성령을 통한 교회의 연합에 대한 아우구스티누스의 이해 = Augustine’s Understanding of the Unity of the Church Through the Holy Spirit

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper examines Augustine’s view of the role of the Holy Spirit in the unity of the church. In his debate with the Donatists, Augustine condemns as a sin their separation from the catholic church in order to establish a completely pure church. In the course of this debate, Augustine presents the unique hypostatic property of the Holy Spirit in the immanent Trinity as the theological basis for the unity of the church, which the work of the economic Trinity accomplishes.
The unity of the Trinity is found in the Holy Spirit, who is the communion of the Son and the Father and the mutual love between the two Persons. Since the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son simultaneously, He is the common Spirit of both the Father and the Son, and thus the unifier of the two Persons. For Augustine, the reason the Holy Spirit is the unifier of the Church is because He is the unifier of the Father and the Son in the eternal immanent Trinity.
As the soul of the church, the Spirit binds the members of the church together and unites her members to the Father and the Son. Those who are separated from the true church have the form of the sacraments but cannot receive the grace promised by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit dwells only in the true church, the body of Christ. The various gifts given by the Holy Spirit are to be used for the organic unity of the church. The ministers of the church should humble themselves before the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, remembering that they are not the givers of the gifts, but only the servants.
In the Holy Spirit, the love of God, the members of the church must endure differences of opinion among themselves and preserve the unity of the church. The Holy Spirit makes a loving plea for the schismatics to return to the church. Rather than arguing and quarreling with them, the church should lovingly exhort them to reunite with the true church. Along with the plea of love, however, Augustine also presents the need for the doctrinal correction of the schismatics. The Holy Spirit does not sacrifice truth but rather unites the church in truth.
Not all Augustine’s arguments for church unity in the fifth century can be applied specifically to the evangelical church in the Protestant context of the 21st century. The evangelical church today does not have the one visible catholic church that Augustine had. Nevertheless, Augustine’s theological insights into the unity of the church through the Holy Spirit will benefit the spiritual unity of evangelical churches.