Ron Haflidson - Christ's Mediation in Confessions XII

  In this paper I examine the role of Christ’s mediation in Confessions XII.  In the first part of Confessions XII (XII.1.1 - XII.13.16), Augustine interprets the “heavens and earth” in Genesis 1.1; then, in the second part (XII.14.17-XII.32.43), he considers alternate interpretations of “heavens and earth” within the Church.  On the face of it, the connection between the first and second parts is that Augustine moves from his own interpretation of Genesis 1.1 to then consider alternate interpretations of that verse.  I will argue, however, that the relation of the two parts is more fundamental than that, as it is grounded in the analogous mediation of Christ in creation and in the Church; in creation, Christ is the Beginning and Wisdom in whom all the multiplicity and diversity of creation is made; in the Church, Christ is the Word and Truth, who provides multiple Scriptural interpretations to correspond to the diverse spiritual abilities of Christians.  Augustine’s own suggestion of further interpretations of Genesis 1.1, then, may be seen to be a participation in the work of Christ; as God in Christ creates heaven’s heaven and formless matter, respectively that which clings eternally to God and this which teeters on nothingness, so Augustine labours to provide Scriptural interpretations of Genesis 1.1 that will be comprehensible to the spiritually mature and the carnally minded.  This interpretation of Confessions XII will be further strengthened by briefly considering the role of Christ as described earlier in Confessions, as well as in The Literal Commentary on Genesis, a work being written at approximately the same time as Confessions.  The paper concludes with a brief indication of how Christ’s mediation in Confessions XII relates, and is finally inseparable from, the work of the Spirit as described in Confessions XIII.