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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sin</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="A moral evil"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="14004b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/s.htm">S</a> > Sin</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Sin</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The subject is treated under these heads:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul> <li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#I">Nature of sin</a> </li><li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#II">Division</a> </li><li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#III">Mortal sin</a> </li><li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#IV">Venial sin</a> </li><li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#V">Permission and remedies</a> </li><li><a href="../cathen/14004b.htm#VI">The sense of sin</a> </li> </ul></div> <h2 id="i">Nature of sin</h2> <p>Since sin is a <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> in the first place to determine what is meant by <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, and in particular by <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>. <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">Evil</a> is defined by <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> (De malo, 2:2) as a privation of <a href="../cathen/06137b.htm">form</a> or order or due measure. In the physical order a thing is good in proportion as it possesses being. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> alone is essentially being, and He alone is essentially and perfectly good. Everything else possesses but a limited being, and, in so far as it possesses being, it is good. When it has its due proportion of <a href="../cathen/06137b.htm">form</a> and order and measure it is, in its own order and degree, good. (See <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">GOOD</a>.) <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">Evil</a> implies a deficiency in perfection, hence it cannot <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">exist</a> in <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> who is essentially and by <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> good; it is found only in finite beings which, because of their origin from nothing, are subject to the privation of <a href="../cathen/06137b.htm">form</a> or order or measure due them, and, through the opposition they encounter, are liable to an increase or decrease of the perfection they have: "for <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, in a large sense, may be described as the sum of opposition, which experience shows to <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">exist</a> in the <a href="../cathen/15183a.htm">universe</a>, to the desires and needs of <a href="../cathen/07762a.htm">individuals</a>; whence arises, among <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human beings</a> at least, the suffering in which life abounds" (see <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">EVIL</a>).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>According to the <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of the perfection which it limits, <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> is <a href="../cathen/10226a.htm">metaphysical</a>, physical, or <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a>. <a href="../cathen/10226a.htm">Metaphysical</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> is not <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> properly so called; it is but the negation of a greater good, or the limitation of finite beings by other finite beings. Physical <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> deprives the subject affected by it of some natural good, and is adverse to the well-being of the subject, as pain and suffering. <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">Moral</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> is found only in intelligent beings; it deprives them of some <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> good. Here we have to deal with <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> only. This may be defined as a privation of conformity to right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> and to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a>. Since the <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a> of a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a> consists in its agreement or non-agreement with right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> and the <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> is <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> or <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> in the <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> order according as it involves this agreement or non-agreement. When the intelligent creature, knowing <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, deliberately refuses to <a href="../cathen/11181c.htm">obey</a>, <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> results.</p> <p>Sin is nothing else than a <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> bad <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, "De malo", 7:3), an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> not in accord with <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> informed by the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has endowed us with <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> and <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free-will</a>, and a sense of responsibility; He has made us subject to His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, which is <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">known</a> to us by the dictates of <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a>, and our acts must conform with these dictates, otherwise we sin (<a href="../bible/rom014.htm#vrs23">Romans 14:23</a>). In every sinful <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> two things must be considered, the <a href="../cathen/14322c.htm">substance</a> of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> and the want of rectitude or conformity (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2072.htm#article1">I-II:72:1</a>). The <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> is something positive. The sinner <a href="../cathen/08069b.htm">intends</a> here and now to <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> in some determined matter, inordinately electing that particular good in defiance of <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">God's law</a> and the dictates of right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>. The deformity is not directly intended, nor is it involved in the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> so far as this is physical, but in the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> as coming from the will which has power over its acts and is capable of choosing this or that particular good contained within the scope of its adequate object, i.e. universal good (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, "De malo", Q. 3, a. 2, ad 2um). <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, the first <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of all reality, is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of the physical <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> as such, the <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free-will</a> of the deformity (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> <a href="../summa/2089.htm#article2">I-II:89:2</a>; "De malo", 3:2). The <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> adequately considered has for its <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> the <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free-will</a> defectively electing some mutable good in place of the <a href="../cathen/06640a.htm">eternal good</a>, <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and thus deviating from its <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end.</p> <p>In every sin a privation of due order or conformity to the <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> is found, but sin is not a pure, or entire privation of all <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> good (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, "De malo", 2:9; <a href="../summa/2073.htm#article2">I-II:73:2</a>). There is a twofold privation; one entire which leaves nothing of its opposite, as for instance, darkness which leaves no light; another, not entire, which leaves something of the good to which it is opposed, as for instance, disease which does not entirely destroy the even balance of the bodily functions <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for health. A pure or entire privation of good could occur in a <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> only on the supposition that the will could incline to <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> as such for an object. This is impossible because <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> as such is not contained within the scope of the adequate object of the will, which is good. The sinner's <a href="../cathen/08069b.htm">intention</a> terminates at some object in which there is a participation of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">goodness</a>, and this object is directly intended by him. The privation of due order, or the deformity, is not directly intended, but is accepted in as much as the sinner's desire tends to an object in which this want of conformity is involved, so that sin is not a pure privation, but a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a> deprived of its due rectitude. From the defect arises the <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, from the fact that it is <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a>, its imputability.</p> <h2 id="ii">Division of sin</h2> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>As regards the principle from which it proceeds sin is original or actual. The will of Adam acting as head of the <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human race</a> for the conservation or loss of original <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> and source of <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">original sin</a>. Actual sin is committed by a free personal <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of the individual will. It is divided into sins of commission and <a href="../cathen/11251b.htm">omission</a>. A sin of commission is a positive <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> contrary to some prohibitory <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a>; a sin of <a href="../cathen/11251b.htm">omission</a> is a failure to do what is commanded. A sin of <a href="../cathen/11251b.htm">omission</a>, however, requires a positive <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> whereby one wills to omit the fulfilling of a <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a>, or at least wills something incompatible with its fulfillment (<a href="../summa/2072.htm#article5">I-II:72:5</a>). As regards their <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a>, sins are distinguished into sins of <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a>, passion or infirmity, and <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a>; as regards the activities involved, into sins of thought, word, or deed (<em>cordis, oris, operis</em>); as regards their gravity, into mortal and venial. This last named division is indeed the most important of all and it calls for special treatment. But before taking up the details, it will be useful to indicate some further distinctions which occur in <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a> or in general usage.</p> <h3>Material and formal sin</h3> <p>This distinction is based upon the difference between the objective elements (object itself, circumstances) and the subjective (advertence to the sinfulness of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>). An action which, as a matter of fact, is contrary to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a> but is not <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">known</a> to be such by the agent constitutes a material sin; whereas formal sin is committed when the agent freely transgresses the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> as shown him by his <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a>, whether such <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> really exists or is only thought to exist by him who acts. Thus, a <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> who takes the <a href="../cathen/12462a.htm">property</a> of another while <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">believing</a> it to be his own commits a material sin; but the sin would be formal if he took the <a href="../cathen/12462a.htm">property</a> in the <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> that it belonged to another, whether his <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> were correct or not.