Gregory's Legalistic Interpretation of the "Ransom."
Gregory suggests another reason for the necessity of Divine
intervention to save the world from evil when, following the example of Origen,
he speaks about ransom to the devil or, more specifically, ransom from the
devil. The devil's power over man is legitimate because man sinned through his
own free will and by this he surrendered himself to the devil and became the
devil's slave. Therefore man cannot be "arbitrarily torn away" because this
would "bring harm to our nature in returning to it its greatest good," which is
our freedom. This action would "deprive the image of God of its honor." It would
be unjust to use violence or superior force against the devil, who legally
acquired man as a slave. Thus, man can only be liberated through the payment of
a ransom.
The devil is crafty and would not exchange something good for
something inferior. He chose Christ as ransom because he was impressed (not
frightened) by His unique life and ability to perform miracles. He asked the
price and was told that "if through death he could attain mastery over this
flesh, then he would have control over all flesh." The deceitful one was
deceived. "He swallowed the bait of the flesh and was pierced by the hook of the
Divinity."
In developing this unsuccessful "legalistic" theory Gregory was
influenced by Origen and in some respects his presentation is even more extreme.
This doctrine is incompatible with the rest of Gregory's system of theology and
is also self-contradictory. The basic idea that only God can legitimately save
man from sin turns into a defense of God's deceit. Gregory shows that it is
fitting for a deceiver to be deceived. "Here, by the reasonable rule of justice,
he who had practiced deceit is given back that very treatment, the seeds of
which he had sown himself of his own free will. He who deceived man with the
bait of sensual pleasure is deceived by a human form." Gregory's defense is
inconclusive and inappropriate. This theory was later rejected in its entirety
by Gregory the Theologian.
Thanks to Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment