The Enchiridion 33
33 Men, Being by Nature the Children of Wrath, Needed a Mediator. In What Sense God is Said to Be Angry PL 40, 248
And so the human race was lying under a just condemnation, and all men were the children of wrath. Of which wrath it is written: “All our days are passed away in Thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told.” Of which wrath also Job says: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Of which wrath also the Lord Jesus says: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” He does not say it will come, but it “abideth on him.” For every man is born with it; wherefore the apostle says: “We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Now, as men were lying under this wrath by reason of their original sin, and as this original sin was the more heavy and deadly in proportion to the number and magnitude of the actual sins which were added to it, there was need for a Mediator, that is, for a reconciler, who, by the offering of one sacrifice, of which all the sacrifices of the law and the prophets were types, should take away this wrath. Wherefore the apostle says: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Now when God is said to be angry, we do not attribute to Him such a disturbed feeling as exists in the mind of an angry man; but we call His just displeasure against sin by the name “anger,” a word transferred by analogy from human emotions. But our being reconciled to God through a Mediator, and receiving the Holy Spirit, so that we who were enemies are made sons (“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”): this is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Homines natos omnes irae filios eguisse reconciliatore Christo. Ira Dei quid. Tenebatur itaque justa damnatione genus humanum, et omnes erant irae filii. De qua ira scriptum est: Quoniam omnes dies nostri defecerunt, et in ira tua defecimus; anni nostri sicut aranea meditabuntur . De qua ira dicit etiam Job: Homo enim natus ex muliere, brevis vitae et plenus irae . De qua ira dicit et Dominus Jesus: Qui credit in Filium, habet vitam aeternam; qui autem non credit in Filium, non habet vitam, sed ira Dei manet super eum : non ait, veniet; sed, manet. Cum hac quippe omnis homo nascitur. Propter quod dicit Apostolus: Fuimus enim et nos natura filii irae, sicut et caeteri . In hac ira cum essent homines per originale peccatum, tanto gravius et perniciosius, quanto majora vel plura insuper addiderant, necessarius erat mediator, hoc est reconciliator, qui hanc iram sacrificii singularis, cujus umbrae omnia sacrificia Legis et Prophetarum, oblatione placaret. Unde dicit Apostolus: Si enim cum inimici essemus, reconciliati sumus Deo per mortem Filii ejus, multo magis reconciliati nunc in sanguine ejus salvi erimus ab ira per ipsum . Cum autem Deus irasci dicitur, non ejus significatur perturbatio, qualis est in animo irascentis hominis; sed ex humanis motibus translato vocabulo, vindicta ejus, quae non nisi justa est, irae nomen accepit. Quod ergo per mediatorem reconciliamur Deo, et accipimus Spiritum sanctum, ut ex inimicis efficiamur filii: Quotquot enim Spiritu Dei aguntur, hi filii sunt Dei : haec est gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.