The City of God · Chapter
That the world and time had both one beginning, and the one did not anticipate the other explained
Augustine argues that the world was created not in time but simultaneously with time, since time requires change and motion, which began with creation.
What happens
Augustine argues that the world was created not in time but simultaneously with time, since time requires change and motion, which began with creation. He references the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest, noting the difficulty of conceiving what kind of days these were.
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…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Divine Providence and History
Augustine emphasizes God's eternal nature as the Creator and Ordainer of time, linking creation to divine order.
- True Worship and the One God
The chapter contrasts the unchanging eternity of God with the temporal, created order, underscoring the uniqueness of the Creator.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author of the chapter, arguing that time began with creation.
- Holy Scripture
Cited as the sacred and infallible source that says 'in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'
Key passages
“For if eternity and time are rightly distinguished by this, that time does not exist without some movement and transition, while in eternity there is no change, who does not see that there could have been no time had not some creature been made, which by some motion could give birth to change?”
Time requires change and motion; without a created being to undergo change, time could not exist.
Augustine distinguishes time from eternity, grounding time in the motion of creatures.
“But simultaneously with time the world was made, if in the world's creation change and motion were created, as seems evident from the order of the first six or seven days.”
The world was created at the same moment as time, because change and motion—the basis of time—began with creation.
Key argument that creation and time are coextensive.
