(373) is distinct and firm in maintaining the expiatory nature of
the work of Christ. He recognizes its relations to the attribute of
divine justice, and has less to say than his predecessors respecting
its relations to the kingdom and claims of Satan. The more important
bearings of the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction, it is evident, were
now beginning to receive a closer attention, while less stress was
laid upon its secondary aspects. We can find in the representations of
Athanasius the substance of that doctrine of plenary satisfaction of
eternal justice by the theanthropic sufferings of Christ which acquired
its full scientific form in the mind of Anselm, and which lies under
the whole Protestant church and theology."
"Athanasius composed no tract or treatise upon the Atonement and we
must consequently deduce his opinions upon this subject from his
incidental statements while discussing other topics. In his discourses
against Arians, there are frequent statements respecting the work of
Christ, in connection with those respecting his person and dignity, and
from these we select a few of the most distinct and conclusive: 'Christ
as man endured death for us, inasmuch as he offered himself for that
purpose to the Father.' Here, the substitutionary nature of his work
is indicated. 'Christ takes our sufferings upon himself, and presents
them to the Father, entreating for us that they be satisfied in him.'
Here, the piacular[A] nature of his work is taught, together with his
intercessory office. 'The death of the incarnate Logos is a ransom for
the sins of men, and a death of death.' 'Desiring to annual our death,
he took on himself a body from the Virgin Mary, that by offering this
unto the Father a sacrifice for all, he might deliver us all, who by
fear of death were all our life through subject to bondage.' 'Laden
with guilt, the world was condemned of law, but Logos assumed the
condemnation and suffering in the flesh gave salvation to all.' Here,
the obligation of the guilty world is represented not as relating to
Satan but to law; and the Redeemer assumes a condemnation, or in modern
Protestant phraseology becomes a voluntary substitute for the guilty,
for purposes of legal satisfaction."
[Footnote A: "Piacular"--expiatory.]
"If we examine the soteriology of the Greek church during the last half
of the fourth and the first half of the fifth centuries, we meet with
very clear conceptions of the atonement of Christ. The distinctiveness
of the views of Athanasius upon this subject undoubtedly contributed
to this; for this great mind exerted as powerful an influence upon the
Eastern doctrinal system, generally, as Augustine exercised over the
Western."
_5. Soteriology of Augustine and Gregory the Great:_ "Augustine
(430): Augustine's view of the work of the Christ is essentially that
of the fathers who had preceded him, neither falling short nor making
any marked advance in scientific respects. * * * 'All men,' he says,
'are separated from God by sin. Hence they can be reconciled with him,
only through the remission of sin, and this only through the grace of
a most merciful Savior, and this grace through the one only victim
of the most true and only priest.' In another place, alluding to our
Lord's comparison of his own crucifixion with the lifting up of the
serpent by Moses, Augustine thus expresses himself: 'Our Lord did not,
indeed, transfer sin itself into his flesh as if it were the poison of
the serpent, but he did transfer death; so that there might be, in the
likeness of human flesh, the punishment of sin without its personal
guilt, whereby both the personal guilt and punishment of sin might be
abolished from human flesh.'
"These passages, and many others like them, scattered all through
his writings, prove indisputably that Augustine held the doctrine of
vicarious satisfaction."
_Gregory, the Great, Bishop of Rome (604):_ Gregory, in his
writings, lays great stress upon the idea of a sacrifice offered in
the death of Christ. He starts from the conception of guilt, and from
this derives immediately the necessity of a theanthropic[A] sacrifice.
"Guilt," he says, "can be extinguished only by a penal offering to
justice. But it would contradict the idea of justice, if for the sin
of a rational being like man, the death of an irrational animal should
be accepted as a sufficient atonement. Hence, a man must be offered as
the sacrifice for man; so that a rational victim may be slain for a
rational criminal. But how could a man, himself stained with sin, be
an offering for sin? Hence a sinless man must be offered. But what man
descending in the ordinary course would be free from sin? Hence, the
Son of God must be born of a virgin, and become man for us. He assumed
our nature without corruption. He made himself a sacrifice for us, and
set forth for sinners his own body, a victim without sin, and able
both to die by virtue of its humanity, and to cleanse the guilty, upon
grounds of justice."
