Between Two Cities
A few words from St. Augustine’s work, City of God:
“That race – that is, the human race - we have divided into two classes, one that lives according to man and the other that lives according to God. In symbolic fashion we call these two cities, that is, two communities of men, of which one is predestined to reign eternally with God, the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil.
The Apostle says “That is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.” That implies that each man, since he is born of tainted stock, must first like Adam be wicked and carnal; afterwards, if he have the advantage of being born again into Christ, he will be good and spiritual.”
By now I hope you know that I don’t preach often on things like “eternal punishment with the devil,” or that man must be “wicked and carnal.” Augustine goes into some flavors of judgment and damnation that I can’t say I find much theological justification for.
But in looking at the scripture for today from Philippians 1, I can’t help but to think that maybe… maybe if we brush the fire and the brimstone aside, if we leave the eternal punishment and the wicked carnality, and focus on Augustine’s overarching theme here… that maybe he’s on to something.
City of God is a classic work of Christian literature and exposition which explore that dynamic tension of being torn between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the spirit. Exactly the same tension that Paul explored with the Philippians.
In Augustine’s writing – he writes as if that tension is between two bodies of people – the saved and the damned, with one city predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other city to suffer eternal punishment with the Devil. The inference with Augustine, at least in this passage, is that the tensions are all external to the self. One’s self is either wholly righteous and saved, or wholly wicked and damned. And the conflict is between you as a part of the City of God (presumably), and the damnable heathens in the City of Man.
But implicit in Augustine’s writing, and in the writing of Paul, is that both cities – God and Man, saved and damned, flesh and spirit, are internal to all of us. That faith and salvation are things that we struggle with. That it’s not a simple matter of, “Ok, you’re on the God-team, here’s your harp and your halo,” or “You’re on the demon-team, here’s your pitchfork.”
Instead the reality is that each of us carries the City of Man and the City of God within ourselves. That the joys and the temptations of our earthly, bodily living are constantly pulling at us – and I think I do a disserve to Paul using the word, “temptation,” because sometimes the desires of the flesh – the food, the drink, the sex, are necessary for us to live and carry on. So it’s not that all earthly things are bad, but that they can make us forget sometimes that we have other allegiance, an allegiance of the spirit to the God who made us.
That’s the pull… it’s not that things of the earth or of the flesh are necessarily bad or sinful – even Paul says, “if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me…” and continues to say that for him, “to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”
In other words, Paul sees that it’s beneficial for the people around him for Paul to continue to pursue earthly good. Life in the flesh. Fruitful labor. Things that are necessary for life – not a life lived in extravagant luxury – but a life lived in service to others.
That, I think, is where the tension comes in – the struggle between good and evil that goes on within every soul.
It’s not as simple as earth = bad, spirit = good.
But what we do with our earthly time matters.
We can use our time here on earth, using our needs and talents to further the spiritual… or we can ignore the spiritual, and focus our earthly needs only on ourselves. That’s where temptation comes in. That’s where we touch our toes into the pool of sin.
Paul recognizes our earthly needs – our needs to work, to be fruitful, to create – as necessary to strengthen the spiritual needs of the community. Paul’s desire isn’t to get rich, live in a big house, own lots of slaves, and get fat and lazy.
Instead, Paul wants to be a person of resource for other people. Somebody that other people of faith can turn to: a partner for prayer, a crutch in peoples’ struggles, a support for people who are going through what he’s already gone through.
He knows the conflict within himself. He wants to be of the spirit and not of the flesh. But he also knows that to be of the flesh is necessary, and not an evil, in and of itself.
When we think about spiritual tensions, we can see Augustine describing one type – between good people of the City of God, and wicked people of the City of Man. While also being cognizant that we have both impulses within each of us.
And both impulses are necessary. Being a part of the City of Man, as Augustine called it, or being of the flesh, as Paul called it, is not, in and of itself, an evil.
Being a part of that City allows us to be fruitful, to do good works, to be of service to others, which is part of the calling of being of the City of God.
Spirit and flesh can work together to achieve great things, to do good in the world, to ease sufferings, to heal wounds, physical, spiritual, emotional…
The real struggle is when flesh works for its own sake, ignoring the spirit.
That is when wickedness creeps in. That’s when we open ourselves up to sin. When our motivations and our actions in the City of Man come from ourselves and benefit ourselves, and the City of God is forgotten.
Working together, God and man can do remarkable, wonderful things. But the key there is that God has to be a part of the equation. God has to be our motivation, our reason for doing what we do. Without God’s presence in our lives, there would be no love, no empathy, no concern for others. But working with the Spirit who shows us these things, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.
God gave us Creation. God gave us this City of Man. God wants us to work and be fruitful and be a blessing. In conjunction with God’s will, God’s commandments, and God’s love. Let the Spirit of the City of God be our motivation and our guiding force, every day of our lives.
To God be all glory, praise, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, we give you thanks that you have put us in this world to partner in your kingdom. We thank you that you have opened our eyes to catch a glimpse of your glory. That you have made us capable to love and serve you and each other. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit may stay with us and guide each of our journeys, every day of our lives. And we pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A few words from St. Augustine’s work, City of God:
“That race – that is, the human race - we have divided into two classes, one that lives according to man and the other that lives according to God. In symbolic fashion we call these two cities, that is, two communities of men, of which one is predestined to reign eternally with God, the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil.
