Augustine of Hippo

In his own words on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:3

  Free will and God's grace are simultaneously commended. When God says, "Turn to me, and I will turn to you," one of these clauses—that which invites our return to God—evidently belongs to our will; while the other, which promises his return to us, belongs to his grace. Here, possibly, the Pelagians think they have justification for their opinion, which they so prominently advance, that God's grace is given according to our merits. In the east, indeed, that is to say, in the province of Palestine, in which is the city of Jerusalem, Pelagius, when examined in person by the bishop, did not venture to affirm this. For it happened that among the objections which were brought up against him, this in particular was objected, that he maintained that the grace of God is given according to our merits, an opinion which was so diverse from Catholic doctrine and so hostile to the grace of Christ that unless he had anathemized it, as laid to his charge, he himself must have been anathemized on its account. He pronounced, indeed, the required anathema upon the dogm;a, but how insincerely his later books plainly show; for in them he maintains absolutely no other opinion than that the grace of God is given according to our merits. Such passages do they collect out of the Scriptures—like the one which I just now quoted, "Turn to me, and I will turn to you"—as if it were owing to the merits of our turning to God that his grace were given us, wherein he himself even turns to us. Now the persons who hold this opinion fail to observe that unless our turning to God were itself God's gift, it would not be said to him in prayer, "Turn us again, O God of hosts," and, "You, O God, will turn and quicken us," and again, "Turn us, O God of our salvation"—with other passages of similar import, too numerous to mention here. For with respect to our coming to Christ, what else does it mean than our being turned to him by believing? And yet he says, "No man can come to me, except it were given to him of my Father."

  On Grace and Free Will 10

• Zechariah 1:9

  Likewise, who will tell with what bodies angels appear to people, in such fashion as not to be visible but to be tangible? And again how, not through tangible corporeality but by spiritual power, angels produce certain visions, not to the eyes of the body but to those of the spirit or the mind, or can utter speech, not of the ear from without, but within the soul of humans, being themselves placed there, as is written in the book of the prophets: "And the angel that spoke in me said to me" (for what the prophet says is not "that spoke to me," but "in me").… They appear also in sleep and speak through dreams (for we read in the Gospel: "Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying"). These methods of communication tend to show that the angels have intangible bodies, and make it a very difficult question how the patriarchs could wash the feet of angels, and how Jacob could wrestle with an angel in contact so unmistakable. Asking these questions and answering them with such guesses as we can is not a useless exercise for the mind, if the discussion is kept within bounds and if those who take part avoid the error of thinking they know what they do not know. For what need is there of affirming or denying or making nice distinctions about these and similar matters, when ignorance of them imputes no blame?

  Enchiridion 15

• Zechariah 2:8

  Another example to prove the same point may be found in a passage of Zechariah where the "Almighty" sends the "Almighty." This can only mean that God the Father sends God the Son. The text runs, "So says the Lord Almighty: 'After the glory he has sent me to the nations that have robbed you; for he that touches you touches the apple of my eye. For behold, I lift up my head upon them, and they shall be a prey to those who served them; and you shall know that the Lord almighty sent me.' " In this case, the Lord almighty says that he is sent by the Lord almighty. How can anyone doubt that it is Christ who is speaking and, in fact, speaking to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Remember what is said in the Gospel: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The comparison of these lost sheep to the apple of God's eye is explained by the perfection of God's love. And, of course, it was to this flock of sheep that the apostles belonged. "After the glory" of his resurrection—a glory alluded to in the words "Jesus had not yet been glorified"3—it was in the person of these apostles that Jesus was sent to the Gentiles. And this was to be the fulfillment of what the psalmist had prophesied: "You will deliver me from the contradictions of the people; you will make me head of the Gentiles."

