43. The Triple Ministry of Jesus Christ and the Work of Redemption
How did Jesus Christ carry out the Redemption of all people?
Jesus Christ carried out his saving mission through his triple ministry, or function, as teacher, pastor, and priest. As he himself taught, “I am the way [pastoral ministry], and the truth [doctrinal ministry], and the life [priestly ministry]” (Jn 14:6).
Jesus Christ, as teacher, exercised his doctrinal ministry by aiming at people’s understanding and teaching them the truth.
Through his pastoral ministry, he aims at the will, demanding obedience to the commandments of God. This pastoral ministry includes legislative, judicial, and governing powers.
Each moment of Jesus’ life may be considered an act of redemption, but Jesus Christ accomplishes the objective reconciliation of man with God most fully through his priestly ministry. The supreme redeeming act of Christ’s priesthood is his sacrificial death on the cross.
33. Jesus Christ’s Doctrinal or Prophetic Ministry
33a) Jesus as Teacher
Jesus is the teacher of humanity.1 His teaching is necessary for salvation, since it makes the fight against ignorance and error possible. He came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), and ignorance and error are consequences of sin, which was instigated by the devil—“the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). Jesus tells us, “the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32).
33b) Jesus as Prophet
Jesus is the new prophet promised in the Old Testament, and the absolute master of mankind (sent. certa).
Moses prophesied the coming of a new teacher of Israel in the Old Testament: “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him shall you heed” (Dt 18:15). Jesus is this prophet who teaches the truth. He allows himself to be called “Teacher and Lord” (Jn 13:13). Indeed, he is the only teacher: “Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ” (Mt 23:10). His teaching power encompasses all people at all times (cf. Mt 28:19). His contemporaries, amazed at his doctrine and authority, affirmed, “No man ever spoke like this man” (Jn 7:46).
St. Paul summarized Jesus’ magisterial and prophetic vocation with these words: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1–2).
The Fathers of the Church regarded Christ as the master of the truth. St. Ignatius of Antioch called him “the infallible mouth by which the Father has spoken the truth.”2
The Church in her solemn Magisterium—in the Second Vatican Council, for example—teaches that Jesus Christ, insofar as he is the Word of God, is the sole source of revelation.3 Reason enlightened by faith makes us realize why Jesus is necessarily the master and prophet who teaches the truth to mankind: he is the divine Word Incarnate, i.e., the wisdom of God made man.
34. Jesus Christ’s Pastoral or Royal Ministry
Jesus is pastor, king, legislator, and judge.4
Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, leads people to salvation. He exercises his pastoral ministry by issuing laws, judging, and governing mankind. The mission of issuing laws, judging, and ruling as king of the universe belongs exclusively to Jesus Christ.
Jesus governs as king (de fide).
The Fathers of the Church applied the title of king to Jesus Christ. St. Justin, to cite one example, taught that the Lord reigns from the wood of the cross.5
Pius XI, in the encyclical Quam Primas, taught that the royalty of Jesus Christ is based on the hypostatic union and that he exercises direct dominion over the entire universe.6
Jesus is legislator (de fide).
The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is legislator. This is contrary to Luther’s doctrine, which states that Jesus Christ made promises but did not impose precepts.7
Jesus Christ exercises his legislative power mainly through his preaching. The Sermon on the Mount serves as a particularly notable display of his authority, since it is precisely a summary of the New Law (cf. Mt 5:6). On other occasions, Jesus also promulgated the new commandment of love (cf. Jn 13:34).
Jesus is judge (de fide).
The symbols of the faith teach us that he will come “to judge the living and the dead.”8 Sacred Scripture says, “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22). The sentence pronounced by Jesus as judge is inexorably fulfilled: “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:46).
35. Jesus Christ’s Priestly Ministry
35a) The Priestly Ministry of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is priest. He carried out the Redemption of the human race by means of his priestly office, a task consummated by his death on the cross. The death of Christ on the cross, by right and in truth, is the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which reconciles humanity with God.
35b) Jesus is High Priest
Jesus Christ, God and man, is high priest (de fide).
The Magisterium has defined the priesthood of Christ as a matter of faith. The Council of Ephesus states that “the Word of God himself … was born to be our High Priest … when he was made flesh and a man like us.”9 Also, the Council of Trent dwelt extensively on the priesthood of Christ.10
In Sacred Scripture, the priesthood of Christ is thus announced: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). The New Testament applies these prophetic words to Jesus Christ. The Epistle to the Hebrews is a treatise on the excellence of the eternal priesthood of Christ as superior to the priesthood of the Old Law (cf. Heb 3–7).
