Enchiridion 91

Chapter 118.—The Four Stages of the Christain’s Life, and the Four Corresponding Stages of the Church’s History.

91 When, sunk in the darkest depths of ignorance, man lives according to the flesh undisturbed by any struggle of reason or conscience, this is his first state. Afterwards, when through the law has come the knowledge of sin, and the Spirit of God has not yet interposed His aid, man, striving to live according to the law, is thwarted in his efforts and falls into conscious sin, and so, being overcome of sin, becomes its slave (“for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage”231 ); and thus the effect produced by the knowledge of the commandment is this, that sin worketh in man all manner of concupiscence, and he is involved in the additional guilt of willful transgression, and that is fulfilled which is written: “The, law entered that the Offense might abound.”232 This is man’s second state. But if God has regard to him, and inspires him with faith in God’s help, and the Spirit of God begins to work in him, then the mightier power of love strives against the power of the flesh; and although there is still in the man’s own nature a power that fights against him (for his disease is not completely cured), yet he lives the life of the just by faith, and lives in righteousness so far as he does not yield to evil lust, but conquers it by the love of holiness. This is the third state of a man of good hope; and he who by steadfast piety advances in this course, shall attain at last to peace, that peace which, after this life is over, shall be perfected in the repose of the spirit, and finally in the resurrection of the body. Of these four different stages the first is before the law, the second is under the law, the third is under grace, and the fourth is in full and perfect peace. Thus, too, has the history of God’s people been ordered according to His pleasure who disposeth all things in number, and measure, and weight.233 For the church existed at first before the law; then under the law, which was given by Moses; then under grace, which was first made manifest in the coming of the Mediator. Not, indeed, that this grace was absent previously, but, in harmony with the arrangements of the time, it was veiled and hidden. For none, even of the just men of old, could find salvation apart from the faith of Christ; nor unless He had been known to them could their ministry have been used to convey prophecies concerning Him to us, some more plain, and some more obscure.

Chapter 119.—The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.

Now in whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true is it that “the wind bloweth where it listeth,”234 that some have never known the second stage, that of slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance as soon as they received the commandment.

Chapter 120.—Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have Received the Grace of Regeneration.

But before a man can receive the commandment, it is necessary that he should live according to the flesh. But if once he has received the grace of regeneration, death shall not injure him, even if he should forthwith depart from this life; “for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living;”235 nor shall death retain dominion over him for whom Christ freely died.

Chapter 121.—Love is the End of All the Commandments, and God Himself is Love.

All the commandments of God, then, are embraced in love, of which the apostle says: “Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.”236 Thus the end of every commandment is charity, that is, every commandment has love for its aim. But whatever is done either through fear of punishment or from some other carnal motive, and has not for its principle that love which the Spirit of God sheds abroad in the heart, is not done as it ought to be done, however it may appear to men. For this love embraces both the love of God and the love of our neighbor, and “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,”237 we may add the Gospel and the apostles. For it is from these that we hear this voice: The end of the commandment is charity, and God is love.238 Wherefore, all God’s commandments, one of which is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,”239 and all those precepts which are not commandments but special counsels, one of which is, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman,”240 are rightly carried out only when the motive principle of action is the love of God, and the love of our neighbor in God. And this applies both to the present and the future life. We love God now by faith, then we shall love Him through sight. Now we love even our neighbor by faith; for we who are ourselves mortal know not the hearts of mortal men. But in the future life, the Lord “both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God;”241 for every man shall love and praise in his neighbor the virtue which, that it may not be hid, the Lord Himself shall bring to light. Moreover, lust diminishes as love grows, till the latter grows to such a height that it can grow no higher here. For “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”242 Who then can tell how great love shall be in the future world, when there shall be no lust for it to restrain and conquer? for that will be the perfection of health when there shall be no struggle with death.

Chapter 122.—Conclusion.

But now there must be an end at last to this volume. And it is for yourself to judge whether you should call it a hand-book, or should use it as such. I, however, thinking that your zeal in Christ ought not to be despised, and believing and hoping all good of you in dependence on our Redeemer’s help, and loving you very much as one of the members of His body, have, to the best of my ability, written this book for you on Faith, Hope, and Love. May its value be equal to its length).



