Augustine is deeply concerned with human motivation. Knowledge (e.g., Greek philosophy) is not enough. What matters has to do with one's will, inclinations, affections, and orientations. We might say, in short, that "You are as you love."

That is not to say that one who loves Christ becomes Christ. But it is to say that it is only by loving Christ that one becomes Christian. It is also the case that this love is not a simple human possibility or accomplishment. It is, instead, a gift of God, which is to say that we are saved by grace.

"Now we shall discover who can be saved 'through fire', if we start by discovering what it means to have Christ as one's foundation. To get at the meaning as quickly as possible from the metaphor itself: the foundation precedes any of the building; and so if anyone has Christ in his heart in the sense that he puts no earthly and temporal thing before Christ-not even those which are lawful and permitted-that man has Christ as his foundation" (p. 1010).

"If he does put such things before Christ, then even if he appears to hold the Christian faith, Christ is not the foundation in him, since for him Christ takes second place. And if he thinks nothing of the saving commandments and acts unlawfully, he is all the more convicted of putting Christ last instead of first, when he has relegated him to secondary importance as a source of command or permission, and has slighted his commands" (pp. 1010-1011).

"Anyone who loves father or mother, sons or daughters according to the standards of Christ, so that he is concerned that they may inherit Christ's kingdom and be united to Christ, or anyone who loves them for the fact that they are members of Christ; it is impossible that such affection should prove to be something that has to be destroyed along with the 'wood, hay and straw'. This will, beyond dispute, be reckoned as part of the structure of 'gold, silver, and precious stone'. For if a man loves others entirely for Christ's sake, how can he love them more than Christ?" (p. 1014).

Augustine. Concerning the City of God Against the Pagans, translated by Henry Bettenson. London: Penguin Books, first published 1467, this translation 1972 with introduction by David Knowles, reissued with new introduction 1984, reissued with new introduction, notes, and chronology by G. R. Evans 2003.