Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Satisfaction

Anselm's account: sin dishonours God and creates a debt that must be paid, not merely overlooked; only a God-man can pay it.

Latin satisfacere, 'to make enough / make amends'; earlier used by Tertullian and Cyprian of penance.

Drawn from the logic of Romans 3:25–26 (God's righteousness upheld) and the sacrificial system, rather than a single proof text.

Anselm, Cur Deus Homo (c. 1098), reframing the debt as owed to God's honour/justice rather than to the devil; developed by Aquinas; the Reformers shifted the category from honour to law and penalty.

The cross is not God changing his mind but God's own provision for the demands of his righteousness.

Critics (Aulén) say it imported feudal categories; the Christus Victor and moral-influence traditions reject it as the organising centre.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.