Sentences, Books I–II

Chapter 1 (43).

1. Whether all angels are corporeal: some have thought so, and Augustine seems to agree, saying that before the Fall all angels had subtle, spiritual bodies, but that the bodies of the wicked were changed for the worse in the Fall so that they could suffer in them. Among the learned, the question is also often debated whether all angels, good and evil, are corporeal—that is, whether they have bodies united to them. — Some think so⁴, relying on Augustine's words. Augustine, who seems to say that all angels had airy bodies before their confirmation or fall, formed from the purer and higher part of the air, suited to acting, not suffering. Such bodies were preserved for the good angels who remained, so that they could act in them and not suffer; they are so subtle that mortals cannot see them unless they are clothed in some denser form, assumed when they appear and laid aside when they cease to be seen. The bodies of the evil angels, however, were changed in the Fall into a worse quality, denser air. For just as they were cast from a more dignified place to a lower one, that is, into murky air, so those subtle bodies were transformed into worse and denser bodies, in which they could suffer from the higher element, fire.

¹ ‘receive’ TVX. || 12 ‘as much as’] ‘how much’ BCNRT (Augustine).]

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³ ‘might have’ LM (Augustine). || 10 The heading is omitted in MNVW. || ‘analogy’] ‘similitude’ OP. || 19 ‘all angels’ transposed in LMVX. || 20 ‘all angels’ transposed in BCLMNTW.]

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2. Augustine seems to have held this view, saying in On Genesis 2: "Demons are called airy animals because they thrive by the nature of airy bodies; they are not dissolved by death, because in them the element more apt for acting than suffering prevails. Moisture and earth provide the aptitude for suffering; air and fire for acting. The transgressing angels, with their prince (now the devil, then an archangel), were not surprisingly thrust after their sin into this darkness. Nor is it surprising if, as punishment, they were changed into an airy quality in which they could suffer from fire. They are permitted to occupy only the murky air, which is like a prison for them until the time of judgment." Behold, in these words Augustine seems to hand down the view some hold concerning the bodies of angels.

3. Some think Augustine said this without holding it himself, but merely reporting an opinion. Others assert that he said it in this way, reporting the opinion of others. They wish to judge this from his words: he says "demons are called airy animals," not "they are"; for some people spoke in that way. They say that he speaks not as reporting an opinion but as asserting the truth of the matter when he describes their dwelling in the murky air into which they were thrust; the distinction in his wording shows this. They also say that many Catholic commentators have agreed on this point and taught in harmony that angels are incorporeal and have no bodies united to them; sometimes, however, they assume bodies, prepared by God to fulfill a ministry assigned to them by God, and lay them aside when it is complete. In these bodies they appeared and spoke to human beings: sometimes speaking as God's person without distinguishing a person, sometimes as the person of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2 (44).

1. That God appeared in those ancient bodily forms. There is no doubt that God appeared to human beings in bodily forms, as Augustine shows in Book II of On the Trinity 3, comparing various testimonies of Scripture from which he proves that God appeared to people in bodily figures, and that speech was addressed to them sometimes as God's person without distinction, sometimes with distinction of persons.

2. On the perplexing question Augustine raises: whether a new creature was formed to display these bodily appearances, or angels already in existence were sent; and, if they were sent, whether they preserved the quality of their spiritual body while assuming a bodily appearance from denser matter, or changed their own body into a form suited to their action. But when he asserts that God appeared to human beings in bodily images, he raises a perplexing question 4 which he does not resolve. He asks "whether in those bodily appearances some creature was created just for that work, in which God might appear to human beings, or whether angels who already existed were sent in such a way that, while remaining in their spiritual bodies, they assumed from the corporeal matter of the lower elements some bodily appearance, fitted to them like a garment, and changed it into whatever bodily forms they wished, real forms indeed; or whether they changed their own body into forms suited to their actions by the power given them by God." "...changed into whatever bodily forms they wished, real forms indeed; or whether they changed their own body into forms suited to their actions by the power given them by God."

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⁸ ‘may have’ MNW. 18–23 The heading is abbreviated in RX.]

