Augustine's Confessions, Introductory Outline

[On August 1, 2010, my friend Tim Scott began a series teaching through Augustine’s Confessions in our Sunday school class at Kosmosdale Baptist Church. In order to prepare for studying this work, I drew up the following outline based on R.S. Pine-Coffin’s introduction and material in Peter Brown’s biography of Augustine.]

Introduction to the Confessions

I. Influences on Augustine in writing Confessions :

A. Christian biographies; examples:

1. Life of Anthony

2. Martyrdom of Perpetua

B. Pagan religious autobiography

II. Augustine wrote the Confessions because:

A. He needed to explain his complicated conversion

B. He needed to re-evaluate his life at middle-age

C. He needed to grapple with death and disillusionment in his life

III. Outline of the Confessions:

A. Coming to faith and baptism; the death of Monica (Books I-IX)

B. Examination of current ability to deal with temptation (Book X)

C. Exposition of Genesis 1 (Books XI-XIII)

IV. Augustine believed the following were at the root of all sins he confessed:

A. Spiritual pride (self-reliance)

B. Lack of simple faith

V. Manichaeism

A. Augustine was primarily attracted to Manichaeism because it was seemingly able to solve the problem of evil.

B. Mani [Manes] combined Christianity with other religions and his own philosophy.

C. Manichaeism was founded on the idea that in the beginning were two independent principles: Good and Evil [Light and Darkness]

VI. Doubts concerning Manichaeism led Augustine to:

A. Neo-Platonism, which gave Augustine a theory of the dynamics of the soul by which eventually to interpret his experiences in the Confessions

B. The idea “that evil results from man’s misuse of free will” [Pine-Coffin]

C. The sermons of Ambrose

D. The Pauline Epistles

1. The idea of God’s mercy and grace

2. The idea of Christ as Redeemer, not just a gifted teacher

VII. The Confessions and the Scriptures:

A. “[Augustine] had come to believe that the understanding and exposition of the Scriptures was the heart of a bishop’s life.” [Brown]

B. “[Augustine’s] relations with the Scriptures… come to form a constant theme throughout the Confessions.” [Brown]

C. In the Confessions, Augustine diagnoses his conversion to the Manichees as a failure to accept the Bible.

D. In Augustine’s meditations on Genesis, he wants to carry his readers with him in his thoughts concerning the Scriptures.

VIII. The Confessions as prayer:

A. The Confessions are similar, in some respects, to the practices of Neo-Platonic philosophers, who felt they must commit themselves fully to the unknown God

B. Augustine began his first philosophical work, Soliloquia, with a prayer

C. Augustine ended his theological masterpiece, De Trinitate, with a prayer

D. Prayer had never been used in literature to “strike up a lively conversation” with God, continuing for a whole work [Brown]

Herman Bavinck on the Necessity of the Word and Faith in the Ordinances

From Herman Bavinck, The Certainty of Faith (Ontario: Paideia Press, 1980): 

“Apart from the word [the ordinances] have no value whatsoever and stop being sacraments. They cannot, therefore, signify or convey grace that isn't already included in the word and presented through the word by way of faith. They also presuppose faith in that word. Anyone who doesn't accept that word in faith derives nothing from the sacraments, and by using them he only leaves himself all the more without excuse. Sacraments have been ordained only for believers, for they don't effect what isn't there, but only strengthen what is already there. They do so by their very essence, for they are bound to the word and signs and seals to confirm it.” (89)

“[T]hrough the sacramental confirmation of God's promises believers are strengthened in their faith.” (90)

Biographical Sketch: J.I. Packer

Educated at Oxford University, Dr. James I. Packer served as assistant minister at St. John’s Church of England, Harborne, Birmingham and Senior Tutor and Principle at Tyndale Hall (an Anglican Seminary in Bristol). He preached and lectured widely in Great Britain and America and contributed frequently to theological periodicals. His writings include Fundamentalism and the Word of God, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, Knowing God, and Growing in Christ.[1]

In 1978, Dr. Packer signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.[2] In 1994, Dr. Packer signed the ecumenical document Evangelicals and Catholics Together[3] and contributed to the book that came about as a result of this document. Dr. Packer retired from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he was a Professor of Theology.[4]

Admittedly, Packer’s involvement in Evangelicals and Catholics Together is inexcusable. Packer could certainly outline the differences between a Roman Catholic and Protestant understanding of the Gospel better than I can, and he should be able to see how partnering with the Roman system in this way was a violation of  2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Nevertheless, this error on Dr. Packer’s part does not invalidate his entire ministry.

The principle way I have been taught by the writings of J.I. Packer is in the area of evangelism. Think of this dilemma, which has occurred to Christians throughout the ages: If God already knows every aspect of the future, if He already knows what He is going to do in any given situation, and if He already knows our every desire as well as what is truly best for us and others, then why do we pray? Similarly we may ask, “If God is entirely sovereign in salvation (as the Bible clearly indicates He is in passages such as John 6:44, Romans 9:18, Ephesians 1:3-11, Ephesians 2:8-9, etc.), then why do we evangelize?” In his book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, Dr. Packer explores this question and sheds light on true human responsibility as empowered by God’s sovereignty.

Another way that Packer has helped my thinking has been in terms of meditation on the work of Jesus, particularly His work of substitutionary atonement on the Cross. In this regard, I commend to you Packer’s essays, “The Logic of Penal Substitution” and his introductory essay to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

On July 17, 2020, five days before his 94th birthday, J.I. Packer passed into eternity, to receive his everlasting reward.

---

[1] Packer, A Quest for Godliness, back cover.

[2] Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation and Authority (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1979), 4:211-219. [on-line]; accessed 3 June 2007, http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/chicago.htm; Internet.

[3] Evangelical Times (1994). [on-line]; accessed 3 June 2007, http://www.founders.org/FJ17/article4.html; Internet.

[4] Regent College: Retired, Emeritus & Board of Govenors Professors. [on-line]; accessed 3 June 2007, http://www.regent-college.edu/about_regent/faculty/emeritus.html; Internet.

[5] Dean, Jamie. "Theologian and churchman J.I. Packer dies at age 93 - WORLD". world.wng.org. Retrieved 18 July 2020.