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Augustine and the Ages of God
https://graceambassadors.com/midacts/augustine-and-the-ages-of-godThis "tip" was originally delivered on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 .
Augustine of Hippo (4th c. AD) is quoted as saying, “Distinguish the ages, and the Scriptures harmonize.”
Augustine is not known for being a dispensational Bible literalist, far from it. He allegorized too much. But even he saw that you could not read the Bible as if it were all speaking about you today. The Biblical ages must be differentiated.
Preaching the word of God without respect to the age or time of which God is speaking does tremendous damage to the undiscerning hearer, which includes at least every new believer and those who never engage in personal Bible study.
The key to making sense and seeing the harmony of the scriptures is to distinguish the ages, discern the times, or rightly divide the revelations of God.
Once the scriptures that seemingly contradict with each other are put into their proper time, then it gives the divine perspective on the ages and the bigger picture of the Bible becomes clear.
This is why dispensationalists are continuously drawing charts that span the ages: so as to distinguish them.
God spans the ages, and His words span the ages. The final revelations of the Bible contain a mystery “hid from ages” and “in other ages was not made known,” but is now revealed in the present age (Ephesians 3:1-10). Before it was revealed, God’s perfect will and purpose for the ages remained a mystery (Eph 1:9-10), but now we can see.
Want to see the all of Scripture fit together like a glove? Distinguish the ages.
For your edification,
Justin “aging” Johnson