The Benefit of Christ’s Death: Rediscovering a Reformation Treasure (I)

The Benefit of Christ’s Death was first printed in Venice, Italy in 1543 at printing press of Bernardo de' Bindoni. It was immediately a huge success, and a reprint was issued the same year, just a few months later. As the historian Salvatore Caponetto notes, "the short book was amongst the best-sellers of the sixteenth century" (p.8).

When it was published the authorship remained a mystery. This was due to the Reformed theology promulgated by The Benefit of Christ’s Death and it being forbidden by Rome. In fact, on July 21, 1546, it was condemned by the Council of Trent by Bishop Galeazzo Florimonte. Following its condemnation "an inquisitorial hunt was unleashed that was so pernicious that almost all Italian copies" of The Benefit of Christ’s Death were destroyed (p.8). "Leopold von Ranke, in 1834, considered it definitively lost" (p.8). Thankfully, in 1855 Churchill Babington discovered a 1543 copy of the book and that same year published it in London "in facsimile together with the French translation of 1552 and an English translation of 1548..." (p.9). In the 19th century it was thought that the Reformation martyr Aonio Paleario of Veroli, Italy was the book’s author. However, thanks to historical research carried out in recent years, authorship is now attributed to two Italians: Benedetto of Mantua and Marcantonio Flaminio.

Benedetto was a monk of St. Benedict called Don Benedetto of Mantua, "who said he composed it while he was in his monastery in Sicily near Mount Etna. Don Benedetto, being a friend of Marcantonio Flaminio, shared his book with him, begging him to revise and illustrate it according to his refined style so that it might be all the more readable and delightful; and so Flaminio, leaving the subject intact, reformed it according to what seemed to him appropriate... (see p.10). The Benefit of Christ’s Death is fruit of the exchange between these two men.

What are the contents of this short book? Why was it condemned by Rome? Why was it condemned by the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and why did the Inquisition seek to destroy all copies of it? With this series of articles, we want to delve into this little booklet to better understand its message and once again bring to light what the Reformers rediscovered about the benefit of Christ's death during the Protestant Reformation. The book consists of six chapters. Here we will examine the first chapter, which is the book’s shortest.

Benedict of Mantua and Flaminio rightly begin The Benefit of Christ’s Death with a discourse on man's sin and guilty status before a just and holy God. "The holy Scripture saith that God created man after his own image and likeness, making him, as in respect of his body, impassible (*free from suffering), and, as touching his soul, righteous, true, good, merciful, and holy. But, after that he, being overcome with desire of knowledge, had eaten of the apple that God had forbidden him, he lost the said image and likeness of God, and became like the brute beasts, and like the devil who had abused him. For as touching his soul, he became unrighteous, untrue, cruel, pitiless, and the enemy of God; and, as touching his body, he became passible (*subject to suffering), and subject to a thousand inconveniences and diseases, and not only like, but also inferior to brute beasts. And even as, if our forefathers had obeyed God, they should have left us their righteousness and holiness as an heritage; even so, by being disobedient unto God, they have left us the inheritance of unrighteousness, wickedness, and God’s displeasure, in such sort as it is impossible for us (through our own strength) to love God, or to frame ourselves unto his holy will. Nay, we be enemies unto him, as to one that must punish our sins, because he is a just judge; and therefore can we not any more trust wholly to his holy mercy. To be short, our whole nature was corrupted by Adam’s sin. And, like as erst (*originally) it had superiority above all creatures, so become it an underling to all, the bond-slave of Satan, sin, and death, and condemned to the miseries of hell" (pp.15-16). Indeed, if one is to appreciate the benefit of Christ’s death, he must first be aware of the seriousness of sin and the death and condemnation it warrants.

The Benefit of Christ’s Death describes the effects of sin in this way: Having eaten of the forbidden fruit Adam "lost his judgment altogether, and began to say that good was evil, and evil good; esteeming false things to be true, and true things to be false. Which thing the prophet considering, saith that ‘all men are liars,’ (Ps. 116:11) and that ‘there is not one that doeth good’ (Ps. 14:3), because the devil, like a stout man of arms, ruleth his palace, that is to with, the world, whereof he became the prince and lord. There is no tongue that can express the thousandth part of our misery, in that we, being created by God’s own hand, have lost the said image of God, and are become like the devil, and too like to him in nature and condition, willing whatsoever he willeth, and likewise refusing whatsoever he misliketh. By reason whereof, being given up for a prey to that wicked spirit, there is no sin so grevious which every one of us would not be ready to do, if the grace of God stay us not. And this our deprivation of righteousness and naughtiness, is called original sin; the which we bring with us from out of our mother’s womb, so as we be born the children of wrath; and it hath had his first spring from our first fathers, and is the cause and fountain of all the vices and iniquities that we commit; wherefrom if we will be delivered, and return again to our first innocency, to recover the image of God, first of all it standeth us on hand to know our own wretchedness” (pp.16-17). Echoes of the biblical reading of sin, particularly those emphasized by Paul, and later by Augustine, are clearly present.

 Benedetto and Flaminio also reference writings by Calvin, thus attesting to their knowledge of his work. "For, like as no man will ever seek to the physician, except he know himself to be diseased, or acknowledge the excellency of the physician, and how much he is bound unto him, except he know his own disease to be pestilent and deadly; even so no man acknowledgeth Jesus Christ the only Physician of our souls, except he first know his own soul to be diseased: neither can he perceive the excellency of him, nor how much he is bound unto him, except he first enter into the knowledge of his own outrageous sins, and of the incurable infirmity, which we have received through the infection of our first fathers” (p.17, see Calvin, Institutes.2.8).

Thus, Benedict of Mantua and Marcantonio Flaminio begin the The Benefit of Christ’s Death. Their contribution is not original or new but is the clear teaching of Scripture that is wonderfully articulated, especially considering the historical context they wrote in. Following the biblical narrative, and initial in-depth study of sin is essential for understanding the good news of the gospel. In other words, it is not possible to understand and appreciate the beauty of the gospel and the benefit of Christ’s death apart from a biblical understanding of sin and its gravity. The one always corresponds with the other. If sin is small, then the benefit of Christ’s death is equally small. If, however, sin is devastating, then the cross of Christ and the benefit of his death are equally marvelous and wonderful.

(to be continued…)