Old and New

One of the ways Augustine distinguishes between the “invisible” and “visible” church is in terms of the complex interaction of Old and New covenants ( On Baptism, Against the Donatists , 1.15 in St. Augustin the Writings Against the Manicheans and Against the Donatists ).

Old and New are not, in this context, periods of time but rather different ways of life. Some lived in the new covenant, by the Spirit, even under the old; some who have received the sacraments of the new covenant still are natural and carnal, and thus live in the old covenant.

As Augustine puts it:

“as in the sacraments of the old covenant some persons were already spiritual, belonging secretly to the new covenant, which was then concealed, so now also in the sacrament of the new covenant, which has been by this time revealed, many live who are natural. And if they will not advance to receive the things of the Spirit of God, to which the discourse of the apostle urges them, they will still belong to the old covenant. But if they advance, even before they receive them, yet by their very advance and approach they belong to the new covenant; and if, before becoming spiritual, they are snatched away from this life, yet through the protection of the holiness of the sacrament they are reckoned in the land of the living, where the Lord is our hope and our portion.”

Two problems here: First, it is not clear to me that this is the way the New Testament uses the terminology of old and new. They are epochs rather than modes of life or patterns of experience. Second, and related to that, Augustine seems to introduce a dualism into ecclesiology. Some of the not-yet-Spiritual baptized can be saved, so long as they are progressing toward the spiritual when they die. But if, as Paul says, all have received the Spirit of Christ, this is misleading. Believers make progress, but it’s not progress from old to new covenant.