  City of God 20.30

• Zechariah 3:3

  Holy Job says, when speaking about his own sins, "for man that is born of a woman is short-lived and full of wrath: as the flower of grass, so does he fall; and he departs like a shadow, nor shall he stay. Hast Thou not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment in Thy sight? For who shall be pure from uncleanness? Not even one, even if his life should be but of one day upon the earth." Now when he speaks of uncleanness here, the mere perusal of the passage is enough to show that he meant sin to be understood. It is plain from the words, of what he is speaking. The same phrase and sense occur in the prophet Zechariah, in the place where "the filthy garments" are removed from off the high priest, and it is said to him, "I have taken away thy sins." Well now, I rather think that all these passages, and others of like import, which point to the fact that man is born in sin and under the curse, are not to be read among the dark recesses of the Manicheans, but in the sunshine of catholic truth.

  ON MARRIAGE AND CONCUPISCENCE 2:50

• Zechariah 5:1

  As to the suggestion you made in your letter that we should examine together the nature of an oath extorted by force, I beg of you, do not let our discussion turn crystal-clear matters into murky ones. If a servant of God were threatened with certain death, so that he should swear to do something forbidden and wicked, he still ought rather to die than to swear, so as not to commit a crime in fulfilling his oath. But in this case, … it was only the persistent shouting of the people that was forcing the man not to any crime but to what could be lawfully done, if it were done. And … the only thing to fear was that a few violent men, mingled with a crowd of mostly good ones, might seize the occasion to start a riot, under pretence of virtuous indignation, and might break out into some accursed disturbance to satisfy their passion for robbery. And when even this fear was unfounded, who would think that perjury could be committed even to avoid certain death, much less loss or some kind of physical injury? That individual called Regulus had never heard what the holy Scriptures say about the wrongfulness of a false oath. He had learned nothing about the sickle of Zechariah, and obviously he had not sworn to the Carthaginians by the sacraments of Christ but by the filthiness of demons. Yet he did not so fear certain torture and a horrible sort of death as to take his oath under compulsion, but he went to meet them to avoid perjuring himself, because he had sworn on oath of his own free will.

  LETTER 125

• Zechariah 8:22

  The whole life of a good Christian is a holy longing to make progress.

  SERMONS 4:6

• Zechariah 9:12

  "You have led me down, because you have been made my hope: a tower of strength from the face of the enemy." My heart is vexed, says that unity from the ends of the earth, and I toil in the midst of temptations and offenses. The heathen are envious, because they have been conquered. The heretics lie in wait, hidden in the cloak of the Christian name. Within the church itself the wheat suffers violence from the chaff. In the midst of all these things when my heart is vexed, I will cry from the ends of the earth. But there forsakes me not the same that has exalted me upon the rock, in order to lead me down even unto himself, because even if I labor, while the devil through so many places and times and occasions lies in wait against me, he is to me a tower of strength, to whom I shall have fled for refuge. Not only I shall escape the weapons of the enemy, but even against him securely I shall myself hurl whatever darts I shall please. For Christ himself is the tower. He has been made for us a tower from the face of the enemy, who is also the rock upon which the church has been built. Are you taking heed that you not be smitten by the devil? Flee to the tower. The devil's darts will never follow you to that tower. There you will stand protected and fixed. But in what manner shall you flee to the tower? Let not a person, set perhaps in temptation, seek that tower in body, and when he shall not have found it, be wearied or faint in temptation. The tower is before you. Call Christ to mind, and go into the tower.

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 61:4

• Zechariah 12:1

  I do not want anyone to tell me that this view [that God condemns innocent souls] should be supported by the passage "who formed the spirit of man in him" and "who made the heart of every one of them." Something supremely strong and invincible is needed to force me to believe that God condemns any souls without any guilt of theirs. It is either as great a thing, or it is, perhaps greater, to create as to form, yet it is written, "Create a clean heart in me, O God." This is no argument for thinking that the soul in this passage prays to be made before it had any being. As, therefore, while now existing, it is created by renewal of its justice, so, while now existing, it is formed by the shaping force of doctrine.

