By John Frame and Steve Childers

Apart from Jesus and the Apostle Paul, no single person has had a greater influence on Christianity than Augustine (AD 354–AD 430). When asked near the end of his life to summarize Christianity as he understood it, Augustine replied by citing Paul’s triad in 1 Cor. 13:13: faith (what you should believe), hope (what you should desire), and love (how you should live).

Expounding this insight, he then a wrote a little book, The Enchiridion (Greek for Handbook), in which we find his most mature thought on the essence of Christian theology and its practical application to real life questions. In this brief book, he describes faith by means of the Apostles’ Creed, hope by way of the Lord’s Prayer, and love by way of the Ten Commandments.

Augustine’s Enchiridion soon became the basis for the education of clergy in the Middle Ages and played a major role in shaping the theology of the Western church for more than a thousand years. This way of understanding Christian theology was also taken up in the important works of Luther and Calvin, and in the Confessions of the churches.

As a former Augustinian monk, Martin Luther dedicated his life to cultivating the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love in his life and the lives of others, especially his beloved children. Toward the end of his life and ministry, he gives us a glimpse into his Augustinian-influenced view of theology and spirituality when he writes:

"Although I’m indeed an old doctor, I never move on from the childish doctrine of the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. I still daily learn and pray them with my little Hans and my little Lena."

In this lesson, you will learn how to explain the heart of theology and Christianity as faith, hope, and love.

Lesson Goals

In this lesson, you'll be equipped to:

• Understand the heart of biblical Christianity

• Distinguish between godly and ungodly wisdom

• Discover how God is to be rightly worshipped

• See faith, hope, and love in light of each other

• Recognize the primacy of love among the virtues

• Find the virtues in creed, prayer, and commands

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