The City of God · Chapter
Whether voluntary death should be sought in order to avoid sin explained
Augustine argues against the idea that suicide can be justified to avoid sin, using the example of a baptized person who might consider killing themselves to escape future sin.
What happens
Augustine argues against the idea that suicide can be justified to avoid sin, using the example of a baptized person who might consider killing themselves to escape future sin. He contends that if such a reason were valid, it would be logical to urge all newly baptized to commit suicide immediately, which is absurd and wicked. Therefore, no just cause for suicide exists.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This chapter is the dramatic climax because it marks the irreversible psychological and spiritual turning poin…
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Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Morality and Virtue vs. Pagan Corruption
Augustine condemns the idea of using suicide to avoid sin as morally corrupt and contrary to Christian virtue.
- Sin, Grace, and Redemption
Discusses the forgiveness of sins through baptism and the folly of seeking to escape future sin by self-destruction.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author and primary voice arguing against the justification of suicide to avoid sin.
Key passages
“If this reason were a good one, then we should be impelled to exhort men at once to destroy themselves, as soon as they have been washed in the laver of regeneration, and have received the forgiveness of all sin.”
If avoiding sin by suicide were valid, we would urge all newly baptized to kill themselves immediately after their sins are forgiven.
Augustine uses a reductio ad absurdum to show the flaw in the argument for suicide.