  LETTER 26

• Zechariah 12:1

  Hence we ought to understand this passage so that we do not take the words "he breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul" to mean that a part, as it were, of the nature of God was turned into the soul of man. Thus we are not forced to say that the nature of God is mutable. It is especially in this error that the truth weighs down upon these Manichaeans. For as pride is the mother of all the heretics, they dared to say that the soul is the nature of God. And thus they are under pressure from us when we say to them, "Then the nature of God errs and is unhappy and is corrupted by the stain of vices and sins, or is, as you say, soiled by the filth of the opposing nature," and other such things that it is wicked to believe about the nature of God. For in another passage Scripture clearly says that the soul was made by almighty God and that it is therefore not a part of God or the nature of God. There the prophet says, "He who formed the spirit for all men made all things," and in another place it says, "He who formed the spirit of man is in him." These testimonies clearly prove that the spirit of man was made. In Scripture the rational part of man's soul by which he differs from the beasts and rules over them by the law of nature is called the spirit of man. On this the apostle says, "No one knows what pertains to man except the spirit of man which is within him." If these testimonies were not clear proof that the soul of man was made, there would be no lack of those who would say that the spirit of man was not made and who would think that it is the nature of God and say that part of God was changed into it, when there took place that breathing forth by God. Healthy doctrine likewise rejects this, because the spirit of man itself is at times in error and at times thinks wisely; thus it proclaims that it is mutable, and it is in no way permissible to believe this of the nature of God. But there cannot be a greater sign of pride than that the human soul says that it is what God is, while it still groans under such great burdens of vice and unhappiness.

  ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 2:8.11

• Zechariah 12:10

  Now, indeed, that body is worthy of a heavenly dwelling place, not subject to death, not changeable through the ages [of life]. For as he had grown to that age from infancy, so he does not decline to old age from the age which was young adulthood. He remains as he ascended; he is going to come to those to whom, before he comes, he wanted his word to be preached. So therefore he will come in a human form. The ungodly too will see this; those placed to the right will see it too; those separate to the left will see it too, as it was written, "They shall see him whom they have pierced." If they will see him whom they have pierced, they will see the same body that they thrust through with a spear, [for] the Word is not struck by a spear.

  TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 21:3

• Zechariah 12:10

  And perhaps it is then that the words "all flesh" will become more perfectly fulfilled. Now I mean to say, flesh has seen him, but not all flesh. Then, however, at the judgment, as he comes with his angels to judge the living and the dead, "when all who are in tombs hear his voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of life, others to the resurrection of judgment," it is not only the just but also the wicked, those on the right, these on the left, who will see that form which he pleased to take on for us. Even those who killed him "will look on the one whom they have pierced." So "all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Body will be seen by body, because he will come to judge him in his real body. But to those placed on the right and sent on into the kingdom of heaven, he is going to show himself in the same way as he could already be seen in the body; and yet he had said, "Whoever loves me shall be loved by my Father; and I will love him, and manifest myself to him."

  SERMON 277

• Zechariah 12:10

  "For the Lord shall build up Zion." This work is going on now. O you living stones, run to the work of the building, not to ruin. Zion is building; beware of the ruined walls. The tower is building, the ark is in building; remember the deluge. This work is in progress now, but when Zion is built, what will happen? "And he will appear in his glory." That he might build up Zion, that he might be a foundation in Zion, he was seen in Zion, but not in his glory: "We have seen him, and he had no form or comeliness." But truly when he shall have come with his angels to judge, shall they not then look upon him whom they have pierced? And too late they shall [be] put to confusion, who refused confusion in early and healthful repentance.

  EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 102:17

• Zechariah 13:2

  Hermes Trismegistus lamented these vain, deceptive, pernicious, sacrilegious things because he foresaw that the time was coming when they would be abolished. He was impudent in his grief as imprudent in his prophecy, since the Holy Spirit had made no revelation to him as to the holy prophets, who exultantly proclaimed their inspired visions: "Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?" and again, "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of the idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more." It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: "And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof," and the rest.

  City of God 8.23