On the Redemption

COMPENDIUM

God did not leave man in his hopeless position; out of His goodness and mercy, God held out to man the hope of pardon, and promise of a Redeemer, who would do for man what man could not do for himself. This Redeemer came in the person of God the Son, made man for us. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, freely offered His suffering and death to His Heavenly Father in atonement for the sins of men, satisfying the justice of His Father, and reconciling the human race to God: "When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." (Rom. 5:10) Sin against God is an offence of infinite malice. God's justice demands infinite satisfaction. Moreover, a human act of rebellion requires a human act of atonement. Man could not perform a human act of infinite atonement, but Jesus Christ could. Whether He acted in His Divine Nature of in His human nature, it was the Person, God, who acted. Hence, he could offer infinite satisfaction or atonement for all the human acts of rebellion.

Jesus Christ, by His suffering and death, merited for all men the supernatural life of grace, restoring man to Divine sonship, and placing heaven once more within his reach: "Christ died for all." (2 Cor. 5:15) "I am come that men may have life, and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons ... and if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs with Christ." (Rom. 8:15, 17)

Jesus Christ provided the means whereby all men should receive the benefits which He merited for them, by establishing His Church, to whom He gave His Own Divine Authority to teach, rule, and sanctify all men unto the end of time. Only in the Church and through the Church can men obtain the necessary supernatural life, since Jesus Christ neither indicated nor provided any other arrangement.

To provide a complete definition of man as he is, as God sees him, as the Church must regard him, the subject of the particular rights and duties which we are about to discuss:

Man is an individual person, possessing a human nature, made up of body (which is material) and soul (which is spiritual and immortal), created by God for a supernatural destiny, but born into the world deprived of the necessary supernatural life (through the sin of Adam), yet enabled to acquire it (through the merits of Christ) under the conditions and in the manner laid down by God - that is, through the Church divinely instituted (a) to teach God's truths to men, (b) to expound God's laws to men, (c) to convey God's life to men - whose life in this world is a probation, which will have an end, of which he must give an account, and for which eternal happiness or eternal punishment awaits him.

Such, then, is man: a human being, called to supernatural happiness, and therefore to supernatural life, the subject of rights and duties, by nature and by grace.

CATECHISM

40. Did God leave man in his hopeless position?

No. God, out of His goodness and mercy, held out to man the hope of pardon, and promise of a Redeemer, Who would do for man what man could not do for himself.

41. Did this Redeemer come?

Yes. This Redeemer came in the person of God the Son, made man for us.

42. What did Jesus Christ accomplish for man?

Jesus Christ, true God and true man, freely offered His suffering and death to His Heavenly Father in atonement for the sins of men, satisfying the justice of His Father, and reconciling the human race to God.

43. Did this act of sacrifice restore to man what he had lost by sin - namely, supernatural life?

Jesus Christ, by His suffering and death, merited for all men the supernatural life of grace, restoring man to Divine sonship, and placing heaven once more within his reach.

44. Did Jesus Christ provide the means whereby all men could receive the benefits of His Redemption?

Jesus Christ provided the means whereby all men should receive the benefits which He merited for them, by establishing His Church, to whom He gave His Own Divine Authority to teach, rule, and sanctify all men unto the end of time.

45. Is it only in and through this Church that man can obtain the supernatural life which is necessary for his destiny?

Only in the Church and through the Church can men obtain the necessary supernatural life, since Jesus Christ neither indicated nor provided any other arrangement.

46. When, then, is the complete definition of man as he is, as God sees him, as the Church must regard him, the subject of the particular rights and duties which we are about to discuss?

Man is an individual person, possessing a human nature, made up of body and soul, created by God for a supernatural destiny, but born into the world deprived of the necessary supernatural life, yet enabled to acquire it under the conditions and in the manner laid down by God, whose life in this world is a probation, which will have an end, of which he must give an account, and for which eternal happiness or eternal punishment awaits him.