Among the Fathers of the Church, St. Clement of Rome called Christ “the Pontiff of our offerings”11 and St. Polycarp named him “Eternal and High Priest.”12 His priesthood begins with the hypostatic union, since the capacity to mediate between God and man is proper to the human nature assumed by the Word.
Moreover, since the priesthood of Christ shares the eternity of its eternal cause—through the hypostatic union—the effects of the priestly mediation of Jesus are also perpetual and eternal. Thus, the sentiments that led Jesus to his immolation on the cross (adoration, praise, petition, propitiation, and thanksgiving) are eternally present and continually exert their influence on humans.
36. Exercise of Christ’s Priesthood: His Sacrifice
In search of a deeper understanding of the faith of the Church, which asserts that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is a true sacrifice, we will first study what constitutes a sacrifice. Afterwards, we will see that the death of Jesus on the cross fulfills all the requirements of a sacrifice. Finally, we will consider how the Redemption of the human race was carried out through Jesus’ sacrifice.
36a) Notion of Sacrifice
A sacrifice is the offering (oblation) and destruction (immolation) of a sensible thing carried out by a legitimate minister in order to profess the supreme dominion of God above all things. These five conditions are necessary for a true sacrifice to take place.
36b) The Death of Jesus Christ is a True Sacrifice
Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross, offered a true and proper sacrifice (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church is quite explicit in its teaching about the sacrificial character of Christ’s death on the cross. The Council of Trent stated, “Our Lord and God was once and for all to offer himself by his death on the altar of the Cross to God the Father to accomplish for them [men] an everlasting redemption.”13
Many passages of Sacred Scripture show the sacrificial character of the death of Christ. Hebrews 9 and 10, for example, describe the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice with respect to sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Reason enlightened by faith proves that the death of Christ on the cross was a true sacrifice because it contained all the essential elements of a sacrifice:
· Oblation of a sensible thing: Christ, the man, offered himself to God.
· Immolation or destruction: Jesus died on the cross, shedding his blood.
· Legitimate minister: Jesus in his humanity was a qualified minister, since he is the mediator between God and humans.
· Dominion of God: Jesus gave himself up to die out of obedience to the will of the Father, to whom he “became obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8).
Jesus died on the cross in order to placate the divine justice and wash away the sins of all mankind. All the prerequisites of a true sacrifice were, therefore, fulfilled.
36c) The Death of Christ Redeemed Us
Jesus Christ rescued us and reconciled us with God by means of the sacrifice of his death (de fide).
The Church believes that, although the entire life of Christ has salvific value,14 his death on the cross sums up and culminates his work of redemption. Through it, the forgiveness of sins was accomplished. The Council of Trent stated that Jesus Christ “reconciled us to God in his blood,”15 and that the purpose of the sacrifice of his death on the cross is “to accomplish for them [all who were to be sanctified] an everlasting redemption.”16
Sacred Scripture declares that the Lord gave up his life as “a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28). When he instituted the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Christ himself pointed out the redeeming power of his death: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). St. Paul attributes the reconciliation of sinful humanity to the death of Christ: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10).
37. Jesus Christ’s Vicarious Satisfaction
In order to forgive sins, God willed that an adequate satisfaction be offered by humanity.17 Only a satisfaction of infinite value could make up for the infinite offense committed against God in sin. Only Jesus Christ—a divine Person, true God and true man—could provide this satisfaction.
Jesus Christ, however, is innocent of our sins. How could he satisfy for the sins of which he was not guilty?
Satisfaction is the reparation of an offense. The reparation may be offered by either the offender or his representative. In the latter case, it is called vicarious satisfaction.
Jesus Christ himself did not have anything to atone for, since he had not committed any sin. He, indeed, offered vicarious satisfaction for the sins of humanity.
Two aspects can be distinguished in the satisfaction of people’s sins carried out by Jesus Christ: the objective redemption (the way in which the death of Christ redeemed sin) and the subjective redemption (the manner in which each individual benefits from that redemption). We will study now these two aspects of the vicarious satisfaction by Jesus Christ.
37a) Objective Redemption
(1) Adequacy and Superabundance
The vicarious satisfaction of Christ is adequate or de condigno (sent. comm.).
The sacrifice of the death of Jesus adequately (de condigno) and superabundantly provided satisfaction for the sins of mankind. It is a vicarious satisfaction, as he himself says, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:15).
