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Conclusion. Christ by His passion merited to be exalted[1986]
as regards His glorious resurrection, His ascension, His sitting at
the right hand of the Father, and His judiciary power.
The Universality Of Redemption
From what has been said, it follows that Christ's redemption is
universal, inasmuch as, concerning its sufficiency, it included:
(1) all men; (2) all sins; and (3) all good things lost by
sin.
1) Redemption included all men, or Christ died for all men. This
doctrine on redemption and God's universal will to save are about
equivalent in meaning. Luther, Calvin, and the Jansenists, in
denying that God wills to save all men, consequently denied that
Christ, who came into the world to do His Father's will, died for
all men, and so they said that Christ died only for the predestined.
This proposition of Jansenius was condemned, namely: "It is a
Semi-Pelagian heresy to say that Christ died or shed His blood for
all men without exception."[1987] This proposition, understood
in this sense, that Christ died for the salvation only of the
predestined, was condemned as heretical.
Moreover, that redemption includes all the faithful seems also to be
de fide, for the Church declares of Christ: "Who for us men and
for our salvation came down from heaven, and was also crucified for
us."[1988] All the faithful are bound to recite this symbol of
the faith.
Finally, Alexander VIII condemned the following proposition of
the Jansenists: "Christ gave Himself for us as an oblation to
God, not for the elect only, but for all the faithful, and for the
faithful alone."[1989]
The Council of Trent says: "But, though He died for
all,[1990] yet all do not receive the benefit of His death, but
those only unto whom the merit of His passion is
communicated."[1991] Hence theologians generally maintain that
it is certain, proximate to the faith, that Christ also died at least
for all adult infidels. It is even commonly held against Vasquez that
Christ died for all men without exception, even for infants who die
without being baptized, inasmuch as Christ merited for them the grace
of baptism; yet this was made dependent on secondary causes that
sometimes prevent the conferring of baptism. There is no passage in
Scripture that excludes infants from the benefit of redemption, but it
asserts in a general way that Christ died for all.
Scriptural proof. There are no limitations. Thus St. Paul says:
"Therefore as by the offense of one man, unto all men to
condemnation, so also by the justice of one, unto all men to
justification of life."[1992] "Christ died for all, that they
also who live, may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died
for them, and rose again."[1993] "God will have all men to be
saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who
gave Himself a redemption for all."[1994] "We see
Jesus... crowned with glory and honor that through the grace of God
He might taste death for all."[1995] In one of the epistles we
read that "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for those of the whole world."[1996]
Patristic testimony. The Fathers unanimously assert and explain this
doctrine on redemption as shown from the texts quoted by Rouet de
Journel.[1997] St. Augustine, too, says of infants: "Are
not infants also men, so as not to belong to those of whom it is said
that God wills all to be saved?"[1998] He also says: "God
does not command what is impossible, but in commanding advises you to
do what you can, and to ask for what you cannot do."[1999] It
is impossible, however, for adults to observe God's commands without
Christ's grace. Therefore the Council of Quierzy declared against
the predestinarians: "Just as there neither is, was, nor will be
any man whose nature was not assumed by Christ Jesus our Lord, so
there neither is, was, nor will be a man for whom Christ did not
suffer, although not all are redeemed by the mystery of His
passion..., because the goblet of Christ's blood for the salvation
of men, which was prepared... has indeed in itself the power to
benefit all; but no one is healed except those who drink from this
goblet."[2000] Hence Christ's redemption is universal as
regards men, because all are included.
2) Christ's redemption includes all sins. In other words, Christ
truly satisfied for all sins, both original sin and the actual sins of
all human beings. The Council of Trent says: "Him [Christ]
God hath proposed as a propitiator, through faith in His blood, for
our sins,[2001] and not for our sins only, but also for those of
the whole world."[2002]
This second point, namely, that redemption includes all sins, is de
fide, for the sins of the faithful, certain for the sins of infidels,
commonly admitted doctrine for original sin of infants, as
proportionately stated for the first point. Otherwise Christ would
not have died absolutely for all men.
Moreover, since Christ's satisfaction is superabundant and of
infinite value, it follows that He freed us not only from guilt, but
also from eternal and temporal punishment. But we are de facto freed
from punishment only if Christ's satisfactions are applied to us both
by the sacraments, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and by living faith,
"which operates by charity."[2003]
Christ's satisfaction is not applied to adults without their
cooperation, for our Lord says: "If any man will come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow
Me."[2004] The Prince of the Apostles also teaches that
Christ left us "an example that we should follow His
steps."[2005] Christ the Savior moves us to act and gives us
grace, not that our will remain inactive, but that we act by means of
the virtues to keep His precepts.
3) Christ's redemption also includes all good things lost by sin,
so that we may be restored to our former state, a work begun in this
life and completed in the next.
For, as St. Thomas says,[2006] by Christ's passion we are
freed from sin, punishment, the power of the devil, reconciled to
God, and by it the gate of heaven is opened to us. Thus Christ
sufficiently merited for all men habitual grace, actual graces that
prepare for or follow justification, and also eternal life. He also
merited for us natural good things, inasmuch as these are conducive to
salvation. He did not indeed merit that the preternatural gifts of
immunity from death, suffering, concupiscence, and error should be
restored to us in this life. As St. Thomas explains: "A
Christian receives grace in baptism as to his soul; but he retains a
passible body, so that he may suffer for Christ therein, ... and
this is suitable for our spiritual training, namely, in order that,
by fighting against concupiscence and other defects to which he is
subject, man may receive the crown of victory."[2007] Yet
Christ merited that these defects should not gain the mastery over us
in this life,[2008] and that they be completely eliminated in the
next.
Thus Christ's passion is the sufficient cause of salvation for all,
and it is efficacious for those to whom it is applied either by the
sacraments, or by living faith, and to those who do not resist
sufficient grace. But those who resist it deserve to be deprived of
efficacious grace.[2009] Thus Christ merited all the effects of
predestination for the elect, namely, calling, justification,
glorification, and also all the efficacious graces that de facto are
and will be conferred. As regards the efficacious graces, however,
which will not be conferred because of the resistance to sufficient
grace, He merited these as offered in the sufficient grace, but not
as conferred or to be conferred. God offers the efficacious grace to
us in the sufficient grace, as the fruit is contained in the flower;
but when the sufficient grace is resisted, then the efficacious grace
is not conferred.[2010]
Therefore Christ's redemption is universal including all men, all
sins, and all natural good things that were lost by sin. This is a
corollary resulting from the superabundant and infinite value of
Christ's atonement.
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