Chapter 20.—Paul Worthy to Be the Prince of the Apostles, and Yet a Sinner.

What commendation, however, is bestowed on Zacharias and Elisabeth which is not comprehended in what the apostle has said about himself before he believed in Christ? He said that, “as touching the righteousness which is in the law, he had been blameless.”329    Phil. iii. 6. The same is said also of them: “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”330    Luke i. 6. [See also his work, De Gratia Christi, 53.] It was because whatever righteousness they had in them was not a pretence before men that it is said accordingly, “They walked before the Lord.” But that which is written of Zacharias and his wife in the phrase, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, the apostle briefly expressed by the words, in the law. For there was not one law for him and another for them previous to the gospel. It was one and the same law which, as we read, was given by Moses to their fathers, and according to which, also, Zacharias was priest, and offered sacrifices in his course. And yet the apostle, who was then endued with the like righteousness, goes on to say: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; for whose sake I have not only thought all things to be only detriments, but I have even counted them as dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made comformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”331    Phil. iii. 7–11. So far, then, is it from being true that we should, from the words in which Scripture describes them, suppose that Zacharias and Elisabeth had a perfect righteousness without any sin, that we must even regard the apostle himself, according to the selfsame rule, as not perfect, not only in that righteousness of the law which he possessed in common with them, and which he counts as loss and dung in comparison with that most excellent righteousness which is by the faith of Christ, but also in the very gospel itself, wherein he deserved the pre-eminence of his great apostleship. Now I would not venture to say this if I did not deem it very wrong to refuse credence to himself. He extends the passage which we have quoted, and says: “Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may comprehend that for which also I am apprehended in Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”332    Phil. iii. 12–14. Here he confesses that he has not yet attained, and is not yet perfect in that plenitude of righteousness which he had longed to obtain in Christ; but that he was as yet pressing towards the mark, and, forgetting what was past, was reaching out to the things which are before him. We are sure, then, that what he says elsewhere is true even of himself: “Although our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” 333    2 Cor. iv. 16. Although he was already a perfect334    [Augustin plays on the word “perfect.”—W.] traveller, he had not yet attained the perfect end of his journey. All such he would fain take with him as companions of his course. This he expresses in the words which follow our former quotation: “Let as many, then, of us as are perfect, be thus minded: and if ye be yet of another mind, God will reveal even this also to you. Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by that rule.”335    Phil. iii. 15, 16. This “walk” is not performed with the legs of the body, but with the affections of the soul and the character of the life, so that they who possess righteousness may arrive at perfection, who, advancing in their renewal day by day along the straight path of faith, have by this time become perfect as travellers in the selfsame righteousness.

20. Quid autem de Zacharia et Elisabeth laudabile dictum est, quod non in eo comprehendatur, quod de se Apostolus, cum in Christum nondum credidisset, professus est? Dixit enim se secundum justitiam quae in lege est, fuisse sine querela: hoc et de illis ita legitur, Erant autem ambo justi ante Deum, incedentes in omnibus mandatis et justificationibus Domini sine querela (Luc. I, 6). Quia ergo quidquid eis inerat justitiae, non erat ad homines simulatum, ideo dictum est, ante Deum. Quod autem de Zacharia et ejus conjuge scriptum est, in omnibus mandatis et justificationibus Domini: hoc ille breviter dixit, in lege. Non enim alia lex illi, alia istis fuit ante Evangelium; sed una atque eadem, quam legimus per Moysen datam patribus eorum, secundum quam etiam sacerdos erat Zacharias, et vice sua sacrificabat. Et tamen Apostolus, qui simili tunc justitia praeditus fuit, sequitur, et dicit: Quae mihi lucra fuerunt, haec propter Christum damna esse duxi: verumtamen et arbitror omnia damnum esse propter eminentem scientiam Domini nostri Jesu Christi, propter quem omnia non solum detrimenta credidi, verum etiam stercora existimavi esse, ut Christum lucrifaciam, et inveniar in illo non habens meam justitiam quae ex lege est, sed eam quae est per fidem Christi, quae est ex Deo, justitiam in fide, ad cognoscendum eum et virtutem resurrectionis ejus et communicationem passionis ejus, conformatus morti ipsius, si quo modo occurram in resurrectionem mortuorum. Tantum ergo longe est, ut propter illa verba Zachariam et Elisabeth credamus sine ullo peccato perfectam habuisse justitiam, ut nec ipsum Apostolum ejusdem regulae summitate arbitremur fuisse perfectum, non solum in illa legis justitia, quam similem istis habuit, quam inter damna et stercora deputat in comparatione eminentissimae justitiae, quae in fide Christi est; verum etiam in ipso quoque Evangelio, ubi et tanti Apostolatus meruit principatum: quod dicere non auderem, nisi ei non credere nefas ducerem. Ubi etiam sequitur, et adjungit: Non quia jam acceperim, aut jam perfectus sim; sequor autem, si comprehendam , in quo et apprehensus sum in Christo 0164 Jesu. Fratres, ego me ipsum non arbitror apprehendisse: unum autem, quae retro oblitus, in ea quae ante sunt extentus, secundum intentionem sequor, ad palmam supernae vocationis Dei, in Christo Jesu. Ipse se confitetur nondum accepisse, nondum esse perfectum ea plenitudine justitiae, quam adipisci dilexit in Christo; sed adhuc secundum intentionem sequi, et praeterita obliviscentem in ea quae ante sunt extendi: ut noverimus etiam ad ipsum pertinere illud quod ait, Et si exterior homo noster corrumpitur, sed interior renovatur de die in diem (II Cor. IV, 16): quamvis jam esset perfectus viator, etsi nondum erat ipsius itineris perfectione perventor. Denique tales vult secum in isto cursu comites rapere, quibus continuo subjungit et dicit: Quotquot ergo perfecti, hoc sapiamus; et si quid aliter sapitis, hoc quoque Deus vobis revelabit : verumtamen, in quod pervenimus, in eo ambulemus (Philipp. III, 3-16). Ambulatio ista, non corporis pedibus, sed mentis affectibus et vitae moribus geritur, ut possint esse perfecti justitiae possessores, qui recto itinere fidei de die in diem in sua renovatione proficientes, jam perfecti facti sunt ejusdem justitiae viatores.