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Chapter 10GratL.1.10

Similitudinem divinae imaginis in nobis reformari per Christum.

The Lost Coin and the Lamp of Wisdom

Augustine uses the Gospel image of the woman who lights her lamp to find the lost coin, interpreting it as Christ, the Wisdom of God, coming in the flesh to seek and restore the divine image defiled by sin, and through his radiance dispelling the darkness of sin and strengthening the soul against demonic tyranny.

But the divine likeness couldn't be found anywhere in this world either — no, it would still have lain here foul and deformed, if that woman in the Gospel hadn't lit her lamp; that is, if Wisdom hadn't appeared in the flesh, swept clean the house (the house of vices), and searched out the coin she had lost.✦ That is, his own image, stripped of its native beauty, filthy under the skin of sin, lying hidden as if in the dust — once found, he would wipe it clean and lift it out of the region of disfigurement, and reshape it into its original form, making it like the glory of the saints; indeed, he would one day render it fully conformed to himself in all things, when that word of Scripture is fulfilled: 'We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.'✦ III, 2). And truly, to whom did this work more properly belong than to the Son of God, who, since he is the radiance of glory and the very imprint of the Father's substance, upholding all things by his word — equipped from both sides, he readily appeared, both to reform what was deformed and to strengthen what was weak: while from the radiance of his own figure he put to flight the darkness of sins, rendering us wise; and by the power of his word he made us powerful against the tyranny of demons.✦

Wisdom's Sovereign and Gentle Reach

Augustine identifies Wisdom as the form to which free choice must be conformed, and meditates on how Wisdom reaches from one end of creation to the other — not by restless motion but by substantial, peaceful, and uncompelled power.

Therefore the very form to which our free choice was meant to be conformed has come — so that it might recover its former shape from the very one from which it needed to be reformed, and by which it had been formed. Now the form is Wisdom — a conforming, so that it might shape in the body the image that Wisdom produces in the world. Furthermore, it reaches from one end to the other powerfully, and it arranges all things gently (Wis. 8:1). 8, 1). It reaches from one end to the other — that is, from the highest heaven to the lowest parts of the earth, from the greatest angel to the smallest worm. Yet it does not reach so powerfully by any restless running about, or by spreading from place to place, or merely through the subordinate administration of a creature carrying out an office — but through a substantial strength, present everywhere, by which it most powerfully moves, orders, and governs all things. And it is driven by no necessity of its own to do all these things. Nor does any difficulty burden it in these matters; instead, it gently arranges all things by a peaceful will.

Providence Reaching from Origin to End

Augustine extends the image of Wisdom's reach to the full span of time, pressing nature, hastening cause, and granting grace, all under the mighty predestination of God's will.

Or surely it reaches from one end to the other — that is, from the origin of creation all the way to the end destined by the Creator: pressing upon the one whom nature urges, hastening the one whom cause accelerates, granting grace to the one whom grace concedes.1 It reaches with power, since none of these things happens except as His mighty providence predestines, according to His will.2

Free Choice Imitating Wisdom in the Body

Augustine exhorts free choice to imitate Wisdom by governing the body powerfully, refusing sin, reclaiming the dignity of the divine image, serving righteousness with a cheerful and eager will, and so resisting vices bravely while resting gently in a good conscience.

So free choice strives to preside over its own body, just as wisdom presides over the world, reaching powerfully over it from one end to the other, commanding each sense and limb with such force that it does not allow sin to reign in its mortal body, nor does it hand over its members as weapons to wickedness, but offers them to serve righteousness. And so a person will no longer be a slave to sin when they have not committed it. Freed from it, they will now recover the freedom of purpose, now begin to reclaim their dignity, as they clothe themselves in a likeness worthy of the divine image within them — indeed, they will restore its original beauty.3 Let them take care to do these things no less gently than bravely — that is, not out of sorrow or out of necessity. That is the beginning, not the fullness of wisdom, but with a ready and eager will, which makes the sacrifice acceptable, since God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor.✦4 9:7). And so in every way they will imitate wisdom, as they resist vices bravely and rest gently in a good conscience.

