THEORIA
Explore full early church libraryExplore library
Library
  1. Library
  2. St. Augustine of Hippo
  3. On the Spirit and the Letter

On the Spirit and the Letter

St. Augustine of Hippo

2h 40m read
Post-Nicene

De Spiritu et Littera, addressed to Marcellinus in 412, arguing from 2 Corinthians 3 that the law without the life-giving Spirit condemns, and that true righteousness is the work of grace.

Table of Contents

1Extract from Augustin’s Retractations2Argument3The Occasion of Writing This Work; A Thing May Be Capable of Being Done, and Yet May Never Be Done4The Examples Apposite5Theirs is Comparatively a Harmless Error, Who Say that a Man Lives Here Without Sin6Theirs is a Much More Serious Error, Requiring a Very Vigorous Refutation, Who Deny God’s Grace to Be Necessary7True Grace is the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Which Kindles in the Soul the Joy and Love of Goodness8The Teaching of Law Without the Life-Giving Spirit is 'The Letter that Killeth.'9What is Proposed to Be Here Treated10Romans Interprets Corinthians11Through the Law Sin Has Abounded12Christ the True Healer13From What Fountain Good Works Flow14Paul, Whence So Called; Bravely Contends for Grace15Keeping the Law; The Jews’ Glorying; The Fear of Punishment; The Circumcision of the Heart16In What Respect the Pelagians Acknowledge God as the Author of Our Justification17The Righteousness of God Manifested by the Law and the Prophets18How the Law Was Not Made for a Righteous Man19The Exclusion of Boasting20Piety is Wisdom; That is Called the Righteousness of God, Which He Produces21The Knowledge of God Through the Creation22The Law Without Grace23The Law of Works and the Law of Faith24No Man Justified by Works25How the Decalogue Kills, If Grace Be Not Present26The Passage in Corinthians27The Passage in Romans28No Fruit Good Except It Grow from the Root of Love29Grace, Concealed in the Old Testament, is Revealed in the New30Why the Holy Ghost is Called the Finger of God31A Comparison of the Law of Moses and of the New Law32The New Law Written Within33The Old Law Ministers Death; The New, Righteousness34The Christian Faith Touching the Assistance of Grace35The Prophecy of Jeremiah Concerning the New Testament36The Law; Grace37The Old Law; The New Law38The Law Written in Our Hearts39The Eternal Reward40The Re-Formation Which is Now Being Effected, Compared with the Perfection of the Life to Come41The Eternal Reward Which is Specially Declared in the New Testament, Foretold by the Prophet42How that is to Be the Reward of All; The Apostle Earnestly Defends Grace43The Law Written in the Heart, and the Reward of the Eternal Contemplation of God, Belong to the New Covenant; Who Among the Saints are the Least and the Greatest44Difference Between the Old and the New Testaments45A Question Touching the Passage in the Apostle About the Gentiles Who are Said to Do by Nature the Law’s Commands, Which They are Also Said to Have Written on Their Hearts46The Answer Is, that the Passage Must Be Understood of the Faithful of the New Covenant47It is Not by Their Works, But by Grace, that the Doers of the Law are Justified; God’s Saints and God’s Name Hallowed in Different Senses48How the Passage of the Law Agrees with that of the Prophet49The Law ‘Being Done by Nature’ Means, Done by Nature as Restored by Grace50The Image of God is Not Wholly Blotted Out in These Unbelievers; Venial Sins51The Grace Promised by the Prophet for the New Covenant52Righteousness is the Gift of God53Faith the Ground of All Righteousness54Grace Establishes Free Will55Volition and Ability56Whether Faith Be in a Man’s Own Power57What Faith is Laudable58The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others59Whence Comes the Will to Believe?60The Free Will of Man is an Intermediate Power61Mercy and Pity in the Judgment of God62The Will to Believe is from God63Conclusion of the Work64He Returns to the Question Which Marcellinus Had Proposed to Him65An Objection66When the Commandment to Love is Fulfilled67In What Sense a Sinless Righteousness in This Life Can Be Asserted68Although Perfect Righteousness Be Not Found Here on Earth, It is Still Not Impossible