so it should be a man that should overthrow the devil;
and as man deserved death, so a man by dying should vanquish death.
Hence it is written (1 Cor. 15:57): "Thanks be to God who hath given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." It was accordingly
more fitting that we should be delivered by Christ's Passion than
simply by God's good-will.

Reply Obj. 1: Even nature uses several means to one intent, in order
to do something more fittingly: as two eyes for seeing; and the same
can be observed in other matters.

Reply Obj. 2: As Chrysostom [*Athanasius, Orat. De Incarn. Verb.]
says: "Christ had come in order to destroy death, not His own, (for
since He is life itself, death could not be His), but men's death.
Hence it was not by reason of His being bound to die that He laid His
body aside, but because the death He endured was inflicted on Him by
men. But even if His body had sickened and dissolved in the sight of
all men, it was not befitting Him who healed the infirmities of
others to have his own body afflicted with the same. And even had He
laid His body aside without any sickness, and had then appeared, men
would not have believed Him when He spoke of His resurrection. For
how could Christ's victory over death appear, unless He endured it in
the sight of all men, and so proved that death was vanquished by the
incorruption of His body?"

Reply Obj. 3: Although the devil assailed man unjustly, nevertheless,
on account of sin, man was justly left by God under the devil's
bondage. And therefore it was fitting that through justice man should
be delivered from the devil's bondage by Christ making satisfaction
on his behalf in the Passion. This was also a fitting means of
overthrowing the pride of the devil, "who is a deserter from justice,
and covetous of sway"; in that Christ "should vanquish him and
deliver man, not merely by the power of His Godhead, but likewise by
the justice and lowliness of the Passion," as Augustine says (De
Trin. xiii).
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FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 46, Art. 4]

Whether Christ Ought to Have Suffered on the Cross?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ ought not to have suffered on
the cross. For the truth ought to conform to the figure. But in all
the sacrifices of the Old Testament which prefigured Christ the
beasts were slain with a sword and afterwards consumed by fire.
Therefore it seems that Christ ought not to have suffered on a cross,
but rather by the s