Dist. 19, Art. 1, Q. 3
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/3/d/19/q/bon-sent-III-d19-a1-q3
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### Question III. *Whether through the passion of Christ we have been freed from the power of the devil.*

Thirdly it is asked whether through the passion we have been freed from the power of the devil. And that we have, it seems.

1. Apocalypse, chapter twenty: *I saw an Angel coming down from heaven, and he laid hold of the dragon, who is the devil*; but by that Angel, as the Saints expound it, is understood Christ: if therefore the devil was bound by that Angel in his passion, it seems that he has lost his power over us.

2. Likewise, John, chapter twelve: *Now is the judgment of the world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out*: if therefore the devil has been cast out through Christ, it seems that we have been freed from his power.

3. Likewise, Christ, our leader, conquered the devil; but the victory of the leader is the victory of the whole army: therefore it seems that the devil has been overcome by the whole human race, and thus it seems that through the passion of Christ he has lost his *power* with respect to the human race.

4. Likewise, when the devil overcame the first man, he consequently overcame the whole human race: therefore by parity of reasoning it seems that, since he was overcome by Christ, he was overcome by the whole human race: therefore through the passion of Christ the whole human race was freed from the power of the devil.

**On the contrary:**
1. To the Ephesians, chapter six: *Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world*: therefore the demons still assail us and rule over this world: therefore we have not been freed from the power of the devil.

2. Likewise, in the second to Timothy, chapter three it is said that *in the last days dangerous times will be at hand*, and this same thing is said in the second to the Thessalonians, and in Daniel and in the Apocalypse, that in the time of Antichrist the devil will have the greatest power to tempt and to harass: therefore it does not seem that through the passion he has lost his power over the human race.

3. Likewise, the power of the devil consists chiefly in two things, namely in the possession of bodies and the blinding of minds; but after the passion of Christ many have still been possessed by the devil, many also have been most grievously blinded: therefore it seems that the power of the devil has not been in any way diminished through the passion of Christ. That the devil possesses the *bodies* of many, experience teaches; that he again blinds the *minds* of many, is proved by what is said in the second to the Corinthians, chapter four: *The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.*

4. Likewise, the power of the devil is either for *harming* or for *tempting*; but he was never able to harm except when permitted, nor was he ever able to cast into sin unless the will of consent was offered to him; and this same thing he can do now: if therefore from the beginning he could do nothing more, it seems the same as before.

> **Conclusion.** Through the passion of Christ we have been freed from the power of the devil, all indeed as to sufficiency, but only the members of the Church as to efficacy.

**I respond:** It must be said that, as the Master says in the text, « through the passion of Christ we have been freed from the power of the devil », all indeed as to *sufficiency*, but only those who are of his body, which is the Church, as to *efficacy*.

And this is shown thus. For the devil before the passion of Christ had a twofold hand, namely an *attracting* one and an *impelling* one: the *attracting* hand was the power of dragging down to limbo even the just and the holy; the *impelling* hand was the power of casting into evil either through *deceit* or through *violence*, since he tempted as a *dragon*, he tempted as a *lion*. And the first hand, namely the *attractive* one, was of such power that no one could resist it; and this was entirely cut off from him through the passion. For now he can drag no just person down to limbo, because through the passion of Christ the bond of Adam's sin has been blotted out. — But the *impelling* hand he had so strong that with great difficulty could anyone resist it. And therefore he reigned in many, indeed in almost all; for he overcame all either through *fraud* or through *violence*. And this power has been weakened through the passion, through which the *light of truth* is opened against the devil's fraud, and the *help of strength* is granted against the devil's violence. Now the *light of truth* appeared both inwardly through divine inspiration and outwardly through human instruction. For now the truth has been published to almost all, and therefore idolatry, which formerly reigned, has been destroyed. — The *help* also *of strength* is granted through the *infusion of grace*, which restrains concupiscence, and through *angelic protection*, which checks and represses the adverse powers; and this same thing by the power of the passion, by whose merit the Holy Spirit is sent to us, and the angelic spirits themselves are also sent, that the adversary may be overcome. Hence the devil above all things abhors the memory of the passion and the figure of the cross, through which we have been freed from his power. — Therefore the reasons showing this are to be granted.

**To the arguments to the contrary:**

1. To that, then, which is first objected, that there still remains for us a struggle against the rulers of the world; it must be said that, although a battle presses upon us, yet we are not estranged from victory, unless our negligence intervene, according to what is said in the first to the Corinthians, chapter ten: *God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted etc., but will make also with the temptation a way out*; and therefore from that authority it cannot be held that the diabolical power presides over us, although it does not cease to exercise us.

2. To that which is objected, that in the last days dangerous times will be at hand; it must be said that, although through the passion the diabolical power has been overcome, yet it is in us to give strength to the enemy and to subject ourselves to the power of the devil. And because in the last days *the perversity of many will abound, and charity will grow cold*; the diabolical power will take strength, and by the just judgment of God it will be permitted to impel toward evil more than it had been permitted in the preceding time.

3. To that which is objected, that he can still bring about the harassment of bodies and the blinding of minds; it must be said that this he cannot do now, unless someone give him strength through his own fault, as are those who despise the Sacraments of Christ; but those who humbly and devoutly submit themselves to the Sacraments and the sacramentals, which have their power from the passion of Christ, do not dread the diabolical power. For so great is the power of the Sacraments of the Church, that it extends even to the unbelievers; whence the devil does not possess as many today as the devil was wont to possess. For Gregory writes in the Dialogue of a certain Jew who, when he wished to sleep in a deserted place, fortified himself with the sign of the cross, and the demons that came upon him, when they wished to harm him, were repelled by the sign of the cross and said that he was an empty vessel, but a sealed one.

4. To that which is objected, that he could do nothing except by God's permission, before as now; it must be said that God permitted him more out of his just judgment, and our consent was more subject to him out of our vice, through this, that there reigned

ignorance, there reigned also concupiscence, truth also was lacking, and grace was lacking; for as it is said in John, chapter one: *The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.* — And thus it is plain how through the passion of Christ we are freed from the power of the devil.