The Apostle says “That is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.” That implies that each man, since he is born of tainted stock, must first like Adam be wicked and carnal; afterwards, if he have the advantage of being born again into Christ, he will be good and spiritual.”
By now I hope you know that I don’t preach often on things like “eternal punishment with the devil,” or that man must be “wicked and carnal.” Augustine goes into some flavors of judgment and damnation that I can’t say I find much theological justification for.
But in looking at the scripture for today from Philippians 1, I can’t help but to think that maybe… maybe if we brush the fire and the brimstone aside, if we leave the eternal punishment and the wicked carnality, and focus on Augustine’s overarching theme here… that maybe he’s on to something.
City of God is a classic work of Christian literature and exposition which explore that dynamic tension of being torn between the desires of the flesh and the desires of the spirit. Exactly the same tension that Paul explored with the Philippians.
In Augustine’s writing – he writes as if that tension is between two bodies of people – the saved and the damned, with one city predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other city to suffer eternal punishment with the Devil. The inference with Augustine, at least in this passage, is that the tensions are all external to the self. One’s self is either wholly righteous and saved, or wholly wicked and damned. And the conflict is between you as a part of the City of God (presumably), and the damnable heathens in the City of Man.
But implicit in Augustine’s writing, and in the writing of Paul, is that both cities – God and Man, saved and damned, flesh and spirit, are internal to all of us. That faith and salvation are things that we struggle with. That it’s not a simple matter of, “Ok, you’re on the God-team, here’s your harp and your halo,” or “You’re on the demon-team, here’s your pitchfork.”
Instead the reality is that each of us carries the City of Man and the City of God within ourselves. That the joys and the temptations of our earthly, bodily living are constantly pulling at us – and I think I do a disserve to Paul using the word, “temptation,” because sometimes the desires of the flesh – the food, the drink, the sex, are necessary for us to live and carry on. So it’s not that all earthly things are bad, but that they can make us forget sometimes that we have other allegiance, an allegiance of the spirit to the God who made us.
That’s the pull… it’s not that things of the earth or of the flesh are necessarily bad or sinful – even Paul says, “if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me…” and continues to say that for him, “to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”
In other words, Paul sees that it’s beneficial for the people around him for Paul to continue to pursue earthly good. Life in the flesh. Fruitful labor. Things that are necessary for life – not a life lived in extravagant luxury – but a life lived in service to others.
That, I think, is where the tension comes in – the struggle between good and evil that goes on within every soul.
It’s not as simple as earth = bad, spirit = good.
But what we do with our earthly time matters.
We can use our time here on earth, using our needs and talents to further the spiritual… or we can ignore the spiritual, and focus our earthly needs only on ourselves. That’s where temptation comes in. That’s where we touch our toes into the pool of sin.
Paul recognizes our earthly needs – our needs to work, to be fruitful, to create – as necessary to strengthen the spiritual needs of the community. Paul’s desire isn’t to get rich, live in a big house, own lots of slaves, and get fat and lazy.
Instead, Paul wants to be a person of resource for other people. Somebody that other people of faith can turn to: a partner for prayer, a crutch in peoples’ struggles, a support for people who are going through what he’s already gone through.
He knows the conflict within himself. He wants to be of the spirit and not of the flesh. But he also knows that to be of the flesh is necessary, and not an evil, in and of itself.
When we think about spiritual tensions, we can see Augustine describing one type – between good people of the City of God, and wicked people of the City of Man. While also being cognizant that we have both impulses within each of us.
And both impulses are necessary. Being a part of the City of Man, as Augustine called it, or being of the flesh, as Paul called it, is not, in and of itself, an evil.
Being a part of that City allows us to be fruitful, to do good works, to be of service to others, which is part of the calling of being of the City of God.
Spirit and flesh can work together to achieve great things, to do good in the world, to ease sufferings, to heal wounds, physical, spiritual, emotional…
The real struggle is when flesh works for its own sake, ignoring the spirit.
That is when wickedness creeps in. That’s when we open ourselves up to sin. When our motivations and our actions in the City of Man come from ourselves and benefit ourselves, and the City of God is forgotten.
Working together, God and man can do remarkable, wonderful things. But the key there is that God has to be a part of the equation. God has to be our motivation, our reason for doing what we do. Without God’s presence in our lives, there would be no love, no empathy, no concern for others. But working with the Spirit who shows us these things, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.
God gave us Creation. God gave us this City of Man. God wants us to work and be fruitful and be a blessing. In conjunction with God’s will, God’s commandments, and God’s love. Let the Spirit of the City of God be our motivation and our guiding force, every day of our lives.
To God be all glory, praise, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, we give you thanks that you have put us in this world to partner in your kingdom. We thank you that you have opened our eyes to catch a glimpse of your glory. That you have made us capable to love and serve you and each other. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit may stay with us and guide each of our journeys, every day of our lives. And we pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.