Question on Augustine

[LionHeart777]

“He has given, therefore, the keys to His Church, that whatsoever it should bind on earth might be bound in heaven, and whatsoever it should loose on earth might be loosed in heaven; that is to say, that whosoever in the Church should not believe that his sins are remitted, they should not be remitted to him; but that whosoever should believe and should repent, and turn from his sins, should be saved by the same faith and repentance on the ground of which he is received into the bosom of the Church.”
The City of God, by St. Augustine

[emphasis mine]

I’m probably misundertsanding St. Augustine, but this sounds more like Protestant explanations of the “forgiv[ing]” and 'binding and loosing" authority given to the Apostles. He isn’t denying their authority, and by implication, a priests authority to absolve sins in the place of Jesus is he?

(reposted to start a new thread.)

 

[SyCarl]

I believe that the quote is from On Christian Doctrine.

He has given, therefore, the keys to His Church, that whatsoever it should bind on earth might be bound in heaven, and whatsoever it should loose on earth might be loosed in heaven; that is to say, that whosoever in the Church should not believe that his sins are remitted, they should not be remitted to him; but that whosoever should believe and should repent, and turn from his sins, should be saved by the same faith and repentance on the ground of which he is received into the bosom of the Church. For he who does not believe that his sins can be pardoned, falls into despair, and becomes worse as if no greater good remained for him than to be evil, when he has ceased to have faith in the results of his own repentance. (On Christian Doctrine, Book 1, Chapter 18)

ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.v.iv.xviii.html?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=16&scrV=19#v.iv.xviii-p3.1

He also said this about Matthew 16:18

And Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And this he heard from the Lord: “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.” See what praises follow this faith. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” What means, “Upon this rock I will build my Church”? Upon this faith; upon this that has been said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Upon this rock,” says He, "I will build my Church." (Homilies on 1 John, Homily 10, paragraph 1)

newadvent.org/fathers/170210.htm

 

[stuart12]

“Let us not listen to those who deny that the Church of God is able to forgive all sins. They are wretched indeed, because they do not recognize in Peter the rock and they refuse to believe that the keys of heaven, lost from their own hands, have been given to the Church.”
Christian Combat, 31:33(A.D. 397), in JUR,3:51

“When, therefore, He had said to His disciples, ‘Will ye also go away?” Peter, that Rock, answered with the voice of all, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’ “
Homilies on John, Tract 11:5(A.D. 417), in NPNF1,VII:76 “For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: ‘Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it !’ The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: – Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, reversing the natural course of things, the Donatists sent to Rome from Africa an ordained bishop, who, putting himself at the head of a few Africans in the great metropolis, gave some notoriety to the name of ‘mountain men,’ or Cutzupits, by which they were known.”
To Generosus, Epistle 53:2(A.D. 400), in NPNF1,I:298