2nd–4th centuries

Ransom to Satan, the deception of the devil and Christ's victory: Origen and Gregory of Nyssa

According to Pelikan, the Fathers of the 2nd–3rd centuries placed a particularly strong emphasis on the saving significance of the resurrection, hence the "classic" theory of the atonement as Christ's victory over humanity's enemies: Origen wrote that Christ's death began the overthrow of the devil's dominion, and Irenaeus that Christ as man conquered by "binding the strong man". Origen, according to Berkhof, offered several views of Christ's work without unity – deification of nature, example, sacrifice for sin, liberation from Satan's power – and introduced a new idea: Satan accepted Christ as a ransom, not realizing that he could not hold the Sinless One; he "swallowed the bait of the humanity" and "was caught on the hook of the divinity". Gregory of Nyssa in the Great Catechism repeated and justified the idea of the deceived Satan, while Gregory of Nazianzus mockingly rejected the ransom to Satan and the idea that the Father demanded a ransom. Christ's descent into hell was also connected with the victory over the devil.