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The Fifteen Books of Aurelius Augustinus, Bishop of Hippo, on the Trinity

Chapter 13.--The Death of Christ Voluntary. How the Mediator of Life Subdued the Mediator of Death. How the Devil Leads His Own to Despise the Death of Christ.

16. Wherefore, since the spirit is to be preferred to the body, and the death of the spirit means that God has left it, but the death of the body that the spirit has left it; and since herein lies the punishment in the death of the body, that the spirit leaves the body against its will, because it left God willingly; so that, whereas the spirit left God because it would, it leaves the body although it would not; nor leaves it when it would, unless it has offered violence to itself, whereby the body itself is slain: the spirit of the Mediator showed how it was through no punishment of sin that He came to the death of the flesh, because He did not leave it against His will, but because He willed, when He willed, as He willed. For because He is so commingled [with the flesh] by the Word of God as to be one, He says: "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay down my life that I might take it again." ¹ And, as the Gospel tells us, they who were present were most astonished at this, that after that [last] word, in which He set forth the figure of our sin, He immediately gave up His spirit. For they who are hung on the cross are commonly tortured by a prolonged death. Whence it was that the legs of the thieves were broken, in order that they might die directly, and be taken down from the cross before the Sabbath. And that He was found to be dead already, caused wonder. And it was this also, at which, as we read, Pilate marvelled, when the body of the Lord was asked of him for burial. ²

17. Because that deceiver then,--who was a mediator to death for man, and feignedly puts himself forward as to life, under the name of cleansing by sacrilegious rites and sacrifices, by which the proud are led away,--can neither share in our death, nor rise again from his own: he has indeed been able to apply his single death to our double one; but he certainly has not been able to apply a single resurrection, which should be at once a mystery of our renewal, and a type of that waking up which is to be in the end. He then who being alive in the spirit raised again His own flesh that was dead, the true Mediator of life, has cast out him, who is dead in the spirit and the mediator of death, from the spirits of those who believe in Himself, so that he should not reign within, but should assault from without, and yet not prevail. And to him, too, He offered Himself to be tempted, in order that He might be also a mediator to overcome his temptations, not only by succor, but also by example. But when the devil, from the first, although striving through every entrance to creep into His inward parts, was thrust out, having finished all his alluring temptation in the wilderness after the baptism; ³ because, being dead in the spirit, he forced no entrance into Him who was alive in the spirit, he betook himself, through eagerness for the death of man in any way whatsoever, to effecting that death which he could, and was permitted to effect it upon that mortal element which the living Mediator had received from us. And where he could do anything, there in every respect he was conquered; and wherein he received outwardly the power of slaying the Lord in the flesh, therein his inward power, by which he held ourselves, was slain. For it was brought to pass that the bonds of many sins in many deaths were loosed, through the one death of One which no sin had preceded. Which death, though not due, the Lord therefore rendered for us, that the death which was due might work us no hurt. For He was not stripped of the flesh by obligation of any authority, but He stripped Himself. For doubtless He who was able not to die, if He would not, did die because He would: and so He made a show of principalities and powers, openly triumphing over them in Himself. ⁴ For whereas by His death the one and most real sacrifice was offered up for us, whatever fault there was, whence principalities and powers held us fast as of right to pay its penalty, He cleansed, abolished, extinguished; and by His own resurrection He also called us whom He predestinated to a new life; and whom He called, them He justified; and whom He justified, them He glorified. ⁵ And so the devil, in that very death of the flesh, lost man, whom he was possessing as by an absolute right, seduced as he was by his own consent, and over whom he ruled, himself impeded by no corruption of flesh and blood, through that frailty of man's mortal body, whence he was both too poor and too weak; he who was proud in proportion as he was, as it were, both richer and stronger, ruling over him who was, as it were, both clothed in rags and full of troubles. For whither he drove the sinner to fall, himself not following, there by following he compelled the Redeemer to descend. And so the Son of God deigned to become our friend in the fellowship of death, to which because he came not, the enemy thought himself to be better and greater than ourselves. For our Redeemer says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ⁶ Wherefore also the devil thought himself superior to the Lord Himself, inasmuch as the Lord in His sufferings yielded to him; for of Him, too, is understood what is read in the Psalm, "For Thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels:" ⁷ so that He, being Himself put to death, although innocent, by the unjust one acting against us as it were by just right, might by a most just right overcome him, and so might lead captive the captivity wrought through sin, ⁸ and free us from a captivity that was just on account of sin, by blotting out the handwriting, and redeeming us who were to be justified although sinners, through His own righteous blood unrighteously poured out.

