Augustine begins by acknowledging the request of Laurentius, namely, a handbook with answers to the big questions of life. The author articulates a few of these questions: “What ought to be man’s chief end in life; what he ought, in view of the various heresies, chiefly to avoid; to what extent religion is supported by reason; what there is in reason that lends no support to faith, when faith stands alone; what is the starting point, what the goal, of religion …” Augustine maintains that his disciple can know the answers to all of the above questions, so long as he thoroughly knows the “proper objects of faith, hope, and love.”
Augustine boils down a piece of essential knowledge that is required for all who follow Christ, namely, that the goodness of the Creator created all things. It is refreshing to hear the simplicity of Augustine’s message regarding origins; a message that comes almost 1,500 years before the scandalous musings of Charles Darwin: “It is enough for the Christian to believe that the only cause of all created things, whether heavenly or earthly, whether visible or invisible, is the goodness of the Creator, the one true God; and that nothing exists but Himself that does not derive its existence from Him; and that He is the Trinity – to wit, the Father, and the Son begotten of the Father, and the Son begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the same Father, but one and the same Spirit of Father and Son.”
Augustine wrestles with the problem of evil and holds that evil is the absence of good. In other words, it is possible for evil to exist in a universe that was originally created as good. Or to put it another way, evil is dependent upon goodness. He writes, “There can be no evil where there is no good; and an evil man is an evil good.”
Augustine maintains the God, who is omnipotent is a good God, even when he permits evil: “Although, therefore, evil, in so far as it is evil as good exists, is a good. For if it were not a good that evil should exist, its existence would not be permitted by the omnipotent Good, who without doubt can as easily refuse to permit what He does not wish, as bring about what He does wish.”
The author addresses the nature of free grace and responds to the Pelagianism that was corrupting the church in the fifth century (and continues to poison many contemporary churches): “Men are not saved by good works, nor by the free determination of their own will, but by the grace of God through faith … So when man by his own free will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost.”
Thoughtful readers will graciously pass by Augustine’s erroneous promotion of paedo-baptism; they will refuse to “throw the baby out with the bathwater!” Draining the bathwater would preclude the reader from profiting from Augustine’s theological insight. These insights include but are not limited to:
1) The importance of building a strong and biblical doctrinal foundation.
2) The importance of exercising discernment with professors of Christianity.
3) The importance of personal discipleship.
4) The importance of developing a Christian worldview, especially in regards to the Creator-creature distinction.
5) The folly of free will apart from grace and the liberty that new creatures receive in Christ.
6) The sinfulness of sin, the bondage and slavery of unregenerate man, and the necessity of a Redeemer.
Read the thermometer in our postmodern climate. It nearly always reads, “trivial,” “banal,” “superficial,” or “amusement.” Augustine’s Enchiridion provides a much needed shot of meaty mercury! Read it with an open Bible and a pen in hand.
Tolle Lege!
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