Good Apart from God? (March 17, 2009)

Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, writes the following as he speaks to all those who are not seeking God (bear with the antiquated translation):

Stand with Him and you shall stand fast. Rest in Him, and you shall be at rest. Whither go ye in rugged paths?...The good that you love is from Him; and as it has respect unto Him it is both good and pleasant; and justly shall it be embittered, because whatsoever cometh from Him is unjustly loved if He be forsaken for it. Why, then, will ye wander farther and farther in these difficult and toilsome ways? There is no rest where ye seek it...Ye seek a blessed life in the land of death; it is not there. For could a blessed life be where life itself is not?" (Confessions, p. 74, emphasis added)

It seems that when we think about heaven and hell, life and death, we tend to make them states or places distinct from reference to God. In other words, we might argue that if someone is saved and goes to heaven, they have eternal life. They are with God, it is true, but we may think that the life they have is simply some separate reward (like a birthday present bought by the giver) that God bestows upon them. While it is true that believers are gifted with Christ's righteousness, I believe there is still more to unpack here. We often neglect to further see what this eternal life actually is. In the gospel of John, Jesus prays to God the Father:

"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:1-3; NIV)

Here we see more of what this life really is: rather than being (as I know I have though of it at times) something completely extraneous that God simply bestows upon believers, it seems here that it is to be understood as a relationship with God. Referring to Jesus, the apostle John writes that "In him was life, and that life was the light of men." (John 1:4; NIV)

This is where Augustine comes in. He reminds us--his readers--that ours is a futile quest if we seek 'the good life' anywhere apart from in God. Why? Because by definition, with God is life, and without God there is no life. If we then seek life anywhere apart from in Him, we can and will never find it. Death, in this understanding then, would not simply be an extra punishment for not following God; rather it is the state everything is in when turned away from God. Just as I am in the dark when I enter a room without any light, so am I dead if I deny the One in whom is life.

But God is gracious, and He is a seeker of the lost.