Dist. 22, Art. 1, Q. 5
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/22/q/bon-sent-III-d22-a1-q5
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### Question V. *Whether Christ in his descent to the lower regions liberated all souls.*

Fifthly, inquiry is made about the liberation of souls from hell, and the question is whether he liberated all the souls that were in hell. And that he did, seems so:

1. Job 17: *Into the deepest hell shall descend all that I have*; but it is established that Christ snatched Job out of hell: therefore he snatched some out of the deepest hell, much more so from the upper part of hell: therefore it seems that he despoiled the whole of hell.

2. Likewise, in the Psalm: *Thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell*; this is said either in the person of Christ, or in the person of someone else; but in whatever way it is understood, some were snatched from the lower place, since Christ descended only to that place from which he snatched souls: therefore much more were they snatched from the upper hell: therefore from the whole of hell.

3. Likewise, on Zechariah 9: upon that text, *Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit*, etc.; the Gloss: « Those who were held bound in prisons, where no mercy refreshed them — the mercy which that rich man begged for — thou hast liberated »; but such were the damned in hell: therefore it seems that he liberated them: therefore he led them all out.

4. Likewise, if he liberated only the good from hell and left the evil behind; since the evil were more numerous than the good, it seems that Christ obtained not a full but a half-full victory over the devil.

5. Likewise, Christ suffered for all on the cross; but he descended to the lower regions to liberate those for whom he had suffered: therefore it seems that he led all out of hell. If you say that he did not suffer as to *efficacy* except for the good, although as to *sufficiency* for all; against this is what is said in Romans 5: *Christ died for the ungodly*; and it is settled that many sinners are liberated, by the merit of Christ's passion, from the power and snares of the devil: therefore it seems that much more were those liberated who were found there by Christ.

**On the contrary:** 1. In the last [chapter] of Isaiah it is said of the damned: *Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched*: therefore it seems that Christ did not liberate the reprobate and the evil from the fire of hell.

2. Likewise, Luke 16: *A great chaos has been fixed between us and you*, etc.; therefore much more between Christ and the damned: therefore it does not seem that Christ descended to liberate them. For if the other saints did not have compassion on the damned, because of the severity of justice, much more not Christ himself, who is the *just judge*. For that *passing over*, as Gregory says, is understood « of compassion ».

3. Likewise, Judas and the others who departed in mortal sin were damned by definitive sentence; but God never retracts his definitive sentence: therefore, etc.

4. Likewise, Christ's passion does not take away free will, therefore neither the merits of free will: therefore if some were damned there through the demerits of their own free will, it seems that they ought never to be snatched out and liberated thence by the merit of Christ's passion.

5. Likewise, either these sinners, who now die in sin, are *liberated* from hell, or *not*. If they are liberated: then there is nothing of the rigor of divine justice; if they are not liberated, and yet those [former ones] were liberated: then those who came after the passion of Christ are of worse condition than those who came before. But this is false: therefore no reprobate were liberated.

The question, then, is whom he liberated, and into which hell he descended; and especially there is a doubt about the little children who departed in pure original [sin]. For if they have no other sin than the sin of Adam, and Christ made satisfaction for that, and Christ's merits avail for those who do not use free will; it seems that he snatched them from hell; or if he did not snatch them, it is asked why he did not snatch them.

> **Conclusion.** Christ in his descent to the lower regions, as to efficacy, liberated none but the souls of his elect, and of those who were his members.

**I respond:** It must be said that the Lord, in hell, liberated none but the souls of his elect, and of those who were his members. For although Christ's passion sufficed for all, nevertheless it does not flow except into his members; and therefore those alone were saved through Christ's passion who either were his members when he suffered, or were to become such through conversion to him. Since, therefore, there were many in hell who were neither members of Christ nor about to become members of Christ, because they were not in a state of meriting; therefore the Lord did not snatch all out of hell, but only the elect. And this is what Gregory says in a certain homily within the octave of Easter. For he says thus: « What he said before his passion the Lord fulfilled in his resurrection: *If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself*. For he drew all things, who of his elect left none among those below; he took away all things, namely the elect. Whence rightly also he says through Hosea: *O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite*. For because in his elect he utterly slew death, he became the death of death. But because from hell he took away a part and left a part, he did not slay utterly, but bit hell. » — It must therefore be conceded that Christ in his descent to the lower regions did not liberate all from hell. The reasons too which are adduced for this are to be conceded.

1. To that which is first objected to the contrary about the word of Job, who said that he would descend into the deepest hell; it must be said that *deepest hell* can be spoken of either according to the state of the lower hell, which is *under the earth*, or in relation to the hell which is *above the earth*. — If it is spoken of in the first way, then into the deepest hell descend the impious and the damned, since in that lower place there is a certain place assigned to those who are to be punished with the punishment of *loss* and the punishment of *sense*; but a certain [other place] assigned to those who are to be punished only *for a time*, whether it be the punishment of *loss* or the punishment of *sense*, like that in which were the holy Fathers and others who had departed with grace; and it is called *limbo* or the bosom of Abraham. — I say, therefore, that Christ descended only to *limbo*, whence he snatched the holy Fathers, and thus to the *upper* part, but not to the *middle* or the *lowest*.

In another way the depth of hell is taken in relation to the hell which is *above the earth*, as in relation to the murky air, which is the hell of the demons, which is called *deep* in relation to the empyrean heaven; the place of the earth is called *deeper*; and the place beneath the earth, in relation to these, is called *deepest*. — And in this way Job said that he would descend into the deepest hell.

2. And by this the reply to the next [point] is clear. For when it is said: *Thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell*, this is said in relation to the earth itself, in relation to which that hell is called *lower*, but not in relation to the *state of hell*, because in the lower part there is no redemption.

3. To that which is objected from the Gloss on Zechariah 9, it must be said that that Gloss is rather *improper*; it can, however, be expounded so that by what is said: « no mercy refreshed them », is understood not the place of hell as to that part where they were to be liberated, but as to that part where they were not to be liberated; as if it should say: he sent forth bound men out of hell, where they were shackled with the evil — the evil, namely, whom no mercy refreshed. — Force can also be put upon this, that it is said *mercy*: because in limbo there was no *liberating* mercy, although there was *relaxing* mercy; and it is understood of that mercy, not of the other.

4. To that which is objected, that if he snatched none but the good, he had a half-full victory; it must be said that it is false. For the evil, through sin, are made as it were nothing and tend toward *non-being*; and therefore their defect is counted as nothing, and on that account the fullness of victory is in no way diminished, if they are not liberated, just as the fullness of the supernal city is in no way diminished by the absence of the evil.

5. To that which is objected, that he liberated those for whom he suffered; it must be said that, as was said, this is true of those for whom he suffered as to *efficacy*, and these alone were the elect who were in hell. And if you object: Christ died not only for the elect but also for the ungodly; it must be said that this is understood of the ungodly who were in the *state of the wayfarer*, but not of those who were *damned* by definitive sentence, such as were those who were sunk into the deepest hell.

To that which was asked last about the little children, that they ought to have been liberated; it must be said that neither could they themselves be liberated, because they were not in a state in which they would be capable of Christ's grace; nor could Christ's merits avail them, nor did his satisfaction for the sin of Adam have to be extended to them. For it is extended to those who are made his members through faith, or through some Sacrament of faith. Whence, just as little children departing in original [sin] lack the blessed life forever, so also those who had already been thrust down into hell. — But the other things that were asked can be sufficiently made clear through the things that have been said.

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