Augustine Catechism: Enchiridion on Faith Hope and Love by St. Augustine

Author:St. Augustine
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Classics, Patristics, Christianity
ISBN: 9781565482982
Publisher: New City Press
Published: 2011-07-07T04:00:00+00:00

A Person’s Rebirth

46. It is said, and not without probability, that infants are also liable for the sins of their parents, not only those of the first humans but also those of the people from whom they were born.44 The divine judgment, I shall punish children for the iniquity of their parents (Ex 20:5; Dt 5:9), certainly applies to them until they begin to belong to the new covenant by regeneration. This covenant was prophesied when it was said through Ezekiel that children would not receive the sins of their parents, nor would it be any longer said in Israel: The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge (Ez 18:2). So the purpose of each person’s rebirth is that whatever there is in him of sin that he was born with may be done away with. For sins that are committed later through evil action can be healed also with penitence,45 as we see happening even after baptism. This shows that regeneration was only introduced because of a fault in our generation which is such that even one who was conceived in legitimate matrimony says, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me (Ps 51:5). He did not here say “in iniquity” or “in sin,” though he could rightly have said that, but he preferred to speak of iniquities and sins, because even in that one sin which passed to all men, and which is so great that by it human nature was changed and came under the necessity of death, there are found to be several sins, as I have shown;46 and there are the other sins of parents which, although they cannot make such a change to human nature, nonetheless bind the children with guilt unless the free grace and mercy of God comes to their help.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.