CCCVI. The universal scope of the salvific will is established

From these things it is ready and easy clearly to define both the breadth and the force and supreme origin of the salvific—

—will and of the whole repaired order. And as regards the breadth, it ought indeed to correspond a) to the office of prayers; b) to the repeated formulas ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, for all men; c) to the extension of the salvific order, which God the Father first instituted and repaired through Christ; and finally d) to the economy of mediation, on account of which Christ is hailed as εἷς μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, the one and common¹ mediator of God and men. But these things are confined by no limits and altogether display the mark of universality. It remains, therefore, that the salvific will itself also be regarded as circumscribed by no boundaries and wholly universal.

And not only universal, but also efficacious and active. For its fruits are a) the manner of providence by which mutual prayers are commanded for the common salvation of all; b) means divinely appointed by which men may be led to salvation and knowledge of the truth; c) the primitive institution of the salvific order; and d) the restoration of the same through Christ, θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων μεσίτην, the umpire of God and men.

But the ultimate and principal origin of all these things is neither other, nor is another taught in the sacred writings², than the merciful love and will of God the Father through Jesus Christ, the common mediator and umpire of all—

—and umpire. 1) Paul teaches this when he exhibits the principal cause of the salvific will in the words so often set forth: “for there is one God the Father, institutor of the salvific order, and likewise one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, through whom the salvific order was restored.” 2) The Scriptures everywhere teach this, whether when they testify that all graces flowed and continue further to flow from the Father through the Son into the whole human race, or when they refer the salvific economy of the Son back to the Father who sent him, as to the supreme origin. The things which we subjoin indeed demonstrate both—

—“I give thanks³ to my God always for you ἐπὶ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ δοθείσῃ ὑμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, for the grace of God the Father which was given to you in Christ Jesus.” God the Father⁴, “who delivered us … κατ᾽ ἰδίαν πρόθεσιν καὶ χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, according to his own purpose and the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before secular times.” “We give thanks⁵ to God the Father, who made us worthy of a share in the lot of the saints in light; who rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν⁶ διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.” “We see⁷ Jesus, on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, ὅπως χάριτι θεοῦ⁸ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται θανάτου, that by the grace of God he might taste death for all⁹.” “For God the Father so¹⁰ loved the world¹¹ that he gave his only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world that he might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” If, therefore,¹² the Son of man came ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι τὸ ἀπολωλός, “to seek and save¹³ that which had perished,” and if—

—he was for us the author of regeneration and salvation, these things are principally to be attributed to the Father, who both gave and sent the Son, and of whom we¹⁴ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς, οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεός, ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν, “are the workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in¹⁵ good works, which God prepared that we might walk in them.”

Moreover, 3) oracles of the Bible occur which are no less frequent than express and which ascribe and vindicate the whole reparation and the instituted order of salvation to the love and mercy of God the Father. To this assuredly pertain the things we have just related concerning the love of God the Father by which he imparted the Son to the world; and to this pertain these plainly twin things which Paul¹⁶ writes: “But God commends τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπην εἰς ἡμᾶς, his own love toward us, because when we were yet sinners, Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανε, Christ died for us¹⁷”; and he underwent death¹⁸ for this reason, that, justified through his blood, we might be saved from the wrath of the Father and return into grace with him. Therefore¹⁹, “we glory ἐν τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, δι᾽ οὗ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” For it pleased²⁰ God the Father δι᾽ αὐτοῦ, through him, to reconcile all things and διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ, through the blood of his cross, to reduce to peace things terrestrial—

—and heavenly. Whence²¹ God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of the highest praises, ὁ κατὰ τὸ πολὺ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος, “who according to his great mercy regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”; “who²² blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ, as he chose us in him before the constitution of the world …; who predestined us unto the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, according to the good pleasure of his will”; who finally²³ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτόν, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται; “did not spare his own Son²⁴, but delivered him up for us all; how will he not also with him give all things to us?”

