Chapter 17. That It Is Truly and Properly Said That Christ Has Deserved God's Favor and Salvation for Us

This question is also to be resolved as an addition. For there are some subtle men after a wrong manner, who, although they confess that we obtain salvation by Christ, yet cannot abide to hear the name of deserving, by which they think the grace of God to be obscured: and so they will have Christ to be only the instrument or minister, not the author, guide, or Prince of life, as Peter calls him. Indeed I confess, that if a man will set Christ simply and by himself against the judgment of God, then there shall be no room for deserving: because there can not be found in man any worthiness that may deserve the favor of God. But, as Augustine most truly writes, the most clear light of predestination and grace is our Savior himself, the man Christ Jesus, who has obtained so to be, by the nature of man, which is in him, without any deservings of works or of faith going before. I beseech you let me be answered, by what means that same Man deserved to be taken up by the Word that is coeternal with the father into one person, and so to be the only begotten Son of God. Let therefore appear in our head the very fountain of grace, from which according to the measure of every one, it flows abroad into all his members. By that grace every one from the beginning of his faith is made a Christian, by which that same man from his beginning was made Christ. Again in another place: there is no plainer example of predestination than the Mediator himself. For he that made of the seed of David a man righteous that never should be unrighteous, without any deserving of his will going before, even the same he does of unrighteous make them righteous that are the members of that head: and so forth as there follows. Therefore when we speak of Christ's deserving, we do not say that in him is the beginning of deserving, but we climb up to the ordinance of God, which is the first cause thereof: because God of his own mere good will appointed him Mediator, to purchase salvation for us. And so is the deserving of Christ unfitly set against the mercy of God. For it is a common rule, that things placed in order one under another do not disagree. And therefore it may well stand together, that man's justification is free by the mere mercy of God, and that there also the deserving of Christ comes between, which is contained under the mercy of God. But against our works are aptly set, as directly contrary, both the free favor of God, and the obedience of Christ, either of them in their degree. For Christ could not deserve anything but by the good pleasure of God, and but because he was appointed to this purpose, with his sacrifice to appease the wrath of God, and with his obedience to put away our offenses. Finally in a sum: because the deserving of Christ hangs upon the only grace of God, which appointed us this means of salvation, therefore as well the same deserving, as that grace, is fitly set against all the works of men.

This distinction is gathered out of many places of the Scripture. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, shall not perish. We see how the love of God holds the first place, as the sovereign cause or origin, and then follows faith in Christ, as the second or nearer cause. If any man take exception and say, that Christ is but the formal cause, he does more diminish his power than the words may bear. For if we obtain righteousness by faith that rests upon him, then is the matter of our salvation to be sought in him, which is in many places plainly proved. Not that we first loved him, but he first loved us, and sent his Son to be the appeasing for our sins. In these words is clearly shown, that God, to the end that nothing should withstand his love toward us, appointed us a means to be reconciled in Christ. And this word Appeasing, is of great weight: because God after a certain unspeakable manner, even the same time that he loved us, was also angry with us until he was reconciled in Christ. And to this purpose serve all those sayings: He is the satisfaction for our sins. Again: It pleased God by him to reconcile all things to himself, appeasing himself through the blood of the cross by him, etc. Again: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to men their sins. Again: He accepted us in his beloved Son. Again: That he might reconcile them both to God into one man by the [reconstructed: cross]. The reason of this mystery is to be fetched out of the first chapter to the Ephesians, where Paul, after that he had taught that we were chosen in Christ, adds therewithal, that we have obtained favor in him. How did God begin to embrace with his favor them whom he loved before the making of the world, but because he uttered his love when he was reconciled by the blood of Christ? For since God is the fountain of all righteousness, it must needs be, that man so long as he is a sinner, have God his enemy and his judge. Therefore the beginning of his love is righteousness, such as is described by Paul: He made him that had done no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. For he means, that we have obtained free righteousness by the sacrifice of Christ, that we should please God, who by nature are the children of wrath, and by sin estranged from him. But this distinction is also meant so often as the grace of Christ is joined to the love of God. Whereupon follows, that he gives us of his own that which he has purchased: for otherwise it would not agree with him, that this praise is given him severally from his father, that it is his grace and proceeds from him.

But it is truly and perfectly gathered by many places of the Scripture, that Christ by his obedience has purchased us favor with his Father. For this I take for a thing confessed, that if Christ has satisfied for our sins, if he has suffered the punishment due to us, if by his obedience he has appeased God, finally, if he being righteous has suffered for the unrighteous, then is salvation purchased for us by his righteousness: which is as much in effect as to deserve it. But, as Paul witnesses, we are reconciled and have received reconciliation by his death. But reconciliation has no place, but where there went offence before. Therefore the meaning is: that God, to whom we were hateful by reason of sin, is by the death of his Son appeased, so that he might be favorable to us. And the comparison of contraries that follows a little after is diligently to be noted: As by the transgression of one man, many were made sinners: so also by the obedience of one, many are made righteous (Romans 5:11; Romans 5:19). For the meaning is thus: As by the sin of Adam we were estranged from God and ordained to destruction, so by the obedience of Christ we are received into favor as righteous. And the future tense of the verb does not exclude present righteousness, as appears by the process of the text: for he had said before, that the free gift was of many sins to justification.

But when we say, that grace is purchased for us by the deserving of Christ, we mean this, that we are cleansed by his blood, and that his death was a satisfaction for our sins. His blood cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:5; Luke 22:20). This blood is what is shed for remission of sin. If this be the effect of his blood shed, that sins be not imputed to us: it follows, that with that price the judgment of God is satisfied. To which purpose serves that saying of John the Baptist: Behold the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). For he sets in comparison Christ against all the sacrifices of the law, to teach that in him only was fulfilled that which those figures showed. And we know what Moses each where says: Iniquity shall be cleansed, sin shall be put away and forgiven. Finally we are very well taught in the old figures, what is the force and effect of the death of Christ. And this point the Apostle sets out in the epistle to the Hebrews, very aptly taking this principle, that remission is not wrought without shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). From this he gathers, that Christ for the abolishing of sin, appeared once for all by his sacrifice. Again: that he was offered up to take away the sins of many. And he had said before, that not by the blood of goats or of calves, but by his own blood he once entered into the holy place, finding eternal redemption. Now when he thus reasons: If the blood of a calf does sanctify, according to the cleanliness of the flesh, that much more consciences are cleansed by the blood of Christ from dead works: it easily appears that the grace of Christ is too much diminished, unless we grant to his sacrifice the power of cleansing, appeasing and satisfying. As a little after he adds: This is the mediator of the new testament, that those which are called, may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, by means of death for the redemption of sins going before, which remained under the law. But especially it is convenient to weigh the relation which Paul describes, that he became a curse for us, etc. (Galatians 3:13). For it were superfluous, yes and an absurdity, that Christ should be charged with curse, but for this intent, that he paying that which others did owe, should purchase righteousness for them. Also the testimony of Isaiah is plain that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon Christ, and that we obtained health by his stripes (Isaiah 53:5). For if Christ had not satisfied for our sins, it could not have been said, that he appeased God by taking upon him the pain to which we were subject. With which agrees that which follows in the same place: For the sin of my people I have stricken him. Let us also recite the exposition of Peter, which shall leave nothing doubtful: that he did bear our sin, upon the tree (1 Peter 2:23). For he says, that the burden of damnation from which we were delivered, was laid upon Christ.

And the Apostles do plainly pronounce, that he paid the price of ransom to redeem us from the guiltiness of death. Being justified by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ, whom God has set to be the propitiatory by faith which is in his blood. Paul commends the grace of God in this point, because he has given the price of redemption in the death of Christ: and then he bids us to flee to his blood, that having obtained righteousness, we may stand boldly before the judgment of God. And to the same effect is that saying of Peter: that we are redeemed, not by gold and silver, but by the precious blood of the unspotted Lamb. For the comparison also would not agree, unless with that price satisfaction had been made for sins: for which reason Paul says, that we are preciously bought. Also that other saying of his would not stand together: There is one mediator that gave himself to be a redemption, unless the penalty had been cast upon him which we had deserved: Therefore the same Apostle defines, that the redemption in the blood of Christ is the forgiveness of sins: as if he should have said, that we are justified or acquitted before God, because that blood answers for satisfaction for us. With which also agrees the other place, that the handwriting which was against us, was cancelled upon the cross. For therein is meant the payment or recompense that acquits us from guiltiness. There is also great weight in these words of Paul: If we be justified by the works of the law, then Christ died for nothing. For hereby we gather, that we must fetch from Christ that which the law would give, if any man can fulfill it: or (which is all one) that we obtain by the grace of Christ that, which God promised to our works in the law, when he said: He that does these things, shall live in them. Which he no less plainly confirms in his sermon made at Antioch, affirms that by believing in Christ we are justified from all those things, from which we could not be justified in the law of Moses. For if the keeping of the law be righteousness, who can deny that Christ deserved favor for us, when taking that burden upon him, he so reconciled us to God, as if we ourselves had kept the law? To the same purpose serves that which he afterward writes to the Galatians: God sent his Son subject to the law, that he might redeem those that were under the law. For to what end served that submission of his, but that he purchased to us righteousness, taking upon him to make good that which we were not able to pay? Hereof comes that imputation of righteousness without works, of which Paul speaks, because the righteousness is reckoned to us which was found in Christ only. And truly for no other cause is the flesh of Christ called our meat, but because we find in him the substance of life. And that power proceeds from nothing else, but because the Son of God was crucified, to be the price of our righteousness. As Paul says that he gave up himself a sacrifice of sweet savor. And in another place: He died for our sins, he rose again for our justification. Hereupon is gathered, that not only salvation is given us by Christ, but also that for his sake his father is now favorable to us. For there is no doubt that that is perfectly fulfilled in him, which God under a figure pronounces by Isaiah, saying: I will do it for my own sake, and for David my servant's sake. Of which the Apostle is a right good witness, where he says: Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. For though the name of Christ be not expressed, yet John after his accustomed manner signifies him by this pronoun He. In which sense also the Lord pronounces: As I live because of my father, so shall you also live because of me. With which agrees that which Paul says, It is given you because of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

