THE CITY OF MAN AND THE CITY OF GOD

 

THE CITY OF MAN AND THE CITY OF GOD

In his opus magnus, “City of God,” St. Augustine describes the two cities in which human beings may dwell: the earthly city, the City of Man; and the heavenly city, the City of God.  These two cities are formed and governed by different loves: “the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, and the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.  The former, in a word, glories in itself, the later in the Lord.” 

We are born into the earthly city and join the human race which, due to original sin, has rejected the Creator and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idols (cf. Romans 1:23).  St. Augustine teaches that the souls of the citizens of the earthly city are puffed up with pride, and their rulers rule for the sake of ruling.  Ambition and expediency are supreme among them.  The rights of God are ignored, and so also the rights of human beings. 

Those who are wise become citizens of the City of God, not by their own merits but by the grace of God which they receive in holy Baptism.  They then conform their lives to God’s law, and, according to Augustine, they glory not in themselves but in God.  In my own reflection I see a prophecy of Jeremiah as anticipating the heavenly city.  Those who live in it will find “glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23).  As God delights in those virtues, so do those to whom he has revealed himself.    

In the earthly city it is everyone for themselves.  In the heavenly city, writes St. Augustine, the “princes and the subjects serve one another in love…There is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, ‘that God may be all in all’ (1 Corinthians 15:28)”.  While on earth we necessarily commingle with the City of Man, for we must live a natural life, we do not participate in its idolatry and lasciviousness.  By grace, faith and obedience to the commandments of Christ, we have become citizens of the City of God.  We live according to the rule of God, who is our heavenly Father, who makes us brothers and sisters to one another.  Together, we glorify him and look forward to dwelling with him forever in the New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ, which is the Church. 

The citizens of the earthly city follow the example of Eve, the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).  Tempted by the devil, she challenged God and convinced her husband to do the same.  This act of disobedience to God’s command to not to eat fruit from the tree of life resulted in the loss of innocence and the eternal inheritance which God had gifted to humanity.  Today the devil continues to tempt human beings in the same way that he tempted Eve, making sin to appear as “good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:5-6). 

Those who live according to the values of the City of Man are seduced by the devil’s temptations, but those who live according to the values of the City of God are not fooled.  They live according to the wisdom revealed by God, and look forward to being caught up into the New Jerusalem.  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.  The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.  He will dwell with them and they will his people and God himself will always be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away’” (Revelation 21:1-4).