# On the Christian Struggle - Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/) - Latin title: *De agone christiano* - Date: ca. 396–397 (approximate) - Source: Joseph Zycha, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini opera, sect. VI, pars 2, CSEL 41 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1900) (Latin text: Zycha, De agone christiano (CSEL 41), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/ - Passages: 35 ## On the Christian Struggle 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 41:101–103 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Christian's crown is won by conquering the devil, whom Christ conquered by taking our nature, and who is cast out of the hearts of those who renounce love of the world. ### Latin text Corona uictoriae non promittitur nisi certantibus. in diuinis autem scripturis adsidue inuenimus promitti nobis coronam, si uicerimus. sed, ne longum sit multa commemorare, apud apostolum Paulum manifestissime legitur: opus perfeci, cursum consummaui, fidem seruaui; iam superest mihi corona iustitiae. debemus ergo cognoscere, quis sit ipse aduersarius, quem si uicerimus coronabimur. ipse est enim, quem dominus noster prior uicit, ut etiam nos in illo permanentes uincamus. et dei quidem uirtus atque sapientia et uerbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, qui filius dei unicus est, super omnem creaturam semper incommutabilis manet. et quoniam sub illo est creatura etiam quae non peccauit, quanto magis sub illo est omnis creatura peccatrix! ergo quoniam sub illo sunt omnes sancti angeli, multo magis sub illo sunt omnes praeuaricatores angeli, quorum diabolus princeps est. sed quia naturam nostram deceperat, dignatus est unigenitus dei filius ipsam naturam nostram suscipere, ut de ipsa diabolus uinceretur et, quem semper ipse sub se habet, etiam sub nobis eum esse faceret. ipsum significat dicens: princeps huius mundi missus est foras, non quia extra mundum missus est, quomodo quidam haeretici putant, sed foras ab animis eorum, qui cohaerent uerbo dei et non diligunt mundum, cuius ille princeps est, quia dominatur eis, qui diligunt temporalia bona, quae hoc mundo uisibili continentur, non quia ipse dominus est huius mundi, sed princeps cupiditatum earum, quibus concupiscitur omne quod transit, ut ei subiaceant qui neglegunt aeternum deum et diligunt instabilia et mutabilia. radix enim est omnium malorum cupiditas: quam quidam adpetentes a fide errauerunt et inseruerunt se doloribus multis. per hanc cupiditatem regnat in homine diabolus et cor eius tenet. tales sunt omnes, qui diligunt istum mundum. mittitur autem diabolus foras, quando ex toto corde renuntiatur huic mundo. sic enim renuntiatur diabolo, qui princeps est huius mundi, cum renuntiatur corruptelis et pompis et angelis eius. ideoque ipse dominus iam triumphantem naturam hominis portans, scitote, inquit, quia ego uici mundum. ### English translation (Claude) The crown of victory is promised only to those who contend. And in the divine Scriptures we constantly find that a crown is promised to us if we conquer. But, not to take long in mentioning many passages, in the apostle Paul we read most plainly: 'I have finished the work, I have completed the course, I have kept the faith; now there remains for me the crown of righteousness.' We ought therefore to know who that adversary is, whom if we conquer we shall be crowned. For he is the one whom our Lord conquered first, so that we too, abiding in him, may conquer. The power and wisdom of God, the Word through whom all things were made, who is the only Son of God, remains always unchangeable above every creature. And since even the creature that has not sinned is beneath him, how much more is every sinful creature beneath him! Therefore, since all the holy angels are beneath him, much more are all the transgressing angels beneath him, whose prince is the devil. But because the devil had deceived our nature, the only-begotten Son of God deigned to take up our very nature, so that by means of it the devil might be conquered, and so that he whom the Son always holds beneath himself might be made to be beneath us too. He signifies him when he says, 'The prince of this world has been cast out,' not because he was cast outside the world, as some heretics think, but out of the souls of those who cleave to the Word of God and do not love the world, of which he is the prince; for he rules over those who love the temporal goods contained in this visible world, not because he is lord of this world, but prince of those desires by which everything that passes away is coveted, so that those who neglect the eternal God and love unstable and changeable things are subject to him. 'For the root of all evils is covetousness, and some, craving it, have wandered from the faith and entangled themselves in many sorrows.' Through this covetousness the devil reigns in a man and holds his heart. Such are all who love this world. But the devil is cast out when this world is renounced with the whole heart. For thus the devil, who is the prince of this world, is renounced, when his corruptions and pomps and angels are renounced. And so the Lord himself, bearing human nature now triumphant, says, 'Know that I have conquered the world.' ### Scripture references - 2 Tim 4:7–8: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:3: allusion, medium confidence - John 12:31: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 6:10: quotation, high confidence - John 16:33: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: 2 Tim 4:7–8; John 12:31; 1 Tim 6:10; John 16:33. 'Power and wisdom of God' echoes 1 Cor 1:24, and 'through whom all things were made' John 1:3. The renunciation of the devil's 'pomps and angels' echoes the baptismal renunciation. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 1 (CSEL 41:101–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-1). ## On the Christian Struggle 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 41:103–104 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The invisible devil is conquered within us when we conquer the desires through which he rules; the sinner who is 'earth' becomes the serpent's food. ### Latin text Multi autem dicunt: quomodo possumus uincere diabolum, quem non uidemus? sed habemus magistrum, qui nobis demonstrare dignatus est, quomodo inuisibiles hostes uincantur. de illo enim dixit apostolus: exuens se carne principatus et potestates exemplauit fiducialiter triumphans eos in semet ipso. ibi ergo uincuntur inimicae nobis inuisibiles potestates, ubi uincuntur inuisibiles cupiditates. et ideo quia in nobis ipsis uincimus temporalium rerum cupiditates, necesse est, ut in nobis ipsis uincamus et illum, qui per ipsas cupiditates regnat in homine. quando enim dictum est diabolo: terram manducabis, dictum est peccatori: terra es, et in terram ibis. datus est ergo in cibum diaboli peccator. non simus terra, si nolumus manducari a serpente. sicut enim quod manducamus, in nostrum corpus conuertimus, ut cibus ipse secundum corpus hoc efficiatur quod nos sumus, sic malis moribus per nequitiam et superbiam et inpietatem hoc efficitur quisque quod diabolus, id est similis eius, et subicitur ei, sicut subiectum est nobis corpus nostrum. et hoc est, quod dicitur manducari a serpente. quisquis itaque timet illum ignem, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius, det operam triumphare de illo in semet ipso. eos enim, qui foris nos oppugnant, intus uincimus uincendo concupiscentias, per quas nobis dominantur. et quos inuenerint sui similes, secum ad poenas trahunt. ### English translation (Claude) But many say, 'How can we conquer the devil, whom we do not see?' But we have a teacher who deigned to show us how invisible enemies are conquered. For of him the apostle said: 'Stripping himself of the flesh, he made an example of the principalities and powers, confidently triumphing over them in himself.' There, then, the invisible powers hostile to us are conquered, where invisible desires are conquered. And therefore, since we conquer the desires for temporal things within ourselves, we must also conquer within ourselves him who reigns in man through those very desires. For when it was said to the devil, 'You shall eat earth,' it was said to the sinner, 'You are earth, and to earth you shall go.' So the sinner has been given as food to the devil. Let us not be earth, if we do not want to be eaten by the serpent. For just as we turn what we eat into our body, so that the food itself becomes, bodily, what we are, so by evil conduct, through wickedness and pride and ungodliness, each person becomes what the devil is, that is, like him, and is made subject to him, as our body is subject to us. And this is what is meant by being eaten by the serpent. Whoever, then, fears that fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, let him strive to triumph over him within himself. For those who attack us from outside we conquer within, by conquering the desires through which they rule over us. And those whom they find like themselves they drag with them to punishment. ### Scripture references - Col 2:15: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:14: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:41: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Col 2:15 (in the Old Latin form 'stripping himself of the flesh'); Gen 3:14; Gen 3:19; allusion to Matt 25:41. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 2 (CSEL 41:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-2). ## On the Christian Struggle 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 41:104–105 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The 'heavenly places' where the spiritual forces of wickedness are found means the air, not the highest heaven, from which the devil fell. ### Latin text Sic et apostolus dicit, quod in semet ipso pugnet aduersus potestates exteriores. ait enim: non est nobis conluctatio aduersus carnem et sanguinem, sed aduersus principes et potestates huius mundi, rectores harum tenebrarum, aduersus spiritalia nequitiae in caelestibus. caelum enim dicitur etiam iste aer, ubi uenti et nubes et procellae et turbines fiunt, sicut etiam scriptura dicit multis locis: et intonuit de caelo dominus, et: aues caeli, et: uolatilia caeli, cum manifestum sit aues in aere uolare. et nos in consuetudine hunc aerem caelum appellamus; nam cum de sereno uel nubilo quaerimus, aliquando dicimus: qualis est aer? aliquando: quale est caelum? hoc dixi, ne quis existimet ibi habitare mala daemonia, ubi solem et lunam et stellas deus ordinauit. quae mala daemonia ideo apostolus appellat spiritalia, quia etiam mali angeli in scripturis spiritus appellantur. ideo autem rectores harum tenebrarum eos dicit, quoniam peccatores homines tenebras appellat, quibus isti dominantur. ideo et alio loco dicit: fuistis enim aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in domino, quia ex peccatoribus iustificati erant. non ergo arbitremur in summo caelo habitare diabolum cum angelis suis, unde lapsum esse credimus. ### English translation (Claude) So too the apostle says that he fights within himself against powers outside. For he says: 'Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes and powers of this world, the rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.' For this air too, where winds and clouds and storms and whirlwinds occur, is called heaven, as Scripture also says in many places: 'And the Lord thundered from heaven,' and 'the birds of heaven,' and 'the flying creatures of heaven,' though it is plain that birds fly in the air. And we too in ordinary usage call this air heaven; for when we ask about fair or cloudy weather, we sometimes say, 'What is the air like?' and sometimes, 'What is the sky like?' I have said this so that no one may think that evil demons dwell where God set the sun and moon and stars. The apostle calls these evil demons 'spiritual forces' because evil angels too are called spirits in the Scriptures. And he calls them 'rulers of this darkness' because he calls sinful men darkness, over whom these rule. That is why he says in another place, 'For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord,' because from sinners they had been justified. Let us not suppose, then, that the devil with his angels dwells in the highest heaven, from which we believe he fell. ### Scripture references - Eph 6:12: quotation, high confidence - Ps 18:13 (17:14 LXX): quotation, medium confidence - Eph 5:8: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Eph 6:12; Ps 18:13 (17:14 LXX); Eph 5:8. 'The birds of heaven' is a common biblical phrase (e.g. Gen 1:26; Matt 6:26). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 3 (CSEL 41:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-3). ## On the Christian Struggle 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 41:105–107 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine sets out the Manichaean myth of God's war with the race of darkness as sacrilegious, and warns that Manichaeans lure the simple with obscure passages such as Eph 6:12. ### Latin text Sic enim errauerunt Manichaei, qui dicunt ante mundi constitutionem fuisse gentem tenebrarum, quae contra deum rebellauit: in quo bello credunt miseri omnipotentem deum non sibi aliter potuisse succurrere, nisi partem suam contra eam gentem mitteret. cuius gentis principes, sicut illi dicunt, deuorauerunt partem dei et temperati sunt, ut posset de illis mundus fabricari. sic dicunt deum peruenisse ad uictoriam cum magnis calamitatibus et cruciatibus et miseriis membrorum suorum: quae membra dicunt esse commixta tenebrosis uisceribus principum illorum, ut eos temperarent et a furore compescerent. et non intellegunt tam sacrilegam esse sectam suam, ut credant omnipotentem deum non per creaturam, quam fecerit, sed per ipsam naturam suam bellasse cum tenebris: quod nefas est credere. neque hoc solum, sed etiam illos, qui uicti sunt, factos esse meliores, quia furor eorum conpressus est; dei autem naturam, quae uicit, factam esse miserrimam. dicunt enim eam per ipsam commixtionem perdidisse intellectum et beatitudinem suam et magnis erroribus et cladibus esse inplicatam. quam si aliquando uel totam purgari dicerent, magnam tamen inpietatem contra omnipotentem deum adfirmarent, cuius partem crederent tanto tempore in erroribus ac poenis esse iactatam sine aliquo peccati crimine. nunc uero infelices audent adhuc dicere nec totam posse purgari; et ipsam partem, quae purgari non potuerit, proficere ad uinculum, ut inde inuoluatur et inligetur malitiae sepulcrum, et sic ibi semper sit pars ipsa dei misera, quae nihil peccauit et affigitur in aeternum carceri tenebrarum. hoc illi dicunt, ut simplices animas fallant. sed quis tam simplex est, ut ista non sentiat esse sacrilega, quibus affirmant omnipotentem deum necessitate oppressum esse, ut partem suam bonam et innocentem tantis cladibus obruendam et tanta inmunditia inquinandam daret et non totam liberare posset et quod liberare non potuerit, aeternis uinculis conligaret? quis ergo ista non execretur? quis non intellegat inpia esse et nefanda? sed illi quando capiunt homines, non ista prius dicunt — quae si dicerent, riderentur aut fugerentur ab omnibus — sed eligunt capitula de scripturis, quae simplices homines non intellegunt, et per illa decipiunt animas inperitas quaerendo, unde sit malum. sicut in isto capitulo faciunt, quod ab apostolo scriptum est: rectores harum tenebrarum, et spiritalia nequitiae in caelestibus. quaerunt enim deceptores illi et interrogant hominem scripturas diuinas non intellegentem, unde sint in caelo rectores tenebrarum, ut, cum respondere non potuerit, traducatur ab eis per curiositatem, quia omnis anima indocta curiosa est. qui autem fidem catholicam bene didicit et bonis moribus et uera pietate munitus est, quamuis eorum haeresim nesciat, respondet illis tamen. nec enim decipi potest, qui iam nouit, quid pertineat ad christianam fidem, quae catholica dicitur per orbem terrarum sparsa et contra omnes inpios et peccatores, neglegentes autem etiam suos domino gubernante secura. ### English translation (Claude) For so the Manichaeans went astray, who say that before the foundation of the world there was a race of darkness that rebelled against God; in that war, the wretches believe, almighty God could not help himself in any other way than by sending a part of himself against that race. The princes