Augustine’s Disordered Loves and Spirit’s Reordering

St. Augustine’s concept of “Disordered Loves” reveals a fundamental truth about human affection: the problem is not merely loving the wrong things, but loving the right things in the wrong order ([30:49]). This insight highlights that the core issue lies in the prioritization of our loves rather than the objects of love themselves. While this idea is not a direct biblical quotation, it aligns closely with Scripture, particularly Paul’s teaching that worship must be directed toward the Creator rather than the creation ([31:10]).

Disordered love manifests when good things, such as physical pleasures or material blessings, are loved more than God, their Creator ([32:15]). Even inherently good things become problematic when they take precedence over God in the heart. The essential problem is the misordering of love, where self or created things occupy the place that belongs to God.

The fruit of the Spirit, especially love, functions as the divine remedy to this disorder. The Spirit’s work is to reorder our loves according to God’s original design, restoring proper affection and devotion ([33:59]). This reordering reverses the effects of sin, which distorts love and places self at the center instead of God.

Love can be understood through three lenses reflecting this dynamic: God’s original order, sin’s disorder, and the Spirit’s reordering. Originally, love is centered on God’s glory and submission to His authority ([35:34]). Sin disrupts this order, turning love into vanity and self-centeredness, where man becomes the ultimate focus ([42:00]). The Spirit then restores love to its rightful place, characterized by humility and submission, perfectly modeled by Christ ([44:35] and [47:02]). This framework confirms that the root problem is loving rightly but in the wrong sequence—placing self before God.

Disordered love leads to pride, selfishness, and a demand for personal glory, often resulting in questioning God’s love when He does not meet human expectations ([45:22] and [46:12]). Recognizing this helps identify the true source of spiritual struggle: not merely what is loved, but how love is ordered and prioritized.

This principle extends to love for others. Originally, love for others was grounded in their inherent dignity and the responsibility of stewardship ([49:17] and [50:41]). Sin distorts this love into selfishness and conditional affection ([51:27]). The Spirit reorders this love, enabling believers to love even their enemies, reflecting God’s original intention for human relationships ([53:52]). Such radical reordering is a supernatural work of the Spirit, not achievable by human effort alone ([47:02] and [57:37]).

The Spirit empowers believers to love God rightly—giving Him glory first—and to love others in a way that mirrors God’s design ([01:04:07]). This reordered love is visibly displayed in the church, where diverse individuals are united in love that defies natural human tendencies toward disordered affection ([01:02:35] and [01:03:37]). The church becomes a living testimony to the Spirit’s transformative work, embodying Augustine’s insight in a communal and practical way.

Ultimately, the fruit of the Spirit, especially love, is about reordering our loves—placing God first and others second—as originally intended. This reordering is the solution to the problem of sin and is only possible through the Spirit’s work within believers.

This article was written by an AI tool for churches, based on a sermon from Commonplace Church, one of 472 churches in Flanders, NJ