A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 17
17 Section 17 PL 21, 355
17. It is with no loss or disparagement therefore of His Divine nature that Christ suffers in the flesh, but His Divine nature through the flesh descended into death, that by the infirmity of the flesh He might effect salvation; not that He might be detained by death according to the law of mortality, but that He might by Himself in his resurrection open the gates of death. It is as if a king were to proceed to a prison, and to go in and open the doors, undo the fetters, break in pieces the chains, the bars, and the bolts, and bring forth and set at liberty the prisoners, and restore those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death to light and life. The king, therefore, is said indeed to have been in prison, but not under the same condition as the prisoners who were detained there. They were in prison to be punished, He to free them from punishment.
Non ergo damno aliquo, aut injuria divinitatis Christus in carne patitur; sed ut per infirmitatem carnis operaretur salutem, divina natura in mortem per carnem descendit, non ut lege mortalium detineretur a morte, sed ut per sese resurrecturus januas mortis aperiret. Velut si quis rex pergat ad carcerem, et ingressus aperiat januas, resolvat catenas, vincula, seras et claustra comminuat, et educat vinctos in remissionem, et eos qui sedent in tenebris et in umbra mortis, luci ac vitae restituat. Dicitur ergo rex fuisse quidem in carcere, non tamen ea conditione, qua fuerant caeteri, qui tenebantur in carcere, sed illi quidem ut poenas solverent, hic vero ut absolveret poenas.