But to demand, whether Christ deserved for himself, (as Lombard, and the other schoolmen do) is no less foolish curiosity, than it is a rash determination when they affirm it. For what needed the Son of God to come down to purchase any new thing for himself? And the Lord declaring his own counsel, does put it wholly out of doubt. For it is not said, that the father provided for the commodity of his son in his deservings, but that he delivered him to death, and spared him not, because he loved the world. And the prophet's manners of speaking are to be noted, as A child is born to us. Again: Rejoice, you daughter of Sion: behold your king comes to you. Also that confirmation of love should be very cold which Paul sets out, that Christ suffered death for his enemies. For thereupon we gather, that he had no respect of himself: and that same he plainly affirms in saying: I sanctify myself for them. For he that gives away the fruit of his holiness to others, does thereby testify that he purchases nothing for himself. And truly this is most worthily to be noted, that Christ, to give himself wholly to save us, did after a certain manner forget himself. But to this purpose they do wrongfully draw this testimony of Paul: Therefore the father has exalted him, and given him a name, etc. For by what deservings could man obtain to be judge of the world, and the head of the Angels, and to enjoy the sovereign dominion of God, and that in him should rest that same majesty, the thousandth part of which all the powers of men and Angels cannot reach to? But the solution thereof is easy and plain, that Paul does not there treat of the cause of exalting of Christ, but only to show the effect ensuing thereof, that it might be for an example to us. And no other thing is meant by that which is spoken in another place, that it behooved that Christ should suffer, and so enter into the glory of his Father.

This question also requires resolution as a further matter. There are some clever men who, though they confess that we obtain salvation through Christ, cannot tolerate the word merit, thinking it obscures the grace of God. They therefore want to make Christ only an instrument or servant, not the author, guide, and Prince of life, as Peter calls Him. I grant that if a person were to set Christ simply and by Himself against the judgment of God, there would be no room for merit — for no worthiness can be found in man that could deserve God's favor. But, as Augustine most truly writes, the clearest example of predestination and grace is our Savior Himself, the man Christ Jesus, who obtained this position in human nature — without any prior deserving through works or faith. Let someone answer me: by what merit did that man deserve to be assumed by the Word coeternal with the Father into one person and so become the only begotten Son of God? Therefore let the very fountain of grace appear in our head, from which it flows out according to the measure of each one into all His members. By that grace every person from the beginning of their faith is made a Christian, just as by that same grace that man from His beginning was made Christ. Elsewhere Augustine writes: there is no clearer example of predestination than the Mediator Himself. For He who, without any prior deserving of the will, made of the seed of David a man who would never be unrighteous — that same one makes the unrighteous members of that head into righteous people, and so on. So when we speak of Christ's merit, we are not saying that merit originates in Him — we trace it back to God's decree, which is its primary cause. For God of His own pure goodwill appointed Him as Mediator to obtain salvation for us. Therefore the merit of Christ is not rightly set in opposition to the mercy of God. It is a general principle that things ordered one under another do not conflict. Therefore it can stand together perfectly well that our justification is free through the sheer mercy of God, and that the merit of Christ also enters in — since Christ's merit is contained within the mercy of God. It is our works that are rightly and directly opposed by both the free favor of God and the obedience of Christ, each in its own place. For Christ could not have merited anything apart from God's good pleasure — and only because He was appointed for this very purpose: to appease God's wrath with His sacrifice and to remove our offenses with His obedience. In short: since Christ's merit rests entirely on the grace of God, who appointed this means of salvation for us, Christ's merit and God's grace are equally and rightly set against all human works.

