Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ's Passion did not effect our salvation by way of redemption. For no one purchases or redeems what never ceased to belong to him. But men never ceased to belong to God according to Ps. 23:1: "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world and all they that dwell therein." Therefore it seems that Christ did not redeem us by His Passion.

Objection 2: Further, as Augustine says (De Trin. xiii): "The devil had to be overthrown by Christ's justice." But justice requires that the man who has treacherously seized another's property shall be deprived of it, because deceit and cunning should not benefit anyone, as even human laws declare. Consequently, since the devil by treachery deceived and subjugated to himself man, who is God's creature, it seems that man ought not to be rescued from his power by way of redemption.

Objection 3: Further, whoever buys or redeems an object pays the price to the holder. But it was not to the devil, who held us in bondage, that Christ paid His blood as the price of our redemption. Therefore Christ did not redeem us by His Passion.

On the contrary, It is written (1 Pt. 1:18): "You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled." And (Gal. 3:13): "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Now He is said to be a curse for us inasmuch as He suffered upon the tree, as stated above (Question 46, Article 4). Therefore He did redeem us by His Passion.

I answer that, Man was held captive on account of sin in two ways: first of all, by the bondage of sin, because (Jn. 8:34): "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin"; and (2 Pt. 2:19): "By whom a man is overcome, of the same also he is the slave." Since, then, the devil had overcome man by inducing him to sin, man was subject to the devil's bondage. Secondly, as to the debt of punishment, to the payment of which man was held fast by God's justice: and this, too, is a kind of bondage, since it savors of bondage for a man to suffer what he does not wish, just as it is the free man's condition to apply himself to what he wills.

Since, then, Christ's Passion was a sufficient and a superabundant atonement for the sin and the debt of the human race, it was as a price at the cost of which we were freed from both obligations. For the atonement by which one satisfies for self or another is called the price, by which he ransoms himself or someone else from sin and its penalty, according to Dan. 4:24: "Redeem thou thy sins with alms." Now Christ made satisfaction, not by giving money or anything of the sort, but by bestowing what was of greatest price---Himself---for us. And therefore Christ's Passion is called our redemption.

Reply to Objection 1: Man is said to belong to God in two ways. First of all, in so far as he comes under God's power: in which way he never ceased to belong to God; according to Dan. 4:22: "The Most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Secondly, by being united to Him in charity, according to Rm. 8:9: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." In the first way, then, man never ceased to belong to God, but in the second way he did cease because of sin. And therefore in so far as he was delivered from sin by the satisfaction of Christ's Passion, he is said to be redeemed by the Passion of Christ.

Reply to Objection 2: Man by sinning became the bondsman both of God and of the devil. Through guilt he had offended God, and put himself under the devil by consenting to him; consequently he did not become God's servant on account of his guilt, but rather, by withdrawing from God's service, he, by God's just permission, fell under the devil's servitude on account of the offense perpetrated. But as to the penalty, man was chiefly bound to God as his sovereign judge, and to the devil as his torturer, according to Mt. 5:25: "Lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer"---that is, "to the relentless avenging angel," as Chrysostom says (Hom. xi). Consequently, although, after deceiving man, the devil, so far as in him lay, held him unjustly in bondage as to both sin and penalty, still it was just that man should suffer it. God so permitting it as to the sin and ordaining it as to the penalty. And therefore justice required man's redemption with regard to God, but not with regard to the devil.

Reply to Objection 3: Because, with regard to God, redemption was necessary for man's deliverance, but not with regard to the devil, the price had to be paid not to the devil, but to God. And therefore Christ is said to have paid the price of our redemption---His own precious blood---not to the devil, but to God.

Articulus 4

Argumentum 1

Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod passio christi non fuerit operata nostram salutem per modum redemptionis.

Nullus enim emit vel redimit quod suum esse non desiit.

Sed homines nunquam desierunt esse dei, secundum illud Psalmi, domini est terra et plenitudo eius, orbis terrarum et universi qui habitant in eo.

Ergo videtur quod christus non redemerit nos sua passione.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, sicut Augustinus dicit, XIII de Trin., diabolus a christo iustitia superandus fuit.

