Part IV (Tertia Pars) Part 165 (1/2)
_On the contrary,_ The Lord said (Jer. 18:8): ”If that nation ...
shall repent of their evil” which they have done, ”I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do them,” so that, on the other hand, if man ”do not penance,” it seems that G.o.d will not pardon him his sin.
_I answer that,_ It is impossible for a mortal actual sin to be pardoned without penance, if we speak of penance as a virtue. For, as sin is an offense against G.o.d, He pardons sin in the same way as he pardons an offense committed against Him. Now an offense is directly opposed to grace, since one man is said to be offended with another, because he excludes him from his grace. Now, as stated in the Second Part (I-II, Q. 110, A. 1), the difference between the grace of G.o.d and the grace of man, is that the latter does not cause, but presupposes true or apparent goodness in him who is graced, whereas the grace of G.o.d causes goodness in the man who is graced, because the good-will of G.o.d, which is denoted by the word ”grace,” is the cause of all created good. Hence it is possible for a man to pardon an offense, for which he is offended with someone, without any change in the latter's will; but it is impossible that G.o.d pardon a man for an offense, without his will being changed. Now the offense of mortal sin is due to man's will being turned away from G.o.d, through being turned to some mutable good. Consequently, for the pardon of this offense against G.o.d, it is necessary for man's will to be so changed as to turn to G.o.d and to renounce having turned to something else in the aforesaid manner, together with a purpose of amendment; all of which belongs to the nature of penance as a virtue. Therefore it is impossible for a sin to be pardoned anyone without penance as a virtue.
But the sacrament of Penance, as stated above (Q. 88, A. 3), is perfected by the priestly office of binding and loosing, without which G.o.d can forgive sins, even as Christ pardoned the adulterous woman, as related in John 8, and the woman that was a sinner, as related in Luke vii, whose sins, however, He did not forgive without the virtue of penance: for as Gregory states (Hom. x.x.xiii in Evang.), ”He drew inwardly by grace,” i.e. by penance, ”her whom He received outwardly by His mercy.”
Reply Obj. 1: In children there is none but original sin, which consists, not in an actual disorder of the will, but in a habitual disorder of nature, as explained in the Second Part (I-II, Q. 82, A.
1), and so in them the forgiveness of sin is accompanied by a habitual change resulting from the infusion of grace and virtues, but not by an actual change. On the other hand, in the case of an adult, in whom there are actual sins, which consist in an actual disorder of the will, there is no remission of sins, even in Baptism, without an actual change of the will, which is the effect of Penance.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument takes Penance as a sacrament.
Reply Obj. 3: G.o.d's mercy is more powerful than man's, in that it moves man's will to repent, which man's mercy cannot do.
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THIRD ARTICLE [III, Q. 86, Art. 3]
Whether by Penance One Sin Can Be Pardoned Without Another?
Objection 1: It would seem that by Penance one sin can be pardoned without another. For it is written (Amos 4:7): ”I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon: and the piece whereupon I rained not, withered.”
These words are expounded by Gregory, who says (Hom. x super Ezech.): ”When a man who hates his neighbor, breaks himself of other vices, rain falls on one part of the city, leaving the other part withered, for there are some men who, when they prune some vices, become much more rooted in others.” Therefore one sin can be forgiven by Penance, without another.
Obj. 2: Further, Ambrose in commenting on Ps. 118, ”Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” after expounding verse 136 (”My eyes have sent forth springs of water”), says that ”the first consolation is that G.o.d is mindful to have mercy; and the second, that He punishes, for although faith be wanting, punishment makes satisfaction and raises us up.” Therefore a man can be raised up from one sin, while the sin of unbelief remains.
Obj. 3: Further, when several things are not necessarily together, one can be removed without the other. Now it was stated in the Second Part (I-II, Q. 73, A. 1) that sins are not connected together, so that one sin can be without another. Therefore also one sin can be taken away by Penance without another being taken away.
