Anselm of Canterbury endeavours to prove by “plain reasoning and fact”, without resort to revelation, “as if nothing were known of Christ”, that it is necessary for the death of a God-man to save man from death so that he may enjoy eternal life.
Justice, Dignity and Offense
If, as Plato writes in Republic, justice is to give each his due, what is the just due creatures ought to give to their Creator?
Anselm answers that the will of a rational creature should be subject to the will of God. In human relations, if someone saves the life of another, the latter is said to owe the former his life, and that he is bound to do whatever the former requests of him, which is but small compensation compared to the debt of life owed. Given (the premise) that God created the world out of nothing, man owes God his whole existence, and is therefore obligated to abide by the will of his Creator. “He who does not render this honor which is due to God, robs God of his own and dishonors him; and this is sin.”
In human relations, if a man wrongs another, he must make amends by restoring or repaying the damages out of his own resources. If he damages the honour of another person, he must make additional restoration, for that which cannot be measured in material value. In man’s relation to God, if man dishonours God by disobeying His Will and Person, there is nothing of himself, which he can offer to atone for his sin, since man owes God his whole existence and obedience -he is in the red, so to speak, to begin with. “What do you give to God by your obedience, which is not owed him already, since he demands from you all that you are and have and can become?”
For as one who imperils another’s safety does not enough by merely restoring his safety, without making some compensation for the anguish incurred; so he who violates another’s honor does not enough by merely rendering honor again, but must, according to the extent of the injury done, make restoration in some way satisfactory to the person whom he has dishonored. We must also observe that when any one pays what he has unjustly taken away, he ought to give something which could not have been demanded of him, had he not stolen what belonged to another. So then, every one who sins ought to pay back the honor of which he has robbed God; and this is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to God
The All-Encompassing Will of God
For if those things which are held together in the circuit of the heavens desire to be elsewhere than under the heavens, or to be further removed from the heavens, there is no place where they can be but under the heavens, nor can they fly from the heavens without also approaching them. For both whence and whither and in what way they go, they are still under the heavens; and if they are at a greater distance from one part of them, they are only so much nearer to the opposite part. And so, though man or evil angel refuse to submit to the Divine will and appointment, yet he cannot escape it; for if he wishes to fly from a will that commands, he falls into the power of a will that punishes. And if you ask whither he goes, it is only under the permission of that will; and even this wayward choice or action of his becomes subservient, under infinite wisdom, to the order and beauty of the universe before spoken of.
Necessity of God-Man
By disobeying God, man deprives God of his possession. For both man and the universe of which man is a part belong to God, but the order and harmony of the universe are disrupted by man’s sin, in so far as man is concerned, although no injury can be done to God, Who is impassable and Whose counsel is immutable. To make satisfaction for man’s sin, therefore, the universe needs to be restored to the state of harmony and order, which it would have if man had not sinned. Man is required by justice to make the compensation, but the power of the Creator is required to make it. Above and beyond this, satisfaction of the honour of God is required. Because a person is of higher dignity than his property, dishonouring the person is a more serious offense than damaging his property. Therefore, the satisfaction of the honour of God must in proportion be of higher dignity than the universe, which is none other than God Himself. Hence the God-man.
If the divine nature and the human nature are not the same person, “it is impossible for both to do the work necessary to be accomplished. For God will not do it, because he has no debt to pay; and man will not do it, because he cannot. Therefore, in order that the God-man may perform this, it is necessary that the same being should be perfect God and perfect man, in order to make this atonement.”
“He somehow gives up himself, or something of his, to the honor of God, which he did not owe as a debtor. … This may be to give up his life or to lay down his life, or to deliver himself up to death for God’s honor. For God will not demand this of him as a debt; for, as no sin will be found, he ought not to die.”
As the God-Man Himself is an all-surpassing Good, the gift that He freely gives of Himself, of Life and Love covers all sins.
Freedom and Necessity in the God-Man
When the angel could depart from holiness and yet did not, and could make himself unholy yet did not, we say with propriety that he conferred virtue upon himself and made himself holy. In this sense, therefore, has he holiness of himself (for the creature cannot have it of himself in any other way), and, therefore, should be praised for his holiness, because he is not holy of necessity but freely; for that is improperly called necessity which involves neither compulsion nor restraint. Wherefore, since whatever God has he has perfectly of himself, he is most of all to be praised for the good things which he possesses and maintains not by any necessity, but, as before said, by his own infinite unchangeableness. Likewise the God-man, since every good thing which he possesses comes from himself, will be holy not of necessity but voluntarily, and, therefore, will deserve praise. For, though human nature will have what it has from the Divine nature, yet it will likewise have it from itself, since the two natures will be united in one person
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