Arguments in favor of the negative side.
Arguments in favor of the negative side.
§ 119. Against these statements it must be demonstrated that Christ made satisfaction not only for original but also for actual sins. (I) When it deals with Christ’s satisfaction offered for sins, Scripture everywhere speaks in general. But nowhere does it add the limitation that Christ made satisfaction solely for original sin. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). (Here sin is named in the singular that it may be understood universally: that everything which has the nature of sin, the whole mass of sin, the dregs of all the world’s vices have been transferred to Christ and have been satisfied on account of Him.) “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). “He bore our sins in His body on the tree,” etc. (1 Pet. 2:24). But now, Bellarmine himself writes (De poenit., bk. 3, ch. 4, col. 1359): “When Scripture speaks absolutely about sins, it is usually understood to mean, and should be understood to mean, all sins. If it were permitted to encompass some but not all, very absurd statements would be found in divine Writ.”
(II) Scripture speaks about Christ’s satisfaction not only indefinitely but also universally. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquities of us all” (Isa. 53:6). “He bore the sins of many” (v. 12). “Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness” (Titus 2:14). “The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
(III) Some passages of Scripture clearly express the species of actual sins. “We have turned, every one, to his own way, and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquities of us all” (Isa. 53:6) (Therefore the iniquities through which people turn to their own ways were placed upon Christ.) Actual sins are enumerated in a long series in Rom. 3:12[–18], but afterward he adds that we are “justified” of them “freely through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” [v. 24]. Paul mentions actual sins in 1 Cor. 6:9–10, but in v. 11 he adds that the faithful of Corinth have been absolved of them, have been justified and sanctified through the name of Jesus. “The blood of Christ purifies your conscience from dead works” (Heb. 9:14). But now, dead works are themselves actual sins which earn and bring death. We are said to have been “ransomed from the vain conduct which we received from the tradition of the fathers, not with perishable things but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb unspotted” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Christ intercedes for us sinners; the foundation for this intercession is based on the satisfaction He offered for our sins. For Christ is heard when He intercedes for us because He made satisfaction for our sins on the altar of the cross.
(IV) Whatever sins the Law accuses and curses, Christ has made satisfaction for them. But the Law accuses and curses each and every sin, not only original sin but also actual sins. Therefore Christ has made satisfaction for each and every sin. The major premise is recorded in Gal. 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on wood.’ ” The minor premise is one of obvious truth since the Law thunders out and intones loudly: “Cursed is the one who does not remain in all things that were written in the Book of the Law” (Deut. 27:26).
(V) Christ’s satisfaction is of infinite price and value because of the infinity of His person. Surely, therefore, it is sufficient for all sins without exception.
(VI) If Christ had made satisfaction solely for original sin in such a way that making satisfaction for actual sins would be left to us, only half of redemption would be left to Christ, but the other would be transferred largely to human beings; for Christ would then be making satisfaction only for one sin while human beings would be making satisfaction for many sins. But Scripture ascribes the entire work of redemption to Christ alone, who is “the one Mediator between God and man” (1 Tim. 2:5), “who trod the winepress alone” (Isa. 63:3), who “by one offering has made all perfect who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). Note that the cord of the argument can be drawn even tighter when the extenuation of original sin is argued in such a way that it becomes smaller than the smallest venial sin.
Augustine (De Trin., 4, ch. 13): “By His own death, with one true sacrifice given for us, Christ cleansed, absolved, [and] extinguished whatever there was of guilt, for which reason the principalities and powers detained us by the Law for the paying of the penalties.” “In Christ, in whom we all are justified, we receive remission of sins, not only of original but also of all the rest which we have added to it” (De peccat. remis. et mer., ch. 13). “By the shedding of His blood without fault, the handwriting of all faults [cf. Col. 2:14] was erased” (De peccat. remissione, bk. 2, ch. 20). He calls the Passion of Christ “the unique sacrifice which cleanses us of all our sins” (De civ. Dei, bk. 7, ch. 31).
Anselm (on Hebrews 9): “In His own blood Christ finds not the temporal but the eternal redemption of all, since the price which He paid was so great that He found eternal freedom for the redeemed. For He wiped away both original and actual sins, He presented every justification and opened the kingdom of heaven.”