</p> <h3>Internal sins</h3> <p>That sin may be committed not only by outward deeds but also by the inner activity of the <a href="../cathen/10321a.htm">mind</a> apart from any external manifestation, is plain from the <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04664a.htm">Decalogue</a>: "Thou shalt not <a href="../cathen/04462a.htm">covet</a>", and from <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ's</a> rebuke of the <a href="../cathen/13634a.htm">scribes</a> and <a href="../cathen/11789b.htm">pharisees</a> whom he likens to "whited sepulchres... full of all filthiness" (<a href="../bible/mat023.htm#vrs27">Matthew 23:27</a>). Hence the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> (Sess. XIV, c. v), in declaring that all mortal sins must be <a href="../cathen/11618c.htm">confessed</a>, makes special mention of those that are most secret and that violate only the last two <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04664a.htm">Decalogue</a>, adding that they "sometimes more grievously wound the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> and are more dangerous than sins which are openly committed". Three kinds of internal sin are usually distinguished:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li><em>delectatio morosa</em>, i.e. the pleasure taken in a sinful thought or <a href="../cathen/07672a.htm">imagination</a> even without desiring it;</li><li><em>gaudium</em>, i.e. dwelling with complacency on sins already committed; and</li><li><em>desiderium</em>, i.e. the desire for what is sinful.</li></ul></div> <p>An <em>efficacious</em> desire, i.e. one that includes the deliberate <a href="../cathen/08069b.htm">intention</a> to realize or gratify the desire, has the same <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a>, mortal or venial, as the action which it has in view. An inefficacious desire is one that carries a <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a>, in such a way that the will is prepared to perform the action in case the <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> were verified. When the <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> is such as to eliminate all sinfulness from the action, the desire involves no sin: e.g. I would gladly eat meat on Friday, if I had a <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensation</a>; and in general this is the case whenever the action is forbidden by positive <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> only. When the action is contrary to <a href="../cathen/09076a.htm">natural law</a> and yet is permissible in given circumstances or in a particular state of life, the desire, if it include those circumstances or that state as <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">conditions</a>, is not in itself sinful: e.g. I would <a href="../cathen/15108a.htm">kill</a> so-and-so if I had to do it in self-defence. Usually, however, such desires are dangerous and therefore to be repressed. If, on the other hand, the <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> does not remove the sinfulness of the action, the desire is also sinful. This is clearly the case where the action is intrinsically and absolutely <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, e.g. <a href="../cathen/02595a.htm">blasphemy</a>: one cannot without committing sin, have the desire  I would <a href="../cathen/02595a.htm">blaspheme</a> <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> if it were not wrong; the <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> is an impossible one and therefore does not affect the desire itself. The pleasure taken in a sinful thought (<em>delectatio, gaudium</em>) is, generally speaking, a sin of the same kind and gravity as the action which is thought of. Much, however, depends on the motive for which one thinks of sinful actions. The pleasure, e.g. which one may experience in studying the <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of <a href="../cathen/07441a.htm">murder</a> or any other crime, in getting clear <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> on the subject, tracing its causes, determining the guilt etc., is not a sin; on the contrary, it is often both <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> and useful. The case is different of course where the pleasure means gratification in the sinful object or action itself. And it is evidently a sin when one boasts of his <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> deeds, the more so because of the <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">scandal</a> that is given.</p> <h3>The capital sins or vices</h3> <p>According to <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> (<a href="../summa/3153.htm#article4">II-II:153:4</a>) "a capital <a href="../cathen/15403c.htm">vice</a> is that which has an exceedingly desirable end so that in his desire for it a man goes on to the commission of many sins all of which are said to originate in that <a href="../cathen/15403c.htm">vice</a> as their chief source". It is not then the gravity of the <a href="../cathen/15403c.htm">vice</a> in itself that makes it capital but rather the fact that it gives rise to many other sins. These are enumerated by <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> (<a href="../summa/2084.htm#article4">I-II:84:4</a>) as vainglory (pride), <a href="../cathen/02148b.htm">avarice</a>, <a href="../cathen/06590a.htm">gluttony</a>, <a href="../cathen/09438a.htm">lust</a>, <a href="../cathen/14057c.htm">sloth</a>, <a href="../cathen/08326b.htm">envy</a>, <a href="../cathen/01489a.htm">anger</a>. <a href="../cathen/02648c.htm">St. Bonaventure</a> (Brevil., III, ix) gives the same enumeration. Earlier writers had distinguished eight capital sins: so <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">St. Cyprian</a> (De mort., iv); <a href="../cathen/03404a.htm">Cassian</a> (<a href="../fathers/350705.htm"><em>Institutes</em> 5</a>, <a href="../fathers/350805.htm"><em>Conferences</em> 5</a>); <a href="../cathen/04137a.htm">Columbanus</a> ("Instr. de octo vitiis princip." in "Bibl. max. vet. patr.", XII, 23); <a href="../cathen/01276a.htm">Alcuin</a> (De virtut. et vitiis, xxvii sqq.). The number seven, however, had been given by <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory the Great</a> (Lib. mor. in Job. XXXI, xvii), and it was retained by the foremost <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> of the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a>.</p> <p>It is to be noted that "sin" is not predicated univocally of all kinds of sin. "The division of sin into venial and mortal is not a division of genus into <a href="../cathen/14210a.htm">species</a> which participate equally the <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of the genus, but the division of an analogue into things of which it is predicated primarily and secondarily" (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2088.htm#article1">I-II:88:1, ad 1um</a>). "Sin is not predicated univocally of all kinds of sin, but primarily of actual mortal sin ... and therefore it is not <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> that the definition of sin in general should be verified except in that sin in which the <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of the genus is found perfectly. The definition of sin may be verified in other sins in a certain sense" (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, II, d. 33, Q. i, a. 2, ad 2um). Actual sin primarily consists in a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> repugnant to the order of right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>. The <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> passes, but the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> of the sinner remains stained, deprived of grace, in a state of sin, until the disturbance of order has been restored by penance. This state is called habitual sin, <em>macula peccati. reatus culpæ</em> (<a href="../summa/2087.htm#article6">I-II:87:6</a>).</p> <p>The division of sin into original and actual, mortal and venial, is not a division of genus into <a href="../cathen/14210a.htm">species</a> because sin has not the same signification when applied to original and personal sin, mortal and venial. Mortal sin cuts us off entirely from our <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end; venial sin only impedes us in its attainment. Actual personal sin is <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> by a proper <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of the will. <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">Original sin</a> is <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> not by a personal <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> of ours, but by an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of the will of Adam. Original and actual sin are distinguished by the manner in which they are <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> (<em>ex parte actus</em>); mortal and venial sin by the way in which they affect our relation to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<em>ex parte deordinationis</em>). Since a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> and its disorder are of the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">essence</a> of sin, it is impossible that sin should be a generic term in respect to original and actual, mortal and venial sin. The <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of sin is found perfectly only in a personal mortal sin, in other sins imperfectly, so that sin is predicated primarily of actual sin, only secondarily of the others. Therefore we shall consider: first, personal mortal sin; second, venial sin.</p> <h2 id="iii">Mortal sin</h2> <p>Mortal sin is defined by <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> (<a href="../fathers/140622.htm"><em>Reply to Faustus</em> XXII.27</a>) as "Dictum vel factum vel concupitum contra legem æternam", i.e. something said, done or desired contrary to the <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, or a thought, word, or deed contrary to the <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. This is a definition of sin as it is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a>. As it is a defect or privation it may be defined as an aversion from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, our <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end, by reason of the preference given to some mutable good. The definition of <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> is accepted generally by <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> and is primarily a definition of actual mortal sin. It explains well the material and formal elements of sin. The words "dictum vel factum vel concupitum" denote the material element of sin, a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a>: "contra legem æternam", the formal element. The <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> is bad because it transgresses the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. <a href="../cathen/01383c.htm">St. Ambrose</a> (De paradiso, viii) defines sin as a "prevarication of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>". The definition of <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> strictly considered, i.e. as sin averts us from our <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> ultimate end, does not comprehend venial sin, but in as much as venial sin is in a manner contrary to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, although not averting us from our last end, it may be said to be included in the definition as it stands. While primarily a definition of sins of commission, sins of <a href="../cathen/11251b.htm">omission</a> may be included in the definition because they presuppose some positive <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2071.htm#article5">I-II:71:5</a>) and negation and affirmation are reduced to the same genus. Sins that violate the human or the <a href="../cathen/09076a.htm">natural law</a> are also included, for what is contrary to the human or <a href="../cathen/09076a.htm">natural law</a> is also contrary to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, in as much as every just human <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> is derived from the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, and is not just unless it is in conformity with the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3>Biblical description of sin</h3> <p>In the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> sin is set forth as an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of disobedience (<a href="../bible/gen002.htm#vrs16">Genesis 2:16-17</a>; <a href="../bible/gen003.htm#vrs11">3:11</a>; <a href="../bible/isa001.htm#vrs2">Isaiah 1:2-4</a>; <a href="../bible/jer002.htm#vrs32">Jeremiah 2:32</a>); as an insult to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../bible/num027.htm#vrs14">Numbers 27:14</a>); as something detested and punished by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../bible/gen003.htm#vrs14">Genesis 3:14-19</a>; <a href="../bible/gen004.htm#vrs9">Genesis 4:9-16</a>); as injurious to the sinner (<a href="../bible/tob012.htm#vrs10">Tobit 12:10</a>); to be expiated by penance (<a href="../bible/psa050.htm#vrs19">Psalm 51:19</a>). In the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a> it is clearly taught in <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> that sin is a transgression of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> (<a href="../bible/rom002.htm#vrs23">Romans 2:23</a>; <a href="../bible/rom005.htm#vrs12">5:12-20</a>); a servitude from which we are liberated by grace (<a href="../bible/rom006.htm#vrs16">Romans 6:16-18</a>); a disobedience (<a href="../bible/heb002.htm#vrs2">Hebrews 2:2</a>) punished by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../bible/heb010.htm#vrs26">Hebrews 10:26-31</a>). St. John describes sin as an offence to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, a disorder of the will (<a href="../bible/joh012.htm#vrs43">John 12:43</a>), an iniquity (<a href="../bible/1jo003.htm#vrs4">1 John 3:4-10</a>). Christ in many of His utterances teaches the <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> and extent of sin. He came to <a href="../cathen/12454b.htm">promulgate</a> a new <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> more perfect than the old, which would extend to the ordering not only of external but also of internal acts to a degree unknown before, and, in His Sermon on the Mount, He condemns as sinful many acts which were judged honest and righteous by the <a href="../cathen/05072b.htm">doctors</a> and teachers of the <a href="../cathen/10582c.htm">Old Law</a>. He denounces in a special manner <a href="../cathen/07610a.htm">hypocrisy</a> and <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">scandal</a>, infidelity and the sin against the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Holy Ghost</a>. In particular He teaches that sins come from the heart (<a href="../bible/mat015.htm#vrs19">Matthew 15:19-20</a>).