Section CLII

We know, therefore, what moved God to decree and execute the ἐνανθρώπησις of the Only-begotten; what end God set for himself in decreeing and executing it; and what amplitude and extension he assigned to it. For this reason, a) if we trust Ambrose, God decreed from eternity the σάρκωσις of the Only-begotten and executed it when the fullness of the times arrived, because 1) he is the author of man, because 2) as a good worker he loves his own work, and because 3) as a good father he does not will to abandon it, but rather as a rich householder willed to redeem it with the wealth of his own inheritance.

But b) he directed the Incarnation and Redemption to this end: that nature might be renewed and reformed, indeed increased; that grace might superabound where sin had abounded; that the sting of death might be blunted; that the spoils of the devil might be crucified;

that what had been cast out and had died might be received and raised again; and that the eternity of grace might be given to the living.

Moreover, c) it is established by more than one indication and argument that this was God’s purpose: that the fruit of the Incarnation and Redemption should of itself be universal and embrace all. And 1) it is established by those things by which God, moved and incited, decreed the οἰκονομία of the Savior and, having decreed it, brought it to completion. For these things are universal and of themselves except no one. Then 2) it is established by the express words in which Ambrose testifies that the Redemption pertains to all those who had been disowned through sin, who had been cast out, who were counted among the spoils of the devil, whom death had subjected to itself, and who bore mortal flesh. No less is it 3) established by those things in which he teaches that the divine blood was offered for those whose nature the Only-begotten put on. But the Only-begotten put on the common nature of men, humanity itself¹. Therefore he redeemed it whole and entire.

Wherefore, when Ambrose discusses the types of the cross², among other things he gathers this from them:

You see, therefore, that upon the cross of Christ the infirmity of all men is lifted.

But, discoursing concerning the most blessed Virgin³, he writes:

Mary was alone, and she spoke with the angel⁴. She was alone when the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. She was alone, and she wrought the salvation of the world and conceived the redemption of all⁵.

For we were, Ambrose says⁶:

Under a harsh creditor, who could not be paid and satisfied except by the death of the debtor. The Lord Jesus came and saw us gravely burdened by interest. No one could discharge his interest-bearing debt from the patrimony of his own innocence; I could not have from my own that whereby I might free myself. He brought me a new kind of absolution, that I might change the creditor, because I did not have the interest whereby I might pay.

But guilt, not nature, had made us debtors; for by our sins we contracted heavy debts, so that we who were free became liable. For a debtor is one who has received something from the creditor’s money. But sin is from the devil; the impious man has these riches, as it were, in his patrimony. For just as virtues are the riches of Christ, so crimes are the resources of the devil. By a grave interest-bearing debt he had reduced the human race to the perpetual captivity of a liable inheritance, which the indebted author had transmitted to posterity by an interest-bearing succession. The Lord Jesus came; he offered his death for the death of all; he poured out his blood for the blood of all… . He forgave all⁷, nor is there anyone whom he did not release… . For he judged⁸ that men could be bound by benefits and provoked to do the things which are right more than by fear, and that charity avails more for correction than dread.

Through charity he underwent death⁹:

And by the death of one the world was redeemed. For Christ could have not died if he had willed; but he neither thought that death was to be fled as cowardly, nor would he have saved us better than by dying. Therefore his death is the life of all. By his death we are signed¹⁰; praying, we announce his death; offering his death, we proclaim it. His death is victory; his death is a mystery; his death is the annual solemnity of the world. What more shall we say concerning his death, when by the divine example we prove that death alone sought immortality and death itself redeemed itself? Therefore death, which is the cause of public salvation, is not to be mourned.

For¹¹ Christ—

—was made the sin of all and was washing away the sins of the human race. Finally he died—and a second and third time, exulting and triumphing, I say: he died, so that his death might become the life of the dead.

For¹²:

Neither an ambassador nor a messenger, but the Lord himself saved his people. He alone remains¹³, because this cannot be common to any man with Christ: that he forgive sins. This office belongs to Christ alone, who took away the sin of the world¹⁴. The woman also merited to be absolved¹⁵, who, when the Jews withdrew, remained alone with Jesus. But raising his head, Jesus said to the woman¹⁶: “Where are those who accused you? Has no one stoned you?” And she answered: “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her: “Neither shall I condemn you. Go, and henceforth see that you sin not.” See, reader, the divine mysteries and the clemency of Christ. When the woman is accused, Christ inclines his head; but he raises it when the accuser is lacking. He wills no one to be condemned, all to be absolved.

And because he bears this disposition:

Christ embraces his world with no slight light¹⁷, since¹⁸ “his going forth is from the summit of heaven, and his course even unto its summit, and there is no one who hides himself from his heat.” For the benign one illumines all and wills not to reject the weak, but to amend him; nor does the Church desire to exclude the hard, but to soften him. And therefore in the Song of Songs the Church invites them¹⁹, and in the Gospel Christ²⁰, saying: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.”