OF THE LAST JUDGEMENT
Blessed Augustine of Hippo
The Passages in Which the Savior Declares that There Shall Be a Divine Judgement in the End of the World
The Saviour Himself, while reproving the cities in which He had done
great works, but which had not believed, and while setting them in
unfavorable comparison with foreign cities, says, But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at
the day of judgement than for you (Mt. 11:22). And a little after He says, Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement than for thee (Mt. 11:24). Here He most plainly predicts that a day of judgement
is to come. And in another place He says, The men of Nineveh shall
rise in judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than
Jonas is here. The queen of the south
shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn
it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the words
of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here (Mt.
12:41–42). Two things we learn from this passage,
that a judgement is to take place, and that it is to take place at the
resurrection of the dead. For when He spoke of the Ninevites and the
queen of the south, He certainly spoke of dead persons, and yet He said
that they should rise up in the day of judgement.
He did not say, “They shall condemn,” as if they themselves were to be
the judges, but because, in comparison with them, the others shall be
justly condemned.
Again, in another passage, in which He was speaking of the present
intermingling and future separation of the good and bad,—the separation
which shall be made in the day of judgement,—He adduced a comparison
drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among
them, and gave this explanation of it to His disciples: He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man [Augustin
quotes the whole passage, Mt. 13:37–34] etc. Here, indeed, He did not
name the judgement or the day of judgement, but indicated it much
more clearly by describing the circumstances, and foretold that it
should take place in the end of the world.
In like manner He says to His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That
ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man
shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt.
19:28). Here we learn that Jesus shall judge with His disciples. And therefore He said elsewhere to the Jews, If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges (Mt.
12:17). Neither ought we to
suppose that only twelve men shall judge along with Him, though He says
that they shall sit upon twelve thrones; for by the number twelve is
signified the completeness of the multitude of those who shall judge.
For the two parts of the number seven (which
commonly symbolizes totality), that is to say four and three, multiplied
into one another, give twelve. For four times three, or three times
four, are twelve. There are other meanings, too, in this number twelve.
Were not this the right interpretation of the
twelve thrones, then since we read that Matthias was ordained an apostle
in the room of Judas the traitor, the Apostle Paul, though he labored
more than them all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10), should have no throne of
judgment; but he unmistakably considers himself
to be included in the number of the judges when he says, Know ye not that we shall judge angels? (1
Cor. 6:3). The same rule is to be observed in applying the number
twelve to those who are to be judged. For though it was said, “judging
the twelve tribes
of Israel,” the tribe of Levi, which is the thirteenth, shall not on
this account be exempt from judgement, neither shall judgement be passed
only on Israel and not on the other nations. And by the words “in the
regeneration,” He certainly meant the resurrection
of the dead to be understood; for our flesh shall be regenerated by
incorruption, as our soul is regenerated by faith.
Many passages I omit, because, though they seem to refer to the last
judgement, yet on a closer examination they are found to be ambiguous,
or to allude rather to some other event,—whether to that coming of the
Saviour which continually occurs in His Church,
that is, in His members, in which comes little by little, and piece by
piece, since the whole Church is His body, or to the destruction of the
earthly Jerusalem. For when He speaks even of this, He often uses
language which is applicable to the end of the
world and that last and great day of judgement, so that these two events
cannot be distinguished unless all the corresponding passages bearing
on the subject in the three evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are
compared with one another,—for some things
are put more obscurely by one evangelist and more plainly by another,—so
that it becomes apparent what things are meant to be referred to one
event. It is this which I have been at pains to do in a letter which I
wrote to Hesychius of blessed memory, bishop
of Salon, and entitled, “Of the End of the World.” [Ep.199].
I shall now cite from the Gospel according to Matthew the passage which
speaks of the separation of the good from the wicked by the most
efficacious and final judgement of Christ: When the Son of man, he says, shall come in His glory, . . . then shall
He say also unto them on His left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt.
25:34–41), given in full. Then He in like manner recounts to the wicked
the things they had not done, but which He had
said those on the right hand had done. And when they ask when they had
seen Him in need of these things, He replies that, inasmuch as they had
not done it to the least of His brethren, they had not done it unto Him,
and concludes His address in the words, And
these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Moreover,
the evangelist John most distinctly states that He had predicted that
the judgement should be at the resurrection of the dead. For after
saying, The Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son: that all
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father: he that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him; He immediately adds, Verily,
verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement; but is passed from
death to life(John 5:22–24). Here He said that believers on Him
should not come into judgement. How, then, shall
they be separated from the wicked by judgement, and be set at His right
hand, unless judgement be in this passage used for condemnation? For
into judgement, in this sense, they shall not come who hear His word,
and believe on Him that sent Him.
From The Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, by Phillip Schaff.
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