</p> <h3>Systems which deny sin or distort its true notion</h3> <p>All systems, religious and <a href="../cathen/05556a.htm">ethical</a>, which either deny, on the one hand, the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> of a personal creator and lawgiver distinct from and superior to his <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a>, or, on the other, the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> of <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> and responsibility in <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, distort or destroy the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/02543a.htm">biblico</a>-<a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theological</a> notion of sin. In the beginning of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> era the <a href="../cathen/06592a.htm">Gnostics</a>, although their doctrines varied in details, denied the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> of a personal creator. The <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of sin in the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> sense is not contained in their system. There is no sin for them, unless it be the sin of <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a>, no <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessity</a> for an <a href="../cathen/02055a.htm">atonement</a>; <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus</a> is not <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (see <a href="../cathen/06592a.htm">GNOSTICISM</a>). <a href="../cathen/09591a.htm">Manichaeism</a> with its two <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> principles, <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> and <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, at perpetual <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> with each other, is also destructive of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> notion of sin. All <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, and consequently sin, is from the principle of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> concept of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as a lawgiver is destroyed. Sin is not a <a href="../cathen/04274a.htm">conscious</a> <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of disobedience to the Divine will. <a href="../cathen/11447b.htm">Pantheistic</a> systems which deny the distinction between <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a> make sin impossible. If <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> and <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> are one, <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is not responsible to anyone for his acts, <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a> is destroyed. If he is his own rule of action, he cannot deviate from <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> as <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> teaches (<a href="../summa/1063.htm#article1">I:63:1</a>). The identification of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and the world by <a href="../cathen/11447b.htm">Pantheism</a> leaves no place for sin.</p> <p>There must be some <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> to which <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is subject, superior to and distinct from him, which can be <a href="../cathen/11181c.htm">obeyed</a> and transgressed, before sin can enter into his acts. This <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> must be the mandate of a superior, because the notions of superiority and subjection are correlative. This superior can be only <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, who alone is the author and lord of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>. <a href="../cathen/10041b.htm">Materialism</a>, denying as it does the spirituality and the <a href="../cathen/07687a.htm">immortality</a> of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> of any spirit whatsoever, and consequently of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, does not admit sin. There is no <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a>, everything is determined by the inflexible <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of motion. "Virtue" and "vice" are meaningless qualifications of action. <a href="../cathen/12312c.htm">Positivism</a> places <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man's</a> last end in some sensible good. His supreme <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of action is to seek the maximum of pleasure. Egotism or <a href="../cathen/01369a.htm">altruism</a> is the supreme norm and criterion of the <a href="../cathen/12312c.htm">Positivistic</a> systems, not the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">eternal law of God</a> as revealed by Him, and dictated by <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a>. For the <a href="../cathen/10041b.htm">materialistic</a> evolutionists <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is but a highly-developed animal, <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> a product of evolution. Evolution has revolutionized <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a>, sin is no more.</p> <p><a href="../cathen/08603a.htm">Kant</a> in his "Critique of Pure Reason" having rejected all the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">essential</a> notions of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a>, namely, liberty, the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and a future life, attempted in his "Critique of the Practical Reason" to restore them in the measure in which they are <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a>. The practical <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, he tells us, imposes on us the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> and <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a>. The fundamental principle of the <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a> of <a href="../cathen/08603a.htm">Kant</a> is "<a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> for <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty's</a> sake", not <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">Duty</a> cannot be conceived of alone as an independent thing. It carries with it certain postulates, the first of which is liberty. "I ought, therefore I can", is his <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">Man</a> by virtue of his practical <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> has a <a href="../cathen/04274a.htm">consciousness</a> of <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> (<a href="../cathen/03432a.htm">categorical imperative</a>). This <a href="../cathen/04274a.htm">consciousness</a> supposes three things: <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a>, the <a href="../cathen/07687a.htm">immortality</a> of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, the <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">existence of God</a>, otherwise <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> would not be capable of fulfilling his <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a>, there would be no sufficient sanction for the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, no reward or punishment in a future life. <a href="../cathen/08603a.htm">Kant's</a> moral system labours in obscurities and contradictions and is destructive of much that pertains to the teaching of Christ. Personal dignity is the supreme rule of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man's</a> actions. The notion of sin as opposed to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is suppressed. According to the teaching of <a href="../cathen/10041b.htm">materialistic</a> <a href="../cathen/10483a.htm">Monism</a>, now so widespread, there is, and can be, no <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a>. According to this <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> but one thing exists and this one being produces all phenomena, thought included; we are but puppets in its hands, carried hither an thither as it wills, and finally are cast back into nothingness. There is no place for <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> and <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, a free observance or a wilful transgression of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, in such a system. Sin in the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> sense is impossible. Without <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> and liberty and a personal <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> there is no sin.</p> <p>That <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">God exists</a> and can be <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">known</a> from His visible <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a>, that He has revealed the decrees of His <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> will to <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, and is distinct from His creatures (<a href="../cathen/04736b.htm">Denzinger-Bannwart</a>, "Enchiridion", nn. 1782, 1785, 1701), are matters of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and teaching. <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">Man</a> is a <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> being endowed with <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> (ibid., 793), which fact can be <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> from <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> and <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> (ibid., 1041-1650). The <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> declares in Sess. VI, c. i (ibid., 793) that <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> by reason of the prevarication of Adam has lost his primeval innocence, and that while <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> remains, its powers are lessened (see <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">ORIGINAL SIN</a>).</p> <h3>Protestant errors</h3> <p><a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Luther</a> and <a href="../cathen/03195b.htm">Calvin</a> taught as their fundamental <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> that no <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> properly so called remained in <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> after the fall of our <a href="../cathen/01129a.htm">first parents</a>; that the fulfillment of <a href="../cathen/04153a.htm">God's precepts</a> is impossible even with the assistance of grace, and that <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> in all his actions sins. <a href="../cathen/06689a.htm">Grace</a> is not an interior <a href="../cathen/06553a.htm">gift</a>, but something external. To some sin is not imputed, because they are covered as with a cloak by the <a href="../cathen/10202b.htm">merits</a> of Christ. <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">Faith</a> alone <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">saves</a>, there is no <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessity</a> for good <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">works</a>. Sin in <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Luther's</a> <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> cannot be a deliberate transgression of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">Jansenius</a>, in his "Augustinus", taught that according to the present powers of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> some of <a href="../cathen/04153a.htm">God's precepts</a> are impossible of fulfilment, even to the just who strive to fulfil them, and he further taught that grace by means of which the fulfilment becomes possible is wanting even to the just. His fundamental <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> consists in teaching that the will is not <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free</a> but is necessarily drawn either by <a href="../cathen/04208a.htm">concupiscence</a> or grace. Internal liberty is not required for <a href="../cathen/10202b.htm">merit</a> or demerit. Liberty from coercion suffices. Christ did not die for all <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a>. <a href="../cathen/02209c.htm">Baius</a> taught a semi-Lutheran <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. Liberty is not entirely destroyed, but is so weakened that without grace it can do nothing but sin. True liberty is not required for sin. A bad <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> committed involuntarily renders <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> responsible (propositions 50-51 in <a href="../cathen/04736b.htm">Denzinger-Bannwart</a>, "Enchiridion", nn. 1050-1). All acts done without charity are mortal sins and <a href="../cathen/10202b.htm">merit</a> <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">damnation</a> because they proceed from <a href="../cathen/04208a.htm">concupiscence</a>. This <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> denies that sin is a <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> transgression of <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. If <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is not <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free</a>, a <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a> is meaningless as far as he is concerned.