you, to know whether ye love Him.”974 For in the former case the temptation of seduction
is intended; but in the latter the temptation of probation. Another parallel occurs in the case
of the term “judgment,” which must be taken in one way, where it is said, “They that have
done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection
of judgment;”975 and in another way, where it is said, “Judge me, O God, and discern976
my cause, in respect of an ungodly nation.”977 For the former refers to the judgment of
damnation, and the latter to the judgment of discrimination.
72. And there are many other words which do not retain one uniform signification, but
are introduced so as to suit a variety of connections, and thus are understood in a variety
of ways, and sometimes, indeed, are adopted along with an explanation. We have an example
in the saying, “Be not children978 in understanding; howbeit in malice be ye little children,
that in understanding ye may be perfect.”979 For here is a sentence which, in a brief and
pregnant form, might have been expressed thus: “Be ye not children; howbeit be ye children.”
The same is the case with the words, “If any man among you thinketh himself to be wise in
this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise.”980 For what else is the statement
there but this: “Let him not be wise, that he may be wise”? Moreover, the sentences are
sometimes so put as to exercise the judgment of the inquirer. An instance of this kind occurs
in what is said in the Epistle to the Galatians: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye will
fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing,
he deceiveth himself. But it is meet that every man should prove his own work; and then
shall he have rejoicing in himself, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own
burden.”981 Now, unless the word “burden” can be taken in different senses, without doubt
one would suppose that the same writer contradicts himself in what he says here, and that,
too, when the words are placed in such close neighbourhood in one paragraph.982 For when
he has just said, “One shall bear another’s burdens,” after the lapse of a very brief interval
he says, “Every man shall bear his own burden.” But the one refers to the burdens which
974 Deut. xiii. 3.
975 Judicii. John v. 29.
976 Discerne.
977 Ps. xliii. 1.
978 Pueri.
979 Parvuli estote ut sensibus perfecti sitis. 1 Cor. xiv. 20.
980 1 Cor. iii. 18.
981 Gal. vi. 2–5.
982 [Augustin fails to notice that the word “burden” represents different Greek words in Gal. vi. 2–5. His
argument here resembles the method of modern expositors who explain the discrepancies of the Authorized
Version without consulting the original.—R.]
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