Part II (Pars Prima Secundae) Part 128 (2/2)
Whether Original Sin Would Be Contracted by a Person Formed Miraculously from Human Flesh?
Objection 1: It would seem that original sin would be contracted by a person formed miraculously from human flesh. For a gloss on Gen. 4:1 says that ”Adam's entire posterity was corrupted in his loins, because they were not severed from him in the place of life, before he sinned, but in the place of exile after he had sinned.” But if a man were to be formed in the aforesaid manner, his flesh would be severed in the place of exile. Therefore it would contract original sin.
Obj. 2: Further, original sin is caused in us by the soul being infected through the flesh. But man's flesh is entirely corrupted.
Therefore a man's soul would contract the infection of original sin, from whatever part of the flesh it was formed.
Obj. 3: Further, original sin comes upon all from our first parent, in so far as we were all in him when he sinned. But those who might be formed out of human flesh, would have been in Adam. Therefore they would contract original sin.
_On the contrary,_ They would not have been in Adam _according to seminal virtue,_ which alone is the cause of the transmission of original sin, as Augustine states (Gen. ad lit. x, 18, seqq.).
_I answer that,_ As stated above (AA. 1, 3), original sin is transmitted from the first parent to his posterity, inasmuch as they are moved by him through generation, even as the members are moved by the soul to actual sin. Now there is no movement to generation except by the active power of generation: so that those alone contract original sin, who are descended from Adam through the active power of generation originally derived from Adam, i.e. who are descended from him through seminal power; for the seminal power is nothing else than the active power of generation. But if anyone were to be formed by G.o.d out of human flesh, it is evident that the active power would not be derived from Adam. Consequently he would not contract original sin: even as a hand would have no part in a human sin, if it were moved, not by the man's will, but by some external power.
Reply Obj. 1: Adam was not in the place of exile until after his sin.
Consequently it is not on account of the place of exile, but on account of the sin, that original sin is transmitted to those to whom his active generation extends.
Reply Obj. 2: The flesh does not corrupt the soul, except in so far as it is the active principle in generation, as we have stated.
Reply Obj. 3: If a man were to be formed from human flesh, he would have been in Adam, ”by way of bodily substance” [*The expression is St. Augustine's (Gen. ad lit. x). Cf. Summa Theologica, III, Q. 31, A. 6, Reply to First Objection.], but not according to seminal virtue, as stated above. Therefore he would not contract original sin.
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FIFTH ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 81, Art. 5]
Whether If Eve, and Not Adam, Had Sinned, Their Children Would Have Contracted Original Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that if Eve, and not Adam, had sinned, their children would have contracted original sin. Because we contract original sin from our parents, in so far as we were once in them, according to the word of the Apostle (Rom. 5:12): ”In whom all have sinned.” Now a man pre-exists in his mother as well as in his father. Therefore a man would have contracted original sin from his mother's sin as well as from his father's.
Obj. 2: Further, if Eve, and not Adam, had sinned, their children would have been born liable to suffering and death, since it is ”the mother” that ”provides the matter in generation” as the Philosopher states (De Gener. Animal. ii, 1, 4), when death and liability to suffering are the necessary results of matter. Now liability to suffering and the necessity of dying are punishments of original sin.
Therefore if Eve, and not Adam, had sinned, their children would contract original sin.
Obj. 3: Further, Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii, 3) that ”the Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin,” (of whom Christ was to be born without original sin) ”purifying her.” But this purification would not have been necessary, if the infection of original sin were not contracted from the mother. Therefore the infection of original sin is contracted from the mother: so that if Eve had sinned, her children would have contracted original sin, even if Adam had not sinned.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Rom. 5:12): ”By one man sin entered into this world.” Now if the woman would have transmitted original sin to her children, he should have said that it entered by two, since both of them sinned, or rather that it entered by a woman, since she sinned first. Therefore original sin is transmitted to the children, not by the mother, but by the father.
_I answer that,_ The solution of this question is made clear by what has been said. For it has been stated (A. 1) that original sin is transmitted by the first parent in so far as he is the mover in the begetting of his children: wherefore it has been said (A. 4) that if anyone were begotten materially only, of human flesh, they would not contract original sin. Now it is evident that in the opinion of philosophers, the active principle of generation is from the father, while the mother provides the matter. Therefore original sin is contracted, not from the mother, but from the father: so that, accordingly, if Eve, and not Adam, had sinned, their children would not contract original sin: whereas, if Adam, and not Eve, had sinned, they would contract it.
Reply Obj. 1: The child pre-exists in its father as in its active principle, and in its mother, as in its material and pa.s.sive principle. Consequently the comparison fails.
Reply Obj. 2: Some hold that if Eve, and not Adam, had sinned, their children would be immune from the sin, but would have been subject to the necessity of dying and to other forms of suffering that are a necessary result of the matter which is provided by the mother, not as punishments, but as actual defects. This, however, seems unreasonable. Because, as stated in the First Part (Q. 97, AA. 1, 2, ad 4), immortality and impa.s.sibility, in the original state, were a result, not of the condition of matter, but of original justice, whereby the body was subjected to the soul, so long as the soul remained subject to G.o.d. Now privation of original justice is original sin. If, therefore, supposing Adam had not sinned, original sin would not have been transmitted to posterity on account of Eve's sin; it is evident that the children would not have been deprived of original justice: and consequently they would not have been liable to suffer and subject to the necessity of dying.
Reply Obj. 3: This prevenient purification in the Blessed Virgin was not needed to hinder the transmission of original sin, but because it behooved the Mother of G.o.d ”to s.h.i.+ne with the greatest purity” [*Cf.
Anselm, De Concep. Virg. xviii.]. For nothing is worthy to receive G.o.d unless it be pure, according to Ps. 92:5: ”Holiness becometh Thy House, O Lord.”
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QUESTION 82
OF ORIGINAL SIN, AS TO ITS ESSENCE (Question 82)
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