1 “Scripsi etiam librum ‘de Fide, Spe et Charitate’ cum a me ad quem scriptus est postulasset ut aliquod opusculum haberet meum de suis manibus nunquam recessurum, quod genus Graeci” Enchiridion vocant. Ubi satis diligenter mihi videor esse complexus quomodo sit colendus Deus quam sapientiam esse hominis utique veram Divina Scriptura definit. Hic libersic incipit, ‘Dici non potest, dilectissime fili Laurenti, quantum tuâ eruditione delecter.’”
1 1Co 1,20
2 Sg 6,24). [Greek text, ver. 25: plh`u`o" sofw`n swthriva kovsmou.—P. S.]
3 Rm 16,19
4 Si 1,1
5 Jb 28,28).
6 Ga 5,6
7 1Co 3,11).
8 Jl 2,32.
9 Rm 10,14
10 Lucan, Phars. 2,15.
11 Virgil). Aeneid, 4,419.
12 He 11,1
13 Rm 8,24-25.
14 Jc 2,19
15 Ga 5,6).
16 Is 5,20
17 Lc 6,45
18 Mt 7,18
19 Mt 7,16).
20 Mt 12,33
21 Virgil, Georgics, 2,490.
22 Ibid.
23 Virgil, Eclog. 8,41).
24 Is 5,20).
25 Ac 12,9
26 Virgil, Aen. 10,392.
27 Rm 1,17).
28 Ga 5,6
29 Ac 12,9-11.
30 Gn 37,33
31 Mt 5,37
32 Mt 6,12).
33 Gn 2,17
34 Rm 5,12).
35 Lc 20,36
36 Rm 4,17
37 Sg 11,20
38 2P 2,19
39 Jn 8,36
40 Ep 2,8
41 1Co 7,25).
42 Ep 2,8-9.
43 Ep 2,10
44 Ps 51,10
45 Ph 2,13
46 Rm 9,16
47 Pr 16,1
48 Ps 59,10
49 Ps 23,6
50 Mt 5,44
51 Mt 7,7
52 Ps 90,9
53 Jb 14,1.
54 Jn 3,36 words, attributed by the author to Christ, were really spoken by Jn the Baptist..
55 Ep 2,3).
56 Rm 5,10
57 Rm 8,14
58 Jn 1,14
59 Rm 3,20
60 Ep. 137.
61 Jn 1,1
62 Ph 2,6).
63 Lc 1,28
64 Lc 1,30
65 Jn 1,14
66 Lc 1,35
67 Mt 1,20
68 A quotation from a form of the Apostles’ Creed anciently in use in the Latin Church.
69 Jn 1,3
70 Rm 1,3).
71 Os 4,8
72 2Co 5,20-21).
73 “Uterumque armato milite complent.”.—Virgil, Aen. 2,20.
74 Nb 21,7 Nb 21 Nb 21
75 Mt 2,20
76 Ex 32,31
77 Ex 32,4
78 Rm 5,12
79 Ex 20,5 Dt 5,9
80 Ez 18,2).
81 Ps 51,5
82 Mt 3,13-15.
83 Mt 3,3
84 Mt 3,11
85 Ps 2,7 Ps 1,5 He is by a mistake that Augustin quotes these words as pronounced at our Lord’s baptism.
86 Rm 5,16
87 Rm 5,18
88 Rm 6,1
89 Rm 5,20
90 Rm 6,1-11).
91 Ga 5,24).
92 Rm 6,4
93 Rm 6,5
94 Col 3,1-3.
95 Col 3,4
96 Jn 5,29
97 Ps 54,1
98 Ps 43,1).
99 Ga 4,26).
100 1Co 6,19).
101 1Co 6,15
102 1Co 3,16
103 1Co 3,16
104 Col 1,18
105 Jn 2,19
106 2P 2,4
107 He 1,13
108 Ps 148,2 [“host,” R. V.].
109 Col 1,16
110 Za 1,9
111 Mt 1,20
112 Gn 18,4 Gn 19,2.
113 Gn 32,24-25).
114 2Co 11,14
115 Rm 8,31
116 Ep 1,10
117 Col 1,19-20). [ R. V. “summed up.”]
118 Ph 4,7
119 1Co 13,12
120 Lc 20,36).
121 Rm 8,14
122 Sg 9,15
123 1Jn 1,8
124 Ps 51,17
125 Ps 38,9
126 Si 40,1).
127 1Co 11,31-32).
128 Ga 5,6
129 Jas 2,17). [See R. V.].
130 Jc 2,14
131 1Co 3,15
132 1Co 6,9-10.