Sed hoc exigit iustitia, ut ille qui invasit dolose rem alienam, debeat privari, quia fraus et dolus nemini debet patrocinari, ut etiam iura humana dicunt. Cum ergo diabolus creaturam dei, scilicet hominem, dolose deceperit et sibi subiugaverit, videtur quod non debuit homo per modum redemptionis ab eius eripi potestate.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, quicumque emit aut redimit aliquid, pretium solvit ei qui possidebat. Sed christus non solvit sanguinem suum, qui dicitur esse pretium redemptionis nostrae, diabolo, qui nos captivos tenebat. Non ergo christus sua passione nos redemit.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur I Pet. I, non corruptibilibus auro vel argento redempti estis de vana vestra conversatione paternae traditionis, sed pretioso sanguine, quasi agni immaculati et incontaminati, christi.

Et Galat. III dicitur, christus nos redemit de maledicto legis, factus pro nobis maledictum.

Dicitur autem pro nobis factus maledictum, inquantum pro nobis passus est in ligno, ut supra dictum est.

Ergo per passionem suam nos redemit.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod per peccatum dupliciter homo obligatus erat. Primo quidem, servitute peccati, quia qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati, ut dicitur Ioan. VIII; et II Pet. II, a quo quis superatus est, huic et servus addictus est.

Quia igitur diabolus hominem superaverat inducendo eum ad peccatum, homo servituti diaboli addictus erat. Secundo, quantum ad reatum poenae, quo homo erat obligatus secundum dei iustitiam. Et haec est servitus quaedam, ad servitutem enim pertinet quod aliquis patiatur quod non vult, cum liberi hominis sit uti seipso ut vult. Igitur, quia passio christi fuit sufficiens et superabundans satisfactio pro peccato et reatu generis humani, eius passio fuit quasi quoddam pretium, per quod liberati sumus ab utraque obligatione. Nam ipsa satisfactio qua quis satisfacit sive pro se sive pro alio, pretium quoddam dicitur quo se redimit a peccato et poena, secundum illud Dan. IV, peccata tua eleemosynis redime.

Christus autem satisfecit, non quidem pecuniam dando aut aliquid huiusmodi, sed dando id quod fuit maximum, seipsum, pro nobis. Et ideo passio christi dicitur esse nostra redemptio.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod homo dicitur esse dei dupliciter.

Uno modo, inquantum subiicitur potestati eius. Et hoc modo nunquam homo desiit dei esse, secundum illud Dan. IV, dominatur excelsus in regno hominum, et cuicumque voluerit, dabit illud.

Alio modo, per unionem caritatis ad eum, secundum quod dicitur Rom. VIII, si quis spiritum christi non habet, hic non est eius.

Primo igitur modo, nunquam homo desiit esse dei.

Secundo modo, desiit esse dei per peccatum. Et ideo, inquantum fuit a peccato liberatus, christo passo satisfaciente, dicitur per passionem christi esse redemptus.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod homo peccando obligatus erat et deo et diabolo. Quantum enim ad culpam, deum offenderat, et diabolo se subdiderat, ei consentiens. Unde ratione culpae non erat factus servus dei, sed potius, a dei servitute recedens, diaboli servitutem incurrerat, deo iuste hoc permittente propter offensam in se commissam. Sed quantum ad poenam, principaliter homo erat deo obligatus, sicut summo iudici, diabolo autem tanquam tortori, secundum illud Matth. V, ne forte tradat te adversarius tuus iudici, et iudex tradat te ministro, idest Angelo poenarum crudeli, ut chrysostomus dicit.

Quamvis igitur diabolus iniuste, quantum in ipso erat, hominem, sua fraude deceptum, sub servitute teneret, et quantum ad culpam et quantum ad poenam, iustum tamen erat hoc hominem pati, deo hoc permittente quantum ad culpam, et ordinante quantum ad poenam. Et ideo per respectum ad deum iustitia exigebat quod homo redimeretur, non autem per respectum ad diabolum.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, quia redemptio requirebatur ad hominis liberationem per respectum ad deum, non autem per respectum ad diabolum; non erat pretium solvendum diabolo, sed deo. Et ideo christus sanguinem suum, qui est pretium nostrae redemptionis, non dicitur obtulisse diabolo, sed deo.