This distinction is drawn from many passages of Scripture. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.' We see how the love of God holds the first place as the supreme cause and origin, and then faith in Christ follows as the second, nearer cause. If someone objects that Christ is merely the formal cause, he diminishes His power more than the words can bear. For if we obtain righteousness through faith resting on Him, then the substance of our salvation is to be found in Him — which many passages plainly confirm. 'Not that we first loved Him, but He first loved us, and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.' These words clearly show that God, so that nothing would hinder His love toward us, appointed us a means of reconciliation in Christ. The word atoning sacrifice carries great weight — for in a certain unspeakable manner, God, even at the time He loved us, was also angry with us until He was reconciled in Christ. All these statements serve the same purpose: 'He is the propitiation for our sins.' Again: 'It pleased God through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross.' Again: 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them.' Again: 'He accepted us in His beloved Son.' Again: 'That He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross.' The reason for this mystery is found in Ephesians 1, where Paul, after teaching that we were chosen in Christ, adds that we have found favor in Him. How did God begin to embrace with His favor those whom He had loved before the foundation of the world, except by declaring that love when He was reconciled through Christ's blood? Since God is the fountain of all righteousness, a person who is a sinner must necessarily have God as his enemy and judge. Therefore the beginning of His love is righteousness — such as Paul describes: 'He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' For Paul means that we have obtained free righteousness through Christ's sacrifice, so that we who are by nature children of wrath and have been estranged from God by sin might be pleasing to Him. This distinction is also implied every time the grace of Christ is joined with the love of God. From this it follows that He gives us from His own what He has purchased — for otherwise the praise given Him separately from the Father, that this grace is His and comes from Him, would not be fitting.

But many passages of Scripture truly and perfectly show that Christ has purchased God's favor and salvation for us through His obedience. I take this as established: if Christ has satisfied for our sins, if He has suffered the punishment owed to us, if by His obedience He has appeased God, and if as a righteous man He has suffered for the unrighteous, then salvation has been purchased for us by His righteousness -- which amounts to saying He has earned it. As Paul witnesses, we are reconciled and have received reconciliation through His death. But reconciliation has no place unless there was first an offense. The meaning, then, is this: God, to whom we were hateful because of sin, is appeased by the death of His Son, so that He might be favorable to us. The contrast that follows shortly after deserves careful attention: "As by one man's transgression many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one man many are made righteous" (Romans 5:11; Romans 5:19). The meaning is this: just as by Adam's sin we were alienated from God and destined for destruction, so by Christ's obedience we are received into favor as righteous. The future tense of the verb does not exclude present righteousness, as the context shows. Paul had said just before that the free gift from many sins led to justification.

When we say that grace is purchased for us by the merit of Christ, we mean that we are cleansed by His blood and that His death was a satisfaction for our sins. "His blood cleanses us from sin" (1 John 1:5; Luke 22:20). "This blood is shed for the forgiveness of sin." If the effect of His shed blood is that sins are no longer counted against us, it follows that by this price God's judgment is satisfied. John the Baptist's statement serves this point: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He sets Christ against all the sacrifices of the law to teach that only in Him was fulfilled what those figures represented. We know what Moses repeatedly says: that wrongdoing will be cleansed, sin put away, and forgiven. In short, the old figures teach us very well about the power and effect of Christ's death. The apostle sets this out very well in the epistle to the Hebrews, taking as his principle that forgiveness is not accomplished without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). From this he concludes that Christ appeared once and for all through His sacrifice to abolish sin. Again: that He was offered up to take away the sins of many. He had said before that not by the blood of goats or calves, but by His own blood, He entered into the holy place once, obtaining eternal redemption. Now when he reasons like this -- if the blood of an animal sanctifies for outward cleanliness, how much more do Christ's blood cleanse consciences from dead works -- it is clear that Christ's grace is greatly diminished unless we grant His sacrifice the power of cleansing, appeasing, and satisfying. A little later he adds: "This is the Mediator of the new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, by means of His death for the redemption of sins that remained under the law." But it is especially important to weigh the connection Paul describes: that He became a curse for us, etc. (Galatians 3:13). It would be pointless -- indeed absurd -- for Christ to be charged with the curse unless His purpose was to pay what others owed and so purchase righteousness for them. Isaiah's testimony is also clear: the punishment that brought us peace was laid on Christ, and by His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). If Christ had not satisfied for our sins, it could not have been said that He appeased God by taking upon Himself the punishment to which we were subject. What follows in the same passage agrees with this: "For the sin of My people I have struck Him." Let us also cite Peter's interpretation, which removes all doubt: "He bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:23). He says that the burden of condemnation from which we were delivered was laid upon Christ.