of that race, as they say, devoured the part of God and were tempered by it, so that the world could be fashioned out of them. Thus they say that God attained victory with great calamities and torments and miseries of his members; and they say these members were mixed with the dark entrails of those princes, so as to temper them and restrain them from their fury. And they do not understand that their sect is so sacrilegious that they believe that almighty God made war on the darkness not through a creature he had made but through his very own nature, which it is impious to believe. And not only this, but also that those who were conquered were made better, because their fury was restrained, while the nature of God, which conquered, was made most wretched. For they say that through that very mixture it lost its understanding and its happiness and was entangled in great errors and disasters. Even if they said that it would one day be wholly purified, they would still be affirming a great impiety against almighty God, a part of whom they believed to have been tossed about for so long a time in errors and punishments without any guilt of sin. But as it is, the unhappy people dare to say further that it cannot even be wholly purified, and that the very part that could not be purified serves as a bond by which the tomb of evil is wrapped and bound, and so that part of God, wretched, remains there forever, having sinned in nothing, and is fixed forever in the prison of darkness. They say this to deceive simple souls. But who is so simple as not to perceive that these things are sacrilegious, by which they affirm that almighty God was so overpowered by necessity that he gave a part of himself, good and innocent, to be overwhelmed by such disasters and defiled by such uncleanness, and could not free it all, and bound with eternal chains what he could not free? Who then would not detest these things? Who would not understand that they are impious and abominable? But when they catch people, they do not say these things first (if they did, they would be laughed at or shunned by everyone), but they choose passages of the Scriptures that simple people do not understand, and through them they deceive unlearned souls by asking where evil comes from. So they do with this passage written by the apostle: 'the rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.' For those deceivers ask a man who does not understand the divine Scriptures where rulers of darkness in heaven come from, so that when he cannot answer, they may draw him over through curiosity, because every untaught soul is curious. But whoever has learned the Catholic faith well and is fortified by good conduct and true piety answers them even though he does not know their heresy. For he cannot be deceived who already knows what belongs to the Christian faith, which is called Catholic, spread throughout the world, and secure, under the Lord's governance, against all the ungodly and sinners, and also against the negligent among its own. ### Scripture references - Eph 6:12: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Augustine's summary of Manichaean teaching (the kingdom of darkness, the particles of God mixed with it, the final 'lump' in which unpurified light is bound) is polemical but corresponds closely to his fuller accounts in his anti-Manichaean works. Quotation: Eph 6:12. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 4 (CSEL 41:105–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-4). ## On the Christian Struggle 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 41:107–108 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The devil is 'prince of the power of the air', though 'in the heavenly places' may also refer to believers whose way of life is in heaven. ### Latin text Quoniam ergo dicebamus apostolum Paulum dixisse habere nos conluctationem aduersus rectores tenebrarum et spiritalia nequitiae in caelestibus et probauimus etiam istum aerem terrae proximum caelum uocari, oportet credere aduersum diabolum et angelos eius nos dimicare, qui gaudent perturbationibus nostris. nam et ipse apostolus alio loco diabolum principem potestatis aeris huius appellat. quamuis ille locus, ubi ait: spiritalia nequitiae in caelestibus, possit et aliter intellegi, ut non ipsos praeuaricatores angelos in caelestibus esse dixerit, sed nos potius, de quibus alio loco dicit: conuersatio nostra in caelis est, ut nos in caelestibus constituti, id est in spiritalibus praeceptis dei ambulantes dimicemus aduersus spiritalia nequitiae, quae nos inde conantur abstrahere. magis ergo illud quaerendum est, quomodo aduersus eos, quos non uidemus, pugnare possimus et uincere, ne putent stulti aduersus aerem nos debere certare. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, we were saying that the apostle Paul said that we have a wrestling against the rulers of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, and we have proved that this air near the earth is also called heaven, we must believe that we fight against the devil and his angels, who rejoice in our disturbances. For the apostle himself in another place calls the devil 'the prince of the power of this air.' And yet the passage where he says 'the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places' can also be understood otherwise: that he did not say that the transgressing angels themselves are in the heavenly places, but rather we, of whom he says in another place, 'Our way of life is in heaven,' so that we, placed in the heavenly places, that is, walking in the spiritual commandments of God, fight against the spiritual forces of wickedness that try to drag us away from there. So the question rather to be asked is how we can fight and conquer those whom we do not see, so that foolish people may not think that we are to fight against the air. ### Scripture references - Eph 6:12: allusion, high confidence - Eph 2:2: quotation, high confidence - Phil 3:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Eph 6:12; Eph 2:2; Phil 3:20. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 5 (CSEL 41:107–108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-5). ## On the Christian Struggle 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 41:108 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Following Paul, we fight the invisible powers by disciplining our bodies and renouncing the world's delights. ### Latin text Docet itaque ipse apostolus dicens: non sic pugno quasi aerem caedens; sed castigo corpus meum et in seruitutem redigo, ne forte aliis praedicans ipse reprobus inueniar; item dicit: imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi. quare intellegendum est etiam ipsum apostolum in semet ipso triumphasse de potestatibus huius mundi, sicut de domino dixerat, cuius se imitatorem esse profitetur. imitemur ergo et nos illum, sicut hortatur, et castigemus corpus nostrum et in seruitutem redigamus, si mundum uolumus uincere, quia per inlicitas delectationes suas et pompas et perniciosam curiositatem nobis dominari potest hic mundus, id est ea, quae in hoc mundo perniciosa delectatione conligant amatores rerum temporalium et diabolo atque angelis eius seruire cogunt: quibus omnibus si renuntiauimus, redigamus in seruitutem corpus nostrum. ### English translation (Claude) So the apostle himself teaches, saying: 'I do not fight as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, after preaching to others, I myself should be found reprobate.' He also says: 'Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.' Hence we must understand that the apostle himself also triumphed within himself over the powers of this world, as he had said of the Lord, whose imitator he professes to be. Let us too, then, imitate him, as he urges, and chastise our body and bring it into subjection, if we want to conquer the world. For this world can rule over us through its unlawful delights and pomps and destructive curiosity, that is, through the things in this world that bind the lovers of temporal things by a destructive delight and compel them to serve the devil and his angels; and if we have renounced all these things, let us bring our body into subjection. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 9:26–27: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:1: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: 1 Cor 9:26–27; 1 Cor 11:1. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 6 (CSEL 41:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-6). ## On the Christian Struggle 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 41:108–109 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: All creatures serve God's providence, the good freely by doing what the law commands and the evil by necessity in suffering its penalties. ### Latin text Sed ne quis forte hoc ipsum quaerat, quomodo fiat, ut corpus nostrum seruituti subiciamus, facile intellegi et fieri potest, si prius nos ipsos subiciamus deo bona uoluntate et caritate sincera. nam omnis creatura, uelit nolit, uni deo et domino suo subiecta est. sed hoc admonemur, ut tota uoluntate seruiamus domino deo nostro, quoniam iustus liberaliter seruit, iniustus autem conpeditus seruit. omnes tamen diuinae prouidentiae seruiunt; sed alii oboediunt tamquam filii et faciunt cum ea quod bonum est; alii uero ligantur tamquam serui, et fit de illis quod iustum est. ita deus omnipotens, dominus uniuersae creaturae, qui fecit omnia, sicut scriptum est, bona ualde, sic ea ordinauit, ut et de bonis et de malis bene faciat. quod enim iuste fit, bene fit. iuste autem sunt beati boni, et iuste mali poenas patiuntur. ergo et de bonis et de malis bene facit deus, quoniam omnia iuste facit. boni sunt autem, qui tota uoluntate deo seruiunt, mali autem necessitate seruiunt; nemo enim leges omnipotentis euadit. sed aliud est facere quod lex iubet, aliud pati quod lex iubet. quapropter boni secundum leges faciunt, mali secundum leges patiuntur. ### English translation (Claude) But in case anyone should ask how it comes about that we subject our body to servitude, this can easily be understood and done if we first subject ourselves to God with good will and sincere love. For every creature, willing or unwilling, is subject to the one God, its Lord. But we are admonished to serve the Lord our God with our whole will, since the righteous man serves freely, the unrighteous serves in fetters. Yet all serve divine providence; but some obey as sons and do with it what is good, while others are bound as slaves, and what is just is done with them. Thus almighty God, Lord of the whole creation, who made all things, as it is written, very good, has so ordered them that he makes good use of both the good and the evil. For what is done justly is done well. And justly are the good happy, and justly do the evil suffer punishment. So God makes good use of both the good and the evil, since he does all things justly. The good are those who serve God with their whole will, while the evil serve by necessity; for no one escapes the laws of the Almighty. But it is one thing to do what the law commands, another to suffer what the law commands. Therefore the good act according to the laws; the evil suffer according to the laws. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:31: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Allusion: Gen 1:31 ('very good'). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 7 (CSEL 41:108–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-7). ## On the Christian Struggle 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 41:109–111 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The sufferings of the righteous do them no real harm, while the wicked, like a fish that swallows the hook, are destroyed by the goods they love; even evil men and angels serve providence unknowingly. ### Latin text Nec nos moueat, quod in hac uita secundum carnem, quam portant, iusti multa grauia et aspera tolerant. nihil enim mali patiuntur, qui iam possunt dicere, quod ille uir spiritalis exultat et praedicat apostolus dicens: gloriamur in tribulationibus, scientes, quoniam tribulatio patientiam operatur, patientia probationem, probatio spem; spes autem non confundit, quia caritas dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis. si ergo in hac uita, ubi tanta tormenta sunt, possunt boni et iusti uiri, cum talia patiuntur, non solum aequo animo tolerare, sed etiam in dei caritate gloriari, quid cogitandum est de illa uita, quae nobis promittitur, ubi nullam de corpore molestiam sentiemus? quoniam non ad hoc resurgit corpus iustorum, ad quod resurgit corpus inpiorum, sicut scriptum est: omnes resurgimus, sed non omnes inmutabimur. et ne quisquam putet non iustis inmutationem istam promitti, sed potius iniustis, et eam existimet esse poenalem, sequitur et dicit: et mortui resurgunt incorrupti, et nos inmutabimur. quicumque ergo mali sunt, sic ordinati sunt, quia et unusquisque sibi et omnes inuicem sibi nocent. hoc enim adpetunt, quod perniciose diligitur et quod eis auferri facile potest; et hoc sibi auferunt inuicem, quando se persequuntur. et ideo cruciantur, quibus auferuntur temporalia, quia diligunt ea; illi autem, qui auferunt, gaudent. sed talis laetitia caecitas est et summa miseria; ipsa enim magis inplicat animam et ad maiora tormenta perducit. nam gaudet et piscis, quando hamum non uidens escam deuorat; sed cum piscator eum adducere coeperit, uiscera eius torquentur primo; deinde ab omni laetitia sua per ipsam escam, de qua laetatus est, ad consumptionem trahitur. sic sunt omnes, qui de bonis temporalibus beatos se putant; hamum enim acceperunt et cum illo sibi uagantur; ueniet tempus, ut sentiant, quanta tormenta cum auiditate deuorauerint. et ideo bonis nihil nocent, quia hoc eis auferunt, quod non diligunt; nam quod diligunt et unde beati sunt, auferre illis nemo potest. cruciatus uero corporis malas animas miserabiliter adfligit, bonas autem fortiter purgat. sic fit, ut et malus homo et malus angelus diuinae prouidentiae militent; sed nesciunt, quid boni de illis operetur deus. non itaque pro meritis officii sed pro meritis malitiae stipendiantur. ### English translation (Claude) Nor should it trouble us that in this life, according to the flesh they bear, the righteous endure many hard and harsh things. For they suffer nothing evil who can already say what that spiritual man, the apostle, exults in and proclaims when he says: 'We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces patience, patience approval, approval hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.' If, then, in this life, where there are such great torments, good and righteous men, when they suffer such things, can not only endure them calmly but even glory in the love of God, what must we think of that life which is promised to us, where we shall feel no trouble from the body? For the body of the righteous does not rise to the same state as the body of the ungodly, as it is written: 'We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed.' And lest anyone think that this change is promised not to the righteous but rather to the unrighteous, and suppose it to be penal, he goes on to say: 'And the dead rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed.' All who are evil, then, are so ordered that each harms himself and all harm one another. For they seek what is loved to their ruin and what can easily be taken from them; and they take it from one another when they persecute one another. And so those from whom temporal things are taken are tormented, because they love them; while those who take them rejoice. But such gladness is blindness and the height of misery, for it entangles the soul further and leads it to greater torments. For the fish too rejoices when, not seeing the hook, it devours the bait; but when the fisherman begins to draw it in, first its insides are wrenched; then, through the very bait in which it rejoiced, it is dragged from all its gladness to its destruction. So are all who think themselves happy with temporal goods: they have taken the hook and wander about with it; the time will come when they will feel what torments they have greedily swallowed. And so they do no harm to the good, because they take from them what they do not love; for what they do love, and from which they are happy, no one can take from them. Bodily torment wretchedly afflicts evil souls, but it bravely purifies good ones. So it comes about that both the evil man and the evil angel serve as soldiers of divine providence; but they do not know what good God works by means of them. And so they are paid not according to the merits of their service but according to the merits of their malice. ### Scripture references - Rom 5:3–5: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:51: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:52: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: Rom 5:3–5; 1 Cor 15:51 in the Latin reading Augustine knew ('we shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed'); 1 Cor 15:52. