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QUESTIONS 66-67 149 through faith, the deliverer's help having been implored, he might merit being released and raised up and firmly established. Therefore, in the first [phase of] activity, which is prior to the Law, there is no struggle with the pleasures of this world; in the second, which is under the Law, we struggle but are overcome; in the third, we struggle and overcome ; in the fourth, we do not struggle, but we rest in perfect and eternal peace. For our lower nature is subject to us, which previously was not subject because we had forsaken the God who is higher than we. 67. ON THE TEXT: «FOR I DO NOT CONSIDER THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS WORLD TO BE WORTH MUCH IN COMPARISON WITH THE FUTURE GLOR Y WHICH WILL BE REVEALED IN US, " TO THE TEXT: «FOR WE HA VE BEEN $A VED BY HOPE"! (1) This section is obscure because It IS not sufficiently clear here what the word creature2 refers to under these circumstances . Now, according to Catholic teaching, creature 1 Rom 8.18-24. 2 creatura. The word creation is another appropriate translation of the term. However, throughout Q. 67 I use the word creature. The reasons for this are the following. (1) The basic meaning of creature is wholly consistent with the material being discussed by Autustine, for, according to the OED, the first meaning of the term is, "anything created; a created being, animate or inanimate;' a product of creative action; a creation." (2) Moreover the connotations of creature allow more flexibility than do those of creation, for Augustine concentrates most of his discussion on that portion ofthe created order which is made up ofliving beings or "creatures," as we commonly say. However, regardless of the translation finally adopted, St. Augustine's problem in this Q. requires one to use that translation consistently rather than to switch back and forth between them for the sake ofclarity. For Augustine's problem is to interpret a Pauline text whose difficulty is caused in part by the fact that St. Paul himself uses creatura (letisis) consistently but ambiguously throughout. Thus, by using only one English term to translate creatura, the translator allows Augustine rather than himself the task of interpreting Paul's meaning for the reader. 150 ST. AUGUSTINE refers to whatever has been made and created by God the Father through the only begotten Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, not only the body, but even our souls and spirits are included in the term creature. However, the text says the following: "the creature itself will be delivered from the bondage of destruction to the freedom of the glory of the sons of God, " 3 as if we are not creatures, but the sons of God to whose glorious freedom the creature will be delivered from bondage. Again it is said: "For we know that every creature groans and suffers pain up to the present time; and not only they, but also we ourselves,"4 as if we are one thing [and] every creature something else. Therefore the entire section needs to be examined in detail. (2) "For I do not consider," the Apostle says, "the sufferings of this world to be worth much in comparison with the future glory which wiII be revealed in US."5 This is clear, for he had said earlier: "but if you by the spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, you wiII live."6 This is not possible without suffering, for which patience is necessary. A slightly earlier statement also applies to the above: "if, nonetheless, we suffer together that we might be glorified together."7 Consequently the Apostle's statement: "For the creature in its expectancy awaits the revelation of the sons of God,' '8 means the following, in my opinion. This in us which suffers pain when we put to death the deeds of the flesh, i.e., when we hunger and thirst through abstinence, when we curb sexual pleasure through chastity, when we endure the lacerations of injustice and the stings of reproach through patience, when we toil for the benefit of Mother Church, our own pleasures having been neglected and despised, whatever in us, I say, suffers pain in this and similar abrasive experiences is creature. For the body together with the soul, which undoubtedly is a creature, are in pain, and 3 Rom 8.21. 4 Rom 8.22-23. 5 Rom 8.18. 6 Rom...

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