Contra Faustum (Against Faustus) is Augustine’s takedown of the Manichean bishop, Faustus. He met Faustus long before he was even a Christian. When he was trying to figure out what life was all about, he spent some time with a religious group known as the Manicheans. He thought most of their ideas were kind of silly, but they insisted that if he just waited for Faustus, their renowned intellectual bishop, he would be able to answer everything. When Faustus finally came, Augustine finally asked him his biggest questions, to which Faustus answered, “I guess I never really thought about any of that that. I don’t know.” Needless to say, Augustine was not impressed and didn’t spend so much time with the Manicheans anymore
Later in his life, Augustine found out that Faustus wrote a whole book about why Christianity was ridiculous and nobody should waste time on it. In true Augustinian fashion, he republished what many people assume to be the entire text of Faustus’s book with a line-by-line refutation of every one of Faustus’s attacks. A lot of the concerns Faustus raised are the same ones we hear today, and Augustine’s defenses still hold steady. Here’s a brief summary of 3 of the 33 books of Contra Faustum that felt especially relevant.
Why The Gospel of the Christians is not the Gospel of Christ (Book 1)
Faustus:
“Do I believe in the gospel? Absolutely. Do I therefore believe that God was born of a virgin in Bethlehem or died on a cross? Absolutely not. The gospel doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus’s birth.”
Augustine:
So he believes the Gospel, but he doesn’t believe in the birth of Jesus. Hmmm… that’s awkward. Because 2 Timothy 2:8 reads, “Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David was raised from the dead. This is the gospel that I preach.” Paul clearly thought that the circumstances of Jesus’s birth were a part of the Gospel, so whatever gospel Faustus claims to know isn’t the same one that Paul and the other apostles were preaching in the beginning. But let’s investigate his logic on this one a little more thoroughly and see what happens…
Faustus:
The book of Mark opens, “The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” The book of Matthew opens, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The author of the book of Matthew doesn’t bring up the word “gospel” until chapter 4 verse 23: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,” Notice how Matthew doesn’t use that word until Jesus is already an adult! And what is it referring to? Jesus’s teachings about the Kingdom, not the circumstances of his birth. According to the Bible itself, the Gospel has nothing to do with the circumstances of Jesus’s birth. The beginning of Matthew isn’t intended to reflect the Christ’s Gospel. It is what I like to call a ‘“genesidium,” or a book intended to reflect what the author theorized about Jesus’s birth.
Augustine:
Faustus is really stuck on the fact that Matthew and Luke have different beginnings. It might be best that nobody tells him about Luke and John! He’d have to come up with even more fancy words to make sense of it!
It doesn’t seem that Faustus knows what “gospel” means. Maybe he doesn’t know much Greek? That’s ok. Most Christians know enough Greek to understand that particular word, so I’m happy to help him out. It’s the Greek word for “good news.” That’s it. When you’re reading something in Greek, the word might be used multiple times to refer to multiple things. Anytime there’s good news, it’s gospel.
As Christians, we know that the greatest gospel of all time (which we call the Gospel) is that Jesus came to our earth, he lived with us, he died on the cross, and was raised from the dead. The Gospel isn’t just one statement; it’s Jesus! All of his life and all of his work are a part of the Gospel! We might try to summarize all of that in one explanatory statement, but no single statement holds it all. That’s why we have four books all about Jesus and we call each one of them “gospels.” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all about Jesus, and so each one of them is gospel!
Why the Old Testament is Not Worth Believing (Book 4)
Faustus:
“Do I believe the Old Testament? If I find something good in it, I believe it. Unfortunately, most of it is not good. There are promises to different ethnic groups and rules about rituals and stories about wars and land and blood. This is a book about earthly things, not spiritual things. That is especially clear after you read the teachings about the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life that we find in the New Testament.”
Augustine:
The Old Testament is hard to understand, but Jesus believed in the Old Testament, so we don’t have the luxury of ignoring it! In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “I have not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.” That alone shows that Jesus saw his work as carrying forward the principles in the Old Testament, not erasing them. We have to seriously consider the things that our master tells us are worthy of our time.
Isaiah the prophet wrote, “If you do not stand in faith, you will not stand at all.” In that same spirit, if you do not understand the Old Testament in faith, you will not understand at all. You need to believe that God has something to say if you want to understand. That faith is necessary if you want to learn something from Scripture.
Not only do we need faith, but we need to know what the Old Testament is, and Scripture itself tells us. Paul wrote about the events of the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:6: “Now these things occurred as signs to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. These things happened to them as signs and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” The Old Testament isn’t just an account of earthly things. According to the Scriptures themselves, it’s full of signs and symbols that are meant to direct our attention to spiritual things. The culmination of the ages rests on us, through the power of Jesus Christ. Through the Spirit, we can discern the mysteries of God and learn what these signs are intended to teach us.
Christians Don’t Even Believe Jesus’s Teachings are Compatible with the Old Testament (Book 19)
Faustus:
“I will grant that Jesus said that he came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. But why did he say this? Was it to teach us? Or to keep the Jews from killing him? The Israelites loved their laws and their prophets! What would they have done to him if he had admitted to them that he was here to destroy what they loved? So he told them that he had come to fulfill the law and the prophets, but neglected to say which law and which prophets!”
Even Christians know that Jesus destroyed the way of doing things that was set forth in the Old Testament. They don’t get their kids circumcised, eat a lawful Jewish diet, sacrifice animals, celebrate animals, or keep the Feast of the Tabernacles. Why? Because Jesus got rid of all of that. They know it. That’s why they don’t do it.
Augustine:
As I said before, Jesus didn’t destroy the law and the prophets. He came to fulfill it. We don’t practice these things because each thing was intended to point us forward towards Jesus. Now that he came, why look back at the things that pointed towards him, rather than the Jesus himself? Everything single thing Faustus listed was fulfilled in Jesus. Let me explain:
If Christ didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, why don’t Christians get circumcised?
Circumcision symbolized the removal of our fleshly nature, which was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus.
If Christ didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it, why don’t Christians keep dietary laws?
The dietary laws showed that only those things that God deems holy will be incorporated into a righteous body. That was fulfilled in us through Jesus. His blood makes those who believe in him holy, and then we can be incorporated into his righteous body, the Church.
If Christ didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, why don’t Christians offer sacrifices?
The sacrifices symbolized the need for blood to be spilled for our sins, which was fulfilled by Jesus spilling his blood for us.
If Christ didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, why don’t Christians celebrate passover?
Because we don’t need to cover a doorpost with lamb’s blood anymore! The blood of a spotless lamb already covers us.
If Christ didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, why don’t Christians celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles?
Because we don’t need a tent filled with the presence of God anymore! Through Christ, we have each become tabernacles, filled with the Holy Spirit.
Finale (Book 33)
Augustine: Faustus found nothing in the Scriptures because he approached with suspicion, trying to prove Jesus wrong at every given opportunity. If you want to learn from the Scriptures, don’t approach them with that attitude. Come to Jesus and lay your wisdom at his feet. He will answer with more than just the wisdom of this world. He will answer with the grace of God. (Book 33)
Classic Theology 