It is rare anymore that St. Augustine’s De doctrina Christiana—”On Christian doctrine”—is mentioned, much less taught, at Catholic colleges and seminaries. These days too many exegetes, or interpreters of the Bible, are rationalists who deny Christ’s miracles; or skeptics who deny his divinity; or modernists who deny the historical truth of his birth, death, and resurrection. There may be scholars teaching today who fall into all three categories.
How important, then, it is to return to the exegetic method of one of the great Fathers of the Church: Augustine, bishop of Hippo. De doctrina Christiana (henceforth “DDC”) formulates an approach to Scripture that has had a profound influence on Christianity from antiquity through the eighteenth century, including the great Church doctors of the Middle Ages—Anselm, Aquinas, Bernard, and Bonaventure. Let’s take a closer look at it.
Three prerequisites for a good exegesis
Augustine begins by making the distinction between signs and things (DDC I:2:2). For instance, the word ox is a sign that signifies the animal. A thing, though, is something that does not signify something else, such as the ox itself. (To use a figure of speech, say, “You’re as strong as an ox,” is to use the word signifying “ox” to signify something other than the ox itself. But in book one, Augustine wants us to consider only what things are in themselves, not what they might signify.)
Then he makes the distinction between enjoyment and use:
Some things are to be enjoyed, others to be used, and there are others that are to be used and enjoyed. Those things that are to be enjoyed make us blessed. Those things that are to be used help and, as it were, sustain us as we move toward blessedness. . . . To enjoy something is to cling to it with love, for its own sake. To use something, however, is to employ it in obtaining that which you love, provided it is worthy of love (DDC I:3:3–4:4).
The only thing worthy of our love, says Augustine, the only “thing” to be “enjoyed for its own sake,” is the Blessed Trinity, the one true God. And so the first prerequisite for a good exegesis is to set your sights on God alone as the only object of your love and enjoyment and enjoy other men only for the sake of him.
Once we have determined the correct object of our love—namely, God—then we need to cleanse ourselves of sin. This is done by admitting our vices to him who is all. His crucifixion is our restoration, his death, our cure. The second prerequisite: Go to the Divine Physician for the healing of our wounds of sin.
Next, Augustine teaches that there are four possible objects of human love: (1) The things above us, (2) ourselves, (3) things equal to us, and (4) things below us (cf. DDC I:22:20–23:22). Since all men by nature love themselves, there was no need for the Bible to give us precepts about self-love. And, since it is obvious to most men that they should not love what is below them—namely, lesser objects such as food or stones—but merely use them to survive or to build, fewer precepts are given concerning these.
About the love of things equal to us—other men— and things above us—God and his angels—Scripture has everything to say. Our Lord tells us the two greatest commandments are, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40).
Concerning love of our neighbors, Augustine reminds us:
All other men are to be loved equally; but since you cannot be of assistance to everyone, those are especially to be cared for who are most closely bound to you by place, time, or opportunity, as if by chance. . . . Thus, among all men, not all of whom you can care for, you must consider those in your life as if chosen by lot, who, in reality, are chosen by God (DDC I:28:29).
Therefore, Augustine’s third great prerequisite for interpreting Scripture is to be truly charitable to every person in your life.
Seven principles for clearing up seeming ambiguity
Augustine proposes that scriptural instructions or rules governing life or belief, such as the Ten Commandments, should be taken literally. For him, scriptural confusion springs from two sources: unknown signs or ambiguous signs. Most ambiguity results from figurative signs being interpreted as literal and from literal signs being taken figuratively. He presents seven ways to clear up such ambiguity. Some of them might seem to us today to demand an unreasonable amount of effort, but for Augustine no price can be put on discerning clearly the will of God through sacred Scripture.
- Study the original languages of Scripture. Much literal ambiguity can be cleared up by a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, the languages Scripture was originally written in, as well as Latin (cf. DDC II:11:16).
- Augustine insists that referring to the original manuscripts clears up much ambiguity in the vernacular translations (cf. DDC II:14:21–15:22). Too often, he believes, translators are led astray by expressions unknown to them in the originals, and they make mistakes in translating.
- Study all of Scripture lest we mistakenly take something out of context. For instance, in Genesis, we are told creation takes place in seven days. However, in another place we are told, “With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day” (2 Pet. 3:8). In other words, God is outside time; he is in eternity: To interpret the world as being created in literally seven days is to mistake a figurative sign for a literal one.
- Maintain an attitude of deep humility and reverence towards Scripture and realize that we are only limited creatures trying to g.asp the unlimited, infinite goodness of God. While many ambiguous passages are explained elsewhere in Scripture, Augustine says the reason some passages remain unknown or ambiguous is because of our limited knowledge of science, philosophy, logic, history, math, astronomy, rhetoric, etc. (cf. DDC II:16:23-42:63). In other words, where we feel Scripture is being obscure, we should not blame Scripture or God—who is infinitely perfect and can neither deceive nor be deceived—but should realize that the limitation or defect lies with us. A complete and perfect understanding of Sacred Scripture is not ours to have in this life.
