Peter Lombard (1100–1160) on the Death of Christ: Christ Died for All Sufficiently, for the Elect Efficiently

Primary Source:

1. ON THE HANDING OVER OF CHRIST, WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE FATHER, THE SON, JUDAS, AND THE JEWS. And so Christ is the priest, as he is also the victim and the price of our reconciliation. He offered himself on the altar of the cross not to the devil, but to the triune God, and he did so for all with regard to the sufficiency of the price, but only for the elect with regard to its efficacy, because he brought about salvation only for the predestined.

Peter Lombard, The Sentences. Book 3: On the Incarnation of the Word, trans. Giulio Silano (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2010), 86; Sententiarum libri quatuor, 3.20.5. “Christus ergo est sacerdos, idemque et hostia pretium nostrae reconciliationis: qui se in ara crucis non diabolo, sed Trinitati obtulit pro omnibus, quantum ad pretii sufficientiam; sed pro electis tantum salutem effecit.”

Secondary sources:

1. David Paraeus (from his contribution to Ursinus’s Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism):

Lombard writes as follows: “Christ offered himself to God, the Trinity for all men, as it respects the sufficiency of the price; but only for the elect as it regards the efficacy thereof, because he effected, and purchased salvation only for those who were predestinated.”

Zacharias Ursinus, The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G. W. Williard (Cincinnati, OH: Elm Street Printing Company, 1888), 224; Sixteenth Lord’s Day, Q. 40, §3.

2. G. Michael Thomas:

“He offered himself for all as far as the sufficiency of the price is concerned, but, as far as efficacy is concerned, for the elect only.” Libri Sententiarum Quatuor, in J. Migne (ed.), Cursus Completus Patrologiae, Paris 1845.

G. Michael Thomas, The Extent of the Atonement: A Dilemma for Reformed Theology from Calvin to the Consensus (1536–1675) (Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Paternoster, 1997), 5, 9n10.

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