Section CLIV

Now these matters are such that a question most suitable for illustrating the present treatment which we are conducting can very easily be resolved. For it can usefully be asked what sort of relation existed between God and the human race, now disfigured and corrupted by the primeval stain. Was there a relation a) of a nature condemned and rejected by God; or rather a relation b) of a nature raised up and repaired; and if this latter relation existed, ought c) the benefit of restitution and reparation to be considered particular or, on the contrary, universal? For when these things have once been explained and duly defined, it can in no way fail to happen that the controversy concerning the order of salvation appears wonderfully smoothed out.

Now, if we follow in the footsteps of Ambrose and give credence to him, before all else 1) it must be denied that the human race, wounded by a death-bearing wound, is related to God by that relation and in that manner which is proper to a nature cast away and condemned. For “my guilt was made for me the price of redemption, through which—”

“—Christ came to me. Guilt was in some measure more fruitful for me than innocence. Adam¹, in order that he might fall, was deceived by the serpent and bent by his wife. Therefore there will now be no marriages in paradise, but all will be without the solemnities of marriage, like the angels in heaven. He had not said² to Adam, ‘You will be with me,’ because he knew that he was going to fall, that he might be redeemed by Christ. Happy the ruin which is repaired unto something better. Therefore now the pious shepherd, the good merchant, does not abandon his flock and his own merchandise.”

For God regarded man with paternal affection; and, as belongs to piety, he took upon himself, as it were, the danger of a Son about to die; he drank, as it were, the sorrow of bereavement, lest the fruit of redemption perish for man.

Then 2) it must be denied that the force and rationale of the repaired order are such as to embrace not the whole human race but only some part of it. For Scripture wonderfully added, “He delivered him up for us all,” in order to show that he so loves all as to deliver his most beloved Son for each one. Therefore each man can, and indeed ought, gratefully to exclaim: “I shall not glory because I am just, but I shall glory because I am redeemed. I shall not glory because I have profited, nor because anyone has profited me, but because Christ is my advocate before the Father; but because the blood of Christ was poured out for me.” Of any man it can, and indeed must, be affirmed most constantly: “So great was God’s condescension toward you that he did not spare his own Son for you. Scripture employed a beautiful expression in order to declare the pious purpose of God the Father toward you, who offered his Son to death. So great was the Lord’s zeal for your salvation that he almost placed himself in danger while he gained you.” Moreover, there is no one, even though he should have perished eternally, to whom the words³ of the Savior to Judas the betrayer do not most perfectly apply: “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” That is⁴: “Do you, a man, betray the Son of Man, who descended from heaven for the salvation of men? For thus⁵ it is written: ‘The Son of Man who is in heaven, he it is who descended—’”

“—from heaven. Do you betray the Son of Man, who made you an apostle from a sinner? Do you betray the Son of Man, who came that in his blood he might wash away the sins of all?”

Therefore 3) it must be held that the order of reparation instituted by divine piety is entirely universal, and that to absolutely all men there always has been, there is, and, even unto the end, there will be present a supply and faculty whereby, after shaking off the bonds of sins, they may obtain the friendship of God and the inheritance of God together with Christ the Firstborn. Although Ambrose very frequently teaches these things elsewhere⁶, he also hands them down clearly when, after relating⁷ the words of Christ, “I will; be cleansed,” he adds⁸: “Jesus says to all, ‘I will,’ who⁹ does not will sin to exist. Christ’s willing is common to all; to be cleansed belongs to the faith of one believing in Christ.” For although¹⁰ “the evil succession of Eve devoured the whole man, the illustrious inheritance of Christ liberated the whole man. Jesus wrote his testament not to one indeed, not to a few, but to all. We are all inscribed as heirs, not according to a portion but according to universality. The testament is common and the right belongs to all; the inheritance belongs to all together and the entirety to each one. Individuals enter upon the New Testament, and all possess it; nor is anything diminished for the heir, whatever is claimed by his coheirs. The advantage remains entire, and it increases for each one the more it has been acquired by more persons. The condition of a human inheritance is different. If its advantages have been divided, they are diminished; and the inscription of a coheir is a loss to the heir. The kingdom of Christ is undivided, the inheritance undivided… . Let us therefore hear¹¹ the advantages of the inheritance. The remission of sins is the inheritance of Christ. Certainly it is entire for each individual and profitable in common; for upon whomsoever—”

“—it has been conferred, it withdraws from no one and accrues to all… . The resurrection is the inheritance of Christ. Would anyone call that his own loss which found in one the title of a common grace? For Christ, rising, rose for all, since through man came the resurrection of the dead. How, therefore, can that be the loss of individuals which is the reformation of the whole body and of the human race? Let the Testament, therefore, be recited, and let us consider its dispositions¹²: ‘But the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after he had said: This is the testament which I will make unto them, says the Lord. I shall give my laws in their hearts, and upon their minds I shall write them; and their sin and iniquity I shall remember no more.’ O truly eternal testator, who fixes his laws in our hearts and writes them upon our minds, so that we can think nothing other than the divine precepts and ought to perceive nothing other than the oracles of God. He gave grace; he reformed nature; and for himself, who is accustomed to forget nothing, he removed the memory of my sins, while to me he gave the memory¹³ of his precepts.”