Transformed by the Spirit Beyond Free Choice

Augustine argues that transformation by the Spirit surpasses what free choice alone can achieve, since humans can fall by themselves but cannot rise without grace, and he redefines free choice as the will's freedom to will — equally capable of good or evil in principle, though not equally easy in practice — a condition that will itself be transcended in the resurrection.

But to be spurred on by such examples, we also need the help by which we ourselves are conformed to her and, in turn, transformed from one degree of glory into another, as if by the Spirit of the Lord (I Cor. III, 18). So if it is by the Lord's Spirit, it is no longer by free choice. Therefore, no one should suppose that 'free choice' means it is equally within our power or equally easy to choose good or evil, since by ourselves we could indeed fall, but could not rise again except through the Lord's Spirit. Otherwise, neither God nor the holy angels would be said to possess free choice, since they are so good that they cannot be evil; nor would the fallen angels, since they are now so evil that they cannot be good. But we too will lose that freedom after the resurrection, when each of us will be joined inseparably, some to good and some to evil. Furthermore, neither God nor the devil lacks free choice: because the one cannot be evil, it is not weak necessity that makes him so, but a will firmly established in goodness and the firmness that comes from willing it; and the other cannot turn back toward the good, not because some external force violently oppresses him, but because his own will is obstinately fixed in evil, and that fixity is voluntary. So now free choice is named for this rather: whether in good or in evil, it makes the will equally free — since no one should be called or be able to be good or evil unless willing it.

Freedom of Willing, Not Ease of Choosing

Augustine concludes that the will is equally free toward good and evil because the capacity for willing is the same on both sides — not an ease of choosing, but a freedom of willing.

On this basis, then, it is not unfitting to say that the will is equally free toward good and toward evil, because on both sides the capacity is the same for it — not, to be sure, an ease of choosing, but a freedom of willing.5

Read the original Latin

Sed neque in hoc saeculo aeque inveniri uspiam posset similitudo, sed adhuc hic foeda et deformis jacuisset imago, si non evangelica illa mulier lucernam accenderet, id est, Sapientia in carne appareret, everreret domum, videlicet vitiorum, drachmam suam requireret quam perdiderat (Luc. XV, 8) : hoc est, imaginem suam, quae nativo spoliata decore, sub pelle peccati sordens, tanquam in pulvere latitabat; inventam tergeret, et tolleret de regione dissimilitudinis; pristinamque in speciem reformatam, similem faceret illam in gloria sanctorum, imo sibi ipsi per omnia redderet quandoque conformem, cum illud Scripturae videlicet impleretur: Scimus qui cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2) . Et revera cui potius id operis congruebat, quam Dei Filio, 616 qui cum sit splendor gloriae , et figura substantiae Patris, portans verbo universa, ex utroque facile munitus apparuit, et unde reformaret deformem, et unde debilem confortaret: dum et de splendore figurae fugans tenebras peccatorum , redderet sapientem; et ex virtute verbi contra tyrannidem daemonum potentem efficeret.

Venit ergo ipsa forma, cui conformandum erat liberum arbitrium: quia ut pristinam reciperet formam, ex illa erat reformandum, ex qua fuerat et formatum. Forma autem, sapientia est: conformatio, ut faciat imago in corpor, quod forma facit in orbe. Porro illa attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter (Sap. VIII, 1) . Attingit a fine usque ad finem, hoc est a summo coelo usque ad inferiores partes terrae, a maximo angelo usque ad minimum vermiculum. Attingit autem fortiter, non quidem mobili discursione, vel locali diffusione, vel subjectae creaturae tantum officiali administratione: sed substantiali quadam et ubique praesenti fortitudine, qua utique universa potentissime movet, ordinat, administrat. Et haec omnia nulla sui cogitur facere necessitate. Nec enim aliqua in his laborat difficultate: sed disponit omnia suaviter placida voluntate.

Vel certe attingit a fine usque ad finem, hoc est ab ortu creaturae usque ad finem destinatum a Creatore: sive in quem urget natura, sive quem accelerat causa, sive quem concedit gratia. Attingit fortiter, dum nihil horum evenit, quod non, prout vult, potenti praeordinet providentia.

