The City of God · Chapter
Of the indiscriminate increase of the Church, wherein many reprobate are in this world mixed with the elect. explained
Augustine describes the Church in the present age as a mixed body of the elect and reprobate, gathered together like fish in a dragnet until the final separation at the end of the world.
What happens
Augustine describes the Church in the present age as a mixed body of the elect and reprobate, gathered together like fish in a dragnet until the final separation at the end of the world. He recounts Christ's ministry, passion, resurrection, and ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit as a sign of the Church's universal mission to all nations.
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 Falling action.
- 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
- Sin, Grace, and Redemption
The Church contains both the elect and reprobate; Christ's passion and resurrection provide the pattern of suffering for truth and hope in adversity.
- Eschatology and the Last Things
The dragnet parable illustrates the final separation of the wicked from the good at the end of the age.
- True Worship and the One God
The Holy Spirit's gift of tongues signifies the unity of the catholic Church in worshiping the one God across all nations.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author and expositor of the Church's mixed state in the present age.
- Jesus Christ
Chose lowly disciples, suffered, died, rose, ascended, and sent the Holy Spirit.
- John
Forerunner who proclaimed repentance and the nearness of the kingdom of heaven.
Key passages
“In this wicked world, in these evil days, when the Church measures her future loftiness by her present humility, and is exercised by goading fears, tormenting sorrows, disquieting labours, and dangerous temptations, when she soberly rejoices, rejoicing only in hope, there are many reprobate mingled with the good, and both are gathered together by the gospel as in a dragnet; and in this world, as in a sea, both swim enclosed without distinction in the net, until it is brought ashore, when the wicked must be separated from the good, that in the good, as in His temple, God may be all in all.”
In the present evil age, the Church lives in humility and hope amid fears, sorrows, labors, and temptations, and contains both the saved and the damned, like fish in a net, until the final judgment separates them.
Augustine uses the dragnet parable to describe the mixed nature of the Church on earth.
“He had one among them whose wickedness He could use well in order to accomplish His appointed passion, and furnish His Church an example of bearing with the wicked.”
Christ allowed a wicked disciple (Judas) to betray Him, using that evil to fulfill His passion and teach the Church to tolerate sinners.
Augustine points to Judas as an example of how God uses evil for good purposes.
