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In this fourth article St. Thomas asks whether Christ's passion
brought about our salvation by way of redemption. In this article
redemption is not taken in the general sense of the term as when Christ
is said to be "cause of our salvation, " but in a restricted sense as
meaning, "liberation from the bondage of sin, from the debt of
punishment and the bondage of the devil." Thus a distinction is made
between this mode of redemption and the others previously considered.
It is not now a question of what constitutes the mode of redemptive
work, but of its effect, as also is the case in the sixth article.
St. Thomas begins by presenting three difficulties: (1) Men
never ceased to belong to God; therefore they are not redeemed;
(2) nor are they to be redeemed from the bondage of the devil,
because the devil has no right over them; (3) because Christ did
not pay the price of redemption to the devil.
Reply. Nevertheless the answer is that Christ's passion liberated
us from the bondage of sin, the devil, and the debt of punishment.
Scriptural proof. It is of faith, for at the time of the
Annunciation, the angel of the Lord said to Joseph: "Thou shalt
call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their
sins."[1946] The Precursor says of Him: "Behold the Lamb
of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the
world."[1947] Jesus says of Himself: "The Son of man is
come... to give His life a redemption for many."[1948]
Before His passion He says: "Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
things to Myself."[1949]
St. Paul says: "Giving thanks to God... who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the remission of sins."[1950] Farther on he says: "And you,
when you were dead in your sins... He hath quickened together with
Him [Christ], forgiving you all offenses, blotting out the
handwriting of the decree which was contrary to us. And He hath taken
the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross; and despoiling the
principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open
show, triumphing over them in Himself."[1951]
And again he says: "That through death He might destroy him who had
taken the empire of death, that is to say, the devil."[1952]
In other words, Christ by His passion regained the victory over the
devil and sin, and already virtually over death, which is "the wages
of sin,"[1953] as is afterward made manifest by His
resurrection, which is the forerunner of ours.
Testimony from tradition. Our liberation is likewise made clear from
this source. Rouet de Journel[1954] has collected many passages
from the Latin and Greek Fathers, who explicitly taught that Christ
redeemed us from sin and the bondage of the devil, by paying the price
of our redemption, not to the devil but to God.
Theological proof. St. Thomas proves this truth from other revealed
texts as follows:
Man was held captive on account of sin in two ways: First of all, by
the bondage of sin, because "whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin,"[1955] and "by whom a man is overcome of the same also
He is the slave."[1956] 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.
"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."[1957] This is the effect of the satisfaction; it
is not a constitutive element, but a consequence of this satisfaction.
More briefly: Sin brings about a twofold bondage, namely, of sin
and debt of punishment. But Christ's passion was a superabundant
satisfaction both for sin and the debt of punishment. Therefore it
liberated us from both kinds of bondage. The Council of Trent
retains this proof.[1958]
Reply to first objection. Men never ceased to belong to God, in
that they were always under His power; but by sin they ceased to
belong to God as regards union with Him by charity. And men
liberated from sin by Christ suffering for them are said to have been
redeemed by His passion.
Reply to second objection. "Man by sin had offended God and, by
consenting to the devil, had become his subject. And therefore
justice required man's redemption with regard to God, but not with
regard to the devil."
Reply to third objection. "The price of our redemption had to be
paid not to the devil, but to God"; but the price being paid to
God, by the reparation of the offense, men were liberated from the
bondage of sin, and consequently from the bondage of the devil. Thus
we have a most excellent correction of certain exaggerations of Origen
and St. Gregory of Nyssa, who seem to affirm that the devil has
certain rights over us. The devil has no right over us, and these
same Fathers elsewhere give the true teaching. Christ paid the price
of our redemption by repairing the offense committed against God.
Therefore He paid this price, not to the devil, but to God; and it
follows from this that men are freed from the devil's
bondage.[1959]
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