Piotr Paciorek: The Metaphor of 'the Letter from God' as Applied to Holy Scripture by Saint Augustine

In this paper, I argue, along with St. Augustine, that there is a direct similarity between Holy Scripture and what is commonly known as “the letter.”  The letter, or epistolary form, serves as a metaphor for scripture in the following way:  in the metaphor of the letter, we recognize three essential elements -- the sender/author, the recipient, and the message.  These three elements can be grasped according to the philosophical system of Christian Neo-Platonism, a system which Augustine subscribed to as he explained in his writings (especially in Expositions of the Psalms) the metaphor of the letter from God.     

Concerning the authorship of the letter, Augustine states that the people of the Heavenly Jerusalem (or, the angels and saints) were inspired by the contemplation of the Word of God to compose letters and send them to the pilgrim Christian community on earth or the Earthly Jerusalem.

Using the metaphor of the letter, Augustine seeks to represent this important mode of communication between God and humanity.  The letter, metaphorically speaking, bridges the gap between transcendent God and man, between two cities: the City of God and the earthly city.  Even though man is physically distant, he can greatly diminish his spiritual distance from God by hearing the public letter God has sent, the letter which is, indeed, the revelation of God Himself to the human race.  Saint Augustine utilizes the metaphors of Heavenly Jerusalem and Earthly Jerusalem – and consequently the metaphor of the Letter from God – to demonstrate his understanding of the Christian community and its relationship to Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture is the “letter qua message,” the message which reveals to people on earth the enduring truths about their homeland or “patria.” 

As for the recipients of the letter, Augustine observes them from two perspectives, i.e. their situation (location) and their condition (status).  Augustine delineates the situation of the recipients of the Letters of God as a particular place on earth, a location far from the heavenly Jerusalem. Their situation is one of banishment, exile, captivity…even slavery. Augustine emphasizes that the recipient of the letter dwells as an alien in a foreign land.  This temporal (or physical) dwelling place is a land foreign to the eternal land of beatitude, thus complicating the situation of the recipient who requires constant communication from the heavenly Jerusalem in order to endure the disturbances and tribulations of life on earth.  

Furthermore, Augustine understands the recipients’ condition or status to mean something akin to a state of slavery.  We can interpret his status as a kind of servitude, or a moral condition that relegates the servant to a realm of darkness and the company of the irreligious.  In such a condition, the Christian servant endeavors to sustain his love for the eternal Word without succumbing to impiety, without embracing what is simply “of the earth” or abandoning his commitments to God.  From a historical perspective, Augustine notes that early Christians deserted the virtues of piety and justice and required an emphatic warning against the dangers of idolatry. Thus, Holy Scripture, these letters from God to man, stimulated in the recipients such a desire to return to their homeland that they would abandon impiety and embrace the supernatural good.  In Augustine’s metaphysical schema, the Christian recipient would, by contemplating the letters of God, come to a greater understanding of the Supreme Good.  By approaching the immutable truth inherent in the scriptural letters, the recipient approaches God Himself.  As he approaches God, he hears Him in every phrase and nuance of the letter, the beauty of which can propel him toward sanctity, provided he keeps the letter in his heart, as he follows its prescriptives for holiness.