Article II: On the Gravity of Mortal Sin

St. Thomas, I-II, q. 84, a. 2; q. 87, a. 4; II-II, q. 162, a. 6; q. 34, a. 2; q. 105, a. 1, ad 1; III, q. 1, a. 2 and ad 2; Suppl. q. 99, a. 1; III Sent. d. 20, q. 1, a. 2; II Sent. d. 42, q. 1, a. 5 and ad 2; De Verit. q. 28, a. 2 and ad 5; De Malo q. 2, a. 9, ad 5.

534. Mortal sin is the gravest evil, whether it is considered on the part of God, or on the part of man.

A. As to God:

1. It is the highest injury done to the Highest Good, by which man places the ultimate end and seeks beatitude in a creature and prefers it to God, contemns, dishonors, turns away from, and hates him, contemns his love and friendship, and thus violates the right of God, which requires that we refer to him all actions and all creatures which we use; whence sin implicitly contains the malice of hatred of God,¹ of irreligion, of contumely toward God everywhere present (Ps. L, 6), and of idolatry (John XII, 43; Rom. II, 23; Is. LII, 5; XLIII, 24; Ezek. XXXVI, 20; Ps. CXXXVIII, 8; Ps. I, 6; I Kings II, 30; Lev. VI, 2; XXVI, 15; Phil. III, 19; Gal. V; Council of Trent, sess. 6, c. 5).

¹ Cf. II-II, q. 34, a. 2. There it can be noted, according to the mind of Cajetan, that sin includes the malice of hatred both of abomination and of enmity. In every mortal sin there is included the will that God not prohibit nor punish; whence God is implicitly hated as a thing contrary to the will of the sinner (hatred of abomination); indeed, there is the will that there not be a prohibiting God, and thus implicitly God is hated also as a person (hatred of enmity). In other words, in sin there is included the will that we ought not to prefer God to others and love him more than others, which pertains to abomination; indeed, the will that he not be the one whom we ought to prefer to others and who is to be loved above all things, which bespeaks enmity.

2. It is rashness, disobedience, and bold rebellion against infinite majesty, and an offense and contempt of the supreme legislator, almighty lord, judge and king, of his will and law itself, to which it contradicts and refuses obedience and subjection; whence it implicitly contains the malice of pride (Gen. II, 16; III, 1; Heb. II, 2; Jer. II, 20; Is. XXXIII, 14; Wis. V, 2-15; I John III, 4; Job XV, 25; Gal. VI, 7).

3. It is the greatest ingratitude against an outstanding benefactor, whose benefits we use for offending him: against the Father creating, conserving, providing, adopting us as sons, and calling us to eternal life; against the Son, brother and redeemer (Heb. VI, 5), whose cause of death it renews; against the Holy Spirit sanctifying, the friend and inhabitant of our soul. Hence it implicitly contains contempt of the friendship and presence of him whom we cast away from ourselves, and the malice of sacrilege, because it violates the soul consecrated to God, and of infidelity against the covenant entered into with God (Ezek. II, 3; Jer. XXXI, 32; Is. I, 2; Heb. X, 26-31; Eph. IV, 3) and the duties following from it (Is. V; Jer. II, 32; III, 1; II Kings XII, 7; Heb. VI, 6; I Cor. III, 17; VI, 19; II Cor. VI, 16).

B. As to man it is:

1. baseness, dishonesty, and foolishness (Ps. XLVIII, 13; LXVIII, 6; Wis. V, 2-13), as being an evil against our nature and reason (q. 71, a. 2);

2. spiritual suicide, as depriving one of supernatural light and life (I John III, 15, 20; II, 9; III, 14; Tob. XII, 10);

3. deformity depriving the soul of natural and supernatural beauty, whence it dishonors the one operating and renders him worthy of contempt (Ps. XLVIII, 13);

4. servitude of the devil (I John III, 8; Jer. II, 19; Rom. VI, 6; II Pet. II, 19), because man does the work of the devil and subjects himself to him by consenting to him, and thus renders himself more liable to temptations.

535. Remarks. - 1. The aforesaid malices are not found per se in mortal sin except implicitly, and consequently at most they are voluntary in the cause and virtually; hence they are not to be explained in confession, as being a condition of every sin; unless someone explicitly and formally intended some one of them in itself, because then a sin of the intended species would be present.

2. Many malices of mortal sin are also found in venial sin, but only analogically, imperfectly, and in a certain respect (a. 1, ad 1). Hence, if it is a light evil in comparison with mortal sin, nevertheless in itself it is very grave.

536. In what sense mortal sin is infinite. - Mortal sin:

1. On the part of conversion is not infinite, because both the act of man and the created good toward which it tends are finite.

