Problematyka grzechu, wiary i usprawiedliwienia w augustyńskich komentarzach do Listu do Rzymian

Abstract

St. Augustine wrote two commentaries on St. Paul's Letter to Romans: in Carthage, in June 394 he wrote Expositio quarumdam propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos (Commentary on Statements in the Letter of Paul to the Romans). In the other one St. Augustine analyzed The Letter to the Romans in Hippo in 395 in the so called Epistolae ad Romanos inchoata Expositio (Unfinished Commentary on the Letter to Romans). The article presents Augustine's view on sin, faith and justification as he sees them in Paul, against Manichees. The characteristic teaching of these treatises is the four stages of the history of salvation: ante legem, sub lege, sub gratia and in pace (Expositio quarumdam). These stages, Augustine argues, correspond both to the periods of human history and to the steps in spiriual development of an individual believer. Unable not to sin the sinner's sub lege can nonetheless freely choose to implore Christ's aid. “Grace” and "peace" are themselves nothing other than God's gift of the Spirit, which is given for all sinners so that they might be released from sin and in this way be reconciled with God. What sin then is unpardonable? It is despair. “Continuing in wickedness and maliciousness with despair of the kindness and mercy of God” (Inochata expositio). To despair is to resist God's gift of the Holy Spirit, which brings grace and peace, reconciling the sinner with God. If the sinner dispairs of forgiveness, he will continue to sin, and so never be forgiven.