Holiness Story: Augustine

By Doak Felix

Reflections on Holiness,
Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Church Father

Holiness to us means sacred or virtuous. Yet the word “holy” means set apart, other, different. The holy objects of Judaism and Christianity are those things that are set apart, i.e. sanctified, consecrated to bless the parishioners. Physical objects reflect the reality of a holy God. God is not mundane nor normal. He is set apart. He is other than we are. He is holy. All other attributes stem from His holiness.

Augustine was born in the town of Hippo (present day Algeria). He was reared in the Christian faith of his mother, but as a teenager he began to rebel. He studied law, logic, and rhetoric in Carthage. Augustine became such a skilled speaker that by the age of twenty-one he moved to Rome and founded his own school of rhetoric. At this time he renounced his Christian upbringing and launched himself into the study of philosophy. By thirty, Augustine had risen to be the most well known orator in the Roman Empire, yet he found his life was full of stress.

His mother, Monica, had never ceased to pray for her son nor neglect counseling him in Christian teachings. In 386, Augustine put away his concubines (and his fiancee), his partying and converted to Christianity. Five years later he became a priest (against his will) in his home town. He founded a monastery in Hippo and preached from there for more than thirty years. Outside of the Bible, Augustine's writings have been more influential on Christian doctrine, theology, and practice than anyone else's.

Augustine was a rebellious teenager, a student, a libertine, an academic, a preacher, an author, and a son. He dealt with the same issues that we deal with today... the accumulation of wealth, diet, social injustice, personal betrayals, sex, drugs, war, civil strife, political corruption, family illnesses, emotional stress, job fulfillment, and spiritual indecision.

In his magnum opus, Confessions, Augustine detailed his inner turmoil over his struggle with temptations. He knew the heart of Paul's Epistle to the Romans (ch. 6-8) by heart because he lived it. He dealt with the problem of a person, saved by faith in Christ Jesus, who has trouble accomplishing tasks that are spiritually beneficial. He knew the awful feeling of succumbing to temptation. He knew the guilt. He also knew the blessings of temptation... namely patience, humility, and sympathy.

The struggle with temptation can only be resolved for Augustine or for us by Jesus. A holiness in life (not moral perfection) was achieved by Augustine by letting Christ deal with his temptations, believing that by following Christ, He can set us apart and make us holy.