Confessions - Augustine

2026-07-15

Augustine takes sin seriously. Even from the beginning chapters, he grieves over the sin of his own infancy, before he could be held responsible! A wonderful example to consider, although it must be taken with a strong dose of mercy in the same draught.

I highly recommend reading books 7-9 to any Christian reader. They contain the story of Augustine's conversion, and a terrific description of the feeling of only half giving in to the service of God.

... the thoughts with which I meditated upon you were like the efforts of a man who wants to get up but is so heavy with sleep that he simply sinks back into it again. There is no one who wants to be asleep always - for every sound judgement holds that it is best to be awake - yet a man often postpones the effort of shaking himself awake when he feels a sluggish heaviness in the limbs, and settles pleasurably into another doze though he knows he should not, because it is time to get up. ... For there was nothing I could reply when You called me ... there was simply nothing I could answer save only laggard lazy words: "Soon," "Quite soon," "Give me just a little while." But "soon" and "quite soon" did not mean any particular time, and "just a little while" went on for a long while.

In chapter 9, Augustine defines freedom in a way that will likely never leave me. His definition: Not that I do what I wish, but that I am able to do what God wishes. In unification of my will and God's will, there is freedom since I will otherwise always be fighting God's will.