“All the Greek and Latin interpreters,” says Petavius, On the Incarnation, book XII, chapter V, § IV, “acknowledge this to be the meaning of the whole passage: the Apostle commands prayers and supplications to be made for all mortals, of whatever race and order, because God desires all to be saved. And thereafter he renders the reason that there is one God of all, and one mediator and umpire between God and men. There the word one properly and of itself indicates nothing other than that God is common to all and the mediator common, so that he therefore wills it to be provided for all.” ↩
The benignity of God in the New Testament is distinguished by diverse words. And 1) generally there is praised (Rom. V.5–8; VIII.39; II Cor. XIII.13; I John III.1; IV.9–16) God’s ἀγάπη, the love by which he wills well to men and benefits them, and delights in the felicity of men; and that love is called (Eph. II.4), on account of its magnitude, ἡ πολλὴ ἀγάπη, while God is said (John III.16; XVI.27; I John IV.10–11, 19; Eph. II.4) ἀγαπᾶν and φιλεῖν men, to love and cherish them, and to him is attributed (Tit. III.4) φιλανθρωπία, love toward men; and men loved by God and increased with benefits (Rom. IX.25; XI.28; Col. III.12; I Thess. I.4; II Thess. II.13) are called ἠγαπημένοι, ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ θεοῦ, or ὑπὸ κυρίου. Moreover, 2) God, benign and likewise beneficent, is called (Luke VI.35; I Pet. II.3, compared with Ps. XXXIV.9) χρηστός, properly useful, and one who furnishes usefulness; and to him is asserted (Rom. II.4; XI.22; Eph. II.7; Tit. III.4) χρηστότης, beneficence, usefulness, and the disposition by which he is inclined to do good; likewise (Rom. II.4) τὸ χρηστόν, the same as χρηστότης, and πλοῦτος τῆς χρηστότητος, an abundance of benignity, that is, copious and abundant beneficence. But 3) since God’s love and benignity are expended upon men who are miserable and needy, therefore (Luke I.50, 54, 58, 72; I Tim. I.2; Tit. III.5; Heb. IV.16) it is called ἔλεος, mercy; likewise (I Pet. I.3) πολὺ ἔλεος; and God himself sometimes (Rom. IX.15–16, 18; XI.32; Phil. II.27) is said ἐλεεῖν, to have mercy, sometimes (Eph. II.4) πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, rich in mercy, abundantly and amply merciful, and sometimes (Luke I.78) there are attributed to him σπλάγχνα ἐλέους, bowels of mercy, a merciful breast and inward mercy. The same divine mercy (Rom. XII.1; Col. III.12; Phil. II.1) is called οἰκτιρμός, while God (Rom. IX.15; Luke VI.36; James V.11; II Cor. I.3) is said οἰκτείρειν, to have compassion, and is called οἰκτίρμων, compassionate, πολύσπλαγχνος, very merciful, and ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν, the Father of mercies and therefore supremely merciful. But 4) the men who are adorned with the benefits of God are not only miserable and needy, but also plainly unworthy and never deserving well of anything; hence very often (Rom. V.15–17; XI.5–6; I Cor. XV.10; Eph. II.7; Tit. II.11) there is praised χάρις, gratuitous favor, benignity, and gratuitous beneficence; χάρις ἡ σωτήριος, saving grace; ὑπερβάλλων πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος, the surpassing riches of grace; περισσεία τῆς χάριτος, abundance of grace; and God (I Pet. V.10) is called ὁ θεὸς πάσης χάριτος, the God of all grace. Sometimes, however, (II Cor. VI.1; IX.8) ἡ χάρις indicates God’s benefit and gift proceeding from gratuitous favor, and (I Pet. IV.10) is interchanged with χάρισμα, by which (Rom. V.15–16; VI.23; XI.29) the gratuitous benefits of God are proclaimed. Whence (II Cor. IV.15; IX.14) ἡ χάρις πλεονάσασα is an accumulated benefit of God, and ἡ ὑπερβάλλουσα χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ is the most excellent gift of God. Finally, 5) since the most benign God tolerates men who sin and defers the punishments they have merited, there is praised (Rom. II.4; III.26; IX.22; I Pet. III) God’s ἀνοχή, tolerance, mildness; μακροθυμία, long-suffering; and πλοῦτος τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας, the riches of tolerance and long-suffering; and God himself (Luke XVIII.7; II Pet. III.9) is said μακροθυμεῖν, to be long-suffering. ↩
I Cor. I.4. ↩
II Tim. I.9. ↩
Col. I.12–15. ↩
Griesbach and Lachmann expunged from the text the words διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, which nevertheless the Vulgate interpreter and Irenaeus, book V, chapter II, retain. ↩
Heb. II.9. ↩
The most widespread reading exhibits not χάριτι θεοῦ but χωρὶς θεοῦ. ↩
The expression ὑπὲρ παντός most certainly corresponds to the other ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, for all men. ↩
John III.16–18. ↩
Ikenius, in Philological and Theological Dissertations, vol. I, dissertation XXIV, and Stronkius, in Specimen Hermeneuticum Theologicum, pp. 149 ff., treat excellently of the universal signification of τοῦ κόσμου in this passage. ↩
Matt. XVIII.11. ↩
The neuter gender is not seldom used for the masculine, namely, when the discourse concerns a person. Examples which show this are frequent (John I.47; III.6; I John I.1; V.4; Heb. VII.7; Luke I.35; Matt. I.20; XII.6), and among these the present passage also ought to be numbered: “the Son of man came to save τὸ ἀπολωλός, the lost thing, that which perished,” that is, lost man and the human family. ↩
Eph. II.10. ↩
The preposition ἐπί with the dative expresses ordination and destination; therefore ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς is the same as ἐπὶ τῷ ἐργάζεσθαι ἀγαθά, for the doing of that which is good and honorable. ↩
Rom. V.8–9. ↩
What is said here, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, for us, although it may seem circumscribed, nevertheless in the reality itself, as the context evinces, is universal, and has the same force as ὑπὲρ πάντων and ὑπὲρ κόσμου, for all and for the world. ↩
Rom. V.9. ↩
Ibid., v. 11. ↩
Col. I.19–20. ↩
I Pet. I.3. ↩
Eph. I.3–6. ↩
Rom. VIII.32. ↩
The Greeks are accustomed to oppose ἴδιον υἱόν, own son, to τοῖς θετοῖς, adopted sons. Christ, therefore, is called Son by nature. ↩

Footnotes