Obj. 4: Further, sins are the debts, for which we pray for pardon when we say in the Lord's Prayer: ”Forgive us our trespa.s.ses,” etc.
Now man sometimes forgives one debt without forgiving another.
Therefore G.o.d also, by Penance, forgives one sin without another.
Obj. 5: Further, man's sins are forgiven him through the love of G.o.d, according to Jer. 31:3: ”I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.” Now there is nothing to hinder G.o.d from loving a man in one respect, while being offended with him in another, even as He loves the sinner as regards his nature, while hating him for his sin. Therefore it seems possible for G.o.d, by Penance, to pardon one sin without another.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says in _De Poenitentia_ [*De vera et falsa Poenitentia, the authors.h.i.+p of which is unknown]: ”There are many who repent having sinned, but not completely; for they except certain things which give them pleasure, forgetting that our Lord delivered from the devil the man who was both dumb and deaf, whereby He shows us that we are never healed unless it be from all sins.”
_I answer that,_ It is impossible for Penance to take one sin away without another. First because sin is taken away by grace removing the offense against G.o.d. Wherefore it was stated in the Second Part (I-II, Q. 109, A. 7; Q. 113, A. 2) that without grace no sin can be forgiven. Now every mortal sin is opposed to grace and excludes it.
Therefore it is impossible for one sin to be pardoned without another. Secondly, because, as shown above (A. 2) mortal sin cannot be forgiven without true Penance, to which it belongs to renounce sin, by reason of its being against G.o.d, which is common to all mortal sins: and where the same reason applies, the result will be the same. Consequently a man cannot be truly penitent, if he repent of one sin and not of another. For if one particular sin were displeasing to him, because it is against the love of G.o.d above all things (which motive is necessary for true repentance), it follows that he would repent of all. Whence it follows that it is impossible for one sin to be pardoned through Penance, without another. Thirdly, because this would be contrary to the perfection of G.o.d's mercy, since His works are perfect, as stated in Deut. 32:4; wherefore whomsoever He pardons, He pardons altogether. Hence Augustine says [*De vera et falsa Poenitentia, the authors.h.i.+p of which is unknown], that ”it is irreverent and heretical to expect half a pardon from Him Who is just and justice itself.”
Reply Obj. 1: These words of Gregory do not refer to the forgiveness of the guilt, but to the cessation from act, because sometimes a man who has been wont to commit several kinds of sin, renounces one and not the other; which is indeed due to G.o.d's a.s.sistance, but does not reach to the pardon of the sin.
Reply Obj. 2: In this saying of Ambrose ”faith” cannot denote the faith whereby we believe in Christ, because, as Augustine says on John 15:22, ”If I had not come, and spoken to them, they would not have sin” (viz. unbelief): ”for this is the sin which contains all others”: but it stands for consciousness, because sometimes a man receives pardon for a sin of which he is not conscious, through the punishment which he bears patiently.
Reply Obj. 3: Although sins are not connected in so far as they turn towards a mutable good, yet they are connected in so far as they turn away from the immutable Good, which applies to all mortal sins in common; and it is thus that they have the character of an offense which needs to be removed by Penance.
Reply Obj. 4: Debt as regards external things, e.g. money, is not opposed to friends.h.i.+p through which the debt is pardoned; hence one debt can be condoned without another. On the other hand, the debt of sin is opposed to friends.h.i.+p, and so one sin or offense is not pardoned without another; for it would seem absurd for anyone to ask even a man to forgive him one offense and not another.
Reply Obj. 5: The love whereby G.o.d loves man's nature, does not ordain man to the good of glory from which man is excluded by any mortal sin; but the love of grace, whereby mortal sin is forgiven, ordains man to eternal life, according to Rom. 6:23: ”The grace of G.o.d (is) life everlasting.” Hence there is no comparison.
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FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 86, Art. 4]