A False Quote of St. Augustine on the Assurance of Salvation
Recently I came across a quote attributed to St. Augustine which struck me as somewhat odd. The quote is “To be assured of our salvation is no arrogant stoutness; it is our faith. It is no pride; it is devotion. It is no presumption; it is God’s promise.” An internet search for this quote yields a variety of people employing it in various contexts – bible study handouts, apologetics, devotionals, etc. but no actual sources.
One website called the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM), actually provides this quote with a citation1: “Bishop Jewell: Defence of the Apology, 1570, Hodge, A. A., Holiness, (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group) 1999.” I have been unable to find Holiness by A. A. Hodge, but did manage to track down the the relevant quote from John Jewel’s A defence of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande2:
Thus, M. Hardinge, to be assured of our Saluation, S. Augustine saithe, it is no arrogante stoutenesse: It is our Faithe. It is no Pride: It is Deuotion. It is no Presumption: It is Goddes Promisse.
Some context: “M. Hardinge” refers to Thomas Harding, a Catholic priest who wrote a rebuttal to Jewel’s earlier work, “Apologie of the Churche of Englande”, to which this is a defense against Harding’s rebuttal. Elsewhere in the same work, Jewel – a 16th century anglican Bishop – provides fuller context for this quote of St. Augustine:
Therefore S. Augustine saithe, Praesume, non de Operatione tua, sed de Christi Gratia. Gratia enim saluati estis, inquit Apostolus. Non ergo hic Arrogan∣tia est, sed Fides. Praedicare quod acceperis, non est Superbia, sed Deuotio: Presume thou, not of thine owne woorkinge, but of the Grace of Christe: For the Apostle saithe, Ye are saued by Grace. Heere therefore is not Presumption, but Faithe. To proclaime that thou haste receiued, it is no Pride, it is Deuotion.
Do you see the problem? The original quote widely attributed on the internet to St. Augustine is actually a quote of John Jewel paraphrasing some of the words of St. Augustine, but certainly not quoting him. In the original quote, “to be assured of our salvation is no arrogant stoutness” and “it is God’s promise“ are Jewel’s words, not St. Augustine’s. The words actually drawn from St. Augustine are from his Sermon 84 on Luke 11:1-4 from Sermones Suppositi. Classis I. De Vetero Et Novo Testamento3:
Ex malo servo factus es bonus filius; ideo praesume, non de operatione tua, sed de Christi gratia: gratia enim salvati estis (Ephes. II, 5), Apostolus ait. Non ergo hic arrogantia est, sed fides: praedicare quod acceperis non est superbia, sed devotio. Ergo attolle oculos ad Patrem, qui te per lavacrum genuit: ad Patrem qui te per Filium redemit, et dic: Pater noster. Bona praesumptio, sed moderata. Patrem dicis quasi filius: sed noli tibi specialiter aliquid vindicare. Solius Christi specialis est Pater, nobis omnibus in commune est Pater; quia illum solum genuit, nos creavit.
Translated into English (using computer software):
From a bad servant you became a good son; Therefore presume, not on your own work, but on the grace of Christ: for by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:5), says the Apostle. Here, therefore, is not arrogance, but faith: to preach what you have received is not pride, but devotion. Therefore lift up your eyes to the Father who begot you through baptism: to the Father who redeemed you through the Son, and say: Our Father. Good presumption, but moderate. You speak of the father as if you were the son: but do not claim anything specially for yourself. The Father is special to Christ alone, the Father is common to us all; because he only begat him, he created us.
So what is St. Augustine actually saying? He is saying that it is not presumptuous to proclaim that you have received grace from God. Of note here is the sentence after the excerpt provided by Jewel: “Ergo attolle oculos ad Patrem, qui te per lavacrum genuit” – what can we assume? That God has done what he promised to do in our baptism. To be sure, this passage does not speak of having assurance of our salvation in a forward-looking sense, but of the grace that God has shown us in forgiving our sins and becoming our Father through adoption in Christ.
What did St. Augustine actually believe about the possibility of assurance of salvation? In his work On Rebuke and Grace, chapter 40 is titled “No One is Certain and Secure of His Own Predestination and Salvation”4, which is:
But, moreover, that such things as these are so spoken to saints who will persevere, as if it were reckoned uncertain whether they will persevere, is a reason that they ought not otherwise to hear these things, since it is well for them "not to be high-minded, but to fear." For who of the multitude of believers can presume, so long as he is living in this mortal state, that he is in the number of the predestinated? Because it is necessary that in this condition that should be kept hidden; since here we have to beware so much of pride, that even so great an apostle was buffetted by a messenger of Satan, lest he should be lifted up. Hence it was said to the apostles, "If you abide in me;" and this He said who knew for a certainty that they would abide; and through the prophet, "If you shall be willing, and will hear me," although He knew in whom He would work to will also. And many similar things are said. For on account of the usefulness of this secrecy, lest, perchance, any one should be lifted up, but that all, even although they are running well, should fear, in that it is not known who may attain — on account of the usefulness of this secrecy, it must be believed that some of the children of perdition, who have not received the gift of perseverance to the end, begin to live in the faith which works by love, and live for some time faithfully and righteously, and afterwards fall away, and are not taken away from this life before this happens to them. If this had happened to none of these, men would have that very wholesome fear, by which the sin of presumption is kept down, only so long as until they should attain to the grace of Christ by which to live piously, and afterwards would for time to come be secure that they would never fall away from Him. And such presumption in this condition of trials is not fitting, where there is so great weakness, that security may engender pride. Finally, this also shall be the case; but it shall be at that time, in men also as it already is in the angels, when there cannot be any pride. Therefore the number of the saints, by God's grace predestinated to God's kingdom, with the gift of perseverance to the end bestowed on them, shall be guided there in its completeness, and there shall be at length without end preserved in its fullest completeness, most blessed, the mercy of their Saviour still cleaving to them, whether in their conversion, in their conflict, or in their crown!
St. Augustine did not teach that we ought to be assured of our salvation – you can see plainly that he actually preached against the idea. John Jewel’s employment of St. Augustine to argue his case was ignorant at best, but at worst was a disingenuous rhetorical flourish and an egregious case of patristic prooftexting. Moreover, modern evangelicals unknowingly citing Jewel and attributing the quote to St. Augustine is misleading and contributes to a false understanding of St. Augustine’s soteriology.
https://carm.org/dictionary/augustine-of-hippo-354-430/
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A04468.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=/Fathers-OR/PL.039.html&chunk.id=00000649
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1513.htm