Paul And Augustine Comparison

Original sin arose from the rebellion started by Adam in the Garden of Eden. Since then, people have interpreted this in numerous different ways. Augustine sees original sin as the guilt that humans have inherited from Adam as descendants which cannot be absolved but can be redeemed. Conversely, Paul sees original sin as part of a former life which is absolved once one is baptized. Augustine and Paul have different views of man’s sinful nature because Augustine believes that man can never be rid of his desire to sin, whereas Paul believes that, if he chooses, man can return to the path of virtuosity. They differ in their thoughts based on the inherent quality to sin, the severity of sins as well as sex and sexuality as sins.

The first difference

However, Paul believes that a sin is a sin; there is no difference between a small sin and a large sin. Augustine believes that there are many more than just the Seven Deadly Sins and he classifies all the sins on different levels of severity. Contrastingly, Paul believes that all sinners are to be punished equally. In his letters, he writes that the Corinthians should “not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters…nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9–10). He makes it very clear to the Corinthians that God does not distinguish based on the magnitude of the sin. Your sin may be that you stole a piece of fruit, as Augustine did, or that you killed a man; God is going to give everyone the same punishment. This distinction between the beliefs of Paul and the beliefs of Augustine is important as, it shows us that Augustine believed in redemption whereas Paul did not. Paul wrote about ways to avoid sinning in his letter but never about how to redeem oneself on sinning after one’s baptism. On the other hand, Augustine states that one can cleanse their soul of small sins by daily prayer to

Throughout Confessions, Augustine’s view of sex and lust changes: at first he describes sex and lust as his addiction, which changes as becomes older and delves into Manichaeism which teaches that all things of the flesh are inherently evil. His view on sex was influenced by many factors other than the Bible. At the time, philosophy focused on the physical being as evil, while considering the spiritual being as good. In this way, Augustine came to believe that sex was evil as it was a physical thing. Towards the beginning, during his adolescence, Augustine states that he couldn’t abstain from having sex; he was addicted, “This was the age at which the frenzy gripped me...human hearts are not ashamed to sanction” (Confessions II.2.3). Augustine is telling his readers that when humans like something, they tend to find a reason for doing it. In this way, because Augustine liked sex so much, he found different ways to do it without feeling guilty. Augustine slowly learns that if he wants to be a Bishop, he will have to give up his worldly desires, such as lust and sex. The desire to be a Bishop as well as the desire for sex “were in conflict and between them they tore [his] soul apart” (Confessions VIII.5.1). He knows that he must give up one of them as they are irreconcilable, but he is unsure about which one he should forgo. However, he