Augustine's Hermeneutic of Love Applied to Spiritual Gifts and Supernatural Experiences

Happy Easter!

I hope that you and yours enjoyed celebrating the resurrection yesterday in whatever way you were able. As stated in the opening blog, my posts will draw on resources from Christian scripture and tradition and apply them particularly to the charismatic movement. The conviction is that the charismatic movement needs this, and that more of it will bring greater health to the movement. In this weeks post, I want to look at one of the few aspects of Saint Augustine's theology that does not already have a vast amount of scholarly literature devoted to it: his hermeneutic of love. First, a little background. Saint Augustine lived in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. Aside from Jesus, Paul and perhaps Peter, Augustine is likely the most influential theologian in the history of Western (that is, Catholic and Protestant) Christianity. This is largely due to the vast amount and profound quality of his writings that have been preserved. After a long and convoluted journey away from and back to the Christian faith, Augsutine became bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He was most likely of Berber descent.

Why does Augustine matter for charismatics in North America in 2024, you may be wondering? Between the years 397 - 426 CE, Augustine wrote a work named De doctrina christiana, 'On Christian Teaching'. The purpose of the work was to train pastors in the skill of hermeneutics, which in this context means the interpretation and application of the Bible for the purpose of preaching. This is where Augustine articulated what is now known as his hermeneutic of love: “Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all. Whoever finds a lesson there useful to the building of charity, even though he has not said what the author may be shown to have intended in that place, has not been deceived, nor is he lying in any way” (1.36.40). Note that the word "charity" above would nowadays be better translated 'love'.

What Augustine is saying is that Christians should approach the task of trying to understand the Bible through the lens of Jesus' elevation of the twofold love command. Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV) says "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

What is Augustine getting at here? A scholar named James A. Andrews argues that Augustine's point is that the Bible's inherent nature and purpose, the reason for which God inspired it and providentially gave it to us is that it would cause us to grow in the love of God and those around us. Augustine even goes so far as to say, to the horror of all who teach introductory hermeneutics courses in evangelical settings (such as myself!) that the ultimate goal of trying to interpret the Bible is NOT to understand what Paul was trying to say to the Romans, or Peter to the scattered Christians, etc. Even if you have all the scholarly, historical, contextual, linguistic and grammatical analysis of a Bible verse down to a tee, if it doesn't cause you to honour and obey God and treat other people well, you have totally missed it. A challenging thing for a PhD student in New Testament to hear!

Again you may be wondering, how does this relate to the charismatic movement in particular? A defining feature of the charismatic movement is that we believe that the spiritual gifts described in the NT (the charismata) are still fully valid and active in the church today. I have heard dozens and dozens of sermons in charismatic churches that have focused on this. What I have rarely, if ever, heard is that the main place in the NT where we receive teaching about the spiritual gifts, 1 Corinthians 12-14, is not primary focused on hyping up and promoting the gifts, but on correcting their misuse. Paul also talks about the gifts in Romans, but 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 is the other major area where we get this teaching. A large part of the New Testament's teaching on the charismatic spiritual gifts is primarily orientated toward correcting their misuse. Paul was taking the Corinthians to task because, as enthusiastic as they were about the spiritual gifts, they were using them to exalt themselves at other people's expense, to lift themselves up and trod other people down, rather than in a servant-hearted, Christlike manner. This is the purpose of Paul's famous poem about love in 13:1-3: the purpose of the gifts is to serve one another, to count ourselves less significant than others (Philippians 2:3) and to lift others up at our own expense.

And this is where Augustine's hermeneutic of love comes in: How much more effective and healthy would the charismatic movement be if we judged our use of spiritual gifts and our supernatural encounters with God in the same way that Augustine encourages pastors to interpret the scriptures? It doesn't matter how profound this prophetic dream was, or that prayer session for healing and deliverance; it doesn't matter how anointed the man or woman of God speaking is; it doesn't matter how vividly you experienced the third heaven, or prophesied over the nations; even if a revival breaks out or we raise the dead! If these things do not cause us to honour and obey God more fully, and to treat those around us better than we did before in concrete ways, then they are not particularly useful or desirable. As our Lord said so tellingly in Matthew 7:16a "By their fruit you will recognize them."

References:

Andrews, James A. Hermeneutics and the Church: In Dialogue with Augustine. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.