[Footnote A: Theantropic--both divine and human; being or pertaining to
the God-man.]
_6. Anselm's Theory of Satisfaction:_ A. Anselm's views of
the Atonement (1109 A. D.) are fundamentally those of Protestant
Christendom, it is important that they be stated in sufficient detail
to make the leading principle clear.
The fundamental position of Anselm is that "the Atonement of the Son
of God is absolutely or metaphysically necessary in order to the
remission of sin. Anselm concedes by implication, throughout his work,
that if it cannot be made out that the vicarious satisfaction of divine
justice by the theanthropic suffering of Jesus Christ is required
by a necessary and immanent attribute of the Divine Nature, then a
scientific character cannot be vindicated for the doctrine; for nothing
that is not metaphysically necessary is scientific. Hence, in the
very beginning of the tract, he affirms that a mere reference to the
divine benevolence, without any regard to the divine justice, cannot
satisfy the mind that is seeking a necessary basis in the doctrine
of atonement. For benevolence is inclined to dispense with penal
suffering, and of itself does not demand it.
"It is not the attribute of mercy, but the attribute of justice,
which insists upon legal satisfaction, and opposes an obstacle to
the salvation of a sinner. Setting aside, therefore, the divine
justice, and taking into view merely the divine compassion, there
does not appear to be any reason why God should not by an act of bare
omnipotence deliver the sinner from suffering and make him happy. This
conducts Anselm to that higher position from which the full-orbed
nature and character of the Deity is beheld, and he proceeds to show
that compassion cannot operate in an isolated and independent manner in
the work of redemption, and that if anything is done for the recovery
and weal of the transgressor, it cannot be at the expense of any
necessary quality in the divine nature, through the mere exercise of an
arbitrary volition, and unbridled omnipotence.
"The leading positions, and the connection of ideals, in this
exceedingly profound, clear, and logical tract of the eleventh century
are as follows:
"Beginning with the idea of sin, Anselm defines this as the withholding
from God what is due to him from man. Sin is debt. But man owes to God
the absolute and entire subjection of his will, at all times to the
divine law and will. This is not given, and hence the guilt, or debt,
of a man to Deity. The extinction of this guilt does not consist in
simply beginning again to subject the will entirely to its rightful
sovereign, but in giving satisfaction for the previous cessation in so
doing. God has been robbed of his honor in the past, and it must be
restored to him in some way, while at the same time the present and
future honor due to him is being given. But how is man, who is still
a sinner, and constantly sinning, to render this double satisfaction,
viz.: satisfy the law in the future by perfectly obeying it, and in
the past by enduring its whole penalty? It is impossible for him to
render it; and yet this impossibility, argues Anselm, does not release
him from his indebtedness or guilt, because this impossibility is
the effect of a free act, and a free act must be held responsible
for all its consequences, in conformity with the ethical maxim, that
the cause is answerable for the effect. But now the question arises:
Cannot the love and compassion of God abstracted from his justice come
in at this point, and remit the sin of man without any satisfaction?
This is impossible because it would be irregularity and injustice. If
unrighteousness is punished neither in the person of transgressor, nor
in that of a proper substitute, then unrighteousness is not subject
to any law or regulations of any sort; it enjoys more liberty than
righteousness itself, which would be a contradiction and a wrong.
Furthermore, it would contradict the divine justice itself, if the
creature would defraud the creator of that which is his due, without
giving any satisfaction for the robbery. Since there is no attribute
more just and necessary than that primitive righteousness innate to
deity which maintains the honor of God. This justice, indeed, is God
himself, so that to satisfy it, is to satisfy God himself.
