Expositions of the Psalms 99–120
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
As the psalms are a microcosm of the Old Testament, so the Expositions of the Psalms can be seen as a microcosm of Augustinian thought. In the Book of Psalms are to be found the history of the people of Israel, the theology and spirituality of the Old Covenant, and a treasury of human experience expressed in prayer and poetry. So too does the work of expounding the psalms recapitulate and focus the experiences of Augustine’s personal life, his theological reflections and his pastoral concerns as Bishop of Hippo. The full set of 6 Volumes of the Expositions of the Psalms is translated by Maria Boulding.
Top Highlights
“Perhaps we should understand it to mean that God had in a sense abandoned the world on account of its sins, but he would have forsaken it utterly only if his wonderful healing remedy had not been provided for it, the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As it is, this prayer offered by Christ’s body has been heard, for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor 5:19).” (Page 358)
“The kind of fear which makes us dread being punished, but instills no love of righteousness, is a servile fear; and because it is carnal, it is useless for crucifying the flesh. The will to sin remains unaffected and breaks out into action wherever one hopes to escape the consequences. If there is reason to believe that punishment will follow, the will to sin lives on, hidden but undiminished. A person controlled by this kind of fear would like to do what the law forbids and is peeved because it is forbidden, because he is not spiritually delighted by the good which the law exists to serve but carnally terrified by the penalty it threatens.” (Page 465)
“On the basis of your law have mercy on me. What law can he mean? The law of faith, undoubtedly. Listen to the apostle: What room is left for your boasting? It is completely ruled out. By what law? The law of works? No; but by the law of faith. (Rom 3:27) The law of faith is this: that we believe and pray to be empowered through grace to accomplish what we cannot do by ourselves, lest being ignorant of God’s justice and attempting to set up our own, we fail to submit to the justice of God.14 The justice of God who commands us is expressed in the law of works, but the mercy of him who helps us is exercised through the law of faith.” (Page 385)