The City of God · Chapter
Of God's Eternal and Unchangeable Knowledge and Will explained
Augustine explores the nature of God's eternal and unchangeable knowledge and will, arguing that God's approval of creation as 'good' reflects His eternal design rather than a temporal discovery.
What happens
Augustine explores the nature of God's eternal and unchangeable knowledge and will, arguing that God's approval of creation as 'good' reflects His eternal design rather than a temporal discovery. He contrasts human temporal cognition with God's timeless comprehension, and references Plato's view that the universe was created by a good God for good purposes.
Themes in this chapter
Divine Providence and History
God's eternal and unchangeable knowledge governs all temporal events, including creation.
True Worship and the One God
Emphasizes God's perfect, timeless knowledge as distinct from human limitations, affirming the unique nature of the Creator.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author and expositor of the eternal and unchangeable knowledge of God.
- Plato
Cited for his assertion that God was elated with joy at the completion of the universe and for his reason that good works were made by a good God.
- Holy Scripture
Referenced for the phrase 'God saw that it was good' and the account of creation.
Key passages
“For what else is to be understood by that invariable refrain, 'And God saw that it was good,' than the approval of the work in its design, which is the wisdom of God?”
The repeated phrase 'God saw that it was good' signifies God's approval of the creation as it existed in His eternal design, which is His wisdom.
Augustine interprets the biblical refrain as indicating God's eternal approval, not a temporal discovery.
“For He does not pass from this to that by transition of thought, but beholds all things with absolute unchangeableness; so that of those things which emerge in time, the future, indeed, are not yet, and the present are now, and the past no longer are; but all of these are by Him comprehended in His stable and eternal presence.”
God does not think sequentially like humans; rather, He sees all things—past, present, and future—in an unchanging, eternal present.
Augustine contrasts human temporal cognition with God's timeless knowledge.
“This also Plato has assigned as the most sufficient reason for the creation of the world, that good works might be made by a good God;”
Plato also gave this as the most adequate reason for the world's creation: that a good God would create good works.
Augustine notes the agreement between Plato's philosophy and the biblical account of creation.