18. Hence also the devil mocks those who are his own until this very day, to whom he presents himself as a false mediator, as though they would be cleansed or rather entangled and drowned by his rites, in that he very easily persuades the proud to ridicule and despise the death of Christ, from which the more he himself is estranged, the more is he believed by them to be the holier and more divine. Yet those who have remained with him are very few, since the nations acknowledge and with pious humility imbibe the price paid for themselves, and in trust upon it abandon their enemy, and gather together to their Redeemer. For the devil does not know how the most excellent wisdom of God makes use of both his snares and his fury to bring about the salvation of His own faithful ones, beginning from the former end, which is the beginning of the spiritual creature, even to the latter end, which is the death of the body, and so "reaching from the one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things." ⁹ For wisdom "passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness, and no defiled thing can fall into her." ¹⁰ And since the devil has nothing to do with the death of the flesh, whence comes his exceeding pride, a death of another kind is prepared in the eternal fire of hell, by which not only the spirits that have earthly, but also those who have aerial bodies, can be tormented. But proud men, by whom Christ is despised, because He died, wherein He bought us with so great a price, ¹¹ both bring back the former death, and also men, to that miserable condition of nature, which is derived from the first sin, and will be cast down into the latter death with the devil. And they on this account preferred the devil to Christ, because the former cast them into that former death, whither he himself fell not through the difference of his nature, and whither on account of them Christ descended through His great mercy: and yet they do not hesitate to believe themselves better than the devils, and do not cease to assail and denounce them with every sort of malediction, while they know them at any rate to have nothing to do with the suffering of this kind of death, on account of which they despise Christ. Neither will they take into account that the case may possibly be, that the Word of God, remaining in Himself, and in Himself in no way changeable, may yet, through the taking upon Him of a lower nature, be able to suffer somewhat of a lower kind, which the unclean spirit cannot suffer, because he has not an earthly body. And so, whereas they themselves are better than the devils, yet, because they bear a body of flesh, they can so die, as the devils certainly cannot die, who do not bear such a body. They presume much on the deaths of their own sacrifices, which they do not perceive that they sacrifice to deceitful and proud spirits; or if they have come to perceive it, think their friendship to be of some good to themselves, treacherous and envious although they are, whose purpose is bent upon nothing else except to hinder our return.

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De Trinitate

XIII.

[XIII 16] Quapropter cum spiritus corpori praeponatur morsque sit spiritus a deo deseri, mors autem corporis ab spiritu deseri eaque sit poena in morte corporis ut quia spiritus volens deseruit deum, deserat corpus invitus ut cum spiritus deum deseruerit quia voluit, deserat corpus etiamsi noluerit nec deserat cum voluerit nisi aliquam sibi vim qua ipsum corpus perimatur intulerit, demonstravit spiritus mediatoris quam nulla poena peccati usque ad mortem carnis accesserit quia non eam deseruit invitus sed quia voluit, quando voluit, quomodo voluit. Quippe dei verbo ad unitatem commixtus hinc ait: Potestatem habeo ponendi animam meam et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam. Nemo tollit eam a me, sed ego pono eam a me, et iterum sumo eam. Et hoc maxime mirati sunt sicut evangelium loquitur qui praesentes erant cum post illam vocem in qua figuram peccati nostri edidit, continuo tradidit spiritum. Longa enim morte cruciabantur ligno suspensi. Unde latronibus ut iam morerentur et de ligno ante sabbatum deponerentur crura confracta sunt. Ille autem quia mortuus inventus est miraculo fuit. Hoc etiam Pilatum legimus fuisse miratum cum ab illo sepeliendum corpus domini peteretur.

[17] Ille itaque deceptor qui fuit homini mediator ad mortem falsoque se opponit ad vitam nomine purgationis per sacra et sacrificia sacrilega quibus superbi seducuntur quia nec participationem mortis nostrae habere potuit nec resurrectionem suae, simplam quidem suam mortem ad duplam nostram potuit afferre; simplam vero resurrectionem in qua et sacramentum esse renovationis nostrae et eius quae in fine futura est evigilationis exemplum non utique potuit. Ille proinde qui spiritu vivus carnem suam mortuam resuscitavit, verus vitae mediator illum spiritum mortuum et mortis mediatorem ab spiritibus in se credentium foras misit ut non regnaret intrinsecus sed fortinsecus oppugnaret nec tamen expugnaret. Cui se ipse quoque temptandum praebuit ut ad superandas etiam temptationes eius mediator esset non solum per adiutorium verum etiam per exemplum. At ille primitus ubi per omnes aditus ad interiora moliens inrepere expulsus est, post baptismum in eremo completa omni temptatione inlecebrosa quia vivum spiritum mortuus spiritu non invasit quoquo modo avidus mortis humanae convertit se ad faciendam mortem quam potuit et permissus est in illud quod ex nobis mortale vivus mediator acceperat. Et ubi potuit aliquid facere ibi ex omni parte devictus est, et unde accepit exterius potestatem dominicae carnis occidendae inde interior qua nos tenebat potestas eius occisa est. Factum est enim ut vincula peccatorum multorum in multis mortibus per unius unam mortem quam peccatum nullum praecesserat solverentur. Quam propterea dominus pro nobis indebitam reddidit ut nobis debita non noceret. Neque enim cuiusquam iure potestatis exutus est carne, sed ipse se exuit. Nam qui posset non mori si nollet, procul dubio quia voluit mortuus est, et ideo principatus et potestates exemplavit fiducialiter triumphans eas in semet ipso. Morte sua quippe uno verissimo sacrificio pro nobis oblato quidquid culparum erat unde nos principatus et potestates ad luenda supplicia iure detinebat purgavit, abolevit, exstinxit, et sua resurrectione in novam vitam nos praedestinatos vocavit, vocatos iustificavit, iustificatos glorificavit.

