CONGREGATION
FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
DECLARATION
"DOMINUS IESUS"
ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY
OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
II. THE INCARNATE LOGOS
AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORK OF SALVATION
9. In contemporary theological reflection
there often emerges an approach to Jesus of Nazareth
that considers him a particular, finite, historical
figure, who reveals the divine not in an exclusive
way, but in a way complementary with other revelatory
and salvific figures. The Infinite, the Absolute,
the Ultimate Mystery of God would thus manifest itself
to humanity in many ways and in many historical figures:
Jesus of Nazareth would be one of these. More concretely,
for some, Jesus would be one of the many faces which
the Logos has assumed in the course of time to communicate
with humanity in a salvific way.
Furthermore, to justify the universality
of Christian salvation as well as the fact of religious
pluralism, it has been proposed that there is an economy
of the eternal Word that is valid also outside the
Church and is unrelated to her, in addition to an
economy of the incarnate Word. The first would have
a greater universal value than the second, which is
limited to Christians, though God's presence would
be more full in the second.
10. These theses are in profound
conflict with the Christian faith. The doctrine of
faith must be firmly believed which proclaims that
Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, and he alone, is the
Son and the Word of the Father. The Word, which “was
in the beginning with God” (Jn 1:2)
is the same as he who “became flesh” (Jn
1:14). In Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the
living God” (Mt 16:16), “the
whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form”
(Col 2:9). He is the “only begotten Son of the
Father, who is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn
1:18), his “beloved Son, in whom we have redemption...
In him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and
through him, God was pleased to reconcile all things
to himself, on earth and in the heavens, making peace
by the blood of his Cross” (Col 1:13-14;
19-20).
Faithful to Sacred Scripture and
refuting erroneous and reductive interpretations,
the First Council of Nicaea solemnly defined its faith
in: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only
begotten generated from the Father, that is, from
the being of the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,
one in being with the Father, through whom all things
were made, those in heaven and those on earth. For
us men and for our salvation, he came down and became
incarnate, was made man, suffered, and rose again
on the third day. He ascended to the heavens and shall
come again to judge the living and the dead”.
28 Following the teachings of
the Fathers of the Church, the Council of Chalcedon
also professed: “the one and the same Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in divinity and
perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly
man..., one in being with the Father according to
the divinity and one in being with us according to
the humanity..., begotten of the Father before the
ages according to the divinity and, in these last
days, for us and our salvation, of Mary, the Virgin
Mother of God, according to the humanity”. 29
For this reason, the Second Vatican
Council states that Christ “the new Adam...‘image
of the invisible God' (Col 1:15) is himself
the perfect man who has restored that likeness to
God in the children of Adam which had been disfigured
since the first sin... As an innocent lamb he merited
life for us by his blood which he freely shed. In
him God reconciled us to himself and to one another,
freeing us from the bondage of the devil and of sin,
so that each one of us could say with the apostle:
the Son of God ‘loved me and gave himself up
for me' (Gal 2:20)”. 30
In this regard, John Paul II has
explicitly declared: “To introduce any sort
of separation between the Word and Jesus Christ is
contrary to the Christian faith... Jesus is the Incarnate
Word — a single and indivisible person... Christ
is none other than Jesus of Nazareth; he is the Word
of God made man for the salvation of all... In the
process of discovering and appreciating the manifold
gifts — especially the spiritual treasures —
that God has bestowed on every people, we cannot separate
those gifts from Jesus Christ, who is at the centre
of God's plan of salvation”. 31
It is likewise contrary to the Catholic
faith to introduce a separation between the salvific
action of the Word as such and that of the Word made
man. With the incarnation, all the salvific actions
of the Word of God are always done in unity with the
human nature that he has assumed for the salvation
of all people. The one subject which operates in the
two natures, human and divine, is the single person
of the Word. 32
Therefore, the theory which would
attribute, after the incarnation as well, a salvific
activity to the Logos as such in his divinity, exercised
“in addition to” or “beyond”
the humanity of Christ, is not compatible with the
Catholic faith. 33
11. Similarly, the doctrine of faith
regarding the unicity of the salvific economy willed
by the One and Triune God must be firmly believed,
at the source and centre of which is the mystery of
the incarnation of the Word, mediator of divine grace
on the level of creation and redemption (cf. Col
1:15-20), he who recapitulates all things (cf. Eph
1:10), he “whom God has made our wisdom, our
righteousness, and sanctification and redemption”
(1 Cor 1:30). In fact, the mystery of Christ
has its own intrinsic unity, which extends from the
eternal choice in God to the parousia: “he [the
Father] chose us in Christ before the foundation of
the world to be holy and blameless before him in love”
(Eph 1:4); “In Christ we are heirs,
having been destined according to the purpose of him
who accomplishes all things according to his counsel
and will” (Eph 1:11); “For those
whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, in order that he might be
the firstborn among many brothers; those whom he predestined
he also called; and those whom he called he also justified;
and those whom he justified he also glorified”
(Rom 8:29-30).