</p> <h3>Philosophical sin</h3> <p>Those who would construct a <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> system independent of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> distinguish between <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> and <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophical</a> sin. <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">Philosophical</a> sin is a <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> bad <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> which violates the natural order of <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, not the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. Theological sin is a transgression of the <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. Those who are of <a href="../cathen/02040a.htm">atheistic</a> tendencies and contend for this distinction, either deny the <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">existence of God</a> or maintain that He exercises no <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">providence</a> in regard to <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human acts</a>. This position is destructive of sin in the <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> sense, as <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, reward and punishment, are done away with. Those who admit the <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">existence of God</a>, His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, human liberty and responsibility, and still contend for a distinction between <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophical</a> and <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> sin, maintain that in the present order of <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">God's providence</a> there are <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> bad acts, which, while violating the order of <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, are not offensive to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and they base their contention on this that the sinner can be <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorant</a> of the <a href="../cathen/06608b.htm">existence of God</a>, or not actually think of Him and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> when he acts. Without the <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and consideration of Him, it is impossible to offend Him. This <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> was censured as <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">scandalous</a>, temerarious, and <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">erroneous</a> by <a href="../cathen/01295a.htm">Alexander VIII</a> (24 Aug., 1690) in his condemnation of the following proposition: "Philosophical or moral sin is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a> not in agreement with rational nature and right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> and mortal sin is a free transgression of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. However grievous it may be, <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophical</a> sin in one who is either <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorant</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> or does not actually think of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, is indeed a grievous sin, but not an offense to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, nor a mortal sin dissolving friendship with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, nor worthy of <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">eternal punishment</a>" (<a href="../cathen/04736b.htm">Denzinger-Bannwart</a>, 1290).</p> <p>This proposition is condemned because it does not distinguish between vincible and invincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a>, and further supposes invincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> to be sufficiently common, instead of only metaphysically possible, and because in the present <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensation</a> of <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">God's providence</a> we are clearly taught in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> will punish all <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> coming from the <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> (<a href="../bible/rom002.htm#vrs5">Romans 2:5-11</a>). There is no <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> bad <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> that does not include a transgression of <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. From the fact that an action is conceived of as <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> it is conceived of as prohibited. A prohibition is unintelligible without the notion of some one prohibiting. The one prohibiting in this case and binding the <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> can be only <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, Who alone has power over <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man's</a> <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> and actions, so that from the fact that any <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> is perceived to be <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> bad and prohibited by <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a>, <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> are perceived at least confusedly, and a wilful transgression of the dictate of <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> is necessarily also a transgression of <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">God's law</a>. <a href="../cathen/09418b.htm">Cardinal de Lugo</a> (De incarnat., disp. 5, lect. 3) admits the possibility of <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophical</a> sin in those who are inculpably <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorant</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, but he holds that it does not actually occur, because in the present order of <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">God's providence</a> there cannot be invincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. This teaching does not necessarily fall under the condemnation of <a href="../cathen/01295a.htm">Alexander VIII</a>, but it is commonly rejected by <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> for the reason that a dictate of <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> necessarily involves a <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a> as a principle of <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a>.</p> <h3>Conditions of mortal sin: knowledge, free will, grave matter</h3> <p>Contrary to the teaching of <a href="../cathen/02209c.htm">Baius</a> (prop. 46, Denzinger-Bannwart, 1046) and the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformers</a>, a sin must be a <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>. Those actions alone are properly called <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> or <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> actions which proceed from the <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> will deliberately acting with <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of the end for which it acts. <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">Man</a> differs from all irrational creatures in this precisely that he is master of his actions by virtue of his <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> and <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> (<a href="../summa/2001.htm#article1">I-II:1:1</a>). Since sin is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a> wanting in due rectitude, it must have, in so far as it is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a>, the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">essential</a> constituents of a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human act</a>. The <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> must perceive and judge of the morality of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, and the will must freely elect. For a deliberate mortal sin there must be full advertence on the part of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> and full <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> on the part of the will in a grave <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a>. An involuntary transgression of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> even in a grave <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> is not a formal but a material sin. The gravity of the <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> is judged from the teaching of <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a>, the definitions of councils and <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a>, and also from <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>. Those sins are judged to be mortal which contain in themselves some grave disorder in regard to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, our neighbour, ourselves, or <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>. Some sins admit of no lightness of <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a>, as for example, <a href="../cathen/02595a.htm">blasphemy</a>, <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">hatred</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>; they are always mortal (<em>ex toto genere suo</em>), unless rendered venial by want of full advertence on the part of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> or full <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> on the part of the will. Other sins admit lightness of <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a>: they are grave sins (<em>ex genere suo</em>) in as much as their <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> in itself is sufficient to constitute a grave sin without the addition of any other <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a>, but is of such a <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> that in a given case, owing to its smallness, the sin may be venial, e.g. <a href="../cathen/14564b.htm">theft</a>.</p> <h3>Imputability</h3> <p>That the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of the sinner may be imputed to him it is not <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> that the object which terminates and specifies his <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> should be directly willed as an ends or means. It suffices that it be willed indirectly or in its <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>, i.e. if the sinner foresees, at least confusedly, that it will follow from the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> which he freely performs or from his <a href="../cathen/11251b.htm">omission</a> of an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>. When the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> produces a twofold effect, one of which is directly willed, the other indirectly, the effect which follows indirectly is <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> imputable to the sinner when these three <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">conditions</a> are verified:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>first, the sinner must foresee at least confusedly the <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> effects which follow on the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> he places;</li><li>second, he must be able to refrain from placing the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>;</li><li>third, he must be under the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of preventing the <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> effect.