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[Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury
- From: "John Brand" <jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca>
- To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury
- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:57:59 -0500
Tim wrote:
> Au contraire, you are radically misreading my position. As I have
> indicated more than once, Torah was never supposed to function as a
> hypothetical means of achieving life.
John responds:
As I have connsidered some of your thoughts on the subject of Paul and his view of the
law, I am reminded of Anselm's interpretation of the justice of God which becomes the
basis for the Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement. The idea became the basis for the
Reformation view of the imputation of Christ's righteousness which might be
summarized by the Westminster Confession of Faith.XI.i:
Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth, not by infusing
righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting their persons as
righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Chirsts sake
alone: not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical
obedience, to them as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and
satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness
by faith: which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.
It appears also in the Heidelberg Catechism which begins by asking "What is your only
comfort in life and death?" (Q/A 1) and answers by saying that we belong to our saviour
Jesus Christ who has "fully paid for all [our] sins." Anselm's concept of justice and
Christ's satisfaction is developed in Q/A 1219: "God demands that his justice be
satisfied. Therefore we must make full payment, either by ourselves or through
another." (A.12)
Do you find yourself in agreement with Anselm's basic syllogism as follows?
In Cur Deus Homo.I.xi Anselm introduces
his concept of justice to the discussion: To
render to God what is due him. The introduction of this concept follows closely on the
heels of the presuppostions which he lays down in chapter x regarding the chief end of
man and what hinders him from attaining this end (recall Westminster Catechism 'What is
the chief end of man?). The esssential syllogism is as follows:
P1 Man was made for happiness.
P2 No being can ever arrive at happiness,
save by freedom from sin.
P3 No man passes this life without
sin.
Conclusion: In order that man may attain happiness,
remission of sins is necessary.
In chapter xi he continues by discussing what it means
to sin and to make satisfaction for
sin:
If man or angel always rendered to
God his due, he would never sin ... to sin is
nothing else than not to render to God his due. [The debt which we owe to
God is that] every wish of a rational creature should be subject to the will of
God ...This is the debt which man and angel owe to God, and no one who
pays this debt commits sino but every one who does not pay it sins. This is
justice, or uprightness of will, which makes a being just or upright in heart,
that is, in willo and this is the sole and complete debt of honor which we owe
to God, and which God requires of us.
The solution which Anselm proposes is
that a mediator must be sought who is both man
and God so that God's honor can be satisfied on the one hand and man's sin can be
covered on the other. His proposal is that Christ became the substitute for man so that
God's justice could be satisfied.
Thanks for the clarification.
John Brand
B.A. Bib Stu (Providence College, Otterburne, MB, Canada, 1980)
M.Min. (Providence Seminary, 1991)
jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca
-
[Corpus-Paul] (no subject),
Jim West, 08/12/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] (no subject),
Rabbi Saul, 08/12/2004
-
[Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury,
John Brand, 08/12/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury,
Rabbi Saul, 08/13/2004
-
[Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant,
John Brand, 08/13/2004
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant, Rabbi Saul, 08/13/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant,
meta, 08/13/2004
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant, John Brand, 08/16/2004
-
[Corpus-Paul] Pauline Satisfaction of the Divine Justice,
John Brand, 08/13/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Pauline Satisfaction of the Divine Justice,
Jim West, 08/13/2004
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Pauline Satisfaction of the Divine Justice, John Brand, 08/16/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Pauline Satisfaction of the Divine Justice,
Jim West, 08/13/2004
-
[Corpus-Paul] Second Temple Judaism and Covenant,
John Brand, 08/13/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury,
Rabbi Saul, 08/13/2004
-
[Corpus-Paul] Paul and the Divine Justice: Anslem of Canterbury,
John Brand, 08/12/2004
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] (no subject),
Rabbi Saul, 08/12/2004
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