Archive for April 13th, 2010
Christ Suffered for the Sins of men:
1) I understand that Christ designs by these words to animate the dejected, and to awaken fear in the imperfect, in those who have not attained to serve from love; as though He should say to them, be assured of this, that the man, who shall confess Me, I will confess him; and that the man, who shall deny Me, I will deny him. Where it is to be understood that they confess Christ before men, who, having stifled in themselves all cravings after earthly glory and self-indulgence, state frankly, without fear for life or for honor, that Jesus is the Messiah, promised in the law; that He is the Son of God, one and the same with God, who, having taken upon Himself the sins of men, and having been chastised for them, has reconciled us to God; and that they enjoy this reconciliation who believe. Juan de Valdés Commentary Upon the Gospel of Matthew, (London: Trüber & Co, 1882), 82-183. [Some spelling modernized; and underlining mine.]
Christ satisfied for Original Sin:
1) Men easily believe, from the declaration of the Holy Scriptures, that God is supremely omnipotent and just: they believe that Christ is perfectly innocent and free from every sin; they believe that Christ suffered by the will of God; because in none of those things do they find inward opposition adequate to induce them to disbelieve what the Holy Scriptures affirm; and, not to exclude the benefit of Christ, they moreover believe that Christ rendered satisfaction for original sin, for they do not find opposition even in this, inasmuch as their consciences do not accuse them on the score of original sin; and as they do not recognize any personal blame attached to it, they readily bring themselves to believe, that without personal merit that is pardoned to them which they do not recognize as a personal failing.
But when it is propounded to them, as an article of faith, that Christ rendered satisfaction to God for the sins which they severally committed,–although they possess the Holy Scriptures, which testify this to them in the most ample manner, nay, they all proclaim this harmoniously,–they suddenly draw back, because they find inward opposition in their own consciences, and thus they resolve to restrict the benefit of Christ solely to original sin, understanding it in their own fashion, or even extending it to their own sins, but with the addition of their own satisfaction, as though Christ had declared: ‘I have rendered satisfaction for the sins of you all, but with the covenant that each individual render satisfaction for his own,’–and they do not consider the insult which they thus put upon Christ: and they do not consider it because they do not feel it, and they do not feel it because they do not know Christ. Juan de Valdés, Life and Writings of Juan de Valdés, ed. Benjamin B. Wiffen, (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1865), 527-528. [Some spelling modernized; and underlining mine.]