Dist. 15, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/15/q/bon-sent-IV-d15-p1-a1-q1
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### Article Unique. *On satisfaction in general.*
### Question I. *Whether it is possible to be reconciled to God through satisfaction.*

Concerning the first [point] it is shown that it is possible to be reconciled to God:

1. *By the definition* of that which is to make satisfaction, because Anselm says: «*To make satisfaction is to render to God the honor due [to him]*»; but this is possible for man: therefore it is possible to make satisfaction.

2. Likewise, the more merciful is he against whom an offense is committed, the lesser the penalty he exacts; and the lesser the penalty he exacts, the more easily and the more possibly can satisfaction be made to him; but God is much more merciful than man: therefore if satisfaction can be made to man, [it can be made] also to God.

3. Likewise, someone is punished sufficiently when as much torment is given to him as was the pleasure, because this is the justice of the Mosaic law, Deuteronomy chapter twenty-five: *According to the measure of the sin shall be also the manner of the stripes* etc.; and of the divine law: *As much as he hath glorified himself* etc.; but a man can do this for himself: therefore he can make satisfaction to God.

**On the contrary:** 1. The offense is as great as is he who is offended; but God, who is offended in sin, is infinite: therefore the offense too [is infinite]. But as great as is the offense, so great ought the satisfaction to be, otherwise enough is not done: therefore it is necessary that a man punish himself infinitely. But this is impossible for anyone: therefore man cannot make satisfaction to God for sin.

2. Likewise, the sin of the devil does not exceed our sin infinitely; nay rather, the more his fault exceeds the human [fault], the stronger is the power of [his] nature for enduring evils and doing good things; but the devil cannot make satisfaction: therefore neither [can] man.

3. Likewise, the first parent could not make satisfaction for his fault, because, since he was a man, he willed to be made like to God in knowledge; therefore for satisfaction it was necessary that God should become man; but every sinner prefers his own will to the divine will: therefore he cannot make satisfaction.

4. Likewise, no one could make satisfaction for original [sin] except through the death of Christ; but original [sin] weighs much less than actual [sin]: therefore etc.

> **Conclusion.** It is possible for man to make satisfaction to God, which is explained by a twofold way.

**I respond:** It must be said that there is here one way of speaking, sufficiently probable, that satisfaction is not made for everything that is in sin, since this is impossible. Hence God too does not exact satisfaction for everything that is in fault, but *remits* something through mercy, and *requires satisfaction* for something through justice, so that here *mercy and truth* may be together; nor is there ever *satisfaction* unless *remission* precedes, just as there is never *merit* unless a *gratuitous gift* precedes.

Hence it must be noted that in sin there are two things, namely the *offense of God* and *disordered desire*. The offense of God is infinite, and for it no satisfaction is made, but God's mercy remits it by giving grace; but *perverse desire* is finite. And because God is just, he does not remit the whole, but for it exacts a condign penalty; and with respect to this it is possible to make satisfaction to God.

1. 2. And through this the response to the first two [objections] is clear: to the first, because satisfaction is not made for the offense; to the second, because the devil cannot make satisfaction on account of the impossibility of receiving grace, in which the divine offense might be remitted to him.

3. 4. The response to the third is also clear. For God through mercy leaves the offense altogether [behind] by giving grace, but exacts satisfaction for the very harm which the sinner inflicted upon himself through fault and libidinous pleasure. — And because Adam inflicted upon himself and upon all posterity the harm of death; therefore he could not make full satisfaction, except he who was not a debtor of death and was worth the whole human race. But every sinner, when he sins, inflicts harm in the deformation of the image, which is reparable, and inflicts harm upon himself, not upon others; and therefore it is not similar.

There is also another way of speaking, sufficiently probable

and it seems reasonable, that although the divine mercy leaves the *offense* [behind] for man by giving grace, yet it does not so wholly leave it that it does not also exact satisfaction for the offense through justice. And because man could not make satisfaction for so great an offense, therefore God gave him a Mediator, who would make satisfaction for the offense. Hence in the faith of Christ's passion alone is every fault remitted; for without faith no one is justified; and according to this they say that all our satisfaction has its power from the satisfaction of Christ. But the satisfaction of Christ itself has its effect in the members through the *full* Sacrament of *baptism*, through the Sacrament of *penance in part*, but through *faith* both before the new law and also after — as in those who cannot confess — it has a still *lesser* effect. Hence all satisfaction, not only for the sin of the first parent but also for the others, is founded upon the satisfaction of the Mediator.

1. 2. 3. 4. And according to this way the response to the objections is easy. For just as the offense is infinite, so what God suffers is an infinite satisfaction. — Likewise the second is clear, because the devil had no mediator upon whom his satisfaction could be founded. — Likewise the third concerning Adam is clear: since, just as he himself could not make satisfaction for his own sin, so no one could make sufficient satisfaction for his own [sin], unless he were founded, through faith, upon the satisfaction of Christ's passion.