Question — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Question XXIII: Whether sinners are to be loved out of charity
The holy Doctors distinguish in sinners the nature by which they were created to the image of God, capable of beatitude; and according to this they say they are to be loved out of Charity; on the other side they see in them faults, on account of which they lack the free likeness of God, and are turned away from God, hateful, as Tannerus also admonishes, disp. 2. quaest. 3. dub. 1.
An peccatores sint ex Charitate diligendi.
Distinguunt Sancti Doctores in peccatoribus naturam, qua creati sunt ad Dei imaginem, capaces beatitudinis, et secundum hanc, Charitate amandos dicunt; ex altera parte vident in eis culpas, ob quas Dei similitudine gratuita carent, et sunt a Deo aversi, odibiles, ut admonet etiam Tannerus disp. 2. quaest. 3. dub. 1.
They assert, therefore, that sinners are to be loved out of Charity by reason of nature.
Asservnt igitur, peccatores ratione naturae amandos Charitate.
It is proved by S. Thomas, first from Matth. 5, where Christ commands his holy disciples: Love your enemies; but the enemies of the just are the impious.
Probatur a S. Doct. primo ex Matth. 5. ubi discipulis suis sanctis praecipit Christus: Diligite inimicos vestros; inimici autem iustorum sunt impii.
Secondly. All the predestined are to be loved out of Charity; but among these many, according to present justice, are wicked, as I showed quaest. 15. Therefore.
Secvndo. Omnes praedestinati sunt Charitate amandi; sed ex his multi secundum praesentem iustitiam sunt pravi, ut ostendi quaest. 15. Ergo.
Thirdly. All are to be loved for whom we ought to pray; but prayer is commanded even for sinners, Matth. 5: Pray for them that calumniate you: Therefore they are to be loved. The major is clear, because Christ places one of the effects of Charitable love: Pray for them that persecute, etc.
Tertio. Omnes sunt diligendi, pro quibus orandum; sed pro peccatoribus etiam orandum praecipit Matth. 5. Orate pro calumniantibus vos: Ergo sunt amandi. Maior patet, quia unum ex effectibus dilectionis Charitativae ponit Christus: Orate pro persequentibus, etc.
Fourthly. Our Charity ought to be conformed to the Charity of Christ; but Christ loved the impious, and prayed for those crucifying him, Lucae 23: Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do. Rom. 5: But God commendeth his Charity towards us: because when as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us.
Qvarto. Nostra Charitas debet Charitati Christi conformari; sed impios dilexit Christus, oravitque pro crucifigentibus, Lucae 23. Pater, ignosce illis: non enim sciunt quid faciunt. Rom. 5. Commendat autem Charitatem suam Deus: quoniam cum adhuc peccatores essemus, Christus pro nobis mortuus est.
The arguments to the contrary prove only that sinners are to be hated, insofar as they are such.
Argumenta in contrarium solum probant, odiendos peccatores, quatenus tales sunt.
Furthermore it is objected. Charity is the bond of unity: Therefore only those are to be loved who are of the unity of the mystical body; but some wicked are not of the unity of the mystical body of the Church, as infidels and heretics; the other impious are dead members.
Porro obiicitur. Charitas est vinculum unitatis: Ergo illi soli sunt diligendi, qui sunt de unitate corporis mystici; sed aliqui mali non sunt de unitate corporis mystici Ecclesiae, ut infideles, et haeretici; caeteri vero impii sunt membra mortua.
S. Thomas answers that Charity is the bond of perfection and of unity subjectively in the just man, but is terminated toward those who can be of the unity, as toward its object. And so it is not necessary that Charity put both extremes actually united; but it suffices that it put the subject, in which it is, in act, the other being in habit; as science puts the knower in act, but the knowable in habit.
Respondet S. Doctor, Charitatem esse vinculum perfectionis, et unitatis subiective in iusto; terminari vero ad eos, qui possunt esse de unitate, tanquam ad obiectum. Itaque non est necesse, ut Charitas ponat utraque extrema actu unita; sed sufficit, ut ponat in actu subiectum, in quo est alterum in habitu; sicut scientia ponit scientem in actu; scibile vero in habitu.
From these things it is also gathered, by the same reasoning, that insofar as sinners are men capable of beatitude, even if they are impious, they can love themselves out of Charity; but if they love iniquity, they hate their own soul, Psal. 10. See D. Thom. art. 7.
Ex his etiam colligitur, eadem ratione, quatenus peccatores sunt homines capaces beatitudinis, etiamsi impii sint, posse seipsos diligere ex Charitate; si autem diligunt iniquitatem, odio habent animam suam Psal. 10. Vide D. Thom. art. 7.