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 8 (CSEL 41:109–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-8). ## On the Christian Struggle 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 41:111–112 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Providence governs everything, even sparrows, but God cares for rational souls directly and governs the rest through them. ### Latin text Sed ut hae animae, quae habent uoluntatem nocendi et rationem cogitandi, sub diuinis legibus ordinatae sunt, ne aliquid iniustum quisque patiatur, ita omnia, et animalia et corporalia, in genere suo et in ordine suo diuinae prouidentiae legibus subdita administrantur. ideo dominus dicit: nonne duo passeres asse ueneunt? et unus eorum non cadit in terram sine uoluntate patris uestri. hoc enim dixit, uolens ostendere quidquid uilissimum homines putant omnipotentia dei gubernari. sic enim et uolatilia caeli ab eo pasci et lilia agri ab eo uestiri ueritas loquitur, quae capillos etiam nostros numeratos esse dicit. sed quoniam mundas animas rationales per se ipse deus curat, siue in optimis et magnis angelis siue in hominibus tota sibi uoluntate seruientibus, cetera uero per ipsos gubernat, uerissime dici potuit etiam illud ab apostolo: non enim de bubus cura est deo. in scripturis enim sanctis deus homines docet, quomodo cum hominibus agant et ipsi deo seruiant; quomodo autem agant cum pecoribus suis, ipsi sciunt, id est quomodo salutem pecorum suorum gubernent, usu et peritia et ratione naturali, quae quidem omnia de magnis sui creatoris opibus acceperunt. qui ergo potest intellegere, quomodo uniuersae creaturae conditor deus gubernet eam per animas sanctas, quae ministeria eius in caelis et in terris, quia et ipsae sanctae animae ab ipso factae sunt et in eius creatura primatum tenent: qui ergo potest intellegere, intellegat et intret in gaudium domini sui. ### English translation (Claude) But just as these souls, which have a will to harm and a reason to think, are ordered under divine laws, so that no one suffers anything unjust, so all things, both living and bodily, each in its kind and in its order, are administered in subjection to the laws of divine providence. That is why the Lord says: 'Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them falls to the ground without the will of your Father.' He said this wanting to show that whatever men think most worthless is governed by God's omnipotence. For thus the Truth says that the birds of the sky are fed by him and the lilies of the field clothed by him, and says that even our hairs are numbered. But since God himself cares directly for pure rational souls, whether in the best and greatest angels or in men who serve him with their whole will, and governs the rest through them, the apostle could also say most truly: 'For God is not concerned about oxen.' For in the holy Scriptures God teaches men how to deal with men and how to serve God himself; but how they are to deal with their cattle, that is, how to look after the health of their cattle, they know themselves, by practice and skill and natural reason, all of which they have received from the great riches of their Creator. Whoever, then, can understand how God, the founder of the whole creation, governs it through holy souls, which are his ministers in heaven and on earth, since these holy souls too were made by him and hold the first place in his creation, whoever, I say, can understand this, let him understand it and enter into the joy of his Lord. ### Scripture references - Matt 10:29: quotation, high confidence - Matt 6:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 6:28–30: allusion, high confidence - Matt 10:30: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 9:9: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:21: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Matt 10:29; Matt 6:26, 28–30; Matt 10:30; 1 Cor 9:9; Matt 25:21. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 9 (CSEL 41:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-9). ## On the Christian Struggle 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 41:112–113 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: If we cannot yet understand God's governance, we can at least taste his sweetness through the Spirit and long for the fountain of life. ### Latin text Si autem hoc non possumus, quamdiu sumus in hoc corpore et peregrinamur a domino, gustemus saltem, quam suauis est dominus, quia dedit nobis pignus spiritum, in quo sentiamus eius dulcedinem; et desideremus ipsum uitae fontem. ubi sobria ebrietate inundemur et inrigemur, sicut lignum, quod plantatum est secundum decursus aquarum et dat fructus in tempore suo et folium eius non decidet. dicit enim spiritus sanctus: filii autem hominum in tegmine alarum tuarum sperabunt. inebriabuntur ubertate domus tuae, et torrente uoluptatis tuae potabis eos, quoniam apud te est fons uitae. talis ebrietas non euertit mentem, sed tamen rapit susum et obliuionem praestat omnium terrenorum; sed si possumus toto affectu iam dicere: quemadmodum ceruus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, deus. ### English translation (Claude) But if we cannot do this, as long as we are in this body and are away from the Lord, let us at least taste how sweet the Lord is, since he has given us the Spirit as a pledge, in whom we may perceive his sweetness; and let us long for the very fountain of life, where we may be flooded and watered with a sober drunkenness, like the tree that is planted by the streams of water and gives its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall. For the Holy Spirit says: 'But the sons of men will hope under the shelter of your wings. They will be drunk with the abundance of your house, and you will give them drink from the torrent of your delight, for with you is the fountain of life.' Such drunkenness does not overthrow the mind, but it does carry it upward and bring forgetfulness of all earthly things; if only we can now say with all our affection: 'As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.' ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 5:6: allusion, high confidence - Ps 34:8 (33:9 LXX): allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 5:5: allusion, high confidence - Ps 1:3: allusion, high confidence - Ps 36:7–9 (35:8-Ps LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 42:1 (41:2 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: 2 Cor 5:6; Ps 34:8 (33:9 LXX); 2 Cor 5:5; Ps 1:3; Ps 36:7–9 (35:8–10 LXX); Ps 42:1 (41:2 LXX). The last clause is incomplete in the Latin ('if only we can...'), translated as it stands. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 10 (CSEL 41:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-10). ## On the Christian Struggle 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 41:113–114 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Our weakness comes from our own sinful will, not from God, who made man with free choice; the unchangeable Son took up this weakness in the incarnation. ### Latin text Quodsi forte adhuc propter aegritudines animae, quas de saeculi amore concepit, nec gustare sumus idonei quam dulcis est dominus, uel credamus diuinae auctoritati, quam uoluit esse in scripturis sanctis de filio suo, qui factus est ei ex semine Dauid secundum carnem, sicut apostolus loquitur; omnia enim per ipsum facta sunt, sicut in euangelio scriptum est, et sine ipso factum est nihil. qui nostrae inbecillitatis misertus est: quam inbecillitatem non eius opere, sed nostra uoluntate meruimus; nam deus hominem inexterminabilem fecit et ei liberum uoluntatis arbitrium dedit. non enim esset optimus, si dei praeceptis necessitate, non uoluntate seruiret. facile est omnino, quantum existimo, quod intellegere nolunt, qui catholicam deseruerunt fidem et christiani uocari uolunt. nam si nobiscum fatentur naturam nostram non sanari nisi recte faciendo, fateantur eam non infirmari nisi peccando. et ideo non est credendum animam nostram hoc esse, quod deus est, quia, si hoc esset, nec sua uoluntate nec aliqua necessitate in deterius mutaretur, quoniam omni modo incommutabilis intellegitur deus, sed ab eis, qui non in contentione et aemulatione et uanae gloriae cupiditate amant loqui quod nesciunt, sed humilitate christiana sentiunt de domino in bonitate et in simplicitate cordis quaerunt eum. hanc ergo inbecillitatem nostram suscipere dignatus est filius dei, et uerbum caro factum est et habitauit in nobis: non quia aeternitas illa mutata est, sed quia mutabilem creaturam mutabilibus hominum oculis ostendit, quam incommutabili maiestate suscepit. ### English translation (Claude) But if perhaps, because of the sicknesses of the soul that it contracted from love of the world, we are not yet fit even to taste how sweet the Lord is, let us at least believe the divine authority which he willed to be in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was made for him of the seed of David according to the flesh, as the apostle says; for all things were made through him, as is written in the Gospel, and without him nothing was made. He had pity on our weakness, a weakness we deserved not by his work but by our own will. For God made man incorruptible and gave him free choice of will. For he would not be of the highest excellence if he served God's commandments by necessity and not by will. This is quite easy, as I judge, to understand; and those who have deserted the Catholic faith and yet want to be called Christians do not want to understand it. (For if they confess with us that our nature is healed only by doing right, let them confess that it is weakened only by sinning. And therefore we must not believe that our soul is what God is, because if it were, it would not be changed for the worse either by its own will or by any necessity, since God is understood to be in every way unchangeable.) It is understood, rather, by those who do not love to speak of what they do not know in contention and rivalry and desire for vainglory, but who in Christian humility think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in simplicity of heart. This weakness of ours, then, the Son of God deigned to take up, 'and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us': not because that eternity was changed, but because he showed to the changeable eyes of men the changeable creature which he took up in his unchangeable majesty. ### Scripture references - Rom 1:3: quotation, high confidence - John 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:3: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 2:23 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence - Wis 1:1 (Wisdom of Solomon): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Rom 1:3; John 1:3; Wis 2:23 ('God made man incorruptible'); Phil 2:3; Wis 1:1 ('think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in simplicity of heart'); John 1:14. Those 'who have deserted the Catholic faith' and hold that the soul is of God's substance are the Manichaeans. The Latin sentence is interrupted by the parenthesis marked here with round brackets. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 11 (CSEL 41:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-11). ## On the Christian Struggle 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 41:114–117 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine answers those who ask why the Wisdom of God had to become man and suffer: the incarnation is the medicine that heals every vice and honors both men and women. ### Latin text Sunt autem stulti, qui dicunt: quare non poterat aliter sapientia dei homines liberare, nisi susciperet hominem et nasceretur de femina et a peccatoribus illa omnia pateretur? quibus dicimus: poterat omnino, sed si aliter faceret, similiter uestrae stultitiae displiceret. si enim non appareret oculis peccatorum, lumen eius aeternum utique, quod per interiores oculos uidetur, inquinatis mentibus uidere non possent. nunc autem quia uisibiliter nos commonere dignatus est, ut ad inuisibilia praepararet, displicet auaris, quia non aureum corpus habuit; displicet inpudicis, quia de femina natus est — multum enim oderunt inpudici, quod concipiunt et pariunt feminae —; displicet superbis, quod contumelias patientissime pertulit; displicet delicatis, quia cruciatus est; displicet timidis quia mortuus est. et ut non uitia sua uideantur defendere, non in homine dicunt sibi hoc displicere, sed in filio dei. non enim intellegunt, quid sit aeternitas dei, quae hominem adsumpsit, et quid ipsa humana creatura, quae mutationibus suis in pristinam firmitatem reuocabatur, ut disceremus docente ipso domino infirmitates, quas peccando collegimus, recte faciendo posse sanari. ostendebatur enim nobis, ad quam fragilitatem homo sua culpa peruenerit et ex qua fragilitate diuino auxilio liberetur. itaque filius dei hominem adsumpsit et in illo humana perpessus est. haec medicina hominum tanta est, quanta non potest cogitari. nam quae superbia sanari potest, si humilitate filii dei non sanatur? quae auaritia sanari potest, si paupertate filii dei non sanatur? quae iracundia sanari potest, si patientia filii dei non sanatur? quae inpietas sanari potest, quae caritate filii dei non sanatur? postremo quae timiditas sanari potest, si resurrectione corporis non sanatur? erigat spem suam genus humanum et recognoscat naturam suam; uideat, quantum locum habeat in operibus dei. nolite uos ipsos contemnere, uiri; filius dei uirum suscepit. nolite uos ipsas contemnere, feminae; filius dei natus ex femina est. nolite tamen amare carnalia, quia in filio dei masculus nec femina sumus. nolite amare temporalia, quia, si bene amarentur, amaret ea homo, quem suscepit filius dei. nolite timere contumelias et cruces et mortem, quia, si nocerent homini, non ea pateretur homo, quem suscepit filius dei. haec omnis hortatio, quae iam ubique praedicatur, ubique ueneratur, quae omnem oboedientem animam sanat, non esset in rebus humanis, si non essent facta illa omnia, quae stultissimis displicent. quem dignatur imitari uitiosa iactantia, ut ad uirtutem percipiendam possit adduci, si erubescit imitari eum, de quo dictum est, antequam nasceretur, quod filius altissimi uocabitur, et per omnes iam gentes, quod negare nemo potest, filius altissimi uocatur? si multum de nobis sentimus, dignemur imitari eum, qui filius altissimi uocatur; si parum de nobis sentimus, audeamus imitari piscatores et publicanos, qui eum imitati sunt. o medicinam omnibus consulentem, omnia tumentia comprimentem, omnia tabescentia reficientem, omnia superflua resecantem, omnia necessaria custodientem, omnia perdita reparantem, omnia deprauata corrigentem! quis iam se extollat contra filium dei? quis de se desperet, pro quo tam humilis esse uoluit filius dei? quis beatam uitam esse arbitretur in his, quae contemnenda esse docuit filius dei? quibus aduersitatibus cedat, qui naturam hominis tantis persecutionibus custoditam credit in filio dei? quis sibi esse clausum regnum caelorum putet, qui cognoscit publicanos et meretrices imitatos esse filium dei? qua peruersitate non careat, qui facta et dicta intuetur et diligit et sectatur illius hominis, in quo se nobis ad exemplum uitae praebuit filius dei? ### English translation (Claude) But there are foolish people who say, 'Why could the Wisdom of God not free men in some other way than by taking up a man, being born of a woman, and suffering all those things at the hands of sinners?' To them we say: he certainly could, but if he had done otherwise, it would equally have displeased your folly. For if he had not appeared to the eyes of sinners, they could not with defiled minds have seen his light, which is certainly eternal and is seen by the inner eyes. But as it is, because he deigned to admonish us visibly so as to prepare us for things invisible, he