Foundation for Reformed Theology, 1982-2012 
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John Calvin
(1509-1564)
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Late Have I Loved You!
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Augustine, in his Confessions, weaves together confession of sin and confession of praise. He realizes and acknowledges not only that God is God and that we are not but also that God is holy and that we are sinful. And yet, because God is good and has saved us, Augustine can and does sing his praises.

Consider the following hymn of praise, a love song in the middle of this 400 page long prayer. Augustine confesses (sin) that he is late to love God, but at the same time he confesses (praise) that he does love God. He confesses (praise) that God is Beauty, and he confesses (sin) that he himself was misshapen.

Note especially that the last five lines refer to the five senses, the five portals to his mind through which God has made himself known to Augustine. The first sense named is hearing, for hearing the Word of God--the promises of God in the Scriptures, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ--hearing the Word of God is primary.

Augustine's Confessions, X, 27, 38

 

Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new,
late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made I rushed headlong,
I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped, and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.  

 

Augustine, The Confessions, introduction, translation and notes by Maria Boulding, in The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Part I--Books, volume 1 (New York: New City Press, 1997), Book X, Chapter 27, paragraph 38, p. 262.

 
Dr. James C. Goodloe IV Grace and Peace,

    Jim 
Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Executive Director
Foundation for Reformed Theology
4103 Monument Avenue
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goodloe@foundationrt.org
(804) 678-8352

Celebrating Our First Thirty Years, 1982-2012

 

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