Section LXXI

But in turn it is affirmed in the same divine writings: a) that Christ laid down his life for his sheep. “As¹ the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father, καὶ τὴν ψυχήν μου τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων² μου, and I lay down my life for my sheep”; b) that he sanctified himself for his disciples and for the faithful: καὶ ὑπὲρ³ αὐτῶν ἐγὼ ἁγιάζω ἐμαυτόν, “and for them I sanctify myself”; c) that none of those whom he received from the Father would perish: οὓς⁴ δέδωκάς μοι, ἐφύλαξα, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετο, “those whom thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them⁵ perished”; d) that he prayed not for the world, but for those whom

the Father gave him: ἐγὼ⁶ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐρωτῶ· οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ, ἀλλὰ περὶ ὧν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι σοί εἰσι, “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, because they are thine”; and therefore e) that he poured forth his blood for many: “This⁷ is my blood of the new testament, τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, which shall be poured forth⁸ for many unto the remission of sins.”

But by what means dost thou reconcile this ἀντιλογία, or apparent contradiction, and persuade thyself that it is not real but κατὰ δόκησιν, in appearance? Most easily, if thou callest to mind the distinction employed by Prosper and takest the first class of testimonies as concerning the price, power, and oblation of redemption and the reconciliation offered to all, but interpretest the latter as concerning the property and the full and absolute fruit of redemption; if thou referrest the first class to the antecedent salvific will and the latter to the consequent will; if thou followest the doctrine received in the schools, which Peter Lombard expresses in these words⁹:

Christ offered himself to God for all as regards the sufficiency of the price, but for the elect alone as regards efficacy, because he effects salvation only for the predestined.

Whence Biel¹⁰:

Christ sufficiently merited grace and the opening of the kingdom for Adam and all his posterity; the defect whereby he does not save all is not from the inefficacy of the merit of Christ, but from the indisposition of the subject, the cause of salvation not being duly brought near.

Nor does Scotus speak otherwise¹¹:

Christ, through his inward action and outward passion, worthily satisfied for the whole of human nature. But the merit and satisfaction of Christ has its ultimate efficacy only in those who are united to him through faith and the sacraments.

And much more fully the author¹² of the Commentaries on the Apocalypse, which were formerly ascribed to Thomas¹³:

The redemption accomplished through the Passion of Christ can be spoken of in two ways: either according to sufficiency, and thus the Passion redeemed all, because, so far as lies in itself, it liberated all; for it is sufficient for redeeming and saving all, even if there were infinite worlds, as Anselm says; or according to efficiency, and thus he did not redeem all through the Passion, because not all adhere to the Redeemer.

The Tridentine Fathers¹⁴ confirmed this solemn distribution by their suffrage in these words:

Although Christ died for all, nevertheless not all receive the benefit of his death, but only those to whom the merit of his Passion is communicated.

Here those who receive the merit of the Passion and the benefit of the death of Christ are clearly distinguished from others who are reckoned in the number of all for whom Christ died and yet do not receive the grace flowing together with the blood of Christ.

For Isaac Habert admonishes¹⁵:

It must be diligently considered that redemption can be regarded in two ways: first, actively, on the part of Christ redeeming; second, passively, on the part of those redeemed. On the part of the one redeeming, it can again be regarded in two ways: first, according to the value and dignity of the price, which Saint Prosper rightly calls the power of the price; and in this manner no one doubts that that infinite price is more than sufficient for the redemption of all the damned, not only those existing but also those possible. In the other manner, it is regarded according to the will of the one redeeming in the actual payment of the price, which will we again establish as twofold: antecedent with respect to all men, concerning which blessed¹⁶

Leo says, “As Christ found no one free from guilt, so he came to liberate all”; and consequent with respect only to the elect, which corresponds both to the divine will that is to offer efficacious grace with a view to him and also to the human will of adults who are to cooperate with this grace. And therefore, by reason of that passive redemption which embraces the ultimate effect of redemption, Christ is the Redeemer only of the predestined; but by reason of the price paid by him for the whole human race, he is the Redeemer of all. And in this sense¹⁷ he gave himself as a redemption for all; and as soon as he paid this price, which, so far as lies in itself, was to benefit all from that general will—blotting out the handwriting¹⁸ which was against us and fastening it to the cross—all are judged redeemed, all liberated, although there are in reality those who are unwilling to enjoy the benefit and fruit of redemption.