</li></ul></div> <p><a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">Error</a> and <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> in regard to the object or circumstances of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> to be placed, affect the judgment of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> and consequently the <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a> and imputability of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>. Invincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> excuses entirely from sin. Vincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> does not, although it renders the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> less free (see <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">IGNORANCE</a>). The <a href="../cathen/11534a.htm">passions</a>, while they disturb the judgment of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a>, more directly affect the will. Antecedent passion increases the intensity of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, the object is more intensely desired, although less freely, and the disturbance <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">caused</a> by the <a href="../cathen/11534a.htm">passions</a> may be so great as to render a free judgment impossible, the agent being for the moment beside himself (<a href="../summa/2006.htm#article7">I-II:6:7, ad 3um</a>). Consequent passion, which arises from a command of the will, does not lessen liberty, but is rather a sign of an intense <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of volition. <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">Fear</a>, <a href="../cathen/15446a.htm">violence</a>, <a href="../cathen/07254a.htm">heredity</a>, temperament and pathological states, in so far as they affect free volition, affect the malice and imputability of sin. From the condemnation of the <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">errors</a> of <a href="../cathen/02209c.htm">Baius</a> and <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">Jansenius</a> (Denz.-Bann., 1046, 1066, 1094, 1291-2) it is clear that for an actual personal sin a <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> and a personal <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a>, free from coercion and <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessity</a>, are required. No mortal sin is committed in a state of invincible <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> or in a half-conscious state. Actual advertence to the sinfulness of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> is not required, virtual advertence suffices. It is not <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> that the explicit <a href="../cathen/08069b.htm">intention</a> to offend <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and break His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> be present, the full and free <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> of the will to an <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> suffices.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h3>Malice</h3> <p>The <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> malice of mortal sin consists in a <a href="../cathen/04274a.htm">conscious</a> and <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> transgression of the <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, and implies a contempt of the Divine will, a complete turning away from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, our <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end, and a preferring of some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> thing to which we subject ourselves. It is an offence offered to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and an injury done Him; not that it effects any change in <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, who is immutable by <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>, but that the sinner by his <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> deprives <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> of the <a href="../cathen/06423a.htm">reverence</a> and <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honor</a> due Him: it is not any lack of <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a> on the sinner's part, but <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> immutability that prevents Him from suffering. As an offence offered to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> mortal sin is in a way <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> in its <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a>, since it is directed against an <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> being, and the gravity of the offence is measured by the dignity of the one offended (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/4001.htm#article2">III:1:2, ad 2um</a>). As an <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> sin is finite, the will of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> not being capable of <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinite</a> <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a>. Sin is an offence against Christ Who has <a href="../cathen/12677d.htm">redeemed</a> <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> (<a href="../bible/phi003.htm#vrs18">Philippians 3:18</a>); against the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Holy Ghost</a> Who sanctifies us (<a href="../bible/heb010.htm#vrs29">Hebrews 10:29</a>), an injury to <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> himself, causing the spiritual death of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, and making <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> the servant of the <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">devil</a>. The first and primary malice of sin is derived from the object to which the will inordinately tends, and from the object considered morally, not physically. The end for which the sinner acts and the circumstances which surround the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> are also determining factors of its <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morality</a>. An <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> which, objectively considered, is morally indifferent, may be rendered <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> or <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> by circumstances, or by the intention of the sinner. An <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> that is good objectively may be rendered bad, or a new <a href="../cathen/14210a.htm">species</a> of <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> or <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> may be added, or a new degree. Circumstances can change the character of a sin to such a degree that it becomes specifically different from what it is objectively considered; or they may merely aggravate the sin while not changing its specific character; or they may lessen its gravity. That they may exercise this determining influence two things are <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>: they must contain in themselves some <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> or <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, and must be apprehended, at least confusedly, in their <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> aspect. The external <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, in so far as it is a mere execution of a <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> efficacious internal <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, does not, according to the common <a href="../cathen/14698b.htm">Thomistic</a> opinion, add any <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">essential</a> <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">goodness</a> or malice to the internal sin.</p> <h3>Gravity</h3> <p>While every mortal sin averts us from our <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end, all mortal sins are not equally grave, as is clear from <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> (<a href="../bible/joh019.htm#vrs11">John 19:11</a>; <a href="../bible/mat011.htm#vrs22">Matthew 11:22</a>; <a href="../bible/luk006.htm">Luke 6</a>), and also from <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>. Sins are specifically distinguished by their objects, which do not all equally avert <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> from his last end. Then again, since sin is not a pure privation, but a mixed one, all sins do not equally destroy the order of <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>. Spiritual sins, other things being equal, are graver than carnal sins. (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, "De malo", Q. ii, a. 9; <a href="../summa/2073.htm#article5">I-II.73.5</a>).</p> <h3>Specific and numeric distinction of sin</h3> <p>Sins are distinguished specifically by their formally diverse objects; or from their opposition to different <a href="../cathen/15472a.htm">virtues</a>, or to <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> different <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> of the same <a href="../cathen/15472a.htm">virtue</a>. Sins that are specifically distinct are also numerically distinct. Sins within the same <a href="../cathen/14210a.htm">species</a> are distinguished numerically according to the number of complete acts of the will in regard to total objects. A total object is one which, either in itself or by the <a href="../cathen/08069b.htm">intention</a> of the sinner, forms a complete whole and is not referred to another action as a part of the whole. When the completed acts of the will relate to the same object there are as many sins as there are <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morally</a> interrupted acts.</p> <h3>Subject causes of sin</h3> <p>Since sin is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> lacking in due rectitude, sin is found, as in a subject, principally in the will. But, since not only acts elicited by the will are <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a>, but also those that are elicited by other <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a> at the command of the will, sin may be found in these <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a> in so far as they are subject in their actions to the command of the will, and are instruments of the will, and move under its guidance (<a href="../summa/2074.htm#article0">I-II:74</a>).</p> <p>The external members of the body cannot be effective principles of sin (<a href="../summa/2074.htm#article2">I-II:74:2, ad 3um</a>). They are mere organs which are set in activity by the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>; they do not initiate action. The appetitive powers on the contrary can be effective principles of sin, for they possess, through their immediate conjunction with the will and their subordination to it, a certain though imperfect liberty (<a href="../summa/2056.htm#article4">I-II:56:4, ad 3um</a>). The sensual <a href="../cathen/01656a.htm">appetites</a> have their own proper sensible objects to which they naturally incline, and since <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">original sin</a> has broken the bond which held them in complete subjection to the will, they may antecede the will in their actions and tend to their own proper objects inordinately. Hence they may be proximate principles of sin when they move inordinately contrary to the dictates of right <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>.</p> <p>It is the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> of <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> to rule the lower <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a>, and when the disturbance arises in the sensual part the <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> may do one of two things: it may either <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> to the sensible delectation or it may repress and reject it. If it <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consents</a>, the sin is no longer one of the sensual part of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, but of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> and will, and consequently, if the <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> is grave, mortal. If rejected, no sin can be imputed. There can be no sin in the sensual part of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> independently of the will. The inordinate motions of the sensual <a href="../cathen/01656a.htm">appetite</a> which precede the advertence of <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, or which are suffered unwillingly, are not even venial sins. The <a href="../cathen/14504a.htm">temptations</a> of the flesh not <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consented</a> to are not sins. <a href="../cathen/04208a.htm">Concupiscence</a>, which remains after the guilt of <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">original sin</a> is remitted in <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, is not sinful so long as <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> is not given to it (<a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, sess. V, can. v). The sensual <a href="../cathen/01656a.htm">appetite</a> of itself cannot be the subject of mortal sin, for the reason that it can neither grasp the notion of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as an ultimate end, nor avert us from Him, without which aversion there cannot be mortal sin. The superior <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, whose office it is to occupy itself with Divine things, may be the proximate principle of sin both in regard to its own proper <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>, and as it is directive of the inferior <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a>: in regard to its own proper <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>, in so far as it <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntarily</a> neglects to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> what it can and ought to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a>; in regard to the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> by which it directs the inferior <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a>, to the extent that it commands inordinate acts or fails to repress them (<a href="../summa/2074.htm#article7">I-II:74:7, ad 2um</a>).