Sic ergo et liberum arbitrium suo conetur praeesse corpori, ut praeest sapientia orbi attingens et ipsum a fine usque ad finem fortiter; imperans scilicet singulis sensibus et artubus tam potenter, quatenus non sinat regnare peccatum in suo mortali corpore, nec membra sua det arma iniquitati, sed exhibeat servire justitiae. Et ita jam non erit homo servus peccati, cum peccatum non fecerit: a quo utique liberatus, jam libertatem recuperare consilii, jam suam incipiet vindicare dignitatem, dum divinae in se imagini condignam vestierit similitudinem, imo antiquam reparaverit venustatem. Curet autem haec agere, non minus suaviter quam fortiter, hoc est non ex tristitia aut ex necessitate; quod est initium, non plenitudo sapientiae: sed prompta et alacri voluntate, quod facit acceptum sacrificium; quoniam hilarem datorem diligit Deus (II Cor. IX, 7) . Sicque per omnia imitabitur sapientiam, dum et vitiis resistet fortiter, et in conscientia requiescet suaviter.

Verum cujus ad talia provocamur exemplo, indigemus et auxilio: quo ipsi videlicet per ipsam conformemur, atque in eamdem imaginem transformemur a claritate in claritatem, tanquam a Domini Spiritu (I Cor. III, 18) . Ergo si a Domini Spiritu, jam non a libero arbitrio. Nemo proinde putet ideo dictum liberum arbitrium, quod aequa inter bonum et malum potestate aut facilitate versetur, cum cadere per se quidem potuerit, non autem resurgere, nisi per Domini Spiritum. Alioquin nec Deus, nec angeli sancti, cum ita sint boni, ut non possint esse mali; nec praevaricatores item angeli, cum ita sint mali, ut jam non valeant esse boni; liberi arbitrii esse dicentur. Sed et nos illud post resurrectionem amissuri sumus, quando utique inseparabiliter alii bonis, alii malis admisti fuerimus. Caeterum nec Deus caret libero arbitrio, nec diabolus: quoniam quod ille esse non potest malus, non infirma facit necessitas, sed firma in bono voluntas, et voluntaria firmitas: quodque is non valet in bonum respirare, non aliena facit violenta oppressio, sed sua ipsius in malo obstinata voluntas, ac voluntaria obstinatio. Nunc igitur ex eo potius liberum arbitrium dicitur, quod sive in bono, sive in malo, aeque liberam faciat voluntatem: cum nec bonus quispiam, nec item malus dici debeat, aut esse valeat, nisi volens.

Tali jam ratione non incongrue dicetur ad bonum 617 se, et ad malum habere aequaliter: quod utrobique videlicet par sit ei, non quidem in electione facilitas, sed in voluntate libertas.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.15.8 — Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
  2. ↩1John.3.2 — Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
  3. ↩Heb.1.3 — He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's own being, and he upholds all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
  4. ↩2Cor.9.7 — Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The three sive clauses (in quem urget natura / quem accelerat causa / quem concedit gratia) are rendered with participial phrases to preserve the parallel structure and the sense of three distinct modes of divine reach — natural impulse, causal motion, and grace.
  2. 2 ↩The ablative absolute potenti … providentia is rendered 'His mighty providence' to capture the instrumental force. The subjunctive praeordinet in the relative clause of characteristic is rendered as a straightforward indicative ('predestines') to preserve the logical force in modern English.
  3. 3 ↩fecerit/vestierit/reparaverit are ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; the temporal clause with dum strongly favors a temporal/iterative sense ('as long as / while'), so future perfect is rendered here.
  4. 4 ↩Citation marker 'II Cor.' with chapter/verse 'IX, 7' in the following sentence; the quotation 'hilarem datorem diligit Deus' is from 2 Cor 9:7. Final resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
  5. 5 ↩The distinction between facilitas in electione (ease in choosing) and libertas in voluntate (freedom in willing) is central: the will's freedom lies not in how easily it can pick between options, but in the sheer fact that it wills freely on either side.

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