Augustine and Aquinas 149punishment the state imposes. How similar to Socrates, who
violated the state’s law for “God’s sake” and yet submitted to his
punishment willingly.
The role of the ruler is to insure peace and order, and to that
end he may do virtually anything. Given man’s terrible tenden
cies, leniency must be the exception, and often an active role
should be pursued by the state to maintain the peace: “The heavy
hand of the state and its dreadful instruments of repression are
necessary because they are the only methods by which sinful
men can be restrained; the fear of punishment is the only
safeguard of general peace and security.” There is no prescrip
tion limiting the state’s activity. The state may, if it chooses or
needs, do anything to facilitate its goal, with little consideration
for the individual.
Two points should be made here: 1) The Christian is living in
the temporal state as a transient; his journey is through the state
to God. The eternal city will be his permanent home, so the
inconveniences, even gross injustices, of this world are to be
expected, and pale in the light of real values. 2) Augustine
contends that because of original sin the state is a necessary
institution and is bound to be immoral. This is not to say that the
state should not be held to the same moral standards as individu
als, but that the city of man will not be moral. The role of the
Church, then, is to teach the moral virtues that the state should
subscribe to, but a moral state can not exist unless it is a Christian
state.
So, the Church is a superior society to the state, and it is the
principles of the Church which should permeate the state. Thus,
while the Church is separate from the state it has a responsibility
to instruct the civil authority in the Christian principles which
should be the standard for conduct. When left alone, the state is
concerned with this world, and will rule by force. When in
structed by the Church, the state would be more concerned with
Christian principles and rule by love.
The final element in Augustine’s political philosophy regards
the role of the elect, or members of the City of God, living in the
City of Man. As citizens of the earthly city, they are enjoined to
obedience to the laws and the state just as the unredeemed are.
They also have the obligation to obey God’s law, and they must
observe it as fully as possible.