The apostles plainly declare that He paid the ransom price to redeem us from the guilt of death. "Being justified by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by faith in His blood." Paul commends the grace of God in that He provided the price of redemption in Christ's death. Then he tells us to take refuge in His blood, so that having obtained righteousness, we may stand boldly before God's judgment. Peter's statement serves the same purpose: that we are redeemed not with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of the spotless Lamb. The comparison would not hold together unless satisfaction for sins had been made through that price. This is why Paul says that we were bought at a great cost. His other statement would also not stand: "There is one Mediator who gave Himself as a ransom" -- unless the penalty we deserved had been placed on Him. Therefore, the same apostle defines redemption through the blood of Christ as the forgiveness of sins. It is as if he said that we are justified, or acquitted, before God because that blood serves as satisfaction for us. This also agrees with the other passage: the written record that stood against us was cancelled at the cross. This refers to the payment or compensation that acquits us from guilt. Paul's words are also very significant: "If we are justified by the works of the law, then Christ died for nothing." From this we gather that we must get from Christ what the law would give if anyone could fulfill it -- or to say the same thing differently: we obtain through the grace of Christ what God promised to our works in the law when He said, "The one who does these things shall live by them." He confirms this no less plainly in his sermon at Antioch, declaring that by believing in Christ we are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. If keeping the law is righteousness, who can deny that Christ earned favor for us when He took that burden upon Himself and reconciled us to God as if we ourselves had kept the law? His statement to the Galatians serves the same purpose: "God sent His Son, subject to the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law." What was the point of His submission, if not to purchase righteousness for us by taking upon Himself the obligation we were unable to fulfill? This is where the imputation of righteousness without works, of which Paul speaks, comes from. The righteousness credited to us is the righteousness found in Christ alone. And truly, Christ's flesh is called our food for no other reason than that we find in Him the substance of life. That power comes from nothing else but the fact that the Son of God was crucified as the price of our righteousness. As Paul says: He gave Himself up as a fragrant sacrifice. And in another place: "He died for our sins and was raised for our justification." From this we conclude that not only is salvation given to us through Christ, but for His sake the Father is now favorable to us. There is no doubt that what God said figuratively through Isaiah is perfectly fulfilled in Christ: "I will do it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake." The apostle is a reliable witness of this when he says: "Your sins are forgiven for His name's sake." Although the name of Christ is not stated, John uses the pronoun "He" to refer to Christ, following his usual style. In the same sense, the Lord declares: "As I live because of My Father, so you will also live because of Me." Paul's statement agrees: "It has been granted to you for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him."

But to ask whether Christ earned anything for Himself, as Lombard and other scholars do, is foolish curiosity. And their claim that He did is a reckless conclusion. Why would the Son of God have needed to come down to acquire something new for Himself? The Lord, by declaring His own purpose, puts the matter beyond doubt. Scripture does not say that the Father provided for the Son's benefit through His merits. Instead, it says that He delivered Him to death and did not spare Him because He loved the world. The prophet's manner of speaking is worth noting: "A child is born to us." Again: "Rejoice, daughter of Zion! Behold, your king comes to you." Also, Paul's demonstration of love would be very weak if Christ suffered death for His enemies only for His own benefit. We gather from this that Christ had no regard for Himself. He explicitly confirms this when He says: "I sanctify Myself for them." The one who gives away the fruit of His holiness to others testifies that He earns nothing for Himself. And this is truly worth noting: Christ, in order to give Himself completely to save us, in a certain sense forgot Himself. But they wrongly apply Paul's testimony to this question: "Therefore God has exalted Him and given Him a name above every name," etc. By what merits could a man obtain the right to be judge of the world, head of the angels, and to enjoy the supreme rule of God -- so that the majesty resting in Him is beyond what all the powers of humans and angels combined could reach? But the solution is easy and plain: Paul is not discussing the cause of Christ's exaltation but simply showing what followed from it, as an example for us. The same is meant by the saying found elsewhere: that Christ had to suffer, and in this way enter into the glory of His Father.