displeases the greedy because he did not have a golden body; he displeases the unchaste because he was born of a woman (for the unchaste greatly hate the fact that women conceive and give birth); he displeases the proud because he bore insults most patiently; he displeases the pleasure-loving because he was tortured; he displeases the fearful because he died. And so as not to seem to defend their own vices, they say that this displeases them not in a man but in the Son of God. For they do not understand what the eternity of God is, which assumed a man, and what that human creature is, which through its changes was being called back to its original firmness, so that we might learn, the Lord himself teaching us, that the weaknesses we gathered by sinning can be healed by doing right. For it was being shown to us to what frailty man had come by his own fault, and from what frailty he is freed by divine help. And so the Son of God assumed a man and in him suffered human things. This medicine for men is so great that it cannot be conceived. For what pride can be healed if it is not healed by the humility of the Son of God? What greed can be healed if it is not healed by the poverty of the Son of God? What anger can be healed if it is not healed by the patience of the Son of God? What ungodliness can be healed that is not healed by the love of the Son of God? Finally, what fearfulness can be healed if it is not healed by the resurrection of the body? Let the human race lift up its hope and recognize its nature; let it see how great a place it has in the works of God. Do not despise yourselves, men: the Son of God took up a man. Do not despise yourselves, women: the Son of God was born of a woman. Yet do not love carnal things, for in the Son of God we are neither male nor female. Do not love temporal things, for if they were rightly loved, the man whom the Son of God took up would have loved them. Do not fear insults and crosses and death, for if they harmed man, the man whom the Son of God took up would not have suffered them. All this exhortation, which is now preached everywhere and revered everywhere, which heals every obedient soul, would not exist in human affairs if all those things that displease the most foolish had not been done. Whom will vicious boastfulness deign to imitate, so that it can be led to receive virtue, if it is ashamed to imitate him of whom it was said before he was born that 'he will be called Son of the Most High,' and who, as no one can deny, is now called Son of the Most High among all nations? If we think much of ourselves, let us deign to imitate him who is called Son of the Most High; if we think little of ourselves, let us dare to imitate the fishermen and tax collectors who imitated him. O medicine that provides for all, that reduces every swelling, restores everything that wastes away, cuts off everything superfluous, guards everything necessary, repairs everything lost, corrects everything depraved! Who will now exalt himself against the Son of God? Who will despair of himself, for whom the Son of God willed to be so humble? Who will think the happy life lies in the things which the Son of God taught are to be despised? To what adversities will he yield who believes that human nature was preserved through such great persecutions in the Son of God? Who will think the kingdom of heaven is closed to him, who knows that tax collectors and prostitutes imitated the Son of God? From what perversity will he not be free who looks on and loves and follows the deeds and words of that man in whom the Son of God offered himself to us as an example of life? ### Scripture references - Gal 3:28: allusion, high confidence - Luke 1:32: quotation, high confidence - Matt 21:31–32: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Gal 3:28; Luke 1:32; Matt 21:31–32 (tax collectors and prostitutes). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 12 (CSEL 41:114–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-12). ## On the Christian Struggle 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 41:117 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: People of every kind now hope for eternal life; the few who still oppose the church (false Catholics, heretics, Jews, pagans) cannot harm it, and it leaves the separation of chaff and wheat to its proper time. ### Latin text Itaque iam et masculi et feminae et omnis aetas et omnis huius saeculi dignitas ad spem uitae aeternae commota est. alii neglectis temporalibus bonis conuolant ad diuina; alii cedunt eorum uirtutibus, qui haec faciunt, et laudant, quod imitari non audent; pauci autem adhuc murmurant et inani liuore torquentur, aut qui sua quaerunt in ecclesia, quamuis uideantur catholici, aut ex ipso Christi nomine gloriam quaerentes haeretici aut peccatum inpietatis suae defendere cupientes iudaei aut curiositatem uanae licentiae perdere timentes pagani. sed ecclesia catholica per totum orbem longe lateque diffusa inpetus eorum prioribus temporibus frangens magis magisque roborata est non resistendo, sed perferendo. nunc uero insidiosas eorum quaestiones fide inridet, diligentia discutit, intellegentia dissoluit; criminatores palearum suarum non curat, quia tempus messis et tempus arearum et tempus horreorum caute diligenterque distinguit; criminatores autem frumenti sui aut errantes corrigit aut inuidentes inter spinas et zizania conputat. ### English translation (Claude) And so now men and women, every age, and every rank of this world have been moved to the hope of eternal life. Some, neglecting temporal goods, fly to divine things; others yield to the virtues of those who do this and praise what they do not dare to imitate. A few, however, still murmur and are tormented by empty envy: either those who seek their own interests in the church, although they seem to be Catholics; or heretics, seeking glory from the very name of Christ; or Jews, wishing to defend the sin of their unbelief; or pagans, afraid of losing the curiosity of their vain license. But the Catholic Church, spread far and wide throughout the whole world, breaking their assaults in earlier times, has been strengthened more and more, not by resisting but by enduring. Now, however, it laughs at their insidious questions by faith, examines them with diligence, and dissolves them with understanding. It does not trouble itself about those who find fault with its chaff, because it carefully and diligently distinguishes the time of harvest, the time of the threshing floors, and the time of the granaries; and those who find fault with its wheat it either corrects if they are in error, or, if they are envious, reckons among the thorns and tares. ### Scripture references - Matt 3:12: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 13:24–30: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The list of opponents is Augustine's own; 'the sin of their unbelief' (peccatum impietatis suae) is his characterization of the Jews, translated as written. The harvest images allude to Matt 3:12 and Matt 13:24–30. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 13 (CSEL 41:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-13). ## On the Christian Struggle 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 41:117–118 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Faith subjects the soul to God and must come before understanding, since no one living wickedly can know the truth. ### Latin text Subiciamus ergo animam deo, si uolumus seruituti subicere corpus nostrum et de diabolo triumphare. fides est prima, quae subiugat animam deo; deinde praecepta uiuendi, quibus custoditis spes nostra firmatur et nutritur caritas et lucere incipit, quod antea tantummodo credebatur. cum enim cognitio et actio beatum hominem faciant, sicut in cognitione cauendus est error, sic in actione cauenda est nequitia. errat autem quisquis putat ueritatem se posse cognoscere, cum adhuc nequiter uiuat. nequitia est autem mundum istum diligere et ea, quae nascuntur et transeunt, pro magno habere et ea concupiscere et pro his laborare, ut adquirantur; et laetari, cum abundarint, et timere, ne pereant, et contristari, cum pereunt. talis uita non potest puram illam et sinceram et incommutabilem uidere ueritatem et inhaerere illi et in aeternum iam non moueri. itaque priusquam mens nostra purgetur, debemus credere quod intellegere nondum ualemus, quoniam uerissime dictum est per prophetam: nisi credideritis, non intellegetis. ### English translation (Claude) Let us, then, subject the soul to God, if we want to subject our body to servitude and triumph over the devil. Faith comes first, which subjugates the soul to God; then the precepts for living, by keeping which our hope is strengthened, love is nourished, and what was before only believed begins to shine clearly. For since knowledge and action make a man happy, just as error must be avoided in knowledge, so wickedness must be avoided in action. And whoever thinks he can know the truth while he still lives wickedly is in error. It is wickedness to love this world and to think highly of the things that are born and pass away, to covet them and toil to acquire them, to rejoice when they abound, to fear that they will perish, and to be sad when they perish. Such a life cannot see that pure, sincere, and unchangeable truth, and cleave to it, and never again be moved. And so, before our mind is purified, we ought to believe what we are not yet able to understand, since it was most truly said through the prophet: 'Unless you believe, you will not understand.' ### Scripture references - Isa 7:9: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotation: Isa 7:9 in the Septuagint-based Latin form ('unless you believe, you will not understand'). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 14 (CSEL 41:117–118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-14). ## On the Christian Struggle 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 41:118 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The church's brief creed teaches faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God and an eternal Trinity of one substance. ### Latin text Fides in ecclesia breuissime traditur, in qua commendantur aeterna, quae intellegi a carnalibus nondum possunt, et temporalia praeterita et futura, quae pro salute hominum gessit et gestura est aeternitas diuinae prouidentiae. credamus ergo in patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum; haec aeterna sunt et incommutabilia, id est unus deus, unius substantiae trinitas aeterna, deus, ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia. ### English translation (Claude) The faith is handed down in the church very briefly. In it are commended eternal things, which cannot yet be understood by the carnal, and temporal things past and future, which the eternity of divine providence has done and will do for the salvation of men. Let us believe, then, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are eternal and unchangeable, that is, one God, an eternal Trinity of one substance: God, from whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things. ### Scripture references - Rom 11:36: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Allusion: Rom 11:36 (compare 1 Cor 8:6). From here to ch. 33 Augustine comments on the creed clause by clause, rejecting a series of heresies. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 15 (CSEL 41:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-15). ## On the Christian Struggle 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 41:118–119 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects those who say the Father alone exists and is merely called Son or Spirit. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui dicunt patrem tantummodo esse nec habere filium nec esse cum eo spiritum sanctum, sed ipsum patrem aliquando appellari filium, aliquando spiritum sanctum. nesciunt enim principium, ex quo sunt omnia, et imaginem eius, per quam formantur omnia, et sanctitatem eius, in qua ordinantur omnia. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that there is only the Father, and that he has no Son and that there is no Holy Spirit with him, but that the Father himself is sometimes called Son and sometimes Holy Spirit. For they do not know the beginning from which all things are, and his image through which all things are formed, and his holiness in which all things are ordered. ### Translation notes - The view described is that of the Sabellians (modalists), who are not named. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 16 (CSEL 41:118–119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-16). ## On the Christian Struggle 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 41:119 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects those who resent the refusal to worship three gods, because they picture God's substance like three separate bodies. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui indignantur et stomachantur, quia non tres deos colendos dicimus. nesciunt enim, quid sit una eademque substantia, et phantasmatibus suis inluduntur, quia solent uidere corporaliter uel animalia tria uel quaecumque corpora tria locis suis esse separata. sic putant intellegendam substantiam dei et multum errant, quoniam superbi sunt, et non possunt discere, quia nolunt credere. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who are indignant and angry because we do not say that three gods are to be worshiped. For they do not know what one and the same substance is, and they are deceived by their own fantasies, because they are used to seeing bodily either three animals or any three bodies separated in their own places. They think the substance of God is to be understood in this way, and they err greatly, since they are proud, and they cannot learn because they do not want to believe. ### Translation notes - The group is not named. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 17 (CSEL 41:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-17). ## On the Christian Struggle 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 41:119–120 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the teaching that the Son was made from nothing and the Spirit after him, with three different substances, because it pictures divine generation by earthly images. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui patrem solum uerum deum et sempiternum esse dicunt, filium autem non de ipso genitum, sed ab ipso factum de nihilo, et fuisse tempus, quando non erat, sed tamen primum locum tenere in omni creatura; et spiritum sanctum minoris maiestatis esse quam filium et ipsum factum esse post filium; et horum trium diuersas esse substantias, tamquam aurum et argentum et aeramentum. nesciunt enim, quid loquantur, et de his rebus, quas per oculos carneos uidere consueuerunt, uanas imagines ad disputationes suas transferunt, quia reuera magnum est mente conspicere generationem, quae non fit ex aliquo tempore, sed aeterna est, et ipsam caritatem et sanctitatem, qua generator et generatus ineffabiliter sibi copulantur. magnum et difficile est haec mente conspicere, etiamsi pacata et tranquilla sit. non potest ergo fieri, ut illi haec uideant, qui terrenas generationes nimis intuentur, et ad istas tenebras addunt adhuc fumum, quem sibi contentionibus et certaminibus cotidianis excitare non cessant, habentes animas carnis affectibus diffluentes tamquam ligna umore saginata, in quibus ignis fumum solum uomit et habere flammas lucidas non potest. et hoc quidem de omnibus haereticis rectissime dici potest. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that the Father alone is the true and everlasting God, but that the Son was not begotten of him but made by him from nothing, and that there was a time when he did not exist, yet that he holds the first place in all creation; and that the Holy Spirit is of lesser majesty than the Son and was made after the Son; and that the substances of these three are different, like gold and silver and bronze. For they do not know what they are saying, and they transfer to their disputations empty images from the things they are used to seeing with the eyes of flesh; because it is truly a great thing to behold with the mind a generation that does not happen from some point in time but is eternal, and that very love and holiness by which the begetter and the begotten are ineffably joined to one another. It is a great and difficult thing to behold these things with the mind, even when it is peaceful and calm. It cannot happen, then, that those should see these things who gaze too much at earthly generations, and who add to this darkness still more smoke, which they never stop stirring up for themselves by daily contentions and quarrels, having souls dissolving in the affections of the flesh like wood soaked with moisture, in which fire only belches out smoke and cannot have bright flames. And this can indeed most rightly be said of all heretics. ### Translation notes - The teaching described is that of the Arians (and later Eunomians), who are not named here. