- THE CITY OF GOD - THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE CREATOR - BY SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO -
- Of hell, and the nature of eternal punishment - Page Two -
So then what God by His prophet has said of the everlasting punishment of the damned shall come to pass - shall without fail come to pass - "their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." - Romans 8:13 - In order to impress this upon us most forcibly, the Lord Jesus Himself, when ordering us to cut off our members of his body, says, "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm die not and their fire is not quenched." Similarly of the foot: "It is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm die not, and the fire is not quenched." So, too, of the eye: "it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire; where their worm die not, and the fire is not quenched." - Mark 9:43-48 - He did not shrink from using the same words three times over in one passage. And who is not terrified by this repetition and by the threat of that punishment uttered so vehemently by the lips of the Lord Himself?
Now they who would refer both the fire and the worm to the spirit, and not to the body, affirm that the wicked, who are separated from the kingdom of God, shall be burned, as it were, by the anguish of a spirit repenting too late and fruitlessly; and they contend that fire is therefore not inappropriately used to express this burning torment, as when the apostle exclaims, "Who is offended and I burn not?" - 2 Corinthians 11:9 - The worm, too, they think, is to be similarly understood. For it is written, they say, "As the moth consumes the garment and the worm and wood, so does grief consume the heart of a man." - Isaiah 2:8 -
But they who make no doubt that in the future punishment both the body and soul shall suffer, affirm that the body shall be burned with fire, while the soul shall be, as it were, gnawed by a worm of anguish. Though this view is more reasonable - for it is absurd to suppose that either body or soul will escape pain in the future punishment - yet, for my own part, I find it easier to understand both as referring to the body than to suppose that neither does; and I think that Sacred Scripture is silent regarding the spiritual pain of the damned because, though not expressed, it is necessarily understood that in a body thus tormented the soul also is tortured with a fruitless repentance. For we read in the ancient Scriptures: "The vengeance of the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms." - Ecclesiastes 7:17-19 - It might have been more briefly said, "The vengeance of the ungodly." Why, then, was it said, "The flesh of the ungodly," unless because both the fire and the worm are to be the punishment of the flesh? Or if the object of the writer in saying, "The vengeance of the flesh" was to indicate that this shall be the punishment of those who live after the flesh (for this leads to the second death, as the apostle intimated when he said: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die") - Romans 8:13 - let each one make his/her own choice, either assigning the fire to the body and the worm to the soul - the one figuratively, the other really - or assigning both really to the body. For I have already sufficiently made out that animals can live in the fire, in burning without being consumed, in pain without dying, by a miracle of the most omnipotent Creator, to whom no one can deny that this is possible, if he/she be not ignorant by whom has been made all that is wonderful in all nature. For it is God Himself who has wrought all these miracles, great and small, in this world which I have mentioned and incomparably more which I have omitted, and who has enclosed these marvels in this world, itself the greatest miracle of all. Let each man/woman, then choose which he/she will, whether he/she thinks that the worms is real and pertains to the body, or that spiritual things are meant by bodily representations and that it belongs to the soul. But which of these is true will be more readily discovered by the facts themselves, when there shall be in the saints such knowledge as shall not require that their experience teach them the nature of these punishments, but as shall, by its own fullness and perfection, suffice to instruct them in this matter. For "now we know in part, until that which is perfect is come" - 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 - this we believe about those future bodies that they shall be such as shall certainly be painted by the fire.
- Whether the fire of hell, if it be material fire, can burn the wicked spirits, that is to say, devils, who are immortal -
Here arises the question: If the fire is not to be immaterial, analogous to the pain of the soul, by material, burning by contact, so that bodies may be tormented in it, how can evil spirits be punished in it? For it is undoubtedly the same fire which is to serve for the punishment of men and of devils, according to the words of Christ Jesus: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." - Matthew 25:41-46 - unless, perhaps, as learned men/women have thought, the devils have a kind of body made of that dense and humid air which we feel strikes us when the wind is blowing. And if this kind of substance could not be affected by fire, it could not burn when heated in the baths. For in order to burn, it is first burned and affects other things as itself is affected. But if any one maintains that the devils have no bodies, this is not a matter either to be laboriously investigated or to be debated with keenness. For why we're not assert that even immaterial spirits may, in some extraordinary way, yet really be pained by the punishment of material fire, if the spirits of men which also are certainly immaterial are both now contained in material members of the body and in the world to come shall be indissolubly united to their own bodies? Therefore, though the devils have no bodies, yet their spirits, that is, the devils themselves shall be brought into thorough contact with the material fires, to be tormented by them; not that the fires themselves with which they are brought into contact shall be animated by their connection with these spirit and become animals composed of body and spirit but as I said, this junction will be effected in a wonderful and ineffable way, so that they shall receive pain from the fires, but give no life to them. In truth, this other mode of union, by which bodies and spirits are bound together and become animals, is thoroughly marvellous and beyond the comprehension of man/human being, though this is which is man.
I would indeed say that these spirits will burn without anybody of their own, as that rich man was burning in hell when he exclaimed, "I am tormented in the flame" - Luke 16:24 - were I not aware that it is aptly said in reply, that the flame was of the same nature as the eyes raised and fixed on Lazarus, as the tongue on which he entreated that a little cooling water might be dropped or as the finger of Lazarus, with which he asked this might be done - all of which took place where souls exist without bodies. Thus, both that flame in which he burned and that drop he begged were immaterial and resembled the visions of sleepers or persons in an ecstasy, to whom immaterial objects appear in a bodily form. For the man, himself who is in such a state, though it be in spirit only, not in body, yet sees himself so like to his own body that he cannot discern any difference whatever. But that hell, which also is called a lake of fire and brimstone, - Revelation 20:10 - will be material fire and will torment the bodies of the damned, whether men or devils - the solid bodies of the one, aerial bodies of the others; or if only men/human beings have bodies as well as souls, yet the evil spirits, though without bodies, shall be so connected with the bodily fires as to receive pain without imparting life. One fire certainly shall be the lot of both, for thus the truth has declared.
- Whether it is just that the punishments of sins last longer than the sins themselves lasted - Page Three -
Some, however, of those against whom we are defending the city of God think it unjust that any man/woman be doomed to an eternal punishment for sins which no matter how great they were, were perpetrated in a brief space of time; as if any law ever regulated the duration.......
- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!
If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 -
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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