Satisfaction is adequate, equivalent, or de condigno when it perfectly makes up for the seriousness of an offense according to strict justice. It is called inadequate satisfaction or de congruo when it does not totally make up for the injustice, but is nevertheless accepted benevolently by the offended party. The vicarious satisfaction of Christ is adequate since the sacrifice of his death has infinite value. Being the death of the Son of God, it totally made up for the guilt of all the sins of mankind. Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tm 2:6).
The vicarious satisfaction merited by Christ is superabundant. Its merits and effects infinitely exceed all the injustices caused by sins (sent. comm.).
Sacred Scripture explicitly reveals that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20), and St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: “The injustice of sinners was not as great as the justice of him who died for us.”18
(2) Universality
Jesus Christ satisfied for the sins of all without exception and not only for the predestined (de fide).
The Council of Trent taught that Jesus died for the sins of everyone.19 In 1653, Pope Innocent X condemned as heretical a proposition stating that Jesus Christ died only for the predestined. Alexander VIII, in 1690, rejected the proposition that Jesus died only for the faithful.
The universality of the Redemption is clearly taught in Sacred Scripture. Jesus is the “expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2). God “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tm 2:4).
37b) Subjective Redemption
Only the objective redemption of Jesus is universally effective. For the sufficient and superabundant vicarious satisfaction of Christ to take effect in the individual, it is necessary for each person to make those merits his or her own. That is to say, the objective redemption (death of Christ) is universally effective, but the subjective redemption (the salvation of each person) is particular and might not be attained by all.
The salvation of each person also depends on faith and good works. Each person must strive to attain personal salvation. The Council of Trent taught that “though Christ did die for all, still all do not receive the benefit of his death, but only those with whom the merit of his Passion is shared.… They would never have been justified except through rebirth in Christ.”20
The same council taught that the justification of infidels is not possible without Baptism: “After the promulgation of the Gospel, this passing [from sin to justification] cannot take place without the water of regeneration or the desire for it.”21
Sacred Scripture links justification to faith in Jesus Christ and to the fulfillment of the commandments and counsels given by the Lord. The apostle St. James clearly says, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24).
38. The Different Ways in which the Passion of Jesus Christ Effected our Salvation
The Council of Trent taught that Jesus Christ “merited justification for us by his own most holy Passion on the wood of the Cross and made satisfaction for us to God the Father.”22
Knowing that the human race was subject to the devil and separated from God through its fall due to sin, we may say that Jesus Christ brought about our salvation through his death, for the following reasons:
· He ransomed us from the dominion of the devil and sin. Thus, Jesus Christ accomplished the satisfaction for our sins by way of redemption, or ransom paid to satisfy the divine justice.
· He merited eternal salvation for us. Jesus Christ’s satisfaction, therefore, gives us the grace that sanctifies, a grace that is Christ’s in every right.
In short, the justification of mankind is carried out through the forgiveness of sins and, at the same time, through the elevation of humans to the supernatural order through grace: Grace erases sin and sanctifies.
39. The Merit of Jesus Christ
Christ merited for himself a state of exaltation, manifested in his Resurrection, the glorification of his body, and his Ascension into heaven (sent. certa).
Jesus Christ possesses all the conditions to gain merit, since he is both viator and comprehensor at the same time. He is free and enjoys the fullness of grace from the moment of his conception.
Sacred Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:8–9). St. Augustine comments: “By his humiliation he merited his glorification; glorification is the reward of humiliation.”23
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 459, 520, 581–582, 888.
2. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, 8.2.
3. Cf. DV, 1.
4. Cf. CCC, 553, 764, 894–896.
5. Cf. Apol. 1.14.
6. Cf. DS 3679.
7. Cf. DS 1571.
8. DS 11–36.
9. DS 261.
10. Cf. DS 1740; CCC, 662, 1137, 1545.
11. St. Clement of Rome, Cor. 36.1.
12. St. Polycarp, Phil. 12.2.
13. DS 1740; cf. CCC, 613–614, 1330, 1366, 2100.
14. Cf. CCC, 606ff.
15. DS 1513.
16. DS 1740; cf. CCC, 613, 617.
17. Cf. CCC, 478, 519, 616–617.
18. St. Cyril, Cat. 15.33.
19. Cf. DS 1522; CCC, 616.
20. DS 1523; cf. CCC, 618.
21. DS 1524.
22. DS 1529; cf. CCC, 615.
23. St. Augustine, In Ioann. Tract. 104.3.
Jesus Christ carried out his saving mission through his triple ministry, or function, as teacher, pastor, and priest. As he himself taught, “I am the way [pastoral ministry], and the truth [doctrinal ministry], and the life [priestly ministry]” (Jn 14:6).