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 18 (CSEL 41:119–120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-18). ## On the Christian Struggle 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 41:120 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects those who say Christ was only a righteous man called Son of God. ### Latin text Credentes ergo incommutabilem trinitatem credamus etiam dispensationem temporalem pro salute generis humani. nec eos audiamus, qui filium dei Iesum Christum nihil esse aliud quam hominem dicunt, sed ita iustum, ut dignus sit appellari filius dei. et hos enim catholica disciplina misit foras, quia uanae gloriae cupiditate decepti contentiose disputare uoluerunt, antequam intellegerent, quid sit dei uirtus et dei sapientia et in principio uerbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, et quomodo uerbum caro factum est et habitauit in nobis. ### English translation (Claude) Believing, then, in the unchangeable Trinity, let us also believe in the temporal dispensation for the salvation of the human race. Nor let us listen to those who say that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is nothing but a man, though so righteous that he is worthy to be called Son of God. For these too Catholic discipline has cast out, because, deceived by desire for vainglory, they chose to dispute contentiously before they understood what the power of God and the wisdom of God is, and the Word in the beginning through whom all things were made, and how the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, high confidence - John 1:1: allusion, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The view described is that of the Photinians, who are not named. Allusions: 1 Cor 1:24; John 1:1, 3, 14. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 19 (CSEL 41:120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-19). ## On the Christian Struggle 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 41:120–121 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the teaching that Christ had only an apparent body, noting that its holders themselves say the sun's rays are not defiled by what they touch. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui non uerum hominem suscepisse dicunt filium dei neque natum esse de femina, sed falsam carnem et imaginem simulatam corporis humani ostendisse uidentibus. nesciunt enim, quomodo substantia dei administrans uniuersam creaturam inquinari omnino non possit, et tamen praedicant istum uisibilem solem radios suos per omnes feces et sordes corporum spargere et eos mundos et sinceros ubique seruare. si ergo uisibilia munda uisibilibus inmundis contingi possunt et non inquinari, quanto magis inuisibilis et incommutabilis ueritas per spiritum animam et per animam corpus suscipiens toto homine adsumpto ab omnibus eum infirmitatibus nulla sua contaminatione liberauit! itaque magnas patiuntur angustias et, cum timent, quod fieri non potest, ne humana carne ueritas inquinetur, ueritatem dicunt esse mentitam. et cum ille praeceperit dicens: sit in ore uestro: est, est; non, non, et apostolus clamet: non erat in illo est et non, sed est in illo erat, isti totum corpus eius falsam carnem fuisse contendunt, ut non sibi uideantur imitari Christum, si non suis auditoribus mentiantur. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that the Son of God did not take up a true man and was not born of a woman, but showed to those who saw him a false flesh and a simulated image of a human body. For they do not know how the substance of God, which administers the whole creation, cannot be defiled at all; and yet they proclaim that this visible sun spreads its rays through all the dregs and filth of bodies and keeps them clean and pure everywhere. If, then, visible clean things can touch visible unclean things and not be defiled, how much more did the invisible and unchangeable Truth, taking up the soul through the spirit and the body through the soul, and so assuming the whole man, free him from all weaknesses with no defilement of its own! And so they are in great straits, and while they fear what cannot happen, that the Truth might be defiled by human flesh, they say that the Truth lied. And though he commanded, saying, 'Let your speech be: Yes, yes; no, no,' and the apostle cries out, 'In him there was not Yes and No, but in him was Yes,' these people contend that his whole body was false flesh, so that they would not seem to themselves to imitate Christ unless they lied to their hearers. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:37: quotation, high confidence - 2 Cor 1:19: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The view described is that of the Manichaeans, who are not named here; the image of the sun's rays was used in their own teaching. Quotations: Matt 5:37; 2 Cor 1:19. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 20 (CSEL 41:120–121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/1/#p-20). ## On the Christian Struggle 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 41:121–122 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the teaching that Christ had a human soul and body but no human mind. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui trinitatem quidem in una aeterna substantia confitentur, sed hominem ipsum, qui temporali dispensatione susceptus est, audent dicere non habuisse hominis mentem, sed solam animam et corpus. hoc est dicere: non fuit homo, sed membra corporis habebat humana. animam enim et corpus habent et bestiae, sed rationem non habent, quae mentis est propria. sed si exsecrandi sunt illi, qui eum negant humanum corpus habuisse, quod est infimum in homine, miror, quod isti non erubescunt, qui hoc eum negant habuisse, quod est optimum in homine. multum enim lugenda est mens humana, si uincitur a corpore suo: si quidem in illo homine non reformata est, in quo ipsum corpus humanum iam dignitatem formae caelestis accepit. sed absit, ut hoc credamus, quod confinxit temeraria caecitas et superba loquacitas. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who confess the Trinity in one eternal substance, but dare to say that the man himself, who was taken up in the temporal dispensation, did not have a human mind, but only a soul and a body. This is to say: he was not a man, but had the members of a human body. For beasts too have a soul and a body, but they do not have reason, which is proper to the mind. But if those are to be detested who deny that he had a human body, which is the lowest thing in man, I wonder that these are not ashamed who deny that he had what is best in man. For the human mind is greatly to be mourned if it is conquered by its own body, if indeed it was not re-formed in that man in whom the human body itself has already received the dignity of a heavenly form. But far be it from us to believe what rash blindness and proud talkativeness has invented. ### Translation notes - The view described is that of the Apollinarians, who are not named. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 21 (CSEL 41:121–122; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-21). ## On the Christian Struggle 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 41:122–123 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ was not merely made wise by God's Wisdom like the saints; he bears the person of Wisdom and is head of the church, as the head is to the body. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui sic dicunt ab illa aeterna sapientia susceptum esse hominem, qui de uirgine natus est, quomodo et alii homines ab ea sapientes fiunt, qui perfecte sapientes sunt. nesciunt enim proprium illius hominis sacramentum et putant hoc solum eum plus habuisse inter ceteros beatissimos, quod de uirgine natus est. quod ipsum si bene considerent, fortassis credant ideo illum hoc praeter ceteros meruisse, quod aliquid proprium praeter ceteros habet etiam ista susceptio. aliud est enim sapientem tantum fieri per sapientiam dei et aliud est ipsam personam sustinere sapientiae dei. quamuis enim eadem natura sit corporis ecclesiae, multum tamen distare inter caput et membra cetera quis non intellegat? si enim caput ecclesiae est homo ille, cuius susceptione uerbum caro factum est, et habitauit in nobis, membra cetera sunt omnes sancti, quibus perficitur et completur ecclesia. quomodo ergo anima totum corpus nostrum animat et uiuificat, sed in capite et uidendo sentit et audiendo et odorando et gustando et tangendo, in ceteris autem membris tangendo tantum, et ideo capiti cuncta subiecta sunt ad operandum, illud autem supra conlocatum est ad consulendum, quia ipsius animae, quae consulit corpori, quodam modo personam sustinet caput — ibi enim omnis sensus apparet — sic uniuerso populo sanctorum tamquam uni corpori caput est mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus. et propterea sapientia dei et uerbum in principio, per quod facta sunt omnia, non sic adsumpsit illum hominem ut ceteros sanctos, sed multo excellentius multoque sublimius, quomodo ipsum solum adsumi oportuit, in quo sapientia hominibus appareret, sicut eam uisibiliter decebat ostendi. quapropter aliter sunt sapientes ceteri homines, quicumque sunt uel esse potuerunt uel poterunt, et aliter ille unus mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus, qui sapientiae ipsius, per quam sapientes fiunt quicumque homines, non solum beneficium habet, sed etiam personam gerit. de ceteris enim sapientibus et spiritalibus animis recte dici potest, quod habeant in se uerbum dei, per quod facta sunt omnia; sed in nullo eorum recte dici potest, quod uerbum caro factum est, et habitauit in nobis, quod in solo domino nostro Iesu Christo rectissime dicitur. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that the man who was born of the virgin was taken up by that eternal Wisdom in the same way as other men who are perfectly wise are made wise by it. For they do not know the mystery proper to that man, and think that he had only this more than the other most blessed people, that he was born of a virgin. If they considered this rightly, perhaps they would believe that he merited this beyond the others precisely because this taking-up too has something proper to it beyond the others. For it is one thing merely to be made wise by the Wisdom of God, and another to bear the very person of the Wisdom of God. For although the body of the church is of the same nature, who does not understand that there is a great difference between the head and the other members? For if the head of the church is that man by whose taking-up 'the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' the other members are all the saints, by whom the church is perfected and completed. Just as, then, the soul animates and gives life to our whole body, but in the head perceives by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching, while in the other members only by touching, and therefore all the members are subject to the head for working, while it is placed above them for directing, because the head in a certain way bears the person of the soul itself, which directs the body (for there every sense appears), so the head of the whole people of the saints, as of one body, is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And therefore the Wisdom of God, the Word in the beginning, through whom all things were made, did not take up that man as it did the other saints, but far more excellently and far more sublimely, as it was fitting that he alone should be taken up in whom Wisdom would appear to men, as it was fitting for it to be shown visibly. Therefore all other men who are or could have been or will be wise are wise in one way, and that one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, in another, who not only has the benefit of that Wisdom through which any men are made wise, but also bears its person. For of other wise and spiritual souls it can rightly be said that they have in themselves the Word of God, through whom all things were made; but of none of them can it rightly be said that 'the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' which is said most rightly of our Lord Jesus Christ alone. ### Scripture references - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Col 1:18: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: quotation, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The group is not named. Quotations and allusions: John 1:14; 1 Tim 2:5; Col 1:18; John 1:1–3. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 22 (CSEL 41:122–123; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-22). ## On the Christian Struggle 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 41:123–124 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the teaching that the Word took only a body, without a human soul. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui solum corpus humanum susceptum esse dicunt a uerbo dei et sic audiunt, quod dictum est: et uerbum caro factum est, ut negent illum hominem uel animam uel aliquid hominis habuisse nisi carnem solam. errant enim multum nec intellegunt ideo carnem solam nominatam esse in eo, quod dictum est: uerbum caro factum est, quia hominum oculis, propter quos facta est illa susceptio, caro sola potuit apparere. nam si absurdum est et ualde indignum, ut humanum spiritum homo ille non habuerit, sicut superius tractauimus, quanto magis absurdum et indignum est, ut nec spiritum nec animam habuerit et hoc solum habuerit, quod etiam in pecoribus uilius est et extremius, id est corpus! a nostra ergo fide etiam ista inpietas excludatur, totumque hominem atque perfectum a uerbo dei susceptum esse credamus. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that only a human body was taken up by the Word of God, and so understand what was said, 'And the Word was made flesh,' as to deny that that man had either a soul or anything human except flesh alone. For they err greatly and do not understand that flesh alone was named in the words 'The Word was made flesh' because only flesh could appear to the eyes of men, for whose sake that taking-up took place. For if it is absurd and most unworthy that that man should not have had a human spirit, as we discussed above, how much more absurd and unworthy that he should have had neither spirit nor soul, but had only that which is the lowest and meanest thing even in cattle, that is, the body! Let this impiety too, then, be excluded from our faith, and let us believe that the whole and perfect man was taken up by the Word of God. ### Scripture references - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The group is not named (the view was held by Arians and by some Apollinarians). Quotation: John 1:14. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 23 (CSEL 41:123–124; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-23). ## On the Christian Struggle 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 41:124–126 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ was truly born of a woman, not given a body like the dove at his baptism; both bodies were real, and his birth from a woman honors both sexes. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui tale corpus dominum nostrum habuisse dicunt, quale apparuit in columba, quam uidit Iohannes Baptista descendentem de caelo et manentem super eum in signo spiritus sancti. ita enim persuadere conantur filium dei natum non esse de femina, quia, si carnalibus oculis eum oportebat ostendi, potuit, inquiunt, sic adsumere corpus, quomodo spiritus sanctus. non enim et columba illa de ouo nata est, aiunt, et tamen humanis oculis potuit apparere. quibus primo illud respondendum est, quod ibi legimus in specie columbae apparuisse Iohanni spiritum sanctum, ubi legimus etiam Christum natum esse de femina, et non oportet in parte credere euangelio et in parte non credere. unde enim credis in columbae specie demonstratum esse spiritum sanctum, nisi quia in euangelio legisti? ergo et ego inde credo Christum natum esse de uirgine, quia in euangelio legi. quare autem spiritus sanctus non est natus de columba, quemadmodum Christus de femina, illa causa est, quia non columbas liberare uenerat spiritus sanctus, sed hominibus significare innocentiam et amorem spiritalem, quod in columbae specie uisibiliter figuratum est. dominus autem Iesus Christus, qui uenerat ad homines liberandos, in quibus et mares et feminae pertinent ad salutem, nec mares fastidiuit, quia marem suscepit, nec feminas, quia de femina natus est. huc accedit magnum sacramentum, ut, quoniam per feminam nobis mors acciderat, uita nobis per feminam nasceretur: ut de utraque natura, id est feminina et masculina, uictus diabolus cruciaretur, quoniam de ambarum subuersione laetabatur; cui parum fuerat ad poenam, si ambae naturae in nobis liberarentur, nisi etiam per ambas liberaremur. neque hoc ita dicimus, ut dominum Iesum Christum dicamus solum uerum corpus habuisse, spiritum autem sanctum fallaciter apparuisse oculis hominum; sed ambo illa corpora uera corpora credimus. sicut enim non oportebat, ut homines falleret filius dei, sic non decebat, ut homines falleret spiritus sanctus: sed omnipotenti deo, qui uniuersam creaturam de nihilo fabricauit, non erat difficile uerum corpus columbae sine aliorum columborum ministerio figurare, sicut ei non fuit difficile uerum corpus in utero Mariae sine uirili semine fabricare, cum creatura corporea et in uisceribus feminae ad formandum hominem et in ipso mundo ad formandam columbam imperio domini uoluntatique seruiret. sed stulti homines et miseri quod aut ipsi facere non possunt aut in uita sua numquam uiderunt, et ab omnipotente deo fieri potuisse non credunt. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that our Lord had a body of the kind that appeared in the dove which John the Baptist saw descending from heaven and remaining on him as a sign of the Holy Spirit. For in this way they try to persuade people that the Son of God was not born of a woman, because, if he had to be shown to carnal eyes, he could, they say, have taken up a body in the same way as the Holy Spirit did. 'For that dove was not hatched from an egg,' they say, 'and yet it could appear to human eyes.' To them we must first answer that we read that the Holy Spirit appeared to John in the form of a dove in the same place where we also read that Christ was born of a woman; and one must not believe the Gospel in part and in part not believe it. For how do you believe that the Holy Spirit was shown in the form of a dove, except because you read it in the Gospel? So I too believe that Christ was born of a virgin because I read it in the Gospel. And the reason why the Holy Spirit was not born of a dove as Christ was born of a woman is this: the Holy Spirit had not come to free doves, but to signify to men innocence and spiritual love, which was figured visibly in the form of a dove. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who had come to free human beings, among whom both males and females belong to salvation, did not disdain males, since he took up a male, nor females, since he was born of a female. To this is added a great mystery: that, since death had come to us through a woman, life should be born to us through a woman, so that the devil, conquered by both natures, female and male, might be tormented, since he rejoiced in the overthrow of both; for it would have been too little for his punishment if both natures were freed in us, unless we were also freed through both. Nor do we say this as though we said that the Lord Jesus Christ alone had a true body, while the Holy Spirit appeared deceptively to the eyes of men; we believe both those bodies to be true bodies. For just as it was not fitting that the Son of God should deceive men, so it was not fitting that the Holy Spirit should deceive men. But for almighty God, who fashioned the whole creation from nothing, it was not difficult to form the true body of a dove without the agency of other doves, just as it was not difficult for him to fashion a true body in Mary's womb without male seed, since bodily creation served the Lord's command and will both in a woman's womb to form a man and in the world itself to form a dove. But foolish and wretched men do not believe that almighty God could do what they themselves either cannot do or have never seen in their lives. ### Scripture references - Matt 3:16: allusion, high confidence - John 1:32: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:4: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The group is not named. Allusions: Matt 3:16; John 1:32–33; Gal 4:4. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 24 (CSEL 41:124–126; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-24). ## On the Christian Struggle 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 41:126 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ's suffering does not make the Son a changeable creature: he suffered in the humanity he took up, as martyrs die in body but not in soul. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui propterea uolunt cogere, ut inter creaturas filium dei numeremus, quia passus est. dicunt enim: si passus est, mutabilis est; et si mutabilis est, creatura est, quia substantia dei non potest inmutari. cum quibus etiam nos dicimus et dei substantiam commutari non posse et creaturam esse mutabilem. sed aliud est esse creaturam et aliud suscipere creaturam. filius ergo unigenitus dei, qui est uirtus et sapientia dei et uerbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, quia inmutari omnino non potest, suscepit humanam creaturam, quam lapsam erigere atque inueteratam renouare dignatus est. nec in ea per passionem ipse in deterius commutatus est, sed eam potius per resurrectionem in melius commutauit. nec propterea uerbum patris, id est unicum dei filium, per quem facta sunt omnia, negandum est natum et passum esse pro nobis. et martyres enim passos dicimus et mortuos propter regna caelorum; nec tamen in ea passione et morte animae eorum occisae sunt. dicit enim dominus: nolite timere eos, qui corpus occidunt, animae autem nihil possunt facere. sicut ergo martyres passos et mortuos dicimus in corporibus, quae portabant, sine animarum interfectione uel morte, sic dei filium passum et mortuum dicimus in homine, quem portabat, sine diuinitatis aliqua commutatione uel morte. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who want to force us to count the Son of God among creatures because he suffered. For they say, 'If he suffered, he is changeable; and if he is changeable, he is a creature, because the substance of God cannot be changed.' With them we too say both that the substance of God cannot be changed and that a creature is changeable. But it is one thing to be a creature and another to take up a creature. The only-begotten Son of God, then, who is the power and wisdom of God and the Word through whom all things were made, since he cannot be changed at all, took up the human creature, which he deigned to raise up when it had fallen and to renew when it had grown old. Nor was he himself changed for the worse in it by the passion; rather he changed it for the better by the resurrection. Nor, on that account, is it to be denied that the Word of the Father, that is, the only Son of God, through whom all things were made, was born and suffered for us. For we also say that the martyrs suffered and died for the kingdom of heaven; and yet in that suffering and death their souls were not killed. For the Lord says, 'Do not fear those who kill the body but can do nothing to the soul.' Just as, then, we say that the martyrs suffered and died in the bodies they bore, without the killing or death of their souls, so we say that the Son of God suffered and died in the man he bore, without any change or death of his divinity. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, high confidence - John 1:3: allusion, high confidence - Matt 10:28: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The argument answered is Arian. Quotations and allusions: 1 Cor 1:24; John 1:3; Matt 10:28. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 25 (CSEL 41:126; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-25). ## On the Christian Struggle 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-26 - Source: CSEL 41:126–127 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ rose in the same body that was buried, as his words 'Handle me and see' show; his entering through shut doors no more disproves it than his walking on water. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui negant tale corpus domini resurrexisse, quale positum est in monumento. si enim tale non fuisset, non ipse dixisset post resurrectionem discipulis: palpate et uidete, quoniam spiritus ossa et neruos non habet, sicut me uidetis habere. sacrilegum est enim credere dominum nostrum, cum ipse sit ueritas, in aliquo fuisse mentitum. nec nos moueat, quod clausis ostiis subito eum apparuisse discipulis scriptum est, ut propterea negemus illud fuisse corpus humanum, quia contra naturam huius corporis uidemus esse per clausa ostia intrare. omnia enim possibilia sunt deo. nam et ambulare super aquas contra naturam huius corporis esse manifestum est; et tamen non solum ipse dominus ante passionem ambulauit, sed etiam Petrum ambulare fecit. ita ergo et post resurrectionem de corpore suo fecit, quod uoluit. si enim potuit ante passionem clarificare illud sicut splendorem solis, quare non potuit et post passionem ad quantam uellet subtilitatem in temporis momento redigere, ut per clausa ostia posset intrare? ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that the Lord's body rose such as it was laid in the tomb. For if it had not been such, he himself would not have said to the disciples after the resurrection, 'Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have bones and sinews as you see that I have.' For it is sacrilegious to believe that our Lord, since he himself is the Truth, lied in anything. Nor should it trouble us that it is written that he suddenly appeared to the disciples when the doors were shut, so that we should deny on that account that it was a human body, because we see that entering through shut doors is against the nature of this body. For all things are possible to God. For walking on the water too is clearly against the nature of this body; and yet not only did the Lord himself walk on it before the passion, but he also made Peter walk. So also after the resurrection he did with his body what he willed. For if before the passion he could make it glorious like the brightness of the sun, why could he not also after the passion reduce it in a moment of time to whatever subtlety he wished, so that he could enter through shut doors? ### Scripture references - Luke 24:39: quotation, high confidence - John 20:19: allusion, high confidence - Matt 19:26: quotation, medium confidence - Matt 14:25–29: allusion, high confidence - Matt 17:2: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Luke 24:39; John 20:19, 26; Matt 19:26; Matt 14:25–29; Matt 17:2. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 26 (CSEL 41:126–127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-26). ## On the Christian Struggle 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-27 - Source: CSEL 41:127–128 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine answers the objection from John 3:13 that Christ's body could not ascend: the Lord ascended and took his body up with him, like a man who goes up a mountain clothed. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui negant ipsum corpus secum leuasse in caelum dominum nostrum et commemorant in euangelio quod scriptum est: nemo ascendit in caelum, nisi qui de caelo descendit, et dicunt, quia corpus non descendit de caelo, non potuisse ascendere in caelum. non enim intellegunt, quoniam corpus non ascendit in caelum; dominus enim ascendit, corpus autem non ascendit, sed leuatum est in caelum illo leuante, qui ascendit. si enim quisque descendat uerbi gratia de monte nudus, cum autem descenderit, uestiat se et uestitus iterum ascendat, recte utique dicimus: nemo ascendit, nisi qui descendit, nec uestem consideramus, quam secum leuauit, sed ipsum, qui uestitus est, solum dicimus ascendisse. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that our Lord took his very body up with him into heaven, and cite what is written in the Gospel, 'No one ascends into heaven except him who descended from heaven,' and say that because the body did not descend from heaven, it could not ascend into heaven. For they do not understand that the body did not ascend into heaven; for the Lord ascended, but the body did not ascend; it was lifted up into heaven by him who ascended. For if someone, for example, comes down a mountain naked, and when he has come down, clothes himself and goes up again clothed, we rightly say, 'No one goes up except him who came down,' and we do not take account of the clothing that he took up with him, but say that he alone who was clothed went up. ### Scripture references - John 3:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotation: John 3:13. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 27 (CSEL 41:127–128; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-27). ## On the Christian Struggle 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-28 - Source: CSEL 41:128–129 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Father's 'right hand' is not a bodily side but the everlasting happiness promised to the saints, as the catch on the right side and the sheep at the right hand signify. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui negant ad dexteram patris sedere filium. dicunt enim: numquid deus pater habet latus dextrum aut sinistrum sicuti corpora? nec nos hoc de deo patre sentimus; nulla enim forma corporis deus definitur atque concluditur. sed dextera patris est beatitudo perpetua, quae sanctis promittitur; sicut sinistra eius rectissime dicitur miseria perpetua, quae inpiis datur: ut non in ipso deo, sed in creaturis hoc modo, quo diximus, intellegatur dextera et sinistra, quia et corpus Christi, quod est ecclesia, in ipsa dextera, hoc est in ipsa beatitudine futurum est, sicut apostolus dicit, quia et simul nos suscitauit et simul sedere fecit in caelestibus. quamuis enim corpus nostrum nondum ibi sit, tamen spes nostra iam ibi est. propterea et ipse dominus post resurrectionem iussit discipulis, quos piscantes inuenit, ut in dexteram partem mitterent retia. quod cum fecissent, ceperunt pisces, qui omnes magni erant, id est iustos significabant, quibus dextera promittitur. hoc significat, quod etiam in iudicio dixit se agnos ad dexteram, haedos autem ad sinistram esse positurum. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that the Son sits at the right hand of the Father. For they say, 'Does God the Father have a right side or a left side, as bodies do?' Nor do we think this of God the Father; for God is not defined and enclosed by any bodily form. But the right hand of the Father is the everlasting happiness that is promised to the saints, just as his left hand is most rightly called the everlasting misery that is given to the ungodly; so that right and left are understood, in the way we have said, not in God himself but in creatures. For the body of Christ too, which is the church, will be at that right hand, that is, in that happiness, as the apostle says, 'He has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places.' For although our body is not yet there, our hope is already there. That is why the Lord himself after the resurrection ordered the disciples, whom he found fishing, to cast their nets on the right side. When they had done so, they caught fish that were all large, that is, they signified the righteous, to whom the right hand is promised. This is signified also by what he said about the judgment, that he would set the lambs at his right hand and the goats at his left. ### Scripture references - Eph 2:6: quotation, high confidence - John 21:6: allusion, high confidence - John 21:11: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 25:33: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: Eph 2:6; John 21:6, 11; Matt 25:33. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 28 (CSEL 41:128–129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-28). ## On the Christian Struggle 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-29 - Source: CSEL 41:129–130 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine answers those who deny a day of judgment on the basis of John 3:18: 'judgment' there means condemnation, and Scripture often speaks of certain future events in the past tense. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui negant diem iudicii futurum et commemorant, quod in euangelio scriptum est, eum, qui credit in Christum, non iudicari; qui autem non credit in illum, iam iudicatum esse. dicunt enim: si et ille, qui credit, non ueniet in iudicium, et ille, qui non credit, iam iudicatus est, ubi sunt, quos iudicaturus est in die iudicii? non intellegunt sic loqui scripturas, ut praeteritum tempus pro futuro tempore insinuent: sicut supra diximus, quod apostolus dixit de nobis, quod simul nos sedere fecit in caelestibus, nondum factum est; sed quia certissime est futurum, ita dictum est quasi iam factum sit. sicut et ipse dominus discipulis dixit: omnia, quae audiui a patre meo, nota uobis feci, et paulo post dicit: multa habeo uobis dicere; sed non potestis illa portare modo. quomodo ergo dixerat: omnia, quae audiui a patre meo, nota uobis feci, nisi quia illud, quod per spiritum sanctum certissime facturus erat, quasi iam fecisset, locutus est? sic ergo cum audimus: qui credit in Christum, non ueniet in iudicium, intellegamus, quia non ueniet ad damnationem. dicitur enim iudicium pro damnatione, sicut dicit apostolus: qui non manducat, manducantem non iudicet, id est, non de illo mala existimet. et dominus dicit: nolite iudicare, ne iudicetur de uobis. non enim tollit nobis intellegentiam iudicandi, cum et propheta dicat: si uere iustitiam diligitis, recta iudicate, filii hominum, et ipse dominus dicat: nolite iudicare personaliter, sed iustum iudicium iudicate. sed illo loco, ubi uetat iudicare, illud admonet, ne damnemus aliquem, cuius uel cogitatio nobis non aperta est uel nescimus, qualis postea sit futurus. sic ergo cum dixit: ad iudicium non ueniet, hoc dixit, quia non ueniet ad damnationem; qui autem non credit, iam iudicatus est, hoc dixit, quia iam damnatus est praescientia dei, qui nouit, quid inmineat non credentibus. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that there will be a day of judgment, and cite what is written in the Gospel, that whoever believes in Christ is not judged, but whoever does not believe in him has already been judged. For they say, 'If both he who believes will not come into judgment and he who does not believe has already been judged, where are those whom he is going to judge on the day of judgment?' They do not understand that the Scriptures speak in such a way as to use the past tense for the future; as we said above that what the apostle said of us, that 'he has made us sit together in the heavenly places,' has not yet happened, but because it is most certainly going to happen, it was said as if it had already happened. So too the Lord himself said to the disciples, 'All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you,' and a little later he says, 'I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.' How then had he said, 'All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you,' unless because he spoke of what he was most certainly going to do through the Holy Spirit as if he had already done it? So, then, when we hear, 'Whoever believes in Christ will not come into judgment,' let us understand that he will not come to condemnation. For judgment is used for condemnation, as the apostle says, 'Let him who does not eat not judge him who eats,' that is, let him not think ill of him. And the Lord says, 'Do not judge, lest you be judged.' For he does not take from us the understanding needed to judge, since the prophet too says, 'If you truly love righteousness, judge rightly, sons of men,' and the Lord himself says, 'Do not judge by persons, but judge righteous judgment.' But in that place where he forbids judging, he warns us not to condemn anyone whose thoughts are not open to us or of whom we do not know what he will be afterward. So, then, when he said, 'He will not come into judgment,' he said this because he will not come to condemnation; and 'whoever does not believe has already been judged,' he said this because he has already been condemned by the foreknowledge of God, who knows what hangs over unbelievers. ### Scripture references - John 3:18: quotation, high confidence - John 5:24: quotation, high confidence - Eph 2:6: quotation, high confidence - John 15:15: quotation, high confidence - John 16:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 14:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:1: quotation, high confidence - Ps 58:1 (57:2 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 7:24: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: John 3:18; John 5:24; Eph 2:6; John 15:15; John 16:12; Rom 14:3; Matt 7:1; Ps 58:1 (57:2 LXX); John 7:24 (in the Latin form 'do not judge by persons'). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 29 (CSEL 41:129–130; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-29). ## On the Christian Struggle 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-30 - Source: CSEL 41:130–131 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the claims that the promised Holy Spirit came in Paul, in Montanus and Priscilla, or in Mani, since Luke and Acts show that he came at Pentecost. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui dicunt spiritum sanctum, quem in euangelio dominus promisit discipulis, aut in Paulo apostolo uenisse aut in Montano et Priscilla, sicut Cataphryges dicunt, aut in nescio quo Manete uel Manichaeo, sicut Manichaei dicunt. tam enim caeci sunt isti, ut scripturas manifestas non intellegant, aut tam neglegentes salutis suae, ut omnino non legant. quis enim, cum legerit, non intelleget uel in euangelio quod post domini resurrectionem scriptum est dicente domino: ego mitto promissa patris mei in uos; uos autem sedete hic in ciuitate, quousque induamini uirtutem ab alto? et in Actibus apostolorum, posteaquam dominus a discipulorum oculis abscessit in caelum, decem diebus peractis die pentecostes non adtendunt apertissime uenisse spiritum sanctum; et cum essent illi in ciuitate, sicut eos ante monuerat, inpleuisse illos, ita ut loquerentur linguis. nam diuersae nationes, quae tunc aderant, unusquisque audientium suam linguam intellegebant. sed isti homines decipiunt eos, qui neglegentes catholicam fidem et ipsam fidem suam, quae in scripturis manifesta est, nolunt discere et, quod est grauius et multum dolendum, cum in catholica neglegenter uersentur, haereticis aurem diligenter accommodant. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who say that the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord promised to the disciples in the Gospel, came either in the apostle Paul, or in Montanus and Priscilla, as the Cataphrygians say, or in some Manes or Manichaeus, as the Manichaeans say. For these people are so blind that they do not understand plain Scriptures, or so careless of their salvation that they do not read them at all. For who, having read it, will not understand what is written in the Gospel after the Lord's resurrection, where the Lord says, 'I send the promise of my Father upon you; but sit here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high'? And in the Acts of the Apostles, after the Lord departed from the disciples' eyes into heaven, when ten days had passed, on the day of Pentecost, do they not notice that the Holy Spirit came most plainly, and, when they were in the city as he had told them beforehand, filled them, so that they spoke in tongues? For the various nations that were present then each understood their own language as they heard. But these men deceive those who, neglecting the Catholic faith, do not want to learn their own faith, which is plain in the Scriptures, and, what is more grievous and much to be lamented, while they live carelessly within the Catholic Church, lend an attentive ear to heretics. ### Scripture references - Luke 24:49: quotation, high confidence - Acts 1:9: allusion, high confidence - Acts 2:1–11: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Cataphrygians are the Montanists (from Phrygia). The first view (that the Spirit came in Paul) is not attributed to a named group. Quotations and allusions: Luke 24:49; Acts 1:9; Acts 2:1–11. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 30 (CSEL 41:130–131; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-30). ## On the Christian Struggle 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-31 - Source: CSEL 41:131–134 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the Donatist claim that the true church survives only in Donatus's party in Africa, citing the prophecies of a worldwide church and the Donatists' own divisions. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui sanctam ecclesiam, quae una catholica est, negant per orbem esse diffusam, sed in sola Africa, hoc est in parte Donati pollere arbitrantur. ita surdi sunt aduersus prophetam dicentem: filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te; postula a me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam, et possessionem tuam terminos terrae, et alia multa, siue in ueteris siue in noui testamenti libris quae scripta sunt, ut apertissime declarent ecclesiam Christi per orbem terrae esse diffusam. quod cum eis obicimus, dicunt iam ista omnia fuisse conpleta, antequam esset pars Donati, sed postea totam ecclesiam perisse et in sola Donati parte reliquias eius remansisse contendunt. o linguam superbam et nefariam! nec si uere sic uiuerent, ut uel inter se pacem postea custodirent. nunc autem non adtendunt iam in ipso Donato completum fuisse, quod dictum est: in qua mensura mensi fueritis, in ea remetietur uobis. sicut enim Christum diuidere conatus est, sic ipse a suis cotidiana concisione diuiditur. ad hoc etiam pertinet illud, quod dominus dicit: qui enim gladio percusserit, gladio morietur. gladius enim illo loco, siquidem in malo positus est, discordiosam linguam significat, qua tunc ille infelix ecclesiam percussit, sed non occidit. non enim dixit dominus: qui occiderit gladio, gladio morietur, sed qui gladio usus fuerit, inquit, gladio morietur. ergo ille percussit ecclesiam lingua litigiosa, qua nunc ipse conciditur, ut omnino dispereat atque moriatur. et tamen illud tunc apostolus Petrus non superbia sua, sed quamuis carnali, tamen amore domini fecerat. itaque admonitus recondit gladium; iste autem nec uictus hoc fecit, siquidem cum episcopo Caeciliano causam cum diceret audientibus episcopis Romae, quos ipse petiuerat, nihil eorum quae intenderat potuit probare; et sic remansit in schismate, ut suo gladio moreretur. populus autem ipsius, quando non audit prophetas et euangelium, in quibus apertissime scriptum est ecclesiam Christi per omnes gentes diffusam esse, et audit schismaticos non dei gloriam quaerentes, sed suam, satis significat seruum se esse, non liberum et aurem dexteram se habere praecisam. Petrus enim errans in amore domini seruo, non libero aurem dexteram praecidit. ex quo significat eos, qui gladio schismatis feriuntur, et seruos esse carnalium desideriorum, nondum eductos in libertatem spiritus sancti, ut iam non confidant in homine, et non audire quod dextrum est, id est domini gloriam per catholicam ecclesiam latissime peruagatam, sed audire sinistrum humanae inflationis errorem. sed tamen, cum dominus in euangelio dicat, cum per omnes gentes euangelium fuerit praedicatum, tunc finem esse futurum, quomodo isti dicunt, quod iam ceterae omnes gentes ceciderunt a fide et in sola Donati parte remansit ecclesia, cum manifestum sit, ex quo ista pars ab unitate praecisa est, nonnullas gentes postea credidisse et adhuc esse aliquas, quae nondum crediderunt, quibus cotidie non cessatur euangelium praedicari? quis non miretur esse aliquem, qui se christianum dici uelit et aduersus Christi gloriam tanta inpietate rapiatur, ut audeat dicere omnes populos gentium, qui modo adhuc accedunt ecclesiae dei et in dei filium festinanter credunt, inaniter facere, quia non eos aliquis donatista baptizat? sine dubio ista exsecrarentur homines et eos sine dilatione relinquerent, si Christum quaererent, si ecclesiam diligerent, si liberi essent, si aurem dexteram integram retinerent. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that the holy church, which is the one Catholic Church, is spread throughout the world, but think that it flourishes in Africa alone, that is, in the party of Donatus. So deaf are they to the prophet who says, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession,' and to many other things written in the books of the Old and New Testaments, which declare most plainly that the church of Christ is spread throughout the world. When we put this to them, they say that all these things were already fulfilled before there was a party of Donatus, but they contend that afterward the whole church perished and its remnants remained in the party of Donatus alone. O proud and wicked tongue! And not even if they truly lived in such a way as to keep peace at least among themselves afterward! But as it is, they do not notice that in Donatus himself there has already been fulfilled what was said: 'With the measure with which you measure, it will be measured back to you.' For just as he tried to divide Christ, so he himself is divided by his own followers in daily splitting. To this also belongs what the Lord says: 'For whoever strikes with the sword will die by the sword.' For the sword in that place, since it is set in a bad sense, signifies the quarrelsome tongue with which that unhappy man struck the church at that time, but did not kill it. For the Lord did not say, 'Whoever kills with the sword will die by the sword,' but 'Whoever uses the sword,' he says, 'will die by the sword.' So he struck the church with a contentious tongue, by which he himself is now being cut to pieces, so that he may perish and die altogether. And yet the apostle Peter had done that deed then not from pride but from love of the Lord, though a carnal love. And so, when admonished, he put back his sword; but this man did not do so even when defeated, since when he pleaded his case against Bishop Caecilian before the bishops at Rome, whom he himself had asked for, he could prove none of his charges; and so he remained in schism, to die by his own sword. And his people, when they do not listen to the prophets and the Gospel, in which it is most plainly written that the church of Christ is spread among all nations, and listen to schismatics who seek not God's glory but their own, show clearly enough that they are slaves, not free, and have had their right ear cut off. For Peter, erring in his love for the Lord, cut off the right ear of a slave, not of a free man. By this he signifies that those who are struck by the sword of schism are both slaves of carnal desires, not yet brought out into the freedom of the Holy Spirit so as no longer to trust in man, and do not hear what is right, that is, the glory of the Lord spread most widely through the Catholic Church, but hear the left-handed error of human conceit. Yet since the Lord says in the Gospel that when the gospel has been preached to all nations, then the end will come, how do these people say that all the other nations have already fallen from the faith and the church has remained in the party of Donatus alone, when it is plain that since this party was cut off from unity some nations have believed, and there are still some that have not yet believed, to whom the gospel does not cease to be preached daily? Who would not be amazed that there is anyone who wants to be called a Christian and is carried away against the glory of Christ by such impiety as to dare to say that all the peoples of the nations who are still now coming to the church of God and hastening to believe in the Son of God act in vain, because no Donatist baptizes them? Without doubt men would detest these things and leave them without delay, if they sought Christ, if they loved the church, if they were free, if they kept their right ear whole. ### Scripture references - Ps 2:7–8: quotation, high confidence - Matt 7:2: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:52: quotation, high confidence - John 18:10: allusion, high confidence - Jer 17:5: allusion, low confidence - Matt 24:14: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Donatus (the Donatist bishop of Carthage) lost his case against Caecilian at the council held at Rome in 313. Augustine's description of the Donatists is polemical and is translated as written. Quotations and allusions: Ps 2:7–8; Matt 7:2; Matt 26:52; John 18:10 (Malchus's right ear); Jer 17:5; Matt 24:14. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 31 (CSEL 41:131–134; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-31). ## On the Christian Struggle 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-32 - Source: CSEL 41:134–135 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine praises the Luciferians for not rebaptizing but condemns their schism, which arose from their refusal of the church's forgiveness to bishops who had yielded to the Arians. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui quamuis neminem rebaptizent, praeciderunt se tamen ab unitate et Luciferiani magis dici quam catholici maluerunt. in eo enim, quod intellegunt baptisma Christi non esse repetendum, recte faciunt. sentiunt enim sacramentum sancti lauacri nusquam esse nisi ex catholica ecclesia, sed eam formam secum habere sarmenta praecisa, quam in ipsa uite, antequam praeciderentur, acceperant. hi sunt enim, de quibus apostolus dicit: habentes speciem pietatis, uirtutem autem eius abnegantes; est enim magna uirtus pietatis pax et unitas, quia unus est deus. hanc illi non habent, quia praecisi ab unitate sunt. itaque, si qui ex ipsis ad catholicam ueniunt, non iterant speciem pietatis, quam habent, sed accipiunt uirtutem pietatis, quam non habent. nam et amputatos ramos denuo posse inseri, si non permanserint in incredulitate, apertissime apostolus docet. quod cum Luciferiani intellegunt et non rebaptizant, non inprobamus; sed quod autem etiam ipsi praecidi a radice uoluerunt, quis non detestandum esse cognoscat? et ideo maxime, quia hoc eis displicuit in ecclesia catholica, quod uere catholicae sanctitatis est. nusquam enim tam uigere debent uiscera misericordiae quam in catholica ecclesia, ut tamquam uera mater nec peccantibus filiis superbe insultet nec correctis difficile ignoscat. non enim sine causa inter omnes apostolos huius ecclesiae catholicae personam sustinet Petrus; huic enim ecclesiae claues regni caelorum datae sunt, cum Petro datae sunt. et cum ei dicitur, ad omnes dicitur: amas me? pasce oues meas. debet ergo ecclesia catholica correctis et pietate firmatis filiis libenter ignoscere, cum ipsi Petro personam eius gestanti, et cum in mari titubasset et cum dominum carnaliter a passione reuocasset et cum aurem serui gladio praecidisset et cum ipsum dominum ter negasset et cum in simulationem postea superstitiosam lapsus esset, uideamus ueniam esse concessam eumque correctum atque firmatum usque ad dominicae passionis gloriam peruenisse. itaque post persecutionem, quae per Arrianos haereticos facta erat, posteaquam pax, quam quidem catholica in domino tenet, etiam a principibus saeculi reddita est, episcopi, qui perfidiae Arrianorum in illa persecutione consenserant, multi correcti redire in catholicam delegerunt, damnantes siue quod crediderant siue quod se credisse simulauerant. hos ecclesia catholica materno recepit sinu, tamquam Petrum post fletum negationis per galli cantum admonitum aut tamquam eundem post prauam simulationem Pauli uoce correctum. hanc illi matris caritatem superbe accipientes et inpie reprehendentes, quia Petro post galli cantum surgenti non gratulati sunt, cum lucifero, qui mane oriebatur, cadere meruerunt. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who, although they rebaptize no one, have nevertheless cut themselves off from unity and have preferred to be called Luciferians rather than Catholics. In understanding that the baptism of Christ is not to be repeated, they do rightly. For they perceive that the sacrament of the holy washing exists nowhere except from the Catholic Church, but that the cut-off branches keep with them the form which they received on the vine itself before they were cut off. For these are the people of whom the apostle says, 'having the form of piety, but denying its power'; for the great power of piety is peace and unity, because God is one. This they do not have, because they are cut off from unity. And so, if any of them come to the Catholic Church, they do not repeat the form of piety that they have, but receive the power of piety that they do not have. For the apostle teaches most plainly that branches cut off can be grafted in again if they do not remain in unbelief. When the Luciferians understand this and do not rebaptize, we do not disapprove; but that they too chose to be cut off from the root, who does not recognize is to be detested? And all the more because what displeased them in the Catholic Church is what belongs to truly Catholic holiness. For nowhere ought the bowels of mercy to be so vigorous as in the Catholic Church, so that, like a true mother, she neither proudly insults her sinning children nor is slow to forgive them when corrected. For it is not without reason that among all the apostles Peter bears the person of this Catholic Church; for the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to this church when they were given to Peter. And when it is said to him, it is said to all: 'Do you love me? Feed my sheep.' The Catholic Church, then, ought gladly to forgive her children when they are corrected and strengthened in piety, since we see that to Peter himself, who bore her person, pardon was granted when he wavered on the sea, when he carnally tried to call the Lord back from his passion, when he cut off the slave's ear with the sword, when he denied the Lord himself three times, and when afterward he fell into superstitious pretence; and that he, corrected and strengthened, came to the glory of the Lord's passion. And so after the persecution carried out by the Arian heretics, once peace, which indeed the Catholic Church holds in the Lord, had been restored also by the rulers of the world, many bishops who had consented to the perfidy of the Arians in that persecution, being corrected, chose to return to the Catholic Church, condemning either what they had believed or what they had pretended to believe. These the Catholic Church received into her motherly bosom, like Peter after his weeping for the denial when he was admonished by the cock's crow, or like the same Peter corrected by Paul's voice after his wrong pretence. The Luciferians, proudly receiving this mother's love and impiously finding fault with it, because they did not rejoice with Peter as he rose after the cock's crow, deserved to fall with Lucifer, who rose in the morning. ### Scripture references - 2 Tim 3:5: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:23: allusion, high confidence - Matt 16:19: allusion, high confidence - John 21:17: quotation, high confidence - Matt 14:30: allusion, high confidence - Matt 16:22: allusion, high confidence - John 18:10: allusion, high confidence - Matt 26:69–75: allusion, high confidence - Gal 2:11–14: allusion, high confidence - Isa 14:12: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The Luciferians followed Lucifer of Cagliari, who broke communion over the readmission of bishops who had signed Arian formulas (after the Council of Alexandria, 362). The closing wordplay on 'Lucifer' alludes to Isa 14:12. Quotations and allusions: 2 Tim 3:5; Rom 11:23; Matt 16:19; John 21:17; Matt 14:30; Matt 16:22; John 18:10; Matt 26:69–75; Gal 2:11–14. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 32 (CSEL 41:134–135; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-32). ## On the Christian Struggle 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-33 - Source: CSEL 41:135–136 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects those who deny that the church can forgive all sins and who condemn remarried widows as adulteresses, against Paul's permission. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui negant ecclesiam dei omnia peccata posse dimittere. itaque miseri, dum in Petro petram non intellegunt et nolunt credere datas ecclesiae claues regni caelorum, ipsi eas de manibus amiserunt. isti sunt, qui uiduas, si nupserint, tamquam adulteras damnant et super doctrinam apostolicam se praedicant esse mundiores: qui nomen suum si uellent agnoscere, mundanos se potius quam mundos uocarent. nolentes enim, si peccauerint, corrigi, nihil aliud elegerunt nisi cum hoc mundo damnari. nam quibus ueniam peccatorum negant, non eos aliqua sanitate custodiunt, sed aegris subtrahunt medicinam; et uiduas suas uri cogunt, quas nubere non permittunt. non enim prudentiores habendi sunt quam Paulus apostolus, qui ait: malo eas nubere quam uri. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that the church of God can forgive all sins. And so the wretches, while they do not understand the rock in Peter and do not want to believe that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to the church, have themselves let them fall from their hands. These are the people who condemn widows as adulteresses if they marry, and proclaim themselves purer than the apostolic teaching. If they were willing to recognize their own name, they would call themselves worldly rather than pure. For, unwilling to be corrected if they sin, they have chosen nothing else than to be condemned with this world. For those to whom they deny forgiveness of sins they do not keep in any health, but withdraw medicine from the sick; and they force their widows to burn, whom they do not permit to marry. For they are not to be thought more prudent than the apostle Paul, who says, 'I would rather they marry than burn.' ### Scripture references - Matt 16:18–19: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 7:9: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 5:14: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The group is the Novatianists, who called themselves Cathari ('the pure'); Augustine plays on mundi 'pure' and mundani 'worldly'. The quotation combines 1 Cor 7:9 with 1 Tim 5:14. Allusion also to Matt 16:18–19. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 33 (CSEL 41:135–136; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-33). ## On the Christian Struggle 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-34 - Source: CSEL 41:136–137 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The resurrection of the flesh is not denied by 1 Cor 15:50, because the risen flesh will be changed into a heavenly body. ### Latin text Nec eos audiamus, qui carnis resurrectionem futuram negant et commemorant, quod ait apostolus Paulus: caro et sanguis regnum dei non possidebunt, non intellegentes, quod ipse dicit apostolus: oportet corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem et mortale hoc induere inmortalitatem. cum enim hoc factum fuerit, iam non erit caro et sanguis, sed caeleste corpus. quod et dominus promittit, cum dicit: neque nubent neque uxores ducent, sed erunt aequales angelis dei. non enim iam hominibus, sed deo uiuent, cum aequales angelis facti fuerint. inmutabitur ergo caro et sanguis et fiet corpus caeleste et angelicum; et mortui enim resurgent incorrupti, et nos inmutabimur, ut et illud uerum sit, quod resurget caro, et illud uerum sit, quod caro et sanguis regnum dei non possidebit. ### English translation (Claude) Nor let us listen to those who deny that there will be a resurrection of the flesh, and cite what the apostle Paul says, 'Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God,' not understanding what the same apostle says: 'This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.' For when this has been done, it will no longer be flesh and blood, but a heavenly body. The Lord too promises this when he says, 'They will neither marry nor take wives, but will be equal to the angels of God.' For they will no longer live for men but for God, when they have been made equal to the angels. Flesh and blood, then, will be changed and will become a heavenly and angelic body; for 'the dead will rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed,' so that it is true both that the flesh will rise and that flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 15:50: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:53: quotation, high confidence - Luke 20:35–36: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:52: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: 1 Cor 15:50; 1 Cor 15:53; Luke 20:35–36 (compare Matt 22:30); 1 Cor 15:52. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 34 (CSEL 41:136–137; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-34). ## On the Christian Struggle 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 41:137–139 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Nourished by the simple faith, believers grow in love, which shuts the doors of desire and fear through which the devil enters, and so win the crown of victory. ### Latin text Ista fidei simplicitate et sinceritate lactati nutriamur in Christo et, cum paruuli sumus, maiorum cibos non adpetamus, sed nutrimentis saluberrimis crescamus in Christo accedentibus bonis moribus et christiana iustitia, in qua est caritas dei et proximi perfecta et firmata, ut unusquisque nostrum de diabolo inimico et angelis eius triumphet in semet ipso in Christo, quem induit, quia perfecta caritas nec cupiditatem habet saeculi nec timorem saeculi, id est nec cupiditatem, ut adquirat res temporales, nec timorem, ne amittat res temporales. per quas duas ianuas intrat et regnat inimicus, qui primo dei timore, deinde caritate pellendus est. debemus itaque tanto auidius adpetere apertissimam et euidentissimam cognitionem ueritatis, quanto nos uidemus in caritate proficere et eius simplicitate cor habere mundatum, quia ipso interiore oculo uidetur ueritas — beati enim mundo corde, inquit, quia ipsi deum uidebunt — ut in caritate radicati et fundati praeualeamus comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis, quae sit latitudo et longitudo et altitudo et profundum, scire etiam supereminentem scientiam caritatis Christi, ut inpleamur in omnem plenitudinem dei et post ista cum inuisibili hoste certamina, quoniam uolentibus et amantibus iugum Christi lene est et sarcina eius leuis, coronam uictoriae mereamur. ### English translation (Claude) Suckled on this simplicity and sincerity of faith, let us be nourished in Christ, and while we are little ones let us not crave the food of our elders, but let us grow in Christ on most wholesome nourishment, with good conduct and Christian righteousness added, in which the love of God and neighbor is perfected and made firm, so that each of us may triumph within himself over the devil, the enemy, and his angels, in Christ, whom he has put on. For perfect love has neither desire for the world nor fear of the world, that is, neither desire to acquire temporal things nor fear of losing temporal things. Through these two doors the enemy enters and reigns, and he must be driven out first by the fear of God, then by love. We ought therefore to seek the most open and evident knowledge of the truth all the more eagerly, the more we see ourselves advancing in love and having a heart cleansed by its simplicity, because the truth is seen by that inner eye ('Blessed are the pure in heart,' he says, 'for they shall see God'), so that, rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know also the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God; and after these contests with the invisible enemy, since to those who are willing and loving the yoke of Christ is easy and his burden light, we may merit the crown of victory. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 3:1–2: allusion, high confidence - Gal 3:27: allusion, medium confidence - 1 John 4:18: allusion, high confidence - Matt 5:8: quotation, high confidence - Eph 3:17–19: quotation, high confidence - Matt 11:30: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: 1 Cor 3:1–2; Gal 3:27; 1 John 4:18; Matt 5:8; Eph 3:17–19; Matt 11:30. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Agon. 35 (CSEL 41:137–139; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-agone-christiano/21/#p-35).