</p> <p>The will never <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consents</a> to a sin that is not at the same time a sin of the superior <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> as directing badly, by either actually deliberating and commanding the <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a>, or by failing to deliberate and impede the <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> of the will when it could and should do so. The superior <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> is the ultimate judge of <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">human acts</a> and has an <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of deliberating and deciding whether the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> to be performed is according to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a>. Venial sin may also be found in the superior <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a> when it deliberately <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consents</a> to sins that are venial in their <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>, or when there is not a full <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> in the case of a sin that is mortal considered objectively.</p> <h3>Causes of sin</h3> <p>Under this head, it is needful to distinguish between the efficient <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>, i.e. the agent performing the sinful action, and those other agencies, influences or circumstances, which incite to sin and consequently involve a danger, more or less grave, for one who is exposed to them. These inciting causes are explained in special articles on <a href="../cathen/11196a.htm">OCCASIONS OF SIN</a> and <a href="../cathen/14504a.htm">TEMPTATION</a>. Here we have to consider only the efficient <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> or causes of sin. These are interior and exterior. The complete and sufficient <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of sin is the will, which is regulated in its actions by the <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, and acted upon by the sensitive <a href="../cathen/01656a.htm">appetites</a>. The principal interior causes of sin are <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a>, infirmity or passion, and malice. <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">Ignorance</a> on the part of the <a href="../cathen/12673b.htm">reason</a>, infirmity and passion on the part of the sensitive <a href="../cathen/01656a.htm">appetite</a>, and malice on the part of the will. A sin is from certain <a href="../cathen/07149b.htm">malice</a> when the will sins of its own accord and not under the influence of <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> or passion.</p> <p>The exterior causes of sin are the <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">devil</a> and <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, who move to sin by means of suggestion, persuasion, <a href="../cathen/14504a.htm">temptation</a> and bad example. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is not the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of sin (<a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, sess. VI, can. vi, in Denz.-Bann., 816). He directs all things to Himself and is the end of all His actions, and could not be the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> without self-contradiction. Of whatever entity there is in sin as an action, He is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>. The <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> will is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of the disorder (<a href="../summa/2079.htm#article2">I-II:79:2</a>). One sin may be the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of another inasmuch as one sin may be <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> to another as an end. The seven capital sins, so called, may be considered as the source from which other sins proceed. They are sinful propensities which reveal themselves in particular sinful acts. <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">Original sin</a> by reason of its dire effects is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> and source of sin in so far as by reason of it our natures are left wounded and inclined to <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>. <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">Ignorance</a>, infirmity, malice, and <a href="../cathen/04208a.htm">concupiscence</a> are the consequences of <a href="../cathen/11312a.htm">original sin</a>.</p> <h3>Effects of sin</h3> <p>The first effect of mortal sin in <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is to avert him from his <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end, and deprive his <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> of <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">sanctifying grace</a>. The sinful <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> passes, and the sinner is left in a state of habitual aversion from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. The sinful state is <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> and imputable to the sinner, because it necessarily follows from the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> of sin he freely placed, and it remains until satisfaction is made (see PENANCE). This state of sin is called by <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> habitual sin, not in the sense that habitual sin implies a <a href="../cathen/15403c.htm">vicious</a> habit, but in the sense that it signifies a state of aversion from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> depending on the preceding actual sin, consequently <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> and imputable. This state of aversion carries with it necessarily in the present order of <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">God's providence</a> the privation of grace and charity by means of which <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is ordered to his <a href="../cathen/14336b.htm">supernatural</a> end. The privation of grace is the "macula peccati" (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2086.htm">I-II.86</a>), the stain of sin spoken of in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> (<a href="../bible/jos022.htm#vrs17">Joshua 22:17</a>; <a href="../bible/isa004.htm#vrs4">Isaiah 4:4</a>; <a href="../bible/1co006.htm#vrs11">1 Corinthians 6:11</a>). It is not anything positive, a <a href="../cathen/12589c.htm">quality</a> or disposition, an <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> to suffer, an extrinsic denomination coming from sin, but is solely the privation of <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">sanctifying grace</a>. There is not a real but only a conceptual distinction between habitual sin (<em>reatus culpæ</em>) and the stain of sin (<em>macula peccati</em>). One and the same privation considered as destroying the due order of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is habitual sin, considered as depriving the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> of the beauty of grace is the stain or "macula" of sin.</p> <p>The second effect of sin is to entail the penalty of undergoing suffering (<em>reatus pænæ</em>). Sin (<em>reatus culpæ</em>) is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of this <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> (<em>reatus pænæ</em> ). The suffering may be inflicted in this life through the medium of medicinal punishments, calamities, sickness, temporal evils, which tend to withdraw from sin; or it may be inflicted in the life to come by the <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as vindictive punishment. The punishments of the future life are proportioned to the sin committed, and it is the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of undergoing this punishment for unrepented sin that is signified by the "reatus poenæ" of the <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a>. The penalty to be undergone in the future life is divided into the pain of loss (<em>pæna damni</em>) and the pain of sense (<em>pæna sensus</em>). The pain of loss is the privation of the <a href="../cathen/02364a.htm">beatific vision of God</a> in punishment of turning away from Him. The pain of sense is suffering in punishment of the conversion to some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> thing in place of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. This two-fold pain in punishment of mortal sin is <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> (<a href="../bible/1co006.htm#vrs9">1 Corinthians 6:9</a>; <a href="../bible/mat025.htm#vrs41">Matthew 25:41</a>; <a href="../bible/mar009.htm#vrs45">Mark 9:45</a>). One mortal sin suffices to incur punishment. (<em>See</em> <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">HELL</a>.) Other effects of sins are: remorse of <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">conscience</a> (<a href="../bible/wis005.htm#vrs2">Wisdom 5:2-13</a>); an inclination towards <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, as habits are formed by a repetition of similar acts; a darkening of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intelligence</a>, a hardening of the will (<a href="../bible/mat013.htm#vrs14">Matthew 13:14-15</a>; <a href="../bible/rom011.htm#vrs8">Romans 11:8</a>); a general vitiating of <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>, which does not however totally destroy the <a href="../cathen/14322c.htm">substance</a> and <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a> of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> but merely weakens the right exercise of its <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a>.</p> <h2 id="iv">Venial sin</h2> <p>Venial sin is essentially different from mortal sin. It does not avert us from our true last end, it does not destroy charity, the principle of union with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, nor deprive the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> of <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">sanctifying grace</a>, and it is intrinsically reparable. It is called venial precisely because, considered in its own proper <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>, it is pardonable; in itself meriting, not <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a>, but temporal punishment. It is distinguished from mortal sin on the part of the disorder. By mortal sin <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is entirely averted from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, his <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end, and, at least implicitly, he places his last end in some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> thing. By venial sin he is not averted from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, neither does he place his last end in creatures. He remains united with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by charity, but does not tend towards Him as he ought. The <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> of sin as it is contrary to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">eternal law</a>, repugnant namely to the primary end of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, is found only in mortal sin. Venial sin is only in an imperfect way contrary to the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, since it is not contrary to the primary end of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, nor does it avert <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> from the end intended by the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2088.htm#article1">I-II.88.1</a>; and Cajetan, I-II, Q. lxxxviii, a. 1, for the sense of the <em>præter legem</em> and <em>contra legem</em> of <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>).