Whether Christ's Passion Brought About Our Salvation by Way of
Redemption?
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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 Pet. 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 (Q. 46, A. 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 (John 8:34): "Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin"; and (2 Pet. 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 Obj. 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 Rom. 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 Obj. 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 Matt. 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 Obj. 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.
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