3. For Augustine says this in Book III of On the Trinity¹: We must ask, "in those ancient bodily forms and appearances, whether a creature was formed just for this work, in which God, as he judged appropriate at the time, might be shown to human sight; or whether angels who already existed were sent in such a way that they spoke as God's person, assuming a bodily appearance from corporeal creation for the use of their ministry; or whether they changed and transformed their own body, which they do not serve but govern as a subject, into whatever forms they wished, adapted and suited to their actions according to the power assigned to them by the Creator."

4. He grants that angels are sent, but cannot resolve the rest: "But I confess that this exceeds the capacity of my inquiry: whether angels, while the spiritual quality of their body remains, work secretly through it and assume from the lower, more corporeal elements something which, fitted to them like a garment, they change and transform into whatever bodily forms they wish, real forms themselves, just as true water was changed by the Lord into true wine 3; or whether they transform their own bodies into what they wish, suited to what they are doing. Which of these is the case I cannot understand by any experience, being a human being, unlike the angels who do these things."

5. Observe, reader, that he does not solve the question he raised, but leaves undecided whether the angels who were sent, retaining their own spiritual bodies, were clothed with some more corporeal form in which they could be seen, or changed and transformed their own body into whatever form they wished in which they could be perceived. In these words Augustine seems to affirm 4 that angels are corporeal and have bodies of their own, spiritual bodies.

Chapter 3 (45).

That God has never appeared to mortals in the form in which he is God. Setting these matters aside as too profound and obscure, let us hold without doubt that God has never appeared to mortals in the form of his essence, as he says to his servant Moses 1: No one shall see me and live. And in John's Gospel we read 2: No one has ever seen God. "For nothing visible is unchangeable." Therefore "the substance or essence of God, since it is in no way changeable, cannot in any way be visible in itself. Consequently, it is clear that all those things seen by the fathers when God presented himself to them were made through a creature. Although how God made them through angelic ministers is hidden from us, we nevertheless say that they were made through angels." "Therefore I dare to say confidently that neither God the Father, nor his Word, nor his Spirit, who is the one God, is in any way changeable in what he is and in his very self, and therefore much less visible."

Chapter 4 (46).

1. Whether demons enter human bodies substantially and slip into human minds. It also seems worth considering whether demons, corporeal or incorporeal, substantially enter human bodies and slip into their souls, or whether they are said to enter because they exercise the effect of their malice there, by God's permission oppressing and tormenting them or drawing them into sin as they will. — The Gospel plainly declares 5 that they enter human beings and are driven out, recounting that demons entered some people and were cast out by Christ; but it is not so clear whether they entered in substance or are said to have entered on account of the effect of evil.

2. That demons do not slip substantially into human souls, but are said to enter because of the effect of their malice. On this Gennadius says in Definitions of Ecclesiastical Dogmas 6: "We do not believe demons, through energy (operation), to slip substantially into the soul, but to be joined to it by application and oppression. It is possible to slip into the mind only for the one who created it, who, subsisting incorporeally by nature, can enter his own creature." Behold, here it seems to be implied that demons do not slip substantially into or enter human hearts.

⁹ ‘corporeal’ E. 20 ‘undecided’] ‘undecided matter’ BCTV. ‘their own’ omitted in OEUS. 22 ‘had’] ‘dec.’ C. 29 ‘whatever’ omitted in CCL. 9. 2 Ibid., no. 5 (PL 42, 870s; CCL 50, 150); 3 ibid., places cited above, p. 366, note 3; especially City of God, XXI, ch. 10 (PL 41, 724s; CSEL 40-II, 537s; CCL 48, 775s).]

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3. Bede too, commenting on that passage in the Acts of the Apostles 1 where Peter says to Ananias, Why has Satan tempted or filled your heart?, says: "It should be observed that nothing but the creating Trinity can fill the human mind according to its substance, because the soul is filled with created things only according to operation and the impulse of the will. Satan does fill someone's heart, but not by entering him and his mind, nor by going into the entrance of the heart—for this power belongs to God alone—but by drawing the soul into an affection for evil through cunning and deceitful deception, through thoughts and the incitements of vices with which he is full. Satan therefore filled Ananias's heart not by entering it, but by inserting the poison of his malice." The same author 2 says: "The unclean spirit, driven from the hearts of the faithful by the flame of virtues, pours the poison of persecution into teachers of truth."

4. These authorities show that demons do not enter human hearts substantially, but do so through the effect of their malice; they are said to be driven out when they are not allowed to harm.