Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 71 (1/2)
Objection 1: It would seem that pa.s.sive scandal may happen even to the perfect. For Christ was supremely perfect: and yet He said to Peter (Matt. 16:23): ”Thou art a scandal to Me.” Much more therefore can other perfect men suffer scandal.
Obj. 2: Further, scandal denotes an obstacle which is put in a person's spiritual way. Now even perfect men can be hindered in their progress along the spiritual way, according to 1 Thess. 2:18: ”We would have come to you, I Paul indeed, once and again; but Satan hath hindered us.” Therefore even perfect men can suffer scandal.
Obj. 3: Further, even perfect men are liable to venial sins, according to 1 John 1:8: ”If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” Now pa.s.sive scandal is not always a mortal sin, but is sometimes venial, as stated above (A. 4). Therefore pa.s.sive scandal may be found in perfect men.
_On the contrary,_ Jerome, in commenting on Matt. 18:6, ”He that shall scandalize one of these little ones,” says: ”Observe that it is the little one that is scandalized, for the elders do not take scandal.”
_I answer that,_ Pa.s.sive scandal implies that the mind of the person who takes scandal is unsettled in its adherence to good. Now no man can be unsettled, who adheres firmly to something immovable. The elders, i.e. the perfect, adhere to G.o.d alone, Whose goodness is unchangeable, for though they adhere to their superiors, they do so only in so far as these adhere to Christ, according to 1 Cor. 4:16: ”Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.” Wherefore, however much others may appear to them to conduct themselves ill in word or deed, they themselves do not stray from their righteousness, according to Ps. 124:1: ”They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem.” Therefore scandal is not found in those who adhere to G.o.d perfectly by love, according to Ps. 118:165: ”Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling-block (_scandalum_).”
Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (A. 2, ad 2), in this pa.s.sage, scandal is used in a broad sense, to denote any kind of hindrance. Hence Our Lord said to Peter: ”Thou art a scandal to Me,” because he was endeavoring to weaken Our Lord's purpose of undergoing His Pa.s.sion.
Reply Obj. 2: Perfect men may be hindered in the performance of external actions. But they are not hindered by the words or deeds of others, from tending to G.o.d in the internal acts of the will, according to Rom. 8:38, 39: ”Neither death, nor life ... shall be able to separate us from the love of G.o.d.”
Reply Obj. 3: Perfect men sometimes fall into venial sins through the weakness of the flesh; but they are not scandalized (taking scandal in its true sense), by the words or deeds of others, although there can be an approach to scandal in them, according to Ps. 72:2: ”My feet were almost moved.”
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SIXTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 43, Art. 6]
Whether Active Scandal Can Be Found in the Perfect?
Objection 1: It would seem that active scandal can be found in the perfect. For pa.s.sion is the effect of action. Now some are scandalized pa.s.sively by the words or deeds of the perfect, according to Matt. 15:12: ”Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard this word, were scandalized?” Therefore active scandal can be found in the perfect.
Obj. 2: Further, Peter, after receiving the Holy Ghost, was in the state of the perfect. Yet afterwards he scandalized the gentiles: for it is written (Gal. 2:14): ”When I saw that they walked not uprightly unto the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas,” i.e. Peter, ”before them all: If thou being a Jew, livest after the manner of the gentiles, and not as the Jews do, how dost thou compel the gentiles to live as do the Jews?” Therefore active scandal can be in the perfect.
Obj. 3: Further, active scandal is sometimes a venial sin. But venial sins may be in perfect men. Therefore active scandal may be in perfect men.
_On the contrary,_ Active scandal is more opposed to perfection, than pa.s.sive scandal. But pa.s.sive scandal cannot be in the perfect. Much less, therefore, can active scandal be in them.
_I answer that,_ Active scandal, properly so called, occurs when a man says or does a thing which in itself is of a nature to occasion another's spiritual downfall, and that is only when what he says or does is inordinate. Now it belongs to the perfect to direct all their actions according to the rule of reason, as stated in 1 Cor. 14:40: ”Let all things be done decently and according to order”; and they are careful to do this in those matters chiefly wherein not only would they do wrong, but would also be to others an occasion of wrongdoing. And if indeed they fail in this moderation in such words or deeds as come to the knowledge of others, this has its origin in human weakness wherein they fall short of perfection. Yet they do not fall short so far as to stray far from the order of reason, but only a little and in some slight matter: and this is not so grave that anyone can reasonably take therefrom an occasion for committing sin.
Reply Obj. 1: Pa.s.sive scandal is always due to some active scandal; yet this active scandal is not always in another, but in the very person who is scandalized, because, to wit, he scandalizes himself.
Reply Obj. 2: In the opinion of Augustine (Ep. xxviii, xl, lx.x.xii) and of Paul also, Peter sinned and was to be blamed, in withdrawing from the gentiles in order to avoid the scandal of the Jews, because he did this somewhat imprudently, so that the gentiles who had been converted to the faith were scandalized. Nevertheless Peter's action was not so grave a sin as to give others sufficient ground for scandal. Hence they were guilty of pa.s.sive scandal, while there was no active scandal in Peter.
Reply Obj. 3: The venial sins of the perfect consist chiefly in sudden movements, which being hidden cannot give scandal. If, however, they commit any venial sins even in their external words or deeds, these are so slight as to be insufficient in themselves to give scandal.
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SEVENTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 43, Art. 7]
Whether Spiritual Goods Should Be Foregone on Account of Scandal?
Objection 1: It would seem that spiritual goods ought to be foregone on account of scandal. For Augustine (Contra Ep. Parmen. iii, 2) teaches that ”punishment for sin should cease, when the peril of schism is feared.” But punishment of sins is a spiritual good, since it is an act of justice. Therefore a spiritual good is to be foregone on account of scandal.
Obj. 2: Further, the Sacred Doctrine is a most spiritual thing. Yet one ought to desist therefrom on account of scandal, according to Matt. 7:6: ”Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest ... turning upon you, they tear you.”
Therefore a spiritual good should be foregone on account of scandal.
Obj. 3: Further, since fraternal correction is an act of charity, it is a spiritual good. Yet sometimes it is omitted out of charity, in order to avoid giving scandal to others, as Augustine observes (De Civ. Dei i, 9). Therefore a spiritual good should be foregone on account of scandal.
Obj. 4: Further, Jerome [*Hugh de S. Cher., In Matth. xviii; in Luc.
xvii, 2] says that in order to avoid scandal we should forego whatever it is possible to omit without prejudice to the threefold truth, i.e. ”the truth of life, of justice and of doctrine.” Now the observance of the counsels, and the bestowal of alms may often be omitted without prejudice to the aforesaid threefold truth, else whoever omitted them would always be guilty of sin, and yet such things are the greatest of spiritual works. Therefore spiritual works should be omitted on account of scandal.