The Church's Magisterium, faithful
to divine revelation, reasserts that Jesus Christ
is the mediator and the universal redeemer: “The
Word of God, through whom all things were made, was
made flesh, so that as perfect man he could save all
men and sum up all things in himself. The Lord...is
he whom the Father raised from the dead, exalted and
placed at his right hand, constituting him judge of
the living and the dead”. 34
This salvific mediation implies also the unicity of
the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, eternal high priest
(cf. Heb 6:20; 9:11; 10:12-14).
12. There are also those who propose
the hypothesis of an economy of the Holy Spirit with
a more universal breadth than that of the Incarnate
Word, crucified and risen. This position also is contrary
to the Catholic faith, which, on the contrary, considers
the salvific incarnation of the Word as a trinitarian
event. In the New Testament, the mystery of Jesus,
the Incarnate Word, constitutes the place of the Holy
Spirit's presence as well as the principle of the
Spirit's effusion on humanity, not only in messianic
times (cf. Acts 2:32-36; Jn 7:39,
20:22; 1 Cor 15:45), but also prior to his
coming in history (cf. 1 Cor 10:4; 1
Pet 1:10-12).
The Second Vatican Council has recalled
to the consciousness of the Church's faith this fundamental
truth. In presenting the Father's salvific plan for
all humanity, the Council closely links the mystery
of Christ from its very beginnings with that of the
Spirit. 35 The entire work of
building the Church by Jesus Christ the Head, in the
course of the centuries, is seen as an action which
he does in communion with his Spirit. 36
Furthermore, the salvific action
of Jesus Christ, with and through his Spirit, extends
beyond the visible boundaries of the Church to all
humanity. Speaking of the paschal mystery, in which
Christ even now associates the believer to himself
in a living manner in the Spirit and gives him the
hope of resurrection, the Council states: “All
this holds true not only for Christians but also for
all men of good will in whose hearts grace is active
invisibly. For since Christ died for all, and since
all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny,
which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit
offers to all the possibility of being made partners,
in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery”.
37
Hence, the connection is clear between
the salvific mystery of the Incarnate Word and that
of the Spirit, who actualizes the salvific efficacy
of the Son made man in the lives of all people, called
by God to a single goal, both those who historically
preceded the Word made man, and those who live after
his coming in history: the Spirit of the Father, bestowed
abundantly by the Son, is the animator of all (cf.
Jn 3:34).
Thus, the recent Magisterium of the
Church has firmly and clearly recalled the truth of
a single divine economy: “The Spirit's presence
and activity affect not only individuals but also
society and history, peoples, cultures and religions...
The Risen Christ ‘is now at work in human hearts
through the strength of his Spirit'... Again, it is
the Spirit who sows the ‘seeds of the word'
present in various customs and cultures, preparing
them for full maturity in Christ”. 38
While recognizing the historical-salvific function
of the Spirit in the whole universe and in the entire
history of humanity, 39 the
Magisterium states: “This is the same Spirit
who was at work in the incarnation and in the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus and who is at work
in the Church. He is therefore not an alternative
to Christ nor does he fill a sort of void which is
sometimes suggested as existing between Christ and
the Logos. Whatever the Spirit brings about in human
hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures
and religions, serves as a preparation for the Gospel
and can only be understood in reference to Christ,
the Word who took flesh by the power of the Spirit
‘so that as perfectly human he would save all
human beings and sum up all things'”. 40
In conclusion, the action of the
Spirit is not outside or parallel to the action of
Christ. There is only one salvific economy of the
One and Triune God, realized in the mystery of the
incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of
God, actualized with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit,
and extended in its salvific value to all humanity
and to the entire universe: “No one, therefore,
can enter into communion with God except through Christ,
by the working of the Holy Spirit”. 41
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