Discussion Starter--Augustine on Original Sin

Study question two brings up the notion of the ideal person as presented by St. Augustine. Since we’ve discussed what it means to be ideal based on the various philosophies and texts we’ve studied, I thought it would be interesting to compare Augustine’s ideas to those in the Old and New Testaments.

In Book XIV, chapter 12, Augustine discusses the nature of original sin. He begins by answering the question of why original sin affects the lives of humans more than any sin we encounter during our life. He answers this by first explaining the effects on human nature. He states that “the effect of [original] sin was to subject human nature to all the process of decay which we see and feel” (14:12), or, in other words, that original sin is to remind us of Adam and Eve’s transgression by exposing us from birth to pain and violence. Thus, our experiences navigating the world are already clearly marked by sin, no matter whatever other sin we take on later in life. St. Augustine then mentions that the actual transgression itself—the eating of a forbidden fruit—plays an important role in original sin’s effects on human nature. He first states that anyone who disregards the actual act of eating the fruit as unimportant “because it was concerned with food” should be corrected because “the injunction forbidding the eating of one kind of food, where such an abundant supply of other food was available, was so easy to observe, so brief to remember; above all, it was given at a time when desire was not yet in opposition to the will” (14:12). So, because Adam and Eve had so much access to food, the eating of the fruit of the tree was completely unnecessary. Nothing was special about the fruit except that it was forbidden. St. Augustine closes his argument by saying that “obedience is in a way the mother and guardian of all the other virtues in a rational creature, seeing that the rational creation has been so made that it is to man’s advantage to be in subjection to God” (14:12).

In this section, St. Augustine investigates the actual act of the eating of the forbidden fruit, and its effects on human nature. Since it is in man’s favor to obey God due to the many benefits one obtains from salvation, because man had no logical reason to eat the forbidden fruit, and because man had no desire at this point that conflicted with his will, the transgression by Adam and Eve had no rational justification in St. Augustine’s mind.

This made me think of our past discussion on laws regarding Galatians and Romans from the last two classes on the New Testament. In the New Testament, Paul differs from the Old Testament teachings by arguing that one’s true faith and devotion to God is more important than the actual following of laws. So who would St. Augustine agree with based on his commentary? This creation myth appears in the Old Testament, and as St. Augustine discusses, provides a basis for laws and respect of laws. Since man should obey God and respect God’s word above his own desires and cravings, man should try his best to follow laws put in place by God out of faith that they were put there for a reason. No one needs Original Sin 2.0, so eating for the sake of eating should be discouraged. I think that through his explanation, St. Augustine makes a strong case for following God’s word to a T; obedience to God is advantageous to us, so why fight it? The ideal Christian never leaves his faith, simultaneously attempting to follow God’s laws and understand the reasoning behind them. Is this ironic because Augustine is a devout Christian Gentile?