Original Sin and Human Nature

Augustine derived from Plato, a perspective that the human self exists as a thinking immaterial soul. Plato stood firm in believing that after dying, the souls with the greatest love for the forms would rise and ponder over eternal truths. This to Plato was a kind of heaven, existing beyond time and space. Augustine interpreted such forms as concepts within the mind of a perfect and eternal God. Augustine said the main requirement was that humans love the eternal, perfect God. Thus, Augustine emphasized the significance of will as well as the ability to choose between evil and good. Loving and serving God was to Augustine, a fundamental religion responsibility. Sticking to this duty, one can succeed in avoiding evil and choosing good.

Part I

Chapter IX of Book Three has Augustine discussing the crimes and vices that plague humanity, even with men who are in the process of working towards the good. This here could very well go against the notion that sticking to the main responsibility of loving and serving God could help people avoid evil and elect good. If someone is already in the process of doing God's work and can succumb to evil, that notion Augustine developed becomes plainly flawed. Augustine mentions that the law of man could create circumstances that could lead men astray. " ... when acts are punished by constituted authority for the sake of correction, we cannot judge that they are done merely out of desire to inflict pain" (Augustine & Pine-Coffin, 1961, p. 67).

Therefore, Augustine creates exceptions in his own concept of good and evil and man in order to explain the reality of human civilization. However, should not the realm of God be the most important? If someone like Augustine understands the need to adhere to the principles of God, should he not remove these kinds of exceptions? Even Saul or Paul declared that one should ignore the rules of man in favor of the rules of God.

Jesus Christ Himself suffered through many instances of pain by the Roman soldiers and yet he did not sway from his duty to serve and love God. These excuses do not make what a person has done any less wrong. When people that are on their way of doing good, do bad, sin, they cannot excuse their actions by way of the rules of man. They must accept their wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness, then continue on the righteous path. While human nature is thought of as created by God and therefore good, free will also give people the chance to stray from good and choose evil.

Although Augustine believes humans are equally free to choose evil or good, humans constantly lean towards evil as evidenced in his own words. The original sin done by Adam and Eve make humans the inheritors of original sin and only the grace of God which is bestowed upon humans by God, can erase that sin. Augustine's view is that God only chooses a few people to be saved and receive grace. So this goes even further to disprove that loving and serving God could people avoid evil. If only a few people can receive the one thing that can save them from sin and hellfire, what is the point of serving and loving God?

Part II

While Augustine believed that only a few can be saved by the grace of God, that still did not erase the fact that in order to receive such grace, one has to love and serve God. Holy Scripture was to Augustine, a way to earn salvation as this is God's word. Inherited original sin may create a situation of imbalance with good and evil, but there were ways according to Augustine, that one would tilt the scale towards good. Augustine himself discussed in Chapter II of Book One, a time of darkness and in that darkness searching for redemption. "I cared for nothing but to love and be loved. But my love went beyond affection of one mind for another ... bodily desire, like a morass, and adolescent sex welling up within me ... not distinguish the clear light of true love from the murk of lust" (Augustine & Pine-Coffin, 1961, p. 43). He like anyone, sought indulgence in lustful desires and realized later on the need to control such desires and read Holy Scripture, in order to understand his own purpose and be more in tune with God.