133 1Co 3,11-15). [The “fire” in ver. 15 is not the purgatorial fire in the state between death and resurrection, but, as in ver. 14, the fire of the day of judgment.—P. S.].
134 1Co 3,13-15.
135 Si 27,5 Si 2,5.
136 1Co 7,32
137 1Co 7,33). [See R.V.]).
138 1Co 6,10
139 Mt 25,31-46.
140 Si 15,20
141 Mt 6,9
142 Jn 3,5
143 Mt 6,12
144 Lc 11,41).
145 Rm 12,17 Mt 5,44
146 Mt 5,44
147 Jn 14,6
148 Mt 6,14-15.
149 Lc 11,41
150 Lc 11,37-41). [See R. V.].
151 Ac 15,9
152 Tt 1,15).
153 Si 30,24).
154 Rm 5,16
155 Rm 5,8
156 Lc 10,27
157 Lc 11,42
158 Lc 11,42
159 Mt 23,26
160 Ps 11,5 hateth.” A. V)..
161 Ps 59,10).
162 1Co 7,5).
163 1Co 7,6). [“Concession,” R. V.].
164 1Co 6,1
165 1Co 6,4-6.
166 1Co 6,7
167 Mt 5,40
168 Lc 6,30
169 Jc 3,2). [See R. V.].
170 Mt 5,22-23.
171 Ga 4,10-11.
172 Ps 10,3).
173 Is 5,7
174 Gn 18,20
175 Ps 27,1
176 2Tm 2,25
177 Lc 22,61
178 Mt 12,32).
179 Jerome, in his Epistle to Vitalis: “Or because in our times a man was born at Lydda with two heads, four hands, one belly, and two feet, does it necessarily follow that all men are so born?”
180 1Co 15,44). [See R. V.]
181 Sg 9,15 Ga 5,17
182 1Co 15,50
183 Lc 24,39
184 1Co 15,44).
185 Ap 2,2
186 Ps 101,1
187 Mt 11,21
188 Ps 115,3
189 1Tm 2,4). [See R. V.]).
190 Mt 23,37
191 Rm 9,18
192 Rm 9,12
193 Rm 9,13 Ml 1,2-3
194 Rm 9,14
195 Rm 9,15 Ex 33,19
196 Rm 9,16). [See R. V.].
197 Comp. 1Co 1,31).
198 Rm 9,17 Ex 9,16).
199 Rm 9,18
200 Rm 9,19
201 Rm 9,20-21.
202 Rm 3,19 1Co 1,31 1Co 1
203 Ps 111,2(LXX).: “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” (A. V).).
204 Mt 16,21-23.
205 Ac 21,10-12.
206 1Tm 2,4
207 Jn 1,9
208 1Tm 2,1-4).
209 Lc 11,42). [“All manner of herbs.” A. V.]
210 Ps 115,3). [“Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” A. V.].
211 Pr 16,1). [“The preparation of the heart in man… is from the Lord.” A. V.]).
212 Rm 6,23
213 Comp. Rm 11,6.
214 Rm 9,21
215 2Co 5,10comp. Rm 14,10).
216 Ps 77,9
217 Rm 9,23
218 Mt 25,46
219 Jn 3,36
220 (Ps lxxviii.
221 Ps 31,19).
222 Jr 17,5).
223 Mt 6,9-10.
224 Mt 6,11-13.
225 [These petitions are retained in the A. V., but omitted in the R. V., according to the oldest authorities.—P. S.].
226 [These petitions are retained in the A. V., but omitted in the R. V., according to the oldest authorities.—P. S.].
227 1Co 13,13).
228 Ga 5,6
229 Mt 7,7
230 Rm 5,5
231 2P 2,19
232 Rm 5,20
233 Comp. Sg 11,20.
234 Jn 3,8
235 Rm 14,9
236 1Tm 1,5).
237 Mt 22,40comp. Rm 5,5
238 1Tm 1,5 1Jn 4,16
239 Comp. Mt 5,27and Rm 13,9.
240 1Co 7,1
241 1Co 4,5
242 Jn 15,13).

Enchiridion 91