"Having in this manner carried the discussion into the very heart of
the divine nature, and shown that a necessary and immanent attribute
of the Deity stands in the way of non-infliction of punishment and
the happiness of the transgressor, Anselm proceeds to consider the
possibility of satisfying the claims of justice--the claims of Satan
being expressly denied. There are two ways, he says, in which this
attribute can be satisfied. First, the punishment may be actually
inflicted upon the transgressor. But this, of course, would be
incompatible with his salvation from sin, and his eternal happiness,
because the punishment required is eternal, in order to offset the
infinite demerit of robbing God of his honor. It is plain, therefore,
that man cannot be his own atoner, and render satisfaction for his
own sin. A sinner cannot justify a sinner, any more than a criminal
can pardon his own crime. The second, and only other way in which the
attribute of justice can be satisfied is by substituted or vicarious
suffering. This requires the agency of another being than the
transgressor. But here everything depends upon the nature and character
of the being who renders the substituted satisfaction. For it would be
an illegitimate procedure to defraud justice by substituting a less for
a more valuable satisfaction. It belongs, therefore, to the conception
of a true vicarious satisfaction, that something be offered to justice
for the sin of man that is greater than the finite and created, or,
in Anselm's phrase, is 'greater than all that is not God.' In other
words, an infinite value must pertain to that satisfaction which is
substituted for the sufferings of mankind. But he who can give and has
the right to give, out of his own resources, something that is greater
than the infinite universe, must himself be greater than all that is
not God, or than all that is infinite and created. But God alone is
greater than all that is not in God, or the created universe. Only
God, therefore, can make this satisfaction. Only Deity can satisfy the
claims of Deity.
But, on the other hand, man must render it, otherwise it would not
be a satisfaction for man's sin. Consequently, the required and
adequate satisfaction must be theanthropic, i. e., rendered by a
God-Man. As God, the God-Man can give to Deity more than the whole
finite creation combined could render. Furthermore, this theanthropic
obedience and suffering was not due from the mere humanity of Christ.
This was sinless and innocent, and justice had no claims, in the way
of suffering, upon it. And, moreover, only a man's obedience, and not
that of a God-Man, could be required of a man. Consequently this Divine
Human obedience and suffering was a surplusage, in respect to the man
Christ Jesus, and might overflow and inure to the benefit of a third
party--in other words, to the benefit of the transgressor for whom it
was voluntarily rendered and endured.
"This satisfaction made by incarnate Deity to meet the claims of one of
his own attributes, Anselm represents as even more than an equivalent
for the sin of mankind."
This brings us to the point where now the view of the Atonement by
Catholics and Protestants respectively may be stated.
II.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW OF THE ATONEMENT.
_Original Sin:_[A] "Original sin is distinguished from actual,
or personal sin, because actual or personal sin is the sin which we
personally with our own free will commit, whilst original sin is that
sin which our human nature has committed with the will of Adam, in
whom all our human nature was included, and with whom our human nature
is united as a branch to a root, as a child to a parent, as men who
partake with Adam the same nature which we have derived from him, and
as members of the same human family of which Adam was the head. The
difference that exists between original and personal sin is, that the
latter is committed with the will physically our own, whilst original
sin is committed with a will physically of another, and only morally
our own, because it forms with that other (Adam), who is our head, one
moral body.
[Footnote A: I take the Catholic doctrine of the Atonement from
"Catholic Belief," by Very Rev. Joseph Faa Di Bruno, D. D., which is
based, of course, upon the decisions of the Council of Trent, held from
1545 to 1563, and which among other things declared what the Catholic
doctrine was upon "Original Sin" and "Justification."]
"If our hand strike a fellow-creature unjustly, though the hand has
itself no will, yet it is considered guilty, not indeed as viewed
separately by itself, but inasmuch as it is united to the rest of the
body, and to the soul, forming one human being therewith, and thus
sharing in the will of the soul with which it is connected.
"Also the sin committed inwardly by the human will, by a bad desire,
belongs to the whole human being.