</p> <h3>Definition</h3> <p>Since a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> and its disorder are of the <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">essence</a> of sin, venial sin as it is a <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">voluntary act</a> may be defined as a thought, word or deed at variance with the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a>. It retards <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> in the attainment of his last end while not averting him from it. Its disorder consists either in the not fully deliberate choosing of some object prohibited by the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a>, or in the deliberate adhesion to some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> object not as an ultimate end but as a medium, which object does not avert the sinner from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, but is not, however, referable to Him as an end. <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">Man</a> cannot be averted from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> except by deliberately placing his last end in some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> thing, and in venial sin he does not adhere to any temporal good, enjoying it as a last end, but as a medium referring it to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> not actually but habitually inasmuch as he himself is ordered to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by charity. "Ille qui peccat venialiter, inhæret bono temporali non ut fruens, quia non constituit in eo finem, sed ut utens, referens in Deum non actu sed habitu" (<a href="../summa/2088.htm#article1">I-II:88:1, ad 3</a>). For a mortal sin, some <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> good must be adhered to as a last end at least implicitly. This adherence cannot be accomplished by a semi-deliberate <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a>. By adhering to an object that is at variance with the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a> and yet not destructive of the primary end of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, a <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> opposition is not set up between <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and that object. The <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> good is not desired as an end. The sinner is not placed in the position of choosing between <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and creature as ultimate ends that are opposed, but is in such a <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> of <a href="../cathen/10321a.htm">mind</a> that if the object to which he adheres were prohibited as contrary to his <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> last end he would not adhere to it, but would prefer to keep friendship with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. An example may be had in <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> friendship. A friend will refrain from doing anything that of itself will tend directly to dissolve friendship while allowing himself at times to do what is displeasing to his friends without destroying friendship.</p> <p>The distinction between mortal and venial sin is set forth in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a>. From St. John (<a href="../bible/1jo005.htm#vrs16">1 John 5:16-17</a>) it is clear there are some sins "unto death" and some sins not "unto death", i.e. mortal and venial. The classic text for the distinction of mortal and venial sin is that of <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> (<a href="../bible/1co003.htm#vrs8">1 Corinthians 3:8-15</a>), where he explains in detail the distinction between mortal and venial sin. "For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ Jesus</a>. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it; because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">saved</a>, yet so as by fire." By wood, hay, and stubble are signified venial sins (<a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, <a href="../summa/2089.htm#article2">I-II:89:2</a>) which, built on the foundation of a living <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, do not destroy charity, and from their very <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> do not merit <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> but temporal punishment. "Just as", says <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a>, [wood, hay, and stubble] "are gathered together in a house and do not pertain to the substance of the edifice, so also venial sins are multiplied in <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, the spiritual edifice remaining, and for these he suffers either the fire of temporal tribulations in this life, or of <a href="../cathen/12575a.htm">purgatory</a> after this life and nevertheless obtains <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>." (<a href="../summa/2089.htm#article2">I-II:89:2</a>)</p> <p>The suitableness of the division into wood, hay, and stubble is explained by <a href="../cathen/14663b.htm">St. Thomas</a> (iv, dist. 21, Q. i, a. 2). Some venial sins are graver than others and less pardonable, and this difference is well signified by the difference in the inflammability of wood, hay, and stubble. That there is a distinction between mortal and venial sins is of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> (<a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, sess. VI, c. xi and canons 23-25; sess. XIV, de poenit., c. v). This distinction is commonly rejected by all <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> ancient and modern. In the fourth century <a href="../cathen/08530a.htm">Jovinian</a> asserted that all sins are equal in guilt and deserving of the same punishment (St. Aug., "Ep. 167", ii, n. 4); <a href="../cathen/11604a.htm">Pelagius</a>, that every sin deprives <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> of <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> and therefore is mortal; <a href="../cathen/15722a.htm">Wyclif</a>, that there is no warrant in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> for differentiating mortal from venial sin, and that the gravity of sin depends not on the <a href="../cathen/12589c.htm">quality</a> of the action but on the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> of <a href="../cathen/12378a.htm">predestination</a> or reprobation so that the worst crime of the <a href="../cathen/12378a.htm">predestined</a> is <a href="../cathen/08004a.htm">infinitely</a> less than the slightest fault of the reprobate; <a href="../cathen/07584b.htm">Hus</a>, that all the actions of the vicious are mortal sins, while all the acts of the good are <a href="../cathen/15472a.htm">virtuous</a> (Denz.-Bann., 642); <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Luther</a>, that all sins of unbelievers are mortal and all sins of the <a href="../cathen/12714a.htm">regenerate</a>, with the exception of infidelity, are venial; <a href="../cathen/03195b.htm">Calvin</a>, like <a href="../cathen/15722a.htm">Wyclif</a>, bases the difference between mortal sin and venial sin on <a href="../cathen/12378a.htm">predestination</a>, but adds that a sin is venial because of the <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> of the sinner. The twentieth among the condemned propositions of <a href="../cathen/02209c.htm">Baius</a> reads: "There is no sin venial in its <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a>, but every sin merits <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">eternal punishment</a>" (Denz.-Bann., 1020). <a href="../cathen/07363b.htm">Hirscher</a> in more recent times taught that all sins which are fully deliberate are mortal, thus denying the distinction of sins by reason of their objects and making the distinction rest on the imperfection of the <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> (<a href="../cathen/08667a.htm">Kleutgen</a>, 2nd ed., II, 284, etc.).</p> <h3>Malice of venial sin</h3> <p>The difference in the malice of mortal and venial sin consists in this: that mortal sin is contrary to the primary end of the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">eternal law</a>, that it attacks the very <a href="../cathen/14322c.htm">substance</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> which commands that no <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> thing should be preferred to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as an end, or equalled to Him, while venial sin is only at variance with the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, not in contrary opposition to it, not attacking its <a href="../cathen/14322c.htm">substance</a>. The <a href="../cathen/14322c.htm">substance</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> remaining, its perfect accomplishment is prevented by venial sin.</p> <h3>Conditions</h3> <p>Venial sin is committed when the <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> of the sin is light, even though the advertence of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> and <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> of the will are full and deliberate, and when, even though the <a href="../cathen/10053b.htm">matter</a> of the sin be grave, there is not full advertence on the part of the <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intellect</a> and full <a href="../cathen/04283a.htm">consent</a> on the part of the will. A <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a> <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliges</a> <em>sub gravi</em> when it has for its object an important end to be attained, and its transgression is prohibited under penalty of losing <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> friendship. A <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precept</a> <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliges</a> <em>sub levi</em> when it is not so directly imposed.</p> <h3>Effects</h3> <p>Venial sin does not deprive the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> of <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">sanctifying grace</a>, or diminish it. It does not produce a <em>macula</em>, or stain, as does mortal sin, but it lessens the lustre of <a href="../cathen/15472a.htm">virtue</a>  "In anima duplex est nitor, unus quiden habitualis, ex gratia sanctificante, alter actualis ex actibus virtutem, jamvero peccatum veniale impedit quidem fulgorem qui ex actibus virtutum oritur, non autem habitualem nitorem, quia non excludit nec minuit habitum charitatis" (<a href="../summa/2089.htm#article1">I-II:89:1</a>). Frequent and deliberate venial sin lessens the fervour of charity, disposes to mortal sin (<a href="../summa/2088.htm#article3">I-II:88:3</a>), and hinders the reception of <a href="../cathen/06689a.htm">graces</a> <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> would otherwise give. It displeases <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../bible/rev002.htm#vrs4">Revelation 2:4-5</a>) and <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliges</a> the sinner to temporal punishment either in this life or in <a href="../cathen/12575a.htm">Purgatory</a>. We cannot avoid all venial sin in this life. "Although the most just and <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> occasionally during this life fall into some slight and daily sins, known as venial, they cease not on that account to be just" (<a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, sess. VI, c. xi). And canon xxiii says: "If any one declare that a man once <a href="../cathen/08573a.htm">justified</a> cannot sin again, or that he can avoid for the rest of his life every sin, even venial, let him be <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathema</a>", but according to the common opinion we can avoid all such as are fully deliberate. Venial sin may coexist with mortal sin in those who are averted from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> by mortal sin. This fact does not change its <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> or intrinsic reparability, and the fact that it is not coexistent with charity is not the result of venial sin, but of mortal sin. It is <em>per accidens</em>, for an extrinsic reason, that venial sin in this case is irreparable, and is punished in <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">hell</a>. That venial sin may appear in its <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/10715a.htm">nature</a> as essentially different from mortal sin it is considered as <em>de facto</em> coexisting with charity (<a href="../bible/1co003.htm#vrs8">1 Corinthians 3:8-15</a>). Venial sins do not need the grace of <a href="../cathen/01061a.htm">absolution</a>. They can be remitted by <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>, <a href="../cathen/04337a.htm">contrition</a>, fervent communion, and other <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">pious</a> works. Nevertheless it is laudable to confess them (Denz.-Bann., 1539).</p> <h2 id="v">Permission of sin and remedies</h2> <p>Since it is of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is <a href="../cathen/11251c.htm">omnipotent</a>, omniscient, and all good it is difficult to account for sin in His <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a>. The <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> is the underlying problem in all <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a>. Various explanations to account for its <a href="../cathen/05543b.htm">existence</a> have been offered, differing according to the <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophical</a> principles and religious tenets of their authors. Any <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> explanation must take into account the <a href="../cathen/04675b.htm">defined</a> <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truths</a> of the <a href="../cathen/11251c.htm">omnipotence</a>, omniscience, and <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">goodness</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>; <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a> on the part of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>; and the fact that suffering is the penalty of sin. Of <a href="../cathen/10226a.htm">metaphysical</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, the negation of a greater good, <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> inasmuch as he has <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> beings with limited forms. Of physical <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> (<em>malum pænæ</em>) He is also the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>. Physical <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, considered as it proceeds from <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and is inflicted in punishment of sin in accordance with the decrees of Divine <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a>, is good, compensating for the violation of order by sin. It is only in the subject affected by it that it is <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>.