- Always put sacred Tradition—the rule of faith—above any personal interpretation of Scripture. For Augustine, this principle applies in cases of literal ambiguity where there is no explicit understanding throughout the rest of Scripture (cf. DDC III:2:2). In other words, if an interpretation contradicts a known fact in Tradition, then that interpretation must be abandoned. He gives the example that to translate John 1:1 as, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was,” would be erroneous. Tradition teaches us of equality within the Holy Trinity. Therefore, John 1:1 should be translated, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
- We must make sure, by taking our thoughts and ideas to God in prayer first, that we are taking figurative signs figuratively. Augustine believes that it is the ambiguity of figurative words that causes the most difficulty. He says a primary error in exegesis is to take a figurative expression literally (DDC III:9:13). He notes that this is what Paul warns us about when he says, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). A man who always conforms to the literal sense of a word does not understand what is signified by its spiritual sense. This is why the Pharisees stirred up malicious accusations against our Lord when he healed on the Sabbath: They could not see beyond the signs and symbols to the reality that he was indeed God. The remedy is constant prayer and meditation, a careful and slow mulling over the words of Scripture prior to judging their meaning, and begging for God’s light and wisdom as to the true meaning.
- Put uprightness of character and a pure faith above any literal understanding of the words of Scripture. According to Augustine, a secondary exegetic error is to take a literal expression figuratively. He gives a principle to help discern whether the passage is literal or figurative: “In general, that method is to understand as figurative anything in holy Scripture which cannot in a literal sense be attributed either to an upright character or to a pure faith. Uprightness of character pertains to the love of God and of our neighbor; purity of faith to knowledge of God and our neighbor” (DDC III:9:14). In other words, if at first blush Scripture appears to allow or even reward immoral behavior, any evil, a lack of faith, or a contradiction of sacred Tradition, then the passage must be interpreted figuratively, not literally.
Cultural relativism and lust
Augustine points out that men tend to judge a sin not by the measure of its malice but according to the customs of the times (cf. DDC III:10:15). Thus when Scripture teaches something at variance with the customs of its audience or censures what is not at variance, the tendency is to interpret it figuratively. If some people in the United States believe that adultery is the best way to enliven their marriage, then they’ll find a way to pervert the true meaning of the scriptural text on the subject: “Jesus really means we should keep marriages together. If committing adultery does so, then I am in compliance with his true intentions.” Cultural relativism also allows them to say, “Christ’s condemnation of adultery was governed by cultural factors that no longer apply today, so I don’t have to take it literally.”
According to Augustine, Scripture teaches with the intention of invigorating charity and vanquishing and destroying lust (cf. DDC III:10:15). He defines charity as “a motion of the soul whose purpose is to enjoy God for his own sake and one’s self and neighbor for the sake of God.” Lust, on the other hand, “is a motion of the soul bent upon enjoying one’s self and neighbor, and any created thing without reference to God. The action of unbridled lust in demoralizing one’s own soul and body is called vice; what is does to harm another is called crime. . . . Likewise, what charity does for one’s own benefit is called utility; what it does for our neighbor’s good is called kindness. In this case, utility leads the way, for no one can give to another from a supply that he does not have. The more the power of lust is destroyed, the more the power of charity is strengthened” (DDC III:10:16). So even if the words of Scripture are harsh or the deeds of God or his saints appear cruel, Augustine maintains, these words and deeds are efficacious in destroying the power of lust.
Next, he wants us to keep in mind that those things which appear wicked to the unenlightened, whether in word or deed if performed by God or holy men whose sanctity is beyond question, are meant figuratively (cf. DDC III:11:17). He gives the example that we must not reason that our Lord’s feet were anointed with precious ointment by the woman (cf. John 12:3, Luke 7:37) for the same reason that was customary for sensual and dissolute men of that time whose banquets were moral abominations. The woman anointed Christ’s feet in deep honor and respect for who he was and by way of asking forgiveness.
Augustine says that if Scripture is didactic either in condemning vice or crime or prescribing utility or kindness, it is not figurative. But if Scripture appears to prescribe vice or crime, or to condemn utility or kindness, then it is figurative (cf. DDC III:16:24). So when Our Lord says that it is better to cut off your right hand than sin and lose your entire body in hell (cf. Matt.7:30), he is not saying to actually cut off your hand but that you must realize the extreme gravity of the sin. Again, when Paul says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him drink. For by doing so you will heap coals of fire upon his head” (Rom. 12:20), he is not advocating malevolence. He is prescribing a kindness that will help burn away an enemy’s hatred.
Mistaken universal interpretations
Augustine also reminds us not to take a metaphor as meaning the same thing throughout Scripture (cf. DDC III:25:35–37). A lion signifies Christ in one place—”The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed” (Rev. 5:5)—and Satan in another—”Your adversary the devil is prowling like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). A serpent is used to depict the quality of wisdom and cunning in the service of the Lord—”Be wise as serpents” (Matt. 10:16)—and also the treachery and guile of Satan—”The serpent seduced Eve by his guile” (2 Cor. 11:3).
Nor do the metaphors have to be opposites; they can merely be different. Water represents people: “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters” (Rev. 19:6). It also represents the Holy Spirit: “If you knew the gift of God and who is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
In regards to the Old Testament, Augustine would have us be very careful not to universally apply to today what was accepted then as a way of life, even though the Scriptures are interpreted literally (cf. DDC III:18:16–22:32). For instance, Augustine notes that polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament. King David had many wives whom he lived with chastely. However, he was lustful for only one, Bathsheba, and for this, he was punished. David then repented and, because he was sincere, God smiled on him. Nor would Augustine have us apply our Lord’s later teaching on adultery and judge David too harshly. Since the Old Testament came prior to the fullness of God’s revelation, it is a good rule to remember that it is in some respects incomplete.
On the last note, Augustine admonishes us to pray to God for help in understanding the Bible. Indeed, Holy Scripture itself admonishes us to “pray unceasingly” (1 Thes. 5:17), “because the Lord gives wisdom: and out of his mouth comes prudence and understanding” (Prov.2:6).