XIX explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Sin, Grace, and Redemption

  Discusses the fall of the angels due to pride and their separation from the light of truth, highlighting the distinction between holy and unclean spirits.

• True Worship and the One God

  Emphasizes that only God can discern and judge the spiritual condition of angels, underscoring His unique authority and foreknowledge.

Characters to notice

• Augustine

  Author and interpreter of the biblical passage, explaining the allegorical meaning of the division of light and darkness.

• Holy Scripture

  Quoted as the source of the creation account, including the separation of light from darkness and the creation of the luminaries.

Key passages

• “To me it does not seem incongruous with the working of God, if we understand that the angels were created when that first light was made, and that a separation was made between the holy and the unclean angels, when, as is said, 'God divided the light from the darkness; and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.'”

  Augustine suggests that the creation of light in Genesis symbolizes the creation of the angels, and the division between light and darkness represents the separation of holy angels from fallen ones.

  Allegorical interpretation linking the creation narrative to angelic beings.

• “For He alone could make this discrimination, who was able also, before they fell, to foreknow that they would fall, and that, being deprived of the light of truth, they would abide in the darkness of pride.”

  Only God, who foreknew the fall of the proud angels, could distinguish between the holy and the unclean angels.

  Emphasizes God's omniscience and unique role in judgment.