Jesus Christ, as teacher, exercised his doctrinal ministry by aiming at people’s understanding and teaching them the truth.
Through his pastoral ministry, he aims at the will, demanding obedience to the commandments of God. This pastoral ministry includes legislative, judicial, and governing powers.
Each moment of Jesus’ life may be considered an act of redemption, but Jesus Christ accomplishes the objective reconciliation of man with God most fully through his priestly ministry. The supreme redeeming act of Christ’s priesthood is his sacrificial death on the cross.
33. Jesus Christ’s Doctrinal or Prophetic Ministry
33a) Jesus as Teacher
Jesus is the teacher of humanity.1 His teaching is necessary for salvation, since it makes the fight against ignorance and error possible. He came “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), and ignorance and error are consequences of sin, which was instigated by the devil—“the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). Jesus tells us, “the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:32).
33b) Jesus as Prophet
Jesus is the new prophet promised in the Old Testament, and the absolute master of mankind (sent. certa).
Moses prophesied the coming of a new teacher of Israel in the Old Testament: “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him shall you heed” (Dt 18:15). Jesus is this prophet who teaches the truth. He allows himself to be called “Teacher and Lord” (Jn 13:13). Indeed, he is the only teacher: “Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ” (Mt 23:10). His teaching power encompasses all people at all times (cf. Mt 28:19). His contemporaries, amazed at his doctrine and authority, affirmed, “No man ever spoke like this man” (Jn 7:46).
St. Paul summarized Jesus’ magisterial and prophetic vocation with these words: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1–2).
The Fathers of the Church regarded Christ as the master of the truth. St. Ignatius of Antioch called him “the infallible mouth by which the Father has spoken the truth.”2
The Church in her solemn Magisterium—in the Second Vatican Council, for example—teaches that Jesus Christ, insofar as he is the Word of God, is the sole source of revelation.3 Reason enlightened by faith makes us realize why Jesus is necessarily the master and prophet who teaches the truth to mankind: he is the divine Word Incarnate, i.e., the wisdom of God made man.
34. Jesus Christ’s Pastoral or Royal Ministry
Jesus is pastor, king, legislator, and judge.4
Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, leads people to salvation. He exercises his pastoral ministry by issuing laws, judging, and governing mankind. The mission of issuing laws, judging, and ruling as king of the universe belongs exclusively to Jesus Christ.
Jesus governs as king (de fide).
The Fathers of the Church applied the title of king to Jesus Christ. St. Justin, to cite one example, taught that the Lord reigns from the wood of the cross.5
Pius XI, in the encyclical Quam Primas, taught that the royalty of Jesus Christ is based on the hypostatic union and that he exercises direct dominion over the entire universe.6
Jesus is legislator (de fide).
The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is legislator. This is contrary to Luther’s doctrine, which states that Jesus Christ made promises but did not impose precepts.7
Jesus Christ exercises his legislative power mainly through his preaching. The Sermon on the Mount serves as a particularly notable display of his authority, since it is precisely a summary of the New Law (cf. Mt 5:6). On other occasions, Jesus also promulgated the new commandment of love (cf. Jn 13:34).
Jesus is judge (de fide).
The symbols of the faith teach us that he will come “to judge the living and the dead.”8 Sacred Scripture says, “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22). The sentence pronounced by Jesus as judge is inexorably fulfilled: “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:46).
35. Jesus Christ’s Priestly Ministry
35a) The Priestly Ministry of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is priest. He carried out the Redemption of the human race by means of his priestly office, a task consummated by his death on the cross. The death of Christ on the cross, by right and in truth, is the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which reconciles humanity with God.
35b) Jesus is High Priest
Jesus Christ, God and man, is high priest (de fide).
The Magisterium has defined the priesthood of Christ as a matter of faith. The Council of Ephesus states that “the Word of God himself … was born to be our High Priest … when he was made flesh and a man like us.”9 Also, the Council of Trent dwelt extensively on the priesthood of Christ.10
In Sacred Scripture, the priesthood of Christ is thus announced: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). The New Testament applies these prophetic words to Jesus Christ. The Epistle to the Hebrews is a treatise on the excellence of the eternal priesthood of Christ as superior to the priesthood of the Old Law (cf. Heb 3–7).
