The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 2: The Time Before Time • 65

“He’s one of the four great doctors of the Western Church!” whispered Father Greg. “He wrote the Confessions and The City of God and many great theological works!” 3 “I can only elaborate on our brother’s concise message,” Augustine began, “for God to change would entail losing some aspect of his perfection. If God gains something new, then what he was before was lacking. Anything new to emerge in God’s substance would mean He cannot truly be called eternal. Thus, God’s essence, by which he is, has absolutely nothing changeable about its eternity or its truth or its will; there truth is eternal and love is eternal.” 4 “So, in other words,” Mentor clarified, “God’s attributes such as His truth, His will, His love, are identical to God himself, and are therefore also eternal?” Augustine nodded once, in agreement, and sat down. “Just as God is invariable ,” Mentor continued, “He is also unalterable . No one and nothing can bring about any change in God’s eternal nature. Our heavenly Father, in other words, is impassible : unlike us humans, he is not vulnerable to suffering or injury, and he is not swayed by events or emotions. This is not to say 3 The Four Doctors of the Church were so named because of their great learning and impact. For the Western, Latin-speaking churches, these were Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great. The Eastern, Greek-speaking churches identified Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, and John Chysostom as their selections. For more, see Christopher Hall, Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), chapters 4 and 5. 4 Confessions XI.10 (NPNF 1.1, 167) and The Trinity IV, Preface/ Prologue (NPNF I.3, 69). See Hal M. Helms, translator, The Confessions of St. Augustine (Orleans, MA: Paraclete Press, 1986), 239, and Edmond Hill, translator, The Trinity (Brooklyn: New City Press, 1991), 153.