Ita diabolus hominem quem per consensionem seductum tamquam iure integro possidebat, et ipse nulla corruptione carnis et sanguinis septus per istam corporis mortalis fragilitatem nimis egeno et infirmo tanto superbior quanto velut ditior et fortior quasi pannoso et aerumnoso dominabatur, in ipsa morte carnis amisit. Quo enim cadentem non secutus impulit peccatorem illuc descendentem persecutus compulit redemptorem. Sic in mortis consortio filius dei nobis fieri dignatus est amicus quo non perveniendo meliorem se nobis atque maiorem putabat inimicus. Dicit enim redemptor noster: Maiorem dilectionem nemo habet quam ut animam suam ponat pro amicis suis. Quocirca etiam ipso domino se credebat diabolus superiorem in quantum illi dominus in passionibus cessit quia et de ipso intellectum est quod in psalmis legitur: Minuisti eum paulo minus ab angelis, ut ab iniquo velut aequo iure adversus nos agente ipse occisus innocens eum iure aequissimo superaret {atque ita captivitatem propter peccatum factam captivaret} nosque liberaret a captivitate propter peccatum iusta suo iusto sanguine iniuste fuso mortis chirographum delens et iustificandos redimens peccatores.

[18] Hinc etiam diabolus adhuc suos inludit quibus se per sua sacra velut purgandis et potius implicandis atque mergendis falsus mediator opponit quod superbis facillime persuadet inridere atque contemnere mortem Christi a qua ipse quanto est alienior tanto ab eis creditur sanctior atque divinior. Qui tamen apud eum paucissimi remanserunt agnoscentibus gentibus et pia humilitate bibentibus pretium suum eiusque fiducia deserentibus hostem suum et concurrentibus ad redemptorem suum. Nescit enim diabolus quomodo illo et insidiante et furente utatur ad salutem fidelium suorum excelsissima sapientia dei, a fine superiore, quod est initium spiritalis creaturae, usque ad finem inferiorem, quod est mors corporis, pertendens fortiter et disponens omnia suaviter. Attingit enim ubique propter suam munditiam, et nihil inquinatum in eam incurrit. A morte autem carnis alieno diabolo unde nimium superbus incedit mors alterius generis praeparatur in aeterno igne Tartari quo non solum cum terrenis sed etiam cum aeriis corporibus excruciari spiritus possint. Superbi autem homines quibus Christus quia mortuus est viluit ubi nos tam magno emit et istam mortem reddunt cum hominibus conditioni aerumnosae naturae quae trahitur a primo peccato et in illam cum illo praecipitabuntur. Quem propterea Christo praeposuerunt quia eos in istam deiecit quo per distantem naturam ipse non cecidit et quo propter eos per ingentem misericordiam ille descendit, et tamen se daemonibus esse meliores non dubitant credere eosque maledictis omnibus insectari detestarique non cessant, quos certe alienos ab huius mortis passione noverunt propter quam Christum contemnunt. Nec sic volunt considerare quam fieri potuerit ut in se manens nec per se ipsum ex ulla parte mutabile verbum dei per inferioris tamen naturae susceptionem aliquid inferius pati posset quod immundus daemon quia terrenum corpus non habet, pati non possit. Sic cum sint ipsi daemonibus meliores, tamen quia carnem portant mori sic possunt quemadmodum mori daemones quia non eam portant non utique possunt. Et cum de mortibus sacrificiorum suorum multum praesumant quae se fallacibus superbisque spiritibus immolare non sentiunt, aut si etiam sentiunt, aliquid sibi prodesse arbitrantur perfidorum et invidorum amicitiam quorum intentionis nullum negotium est nisi impeditio reditus nostri. [19] Non intellegunt ne ipsos quidem superbissimos spiritus honoribus sacrificiorum gaudere potuisse nisi uni vero deo pro quo coli volunt verum sacrificium deberetur.