"Of the original sin in which we are born we are not personally guilty
with our own personal will, but our nature is guilty of it by the will
of Adam, our head, with whom we form one moral body through the human
nature which we derive from him. * * * The Catholic Church teaches that
Adam, by his sin, has not only caused harm to himself, but to the whole
human race; that by it he lost the supernatural justice and holiness
which he received gratuitously from God, and lost it, not only for
himself, but also for all of us; and that he, having stained himself
with the sin of disobedience, has transmitted not only death and other
bodily pains and infirmities to the whole human race, but also sin,
which is the death of the soul.
"The teaching of the Council of Trent (Session V) is confirmed by these
words of St. Paul: 'Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this
world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all
have sinned' (Rom. v:12).
"Surely the early Christians believed in original sin, as it can be
gathered from what St. Augustine said to Pelagius, opposing him on the
matter: 'I did not invent original sin, which Catholic faith holds from
ancient time; but thou, who deniest it, thou, without doubt, art a new
heretic" (De nuptiis, lib. xi, c. 12).
"It may be said that this belief is as old as the human race, for
traces of this ancient tradition are spread in all nations, insomuch
that Voltaire had to confess that 'The fall of man is the base of the
theology of nearly all ancient people' (Philosophic de l'histoire,
chapter xvii).
"Beside the guilt of original sin, which is that habitual state of
sinfulness in which we are born (because our human nature is justly
considered to have consented in Adam to the rejection of original
justice), there is also in man the stain of original sin, entailing the
privation in the human soul of that supernatural lustre which, had we
born in the state of original justice, we all should have had.
"As neither Adam nor any of his offspring could repair the evil done
by his sin, we should ever have remained in the state of original sin
and degradation in which we were born, and we should have been forever
shut out from the Beatific Vision of God in Heaven, had not God, in his
infinite mercy, provided for us a Redeemer."
_The Incarnation of God the Son:_ Respecting this great mystery,
Catholics believe that the Holy Trinity, out of infinite mercy, decreed
to provide for us a Redeemer, who could suffer, and suffer as an
individual of the human race, and at the same time be in himself so
exalted as to be able to give infinite value to his sufferings; because
sin, being an offense against the infinite majesty of God could only be
atoned for by an expiation of infinite value.
"To accomplish this end, God the Son, the second person of the Holy
Trinity, the Eternal Word, chose the Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth,
to become his Mother, and on receiving her consent, he, by the
supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit, took human flesh from her, and
thus became man, and his holy name is Jesus Christ.
"By becoming man the Eternal Word did not lay aside his divine nature,
but, remaining what he had ever been from all eternity, took upon
himself human nature without a human personality, so that from the
first moment of his incarnation there was in him, and there ever will
be, not one only but two natures, the divine and the human, united in
his divine personality, the person of God the Son.
"The divine nature of Jesus is one and the same as that of the Eternal
Father and of the Holy Spirit, and his human nature is in all things
like ours, sin and tendency to sin excepted. He is equal to the Father
as to his Godhead, and less than the Father as to his manhood.
"Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died in his human nature on Mount
Calvary, and thereby effectually interposed his atonement between his
eternal Father and man, and thus made a plentiful expiation and paid a
full ransom to the Eternal Justice for the sins of the whole world. * *
_"Jesus Our Only Mediator of Redemption:_ "Catholics believe
that our Lord Jesus Christ is alone the great Centre of the Christian
religion, the Fountain of all grace, virtue, and merit as in the
natural world (if the comparison may be allowed), the sun is the centre
and enlivening created source of light, heat, and growth.
"This grand truth they believe to be the vital, essential part of
Christianity, 'for other foundation no man can lay but that which is
laid; which is Christ Jesus' (I Corinthians iii:11).
"They hold that to be united to Jesus Christ is the highest and noblest
aim of man, and that only the holy Catholic church supplies the means
for the closest union with Jesus Christ; and they are convinced that
the yearning to possess this closer communion with Christ has, by
divine attraction, drawn thousands of earnest minds to seek in the
Catholic church this, the highest happiness to be enjoyed on earth.
