified with Jesus?
- 📝 What is the support for saying Jesus believed Genesis was a literal account of creation?
- 📝 What process was used to translate the KJV?
- 📝 Wave offering; What exactly was the point?
- 📝 What of Augustine's ecclesiology was rejected in the Reformation?
- 📝 What was Isaac Newton's view of the Trinity?
- 📝 What was the specific trap being set for Jesus by the Pharisees in John 8?
- 📝 What is the evidence that suggests that the Apostle Paul was married?
- 📝 What was the problem at Babel?
- 📝 In what language was the Book of Matthew written?
- 📝 What Scriptures did Arius use to support teaching that Jesus was created?
- 📝 What was inside the Ark of the Covenant?
- 📝 What happened to the wives of priests when celibacy was first instituted in the Catholic church?
- 📝 What was Anselm's biblical basis for his theory of atonement by satisfaction?
- 📝 What evidence is there that Peter was a bishop in Rome?
- 📝 What is the basis for Lombard's view that the basis of justification for OT men was different than for OT women?
- 📝 What was the most likely method of crucifixion that was used on Jesus?
- 📝 What is the oldest surviving photograph of someone who was later canonized as a saint?
- 📝 What is significant about the swaddling clothes with which Jesus was wrapped as a baby?
- 📝 What are the arguments that Acts was written prior to 70 AD?
- 📝 What was the reasons for documentary hypothesis?
- 📝 What was the Star of Bethlehem?
- 📝 What name was used by Peter for Baptism?