Among the Fathers of the Church, St. Clement of Rome called Christ “the Pontiff of our offerings”11 and St. Polycarp named him “Eternal and High Priest.”12 His priesthood begins with the hypostatic union, since the capacity to mediate between God and man is proper to the human nature assumed by the Word.
Moreover, since the priesthood of Christ shares the eternity of its eternal cause—through the hypostatic union—the effects of the priestly mediation of Jesus are also perpetual and eternal. Thus, the sentiments that led Jesus to his immolation on the cross (adoration, praise, petition, propitiation, and thanksgiving) are eternally present and continually exert their influence on humans.
36. Exercise of Christ’s Priesthood: His Sacrifice
In search of a deeper understanding of the faith of the Church, which asserts that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is a true sacrifice, we will first study what constitutes a sacrifice. Afterwards, we will see that the death of Jesus on the cross fulfills all the requirements of a sacrifice. Finally, we will consider how the Redemption of the human race was carried out through Jesus’ sacrifice.
36a) Notion of Sacrifice
A sacrifice is the offering (oblation) and destruction (immolation) of a sensible thing carried out by a legitimate minister in order to profess the supreme dominion of God above all things. These five conditions are necessary for a true sacrifice to take place.
36b) The Death of Jesus Christ is a True Sacrifice
Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross, offered a true and proper sacrifice (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church is quite explicit in its teaching about the sacrificial character of Christ’s death on the cross. The Council of Trent stated, “Our Lord and God was once and for all to offer himself by his death on the altar of the Cross to God the Father to accomplish for them [men] an everlasting redemption.”13
Many passages of Sacred Scripture show the sacrificial character of the death of Christ. Hebrews 9 and 10, for example, describe the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice with respect to sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Reason enlightened by faith proves that the death of Christ on the cross was a true sacrifice because it contained all the essential elements of a sacrifice:
· Oblation of a sensible thing: Christ, the man, offered himself to God.
· Immolation or destruction: Jesus died on the cross, shedding his blood.
· Legitimate minister: Jesus in his humanity was a qualified minister, since he is the mediator between God and humans.
· Dominion of God: Jesus gave himself up to die out of obedience to the will of the Father, to whom he “became obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8).
Jesus died on the cross in order to placate the divine justice and wash away the sins of all mankind. All the prerequisites of a true sacrifice were, therefore, fulfilled.
36c) The Death of Christ Redeemed Us
Jesus Christ rescued us and reconciled us with God by means of the sacrifice of his death (de fide).
The Church believes that, although the entire life of Christ has salvific value,14 his death on the cross sums up and culminates his work of redemption. Through it, the forgiveness of sins was accomplished. The Council of Trent stated that Jesus Christ “reconciled us to God in his blood,”15 and that the purpose of the sacrifice of his death on the cross is “to accomplish for them [all who were to be sanctified] an everlasting redemption.”16
Sacred Scripture declares that the Lord gave up his life as “a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28). When he instituted the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Christ himself pointed out the redeeming power of his death: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). St. Paul attributes the reconciliation of sinful humanity to the death of Christ: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10).
37. Jesus Christ’s Vicarious Satisfaction
In order to forgive sins, God willed that an adequate satisfaction be offered by humanity.17 Only a satisfaction of infinite value could make up for the infinite offense committed against God in sin. Only Jesus Christ—a divine Person, true God and true man—could provide this satisfaction.
Jesus Christ, however, is innocent of our sins. How could he satisfy for the sins of which he was not guilty?
Satisfaction is the reparation of an offense. The reparation may be offered by either the offender or his representative. In the latter case, it is called vicarious satisfaction.
Jesus Christ himself did not have anything to atone for, since he had not committed any sin. He, indeed, offered vicarious satisfaction for the sins of humanity.
Two aspects can be distinguished in the satisfaction of people’s sins carried out by Jesus Christ: the objective redemption (the way in which the death of Christ redeemed sin) and the subjective redemption (the manner in which each individual benefits from that redemption). We will study now these two aspects of the vicarious satisfaction by Jesus Christ.
37a) Objective Redemption
(1) Adequacy and Superabundance
The vicarious satisfaction of Christ is adequate or de condigno (sent. comm.).
The sacrifice of the death of Jesus adequately (de condigno) and superabundantly provided satisfaction for the sins of mankind. It is a vicarious satisfaction, as he himself says, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:15).
