"Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt"
About this Quote
A line like this only sounds like surrender if you miss the power move inside it. Augustine is addressing God with a paradox that flatters divine authority while quietly redefining it: if God is going to command anything of human beings, God must also supply the capacity to obey. “Grant what thou commandest” turns morality into a kind of grace-funded operation, not a bootstraps project. The command isn’t rejected; it’s made conditional on divine help.
The subtext is Augustine’s battle with the self-improvement narrative of his own era. He’s writing in the shadow of his conversion and in the thick of controversies (especially with Pelagian thinkers) over whether humans can achieve righteousness through sheer willpower. Augustine’s answer is unsparing: the will is real, but it’s damaged; desire is not a neutral instrument you simply aim at virtue. So he prays for the very thing the command demands - chastity, humility, love - because without transformed desire, commandments become theater: rules that accuse rather than heal.
Rhetorically, it’s brilliant because it lets Augustine keep the moral seriousness of “command” while dodging the cruelty of impossible standards. God’s sovereignty remains intact (“command what thou wilt”), but it’s reframed as a sovereignty that takes responsibility for the creatures it judges. It’s also a psychological confession: Augustine knows firsthand that knowing the good is cheap; wanting it is the real miracle.
The subtext is Augustine’s battle with the self-improvement narrative of his own era. He’s writing in the shadow of his conversion and in the thick of controversies (especially with Pelagian thinkers) over whether humans can achieve righteousness through sheer willpower. Augustine’s answer is unsparing: the will is real, but it’s damaged; desire is not a neutral instrument you simply aim at virtue. So he prays for the very thing the command demands - chastity, humility, love - because without transformed desire, commandments become theater: rules that accuse rather than heal.
Rhetorically, it’s brilliant because it lets Augustine keep the moral seriousness of “command” while dodging the cruelty of impossible standards. God’s sovereignty remains intact (“command what thou wilt”), but it’s reframed as a sovereignty that takes responsibility for the creatures it judges. It’s also a psychological confession: Augustine knows firsthand that knowing the good is cheap; wanting it is the real miracle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Prayer |
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