"They believe that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, because he has
redeemed us from the bondage of Satan, with the ransom of his most
precious blood; that he alone is our Savior because he saves us from
stain, the guilt, and the curse of sin; that he is our only mediator
of redemption and salvation, because he alone, by his own merits, has
efficiently interposed between God and man, to obtain the full pardon
of our sins through the sacrifice of himself: 'There is one God, and
one mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself a
redemption for all' (I St. Timothy ii:5, 6). Neither is there salvation
in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to man,
whereby we must be saved' (Acts iv:12).
"They believe that Jesus died on the cross to purchase mercy, grace,
and salvation for all men--'Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come to the knowledge of the truth' (I St. Timothy ii:4). And that
since Adam's fall, mercy, grace, and salvation can be obtained by man
only through the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
"Believing that Jesus Christ is truly God, they hold that the homage
of supreme adoration is due to Him, the God-man, as well as to God the
Father, and to God the Holy Spirit."
_Catholic View of Justification:_ "Justification is a divine act
which conveys sanctifying grace, and by that grace communicates a
supernatural life to the soul which by sin, whether original or actual,
had incurred spiritual death: that is to say, justification is a change
in the human soul or translation from the state of sin into the state
of grace.
"It is a gift of Almighty God, a ray, as it were, coming direct from
the divine goodness and filling the soul, which makes those who receive
it pleasing to God and justified in his sight.
"The grace of justification produces a change affecting the soul of the
regenerate by its presence, elevating and perfecting it. By this grace
the likeness of God is brought out in them, and they are raised to a
state of friendship with him, and of divine sonship.
"The Catholic church teaches that the grace of justification not merely
covers sin, but blots it out; that is, blots out the guilt and stain
arising from sin, and remits the everlasting punishment due to it.
"Justifying is not dressing splendidly a dead man's body, it is
vivifying it. It is not covering a leprosy with a beautiful shining
dress, it is curing it thoroughly. It is not gilding a piece of coal,
leaving it inwardly black, but it is transforming it into a brilliant
diamond.
"What unspeakable regrets it would leave in the justified man if he had
ever to see his soul, indeed magnificently arrayed, still in itself
stained with sin, deformed, corrupt, black, and horrible as before.
"Merely covering sin is a human way of forgiving, which consists in
passing over the crime of a sinner, and in treating him outwardly as
if he had not committed it, and as if no stain were in the soul in
consequence of it, though the guilt and the stain are still there.
"God's way of pardoning a sinner is very different, and wholly divine.
It is a way worthy of his infinite goodness, sanctity, omnipotence
and worthy too of the immense efficacy of Christ's blood, and of his
superabundant redemption, and of his infinite merits.
"God's way of pardoning is to cleanse away entirely the guilt and stain
of sin, so that instead of it, God sees in the pardoned sinner the
"charity of God poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost" (Rom.
v:5), which, like a fire, has destroyed all the dross of sin, and
rendered man pure, upright, and holy.
"Hence the justification of a sinner is represented in Scripture as
the putting on of the new man who is "created in justice, and holiness
of truth" (Ephesians iv:24): the "renovation of the Holy Ghost" (Titus
iii:5).
"In the case of the grown-up persons, some dispositions are required on
the part of the sinner in order to be fit to obtain this habitual and
abiding grace of justification. A man can only dispose himself by the
help of divine grace, and the dispositions which he shows do not by any
means effect or merit justification, but only serve to prepare him for
it; and for that reason are simply called dispositions or preparations.
This is the teaching of the Council of Trent, which declares: "We are
said to be justified gratuitously, because none of the things which
precede justification, whether it be faith or good works, can merit
this blessing for us." (Session VI, chapter viii.) The same holy
council declares that sins are remitted gratuitously by the mercy of
God through the merits of Jesus Christ (Session VI, chapter vii).
"The principal dispositions required for justification are the
following acts, which can only be made by the assistance of God's
actual grace, namely, an act of faith or belief in revealed truths,
of fear of God, of hope, and of charity; an act of repentance for
past sins, with a purpose to avoid sin in future, and to keep the
commandments: a desire of receiving baptism for those who have not yet
been baptized, and for those who have fallen into sin after baptism,
a resolution to approach the sacrament of penance (Council of Trent,
Session VI, chapter vi).