Sovereign rulers, Grotius argues ( Defensio Fidei Catholoicae: De Satisfactione Christi Adversus Faustum Socinum Senensem , 3.12) are free to relax certain laws and punishments if they have sufficient reasons to do so. Because of the fall God has more than sufficient reasons to relax the law that would have otherwise sent all men to eternal death. If the law had been enforced, “two most beautiful things ( duae res pulcherirrimae )” would have been lost: religion towards God and the display of God’s favor toward men.
God finds a way to deliver men from sin to preserve the beauty of things. The atonement is aesthetically motivated.
