That the Passion of Christ Caused Our Salvation by Way of Satisfaction

Taken from Medulla S. Thomae Aquinatis which arranges various short texts from St. Thomas Aquinas' corpus based on the liturgical year. I will be posting the day's meditation each day and will be bringing it into print once I'm through it.

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Wednesday after the Second Sunday of Lent

That the Passion of Christ Caused Our Salvation by Way of Satisfaction

He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

I. He properly atones for an offense who offers something which the offended one loves equally, or even more than he detested the offense. But by suffering out of love and obedience, Christ gave more to God than was required to compensate for the offense of the whole human race. First of all, because of the exceeding charity from which He suffered; second, on account of the dignity of His life which He laid down in atonement, for it was the life of one who was God and man; third, on account of the extent of the Passion, and the greatness of the grief endured. And therefore Christ’s Passion was not only a sufficient but a superabundant atonement for the sins of the human race.