Satisfaction is adequate, equivalent, or de condigno when it perfectly makes up for the seriousness of an offense according to strict justice. It is called inadequate satisfaction or de congruo when it does not totally make up for the injustice, but is nevertheless accepted benevolently by the offended party. The vicarious satisfaction of Christ is adequate since the sacrifice of his death has infinite value. Being the death of the Son of God, it totally made up for the guilt of all the sins of mankind. Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tm 2:6).
The vicarious satisfaction merited by Christ is superabundant. Its merits and effects infinitely exceed all the injustices caused by sins (sent. comm.).
Sacred Scripture explicitly reveals that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20), and St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: “The injustice of sinners was not as great as the justice of him who died for us.”18
(2) Universality
Jesus Christ satisfied for the sins of all without exception and not only for the predestined (de fide).
The Council of Trent taught that Jesus died for the sins of everyone.19 In 1653, Pope Innocent X condemned as heretical a proposition stating that Jesus Christ died only for the predestined. Alexander VIII, in 1690, rejected the proposition that Jesus died only for the faithful.
The universality of the Redemption is clearly taught in Sacred Scripture. Jesus is the “expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:2). God “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tm 2:4).
37b) Subjective Redemption
Only the objective redemption of Jesus is universally effective. For the sufficient and superabundant vicarious satisfaction of Christ to take effect in the individual, it is necessary for each person to make those merits his or her own. That is to say, the objective redemption (death of Christ) is universally effective, but the subjective redemption (the salvation of each person) is particular and might not be attained by all.
The salvation of each person also depends on faith and good works. Each person must strive to attain personal salvation. The Council of Trent taught that “though Christ did die for all, still all do not receive the benefit of his death, but only those with whom the merit of his Passion is shared.… They would never have been justified except through rebirth in Christ.”20
The same council taught that the justification of infidels is not possible without Baptism: “After the promulgation of the Gospel, this passing [from sin to justification] cannot take place without the water of regeneration or the desire for it.”21
Sacred Scripture links justification to faith in Jesus Christ and to the fulfillment of the commandments and counsels given by the Lord. The apostle St. James clearly says, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24).
38. The Different Ways in which the Passion of Jesus Christ Effected our Salvation
The Council of Trent taught that Jesus Christ “merited justification for us by his own most holy Passion on the wood of the Cross and made satisfaction for us to God the Father.”22
Knowing that the human race was subject to the devil and separated from God through its fall due to sin, we may say that Jesus Christ brought about our salvation through his death, for the following reasons:
· He ransomed us from the dominion of the devil and sin. Thus, Jesus Christ accomplished the satisfaction for our sins by way of redemption, or ransom paid to satisfy the divine justice.
· He merited eternal salvation for us. Jesus Christ’s satisfaction, therefore, gives us the grace that sanctifies, a grace that is Christ’s in every right.
In short, the justification of mankind is carried out through the forgiveness of sins and, at the same time, through the elevation of humans to the supernatural order through grace: Grace erases sin and sanctifies.
39. The Merit of Jesus Christ
Christ merited for himself a state of exaltation, manifested in his Resurrection, the glorification of his body, and his Ascension into heaven (sent. certa).
Jesus Christ possesses all the conditions to gain merit, since he is both viator and comprehensor at the same time. He is free and enjoys the fullness of grace from the moment of his conception.
Sacred Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:8–9). St. Augustine comments: “By his humiliation he merited his glorification; glorification is the reward of humiliation.”23
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 459, 520, 581–582, 888.
2. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, 8.2.
3. Cf. DV, 1.
4. Cf. CCC, 553, 764, 894–896.
5. Cf. Apol. 1.14.
6. Cf. DS 3679.
7. Cf. DS 1571.
8. DS 11–36.
9. DS 261.
10. Cf. DS 1740; CCC, 662, 1137, 1545.
11. St. Clement of Rome, Cor. 36.1.
12. St. Polycarp, Phil. 12.2.
13. DS 1740; cf. CCC, 613–614, 1330, 1366, 2100.
14. Cf. CCC, 606ff.
15. DS 1513.
16. DS 1740; cf. CCC, 613, 617.
17. Cf. CCC, 478, 519, 616–617.
18. St. Cyril, Cat. 15.33.
19. Cf. DS 1522; CCC, 616.
20. DS 1523; cf. CCC, 618.
21. DS 1524.
22. DS 1529; cf. CCC, 615.
23. St. Augustine, In Ioann. Tract. 104.3.