</p> <p>Of moral <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> (<em>malum culpæ</em>) <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is not the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> (<a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, sess. VI, can. vi), either directly or indirectly. Sin is a violation of order, and <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> orders all things to Himself, as an ultimate end, consequently He cannot be the direct <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of sin. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> withdrawal of grace which would prevent the sin does not make Him the indirect <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> of sin inasmuch as this withdrawal is affected according to the decrees of His Divine wisdom and <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> in punishment of previous sin. He is under no <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of impeding the sin, consequently it cannot be imputed to Him as a <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> (<a href="../summa/2079.htm#article1">I-II:79:1</a>). When we read in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> and the Fathers that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> inclines <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a> to sin the sense is, either that in His just judgment He permits <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a> to fall into sin by a punitive permission, exercising His <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> in punishment of past sin; or that He directly causes, not sin, but certain exterior works, good in themselves, which are so abused by the <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> wills of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a> that here and now they commit <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>; or that He gives them the power of accomplishing their <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> designs. Of the physical <a href="../cathen/01115a.htm">act</a> in sin <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is the <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a> inasmuch as it is an entity and good. Of the malice of sin <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man's</a> <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> will is the sufficient <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">cause</a>. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> could not be impeded in the <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> by the fact that He foresaw his fall. This would mean the limiting of His <a href="../cathen/11251c.htm">omnipotence</a> by a creature, and would be destructive of Him. He was free to create <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> even though He foresaw his fall, and He <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> him, endowed him with <a href="../cathen/06259a.htm">free will</a>, and gave him sufficient means of persevering in good had he so willed. We must sum up our <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> of the permission of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> by saying in the words of <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a>, that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> would not have permitted <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> had He not been powerful enough to bring good out of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> end in creating this <a href="../cathen/15183a.htm">universe</a> is Himself, not the good of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, and somehow or other <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">good</a> and <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> serve His ends, and there shall finally be a restoration of violated order by Divine <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a>. No sin shall be without its punishment. The <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a> do must be atoned for either in this world by penance (see PENANCE) or in the world to come in <a href="../cathen/12575a.htm">purgatory</a> or <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">hell</a>, according as the sin that stains the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, and is not repented of, is mortal or venial, and merits <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> or temporal punishment. (See <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">EVIL</a>.) <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has provided a remedy for sin and manifested His <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> and <a href="../cathen/06636b.htm">goodness</a> in the face of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man's</a> ingratitude by the <a href="../cathen/07706b.htm">Incarnation</a> of His <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Divine Son</a> (see <a href="../cathen/07706b.htm">INCARNATION</a>); by the institution of His <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> to guide <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">men</a> and interpret to them His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>, and administer to them the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a>, seven channels of grace, which, rightly used, furnish an adequate remedy for sin and a means to union with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> in <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>, which is the end of His <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>.</p> <h2 id="vi">Sense of sin</h2> <p>The understanding of sin, as far as it can be understood by our finite <a href="../cathen/08066a.htm">intelligence</a>, serves to unite <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> more closely to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. It impresses him with a salutary <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">fear</a>, a <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">fear</a> of his own powers, a <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">fear</a>, if left to himself, of falling from grace; with the <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessity</a> he lies under of seeking <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> help and grace to stand firm in the <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">fear</a> and <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and make progress in the spiritual life. Without the acknowledgment that the present <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">moral</a> state of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> is not that in which <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">created</a> him, that his powers are weakened; that he has a <a href="../cathen/14336b.htm">supernatural</a> end to attain, which is impossible of attainment by his own unaided efforts, without grace there being no proportion between the end and the means; that the world, the flesh, and the <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">devil</a> are in reality active agents fighting against him and leading him to serve them instead of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, sin cannot be understood. The evolutionary hypothesis would have it that physical evolution accounts for the physical origin of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a>, that <a href="../cathen/13598b.htm">science</a> knows no <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> in which <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> exhibited the characteristics of the state of original <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a>, no state of sinlessness. The fall of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> in this hypothesis is in reality a rise to a higher grade of being. "A fall it might seem, just as a <a href="../cathen/15403c.htm">vicious</a> <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> sometimes seems degraded below the beasts, but in promise and potency, a rise it really was" (Sir O. Lodge, "Life and Matter", p. 79). This teaching is destructive of the notion of sin as taught by the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. Sin is not a phase of an upward struggle, it is rather a deliberate, wilful refusal to struggle. If there has been no fall from a higher to a lower state, then the teaching of <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> in regard to <a href="../cathen/12677d.htm">Redemption</a> and the <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessity</a> of a <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptismal</a> <a href="../cathen/12714a.htm">regeneration</a> is unintelligible. The <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">Catholic teaching</a> is the one that places sin in its <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> light, that justifies the condemnation of sin we find in <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a>.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> strives continually to impress her children with a sense of the awfulness of sin that they may <a href="../cathen/06021a.htm">fear</a> it and avoid it. We are fallen creatures, and our spiritual life on earth is a <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">warfare</a>. Sin is our enemy, and while of our own strength we cannot avoid sin, with <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">God's grace</a> we can. If we but place no obstacle to the workings of grace we can avoid all deliberate sin. If we have the misfortune to sin, and seek <a href="../cathen/06701a.htm">God's grace</a> and pardon with a <a href="../cathen/04337a.htm">contrite</a> and <a href="../cathen/07543b.htm">humble</a> heart, He will not repel us. Sin has its remedy in grace, which is given us by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, through the <a href="../cathen/10202b.htm">merits</a> of His only-begotten Son, Who has <a href="../cathen/12677d.htm">redeemed</a> us, restoring by His passion and death the order violated by the sin of our <a href="../cathen/01129a.htm">first parents</a>, and making us once again children of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and heirs of <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>. Where sin is looked on as a <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> and unavoidable <a href="../cathen/04211a.htm">condition</a> of things <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a>, where inability to avoid sin is conceived as <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>, discouragement naturally follows. Where the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">Catholic doctrine</a> of the <a href="../cathen/04470a.htm">creation</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> in a superior state, his fall by a wilful transgression, the effects of which fall are by Divine <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> transmitted to his posterity, destroying the balance of the <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> <a href="../cathen/05749a.htm">faculties</a> and leaving <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">man</a> inclined to <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>; where the <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogmas</a> of <a href="../cathen/12677d.htm">redemption</a> and grace in reparation of sin are kept in mind, there is no discouragement. Left to ourselves we fall, by keeping close to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and continually seeking His help we can stand and struggle against sin, and if faithful in the battle we must wage shall be <a href="../cathen/04380a.htm">crowned</a> in <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>. (See <a href="../cathen/04268a.htm">CONSCIENCE</a>; <a href="../cathen/08573a.htm">JUSTIFICATION</a>; <a href="../cathen/13506d.htm">SCANDAL</a>.)</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">DOGMATIC WORKS: ST. THOMAS, <em>Summa theol.</em>, I-II, QQ. lxxi-lxxxix; IDEM, <em>Contra gentes</em>, tr. RICKABY, <em>Of God and His Creatures</em> (London, 1905); IDEM, <em>Quaest. disputatae: De malo</em> in <em>Opera omnia</em> (Paris, 1875); BILLUART, <em>De peccatis</em> (Paris, 1867-72); SUAREZ, <em>De pecc.</em> in <em>Opera omnia</em> (Paris, 1878); SALMANTICENSES, <em>De pecc.</em> in <em>Curs. theol.</em> (Paris, 1877); GONET, <em>Clypeus theol. thom.</em> (Venice, 1772); JOHN OF ST. THOMAS, <em>De pecc.</em> in <em>Curs. theol.</em> (Paris, 1886); SYLVIUS, <em>De pecc.</em> (Antwerp, 1698); <em>Catechismus Romanus</em>, tr. DONOVAN, <em>Catechism of the Council of Trent</em> (Dublin, 1829); SCHEEBEN, <em>Handbuch d. kath. Dogmatik</em> (Freiburg, 1873-87); MANNING, <em>Sin and its Consequences</em> (New York, 1904); SHARPE, <em>Principles of Christianity</em> (London, 1904); IDEM, <em>Evil, its Nature and Cause</em> (London, 1906); BILLOT, <em>De nat. et rat. peccati personalis</em> (Rome, 1900); TANQUEREY, <em>Synopsis theol.</em>, I (New York, 1907).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">O'Neil, A.C.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Sin.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">O'Neil, Arthur Charles.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Sin."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 14.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Frank O'Leary.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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