Sect. 206Perfection of Christ’s SatisfactionPerfection of Christ’s Satisfaction

I. St. Paul teaches the “superabundance” of Christ’s satisfaction: “Not as the offence, so also the gift; for if by the offence of one many have died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded (ἐπερίσσευσεν) unto many … where sin abounded, grace did more abound” (Rom. 5:15–20). The sufficiency of Christ’s merits to give God an honour not only equal, but superior, to the injury caused Him by sin, is founded upon their infinitude. Sin is an infinite injury merely because its external object, the offended God, is infinite; Christ’s actions, on the contrary, are infinite in value because their internal principle, Christ Himself, is infinite. Hence their infinitude belongs to a higher order than that of sin. Again, the sacrificial acts of the God-Man offer to God an infinite homage which He accepts; whereas the insult of sin does not affect God intrinsically. Lastly, the Redemption was accomplished through a whole life of meritorious acts, each one of which was of sufficient value to ransom all mankind.

II. The very idea of man’s Redemption through Christ supposes that God agreed to accept the work of the Redeemer as a sufficient ransom for the sins of mankind. The work, then, having been performed with superabundant perfection, God was bound by His promise and His justice to grant the remission of sins to the extent and in the manner intended by Christ. The acceptableness of the atonement may further be illustrated from the perfection of Christ’s mediatorship. He is a more perfect representative of the race than Adam, for whereas Adam is only its source according to the flesh, Christ is its head according to the spirit, establishing a general solidarity by an act of His all-powerful will. On the other hand, He is God, and as such secures the acceptance of His own work.