Throughout our time on Earth, we are witness to the love of which the adorable trinity shows to man. The love of the father in our creation, of the Son in our redemption, and the Holy Ghost in our sanctification. “The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.” Jeremiah 31:3. Of all those who love you, God has been your first lover. Your parents have been the first to love you on this Earth, but they loved you only after they had known you, but before you had being, God loved you. With this understanding, we approach St. Augustine’s hermeneutic of love; which insists that all true interpretation of Scripture must lead to and flow from the love of God and neighbor; through this lens, the Doctor of Grace reveals that Scripture is not a repository of doctrine but rather divine expression of God’s eternal love. 

Caritas is our polestar. Any interpretation of holy scripture that does not stand to build up our love of God, and neighbor, but instead seeks to undermine it is innately flawed. As He came to put an end to the corruption of the flesh by the mockery he endured on the cross, and to unfasten the old chain of our death by the newness of his death; and so, he made the new man with a new commandment (Sr. 350). God died in the flesh, but not in his divinity, and in doing so he set about a new paradigm putting an end to cupidity, and instituting a new order of charity, the root of all good things. Every page of the divine readings echoes this point. It stands to reason, that any interpretation of scripture, even if it is not in line with the authors intent – but does increase charity in the reader can be obliged.

Given a situation in which the increase of charity in the reader does not take place, Augustine warns us of the dangers of holding contrary interpretations of the holy scriptures, which often arise from finding meaning outside of authorial intent. Given human beings predilection to such mannerisms we must be weary to not find ourselves in this position. In such a case do not let your attachment to your opinion come in the way of the holy scriptures – as this can bring about significant decline in virtue, moral harm, and ultimately drive a wedge between you and the love of our blessed lord. Who concisely commanded You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself; and in case you should look for anything else in the sacred pages, he went on to say, On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets (Mt 22:37, 39-40). Augustine reminds us “faith will totter if the authority of Scripture begins to shake” (Sr. 350). The decline of faith precedes the decline of love, because we “walk by faith, and not by sight” and we cannot love what we cannot see. 

It follows that at the root of all heresy is a fundamental denial of the charity found in the divine readings. The Gnostics believed that the material world – God’s creation is inherently evil, Arius argued that Jesus was not truly God, in a pernicious twisting of the meaning of John 14:28, Donatists misapplied scriptural ideas of purity, teaching that sacraments administered by sinful clergy were invalid, despite their origin being in God, not man. Each heresy either diminishes His love, or the love owed to others. Thus, Augustine’s rule of love serves to prevent doctrinal distortions. It serves to promote unity, whereas prideful interpretations fragment the church.