Daniel’s Seventy Weeks – The Preterist Archive of Realized Eschatology
Augustine: Letters on Matthew 24 and “The End of the World” (400-430)
Augustine: Letters on Matthew 24 and “The End of the World” (400-430)
By
Augustine of Hippo
0400-430
“all the signs that the gospel discloses above to its readers have been for the most part realized.”
I think that the one about the weeks of Daniel in particular should be understood in terms of time that is already past. He was correct to tell the Jews that the times were completed, because their times came to an end thirty-five or forty years after he preached.
Compiled by Jay Rogers. See Also:
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To his most blessed lord, Hesychius, Augustine sends greetings.
1. Since your son and our fellow priest Cornutus, from whom I received the letter of Your Reverence by which you were so kind as to visit my lowly self, is returning to Your Holiness, I am by my reply fulfilling my duty of greeting you in turn, while strongly commending myself to your prayers, which are most acceptable to the Lord, my lord and most blessed brother. Concerning the prophetic statements or predictions about which you wanted me to write some thing, I thought it better to send to Your Beatitude explanations of the same words by the holy Jerome, a most learned man, taken from his works, in case you do not have them. If you have them, however, and they do not satisfy your questions, I ask you not to hesitate to write back to me what you thinks of them and how you yourself understand those prophetic utterances.
For I think that the one about the weeks of Daniel in particular should be understood in terms of time that is already past. For I do not dare to calculate the time of the coming of the savior that is expected in the end, nor do I think that any prophet has determined ahead of time the number of years before that event but rather that what the Lord said holds true, No one can know the times that the Father determined by his own authority (
Acts 1: 7).
2. As for what he says in another passage, Concerning that day and hour, however, no one knows (
Mt 4:36;
Mk 13:32), there are some who interpret this so that they think that they can calculate the times; it is only the exact day and hour that no one can know. I omit here the way the scriptures are also accustomed to use “day” or “hour” in place of “time.” But surely what was said about not knowing the times was spoken with perfect clarity. For, when the Lord was questioned about this by his disciples, he said, No one can know the times that the Father has established by his own authority (
Acts 1:7). For he did not say “day” or “hour” but times, which usually does not refer to a short stretch, like “day” or “hour,” especially if we look at the Greek words. For we know that the same book in which this was written was translated into ours from that language, even though it could not be exactly expressed in Latin. For in Greek we read at this point, ποϖοϖ ιϕ Καιποϖ. Our books translate both ξποϖοω; and Καιποϖ as “times,” though these two words have a significant difference between them.
The Greeks call Καιποϖ certain times, not the times that pass in the course of events but the times in events that are felt to be auspicious or inauspicious for something, for example, the harvest, vintage, heat, cold, peace, war, and any like these. But they call stretches of time ξποϖοω;.
3. And the apostles certainly did not ask this in the sense that they wanted to know the one last day or hour, that is, a small part of the day, but whether it was now the auspicious time for the kingdom of Israel to be restored. At that point they heard, No one can know the times that the Father has determined by his own authority, that is, ξπβϖοϖ ιϕ Κχυποϖ. But if in Latin we said “times and auspicious moments,” we would not express in that way what was said. For, whether the times are auspicious or inauspicious, they are called Καυποι, but to calculate the times, that is, ποϖοϖλ, in order to know when the end of this world or the coming of Christ will be, seems to me to be nothing else than to want to know what he himself said that no one can know...........
47. For by means of an oath the Lord also promised not the Romans but all nations to the offspring of Abraham.
[48] Because of that promise it has already come about that some nations that are not subject to Roman rule have received the gospel and have been united to the Church, which is bearing fruit and increasing in the whole world.
[49] For it still has room to increase until it becomes what was foretold of Christ through Solomon, who symbolized him, He will have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth (
Ps 72:8)—from the river, that is, where he was baptized because he began to preach the gospel from there,
[50] but from sea to sea there is spread out the whole world with all the nations, because the world is girded by the sea called Ocean. But how will that prophecy otherwise be fulfilled, All the nations whom you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord (
Ps 86:9)? For they will not come by migrating from their own places but by believing in their own places. The Lord, to be sure, said of believers, No one can come to me unless it has been given him by my Father (
Jn 6:66). The prophet, however, says, And they will worship him, each from his own place, all the islands of the nations (
Zep 2:11 ). He said all the
47. See
Mt 24:14.
48. See
Gn 22:16-18;
26:3-4.
49. See
Col 1:6.
50. Set
Mt 3:13-16;
Mk 1:9;
Lk3:21.
islands as if to say “even all the islands,” showing from this that there will be no land left where the Church does not exist, since no island will be left. Some of them are located even in Ocean, and we have learned that some of them have already received the gospel. And so even in each individual island there are being fulfilled the words, He will have dominion from sea to sea (
Ps 72:8), the sea by which each island is girt. It is the same way in the whole world, which is in a sense like the largest island of all because Ocean girds it. And we know that the Church has arrived in the East at its shores, and to whatever shores of it she has not come, she will come as she bears fruit and increases.
[51]..................................
49. How, then, was this preaching completed by the apostles since there are still nations—and this is completely certain for us—in which it is now beginning and in which it has not yet begun to be completed? And so it was not said to the apostles, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (
Acts 1:8), as if they alone to whom he was then speaking were going to complete so great a task. Rather, who can fail to under stand that, just as he seems to have said to them alone, See, I am with you up to the end of the world (
Mt 28:20), he nonetheless promised it to the whole Church, which, as some die and others are born, will last here until the end of the world. In the same way he said to them what does not at all pertain to them, and yet it was said to them as if it even pertained to them alone, When you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door (
Mt 24:33;
Mk 1 3:29). For to whom does this pertain but to those who will be living in the body when all these things will
51. See
Col 1:6.
52. See
Ps 86:9.
53. See
Mt 24:31;
Mk 13:27.
54. See Eph l:4.
be accomplished? How much more does that hold for what was largely to be done by them, though the same action was continued also by their successors? 50. The apostle said, Have they not heard? Their voice has gone out through the whole earth, and their words have reached the ends of the world. (
Rom 10: 1 8;
Ps 19:5) Though he used verbs in the past tense, yet he said what was going to be, not what was already done and completed. In the same way the prophet, whom he used as a witness, did not say, “It will go out through the whole earth,” but, Their voice has gone out, though of course this had not yet happened. In the same way scripture said, They have pierced my hands and feet (
Ps 22: 17), which we know happened long afterward. But so that we do not suppose that these ways of speaking are found only in the prophets and not also in the apostles, did not the same apostle say, It is the Church of the living God, a pillar and foundation of the truth. And undoubtedly it is a great sacrament of piety that has been revealed in the flesh, has been justified in the spirit, was seen by the angels, preached to the nations, believed throughout the world, and assumed into glory (1 Tm 3:15-16)? It is evident, of course, that what he put in the last place has not yet been realized. How much less was that the case when he said these things?...............................
51 . Much less should we be surprised that he also used verbs of the present tense in the statement, which you likewise mentioned that he made, On account of the hope that has been stored away for us, of which you have heard before in the word of the truth, that is, of the gospel that has come among you, as it is also bearing fruit and increasing in all the world (
Col 1 :5-6), although the gospel had not yet taken hold of the whole world. But he said that it was bearing fruit and increasing in the whole world in order to signify how far it would go by bearing fruit and increasing. If, then, we do not know when, as the Church bears fruit and increases, the whole world will be absolutely filled from sea to sea,55 we undoubtedly do not know when the end will be; it will, of course, not be before that......................
55. See
Ps 72:8;
Sir 44:23;
Amos 8:12.
good servants who carefully and soberly manage their master’s household, desiring ardently the coming of their master, awaiting him with vigilance, and loving him faithfully, even if one of them thinks that the master will come sooner and another that he will come later, while the third admits his ignorance about this. And though they are all in accord with the gospel, because they all long for the coming of the Lord, desire it, and vigilantly await it,
[56] let us still see which of them is more fully in accord with the gospel.
53. One says, “Let us watch and pray because the Lord is going to come sooner.” The second says, “Let us watch and pray because this life is both short and uncertain, though the Lord is going to come later.” The third says, “Let us watch and pray, because this life is both short and uncertain, and we do not know the time when the Lord will come.” The gospel says, Pay attention; watch and pray, for you do not know when the time may be (
Mt 1 3:3). I ask you, what else do we hear this third person say but what we hear the gospel say? All, in fact, because of their desire for the kingdom of God, want what the first one said to be true, but the second denies this, while the third does not deny either of them but admits that he does not know which of them is speaking the truth. Hence, if what the first one predicted comes about, the second and third will rejoice with him. For all of them long for the coming of the Lord.
[57] And so they will exult because what they long for has come sooner. But if this does not happen and what the second said instead begins to appear to be true, we would have to fear that, amid these delays, those who believed what the first one said may be disturbed and begin to think that the coming of the Lord will not be late but will not be at all.
And you see what great harm that is for souls. But if they are people of such great faith that they change their views to the predictions of the second person and faithfully and patiently await the Lord, even though he is slow in coming, there will nonetheless be an abundance of reproaches, insults, and scorn from their enemies, who will turn many weak persons away from the Christian faith, saying that the promise of the kingdom is as false as the promise that it was going to come quickly. But if those who believe what the second one says, namely, that the Lord is going to come more slowly, find out that this is false when the Lord comes sooner, those who believed him will by no means be disturbed in their faith but will rejoice over their unexpected joy.
54. Hence, one who says that the Lord will come sooner says what is more desirable but is in danger if mistaken. Would, then, that it be true, because it will cause trouble if it is not. But the one who says that the Lord will come later, and yet believes, hopes, and loves his coming, even if he is mistaken about his slow ness, is of course mistaken, though happily so. For he will have greater patience if this is the case and greater joy if it is not. And for this reason the first one is
56. See 2 Tm 4:8.
57. See 2 Tm 4:8.
58. See 2 Tm 4:8.
