Section CLIX

By all these illustrious and eloquent testimonies of Clement, Innocent, Celestine, and Leo we are plainly taught to number the following among those things which above all ought to be held certain and ascertained: a) that after that first and universal ruin of human transgression, the human race fell into such miseries that it was subject to the necessity of perishing and destitute of the possibility of recovering salvation, unless the advent of Christ the Lord had restored the state of pristine liberty, unless the grace of the merciful God had raised it up, unless true God had brought a remedy and cured every infirmity of corruption and all the wounds of defiled souls.

Let us number b), in the next place, that the magnificence of divine goodness is so great that it cannot be recounted; that it must be referred to the benefits received that the Lord assumed us; that, because of the charity which he had toward us, Christ, according to the will of God, delivered his blood for us, his flesh for our flesh, and his soul for our souls; that God, whose nature is goodness and whose work is mercy, as soon as diabolical malignity mortified us with the poison of its envy, signified beforehand among the very beginnings of the world the remedies of his piety prepared for the renewal of mortals; and that—

when the times appointed beforehand for the redemption of men arrived, he descended into this world in order to take away our contagions, heal our vices, seize the vessels of captivity, recall nature, purged of its ancient crimes, to its honor, and provide the means of returning from iniquity to justice and from misery to beatitude.

And therefore let us also number c) that the condition of the human race, which, if the works of men are regarded, would be a condition of ruin and condemnation, is, through the intervention of God’s clemency and goodness, a condition of reparation and salvation. And indeed it is a reparation which is entirely universal, and yet so efficacious, active, and fruitful of all those things without which salvation cannot be obtained and with which the attainment of salvation is placed within the power of men, that only those are condemned and perish who spurn the benefits of divine liberality.

Certainly no one will be permitted to doubt the universality of reparation if it excluded no time and embraced within its compass absolutely all the posterity of Adam. For by each condition it is brought about that it is universal both in time and in persons, and therefore absolutely and simply universal. Now, as pertains to persons, Clement writes those things which demonstrate that absolutely no one is excepted. For after he premised¹: “Brethren, it is fitting that we think of Jesus Christ ὡς περὶ Θεοῦ, as of God, as of the judge of the living and the dead; καὶ οὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶς μικρὰ φρονεῖν περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, nor is it fitting that we think lowly things concerning our salvation,” he immediately subjoined² this reason:

For when we think lowly things concerning him, we also hope that we shall receive small things; and³ when we hear as though concerning trifling things, we sin, οὐκ εἰδότες πόθεν ἐκλήθημεν, καὶ ὑπὸ τίνος, καὶ εἰς ὃν τόπον, καὶ ὅσα ὑπέμεινεν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς παθεῖν ἕνεκα ἡμῶν, not knowing whence we were called, and by whom, and into what place, and how great things Jesus Christ endured to suffer for us. What recompense, therefore, shall we repay him? Or what fruit worthy of those things which he gave us shall we render to him? How many pious benefits⁴ do we owe him! For he bestowed light upon us; as a father he called us sons; ἀπολλυμένους ἡμᾶς ἔσωσεν, he saved us when we were perishing. What praise shall we give him, or what recompense⁵ whereby we may compensate for the things which we have received—we who were captive in mind and worshiped stones, wood, gold, silver, and bronze, the works of men; and our whole life was nothing other than death? Therefore, surrounded by obscurity and having our sight filled with such darkness, we looked up, laying aside by his will that cloud by which we were encompassed. Ἠλέησεν γὰρ ἡμᾶς καὶ σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἔσωσεν, θεασάμενος ἐν ἡμῖν πολλὴν πλάνην καὶ ἀπώλειαν, καὶ μηδεμίαν ἐλπίδα ἔχοντας σωτηρίας, εἰ μὴ τὴν παρ’ αὐτοῦ· ἐκάλεσεν γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐκ ὄντας, καὶ ἠθέλησεν ἐκ μὴ ὄντος εἶναι ἡμᾶς. For he had mercy upon us and, moved in his inward parts, made us safe, when he had seen in us much error and destruction and that we had no hope of salvation except that⁶ which is from—

“—him. For he called us when we were not, and willed us to be from that which was not.”

As soon as he had confirmed these things by the testimony and support⁷ of the Scriptures, with nothing interposed he proceeds⁸:

Another Scripture⁹ also says: “For I came not to call the just, but sinners.” Τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι δεῖ τοὺς ἀπολλυμένους σώζειν· ἐκεῖνο γὰρ ἐστὶν μέγα καὶ θαυμαστόν, οὐ τὰ ἑστῶτα στηρίζειν, ἀλλὰ τὰ πίπτοντα. This means that he must save those who are perishing. For that is great and admirable: to support not the things which stand but those which fall. Οὕτως ὁ Χριστὸς ἠθέλησεν σῶσαι τὰ ἀπολλύμενα, καὶ ἔσωσεν πολλοὺς ἐλθών, καὶ καλέσας ἡμᾶς ἤδη ἀπολλυμένους. Thus Christ willed to save the things which were perishing, and saved many when he came and when he called us who were already perishing.

We, therefore, are those to whom Clement testifies that the reparation procured by the advent of Christ pertains. But how many does he understand by the pronoun ἡμᾶς, “us”? Does he signify only some among men, and those the faithful, or, on the contrary, all men? He signifies those who were πηροὶ τῇ διανοίᾳ, captive in mind, addicted to idolatry, entangled in manifold error and sickness, supported by no hope in themselves, and, in a word, ἀπολλύμενοι, perishing. But these are descriptions which display the whole human race, bound and laid low by the original stain and by the crimes which afterward followed. Therefore the reparation which is owed to Christ is one which excepts no one, extends to all, and is adorned with the mark and token of universal amplitude.