Summary and Analysis by Chapter

Book 13: Chapters 1–38

All of creation depends on God's goodness, and God chose to create because of the abundance of his goodness. Augustine examines the action of the Holy Trinity in the creation by looking at the verse "the Spirit moved over the waters." Just as a human has being, knowledge, and will but is one person, so the Holy Trinity has those qualities but is one God. Augustine examines the rest of the Genesis creation story: He interprets "the firmament" as the holy scriptures, "the sea and the dry land" as the unfaithful and the Church, "bearing fruit" as the good works of the faithful, "moving things of the sea and winged things that fly" as the sacraments and miracles, "let us make man in our image" as rebirth through belief in Christ, "beasts" as the impulses of the soul, "increase and multiply" as referring to the thoughts of human reason, "food" as the joy found in knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit allows people to see and know these truths. The last day of the creation was for rest; so, too, will the faithful rest with God on the eternal Sabbath day.


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