2. On the part of aversion from the Infinite Good:

a) it is not of infinite malice: for infinite evil is pure evil, without any mixture of good; hence in order that sin have infinite malice, man would have to tend toward evil insofar as it is evil; which is impossible;

b) nor, as it is an offense or injury against the infinite God, does it seem simply infinite: for the gravity of an offense seems to have to be measured not only from the dignity of God offended but also on the part of man offending. But the will tends into the object according as it is in the intellect, and therefore through sin it does not offend God as he is in himself simply infinite, but as he is known very imperfectly by the intellect. Therefore through sin an injury simply infinite is not brought upon God.

c) Nevertheless that offense is infinite in a certain respect, and especially relative to our reparation: for it is contempt of an infinite person; but injury is estimated also from the dignity of the person offended, whereas satisfaction is estimated only from the dignity of the person satisfying, and on the other side the distance between God and men is infinite; therefore the injury of sin is estimated infinitely more than every reparation of man (even one made from grace and charity). Therefore man cannot satisfy for sin de condigno. And therefore:

d) mortal sin of itself is of infinite duration, because from its nature it is irreparable, and its malice in us remains without end and lasts forever. Hence also there is owed to it a punishment of infinite duration.

537. The gravity of mortal sin is described in the Scriptures. - A. In the Old Testament: 1. From the beginnings sin is exhibited as disobedience or transgression of the divine precept, which is strictly punished (Gen. II, 16; III, 11, 14-19; IV, 9-16; VI, 5-7, 11-13).

2. After the election of the people of Israel and the promulgation of the divine law by Moses, sin is considered as rebellion against the supreme Legislator and King of the chosen people (Exod. XIX, 5-8; XXIV, 3, 7), and as contempt of the law of the Lord (Lev. XXVI, 15). Among sins idolatry is principal (Exod. XX, 3-5), and this also is severely punished (Exod. XXXII, 30-35); but other graver offenses also are punished by the penalty of death (Lev. XVIII, 29; XX, 6-27).

But in order that an unformed and uncultivated people might be turned away from sin: a) chiefly and before all things the law had the sanction of the promise of temporal goods for those observing it, but of the threat of grave evils for those violating it (Deut. VII, 11-26; X, 12-22; XI, 13-28); - b) nevertheless the motive of gratitude and love toward God was also added (Deut. XI, 1; VIII, 2-20); - c) as also the motive of solidarity, because God would punish the offenses of individuals even in their posterity or in the nation (Exod. XX, 5).

3. From the time of the Prophets, sin is more expressly exhibited as an offense of God, of neighbor, or of one's own reason:

a) toward God it is ingratitude, contempt of benefactor and Father, and infidelity (Is. I, 2; Jer. II, 4-37; III, 1);

b) toward neighbor it is injustice (Amos II, 7);

c) toward ourselves, foolishness (Tob. XII, 10; Wis. V, 2-13; X, 8).

Wherefore the Prophets insist upon internal penance of heart, by which the mercy of the Lord will be obtained (Joel II, 12-13; Ps. L, 19).

B. In the New Testament: 1. Christ, who came that, as the Lamb of God, he might take away the sins of the world (John I, 29), supposes the nature of sin to be known, but denounces the gravity of certain sins, and the extension of sin to certain acts which were regarded as honorable; in particular the malice of hypocrisy, scandal, infidelity, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matt. XXIII, 5-32; XVIII, 16; XII, 31-32; Mark III, 29; XVI, 16; Luke XVII, 1-2). And he insistently proclaims the inordination of the internal sin of the heart (Matt. XV, 19-20).

2. St. Paul chiefly shows the effects of sin. It is, namely, slavery from which we are freed by grace (Rom. VI, 17-18); it is the cause of death (Rom. V, 12; VI, 23; VIII, 13), and of darkness (Col. I, 13; Eph. V, 8; II Cor. VI, 14); it is prevarication which will be punished by a terrible judgment (Heb. II, 2), because the sinner tramples upon the Son of God and saddens the Spirit (Heb. X, 26-31; Eph. IV, 30).

3. But St. John, the beloved disciple of him who appeared that he might take away our sins (I John III, 5), and whom we have as advocate with the Father, where he is the propitiation for our sins (II, 1-2), illustrates not only the effects but more the causes of sin: they are iniquity (V, 17; I, 9); the devil: for he who commits sin is of the devil (III, 8; cf. John VIII, 44); and the world, because the whole is placed in the evil one (V, 19), and everything that is in it is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life (II, 16). But the sinner walks in darkness and lacks light (I, 6; II, 9, 11), remains in death and does not have eternal life in himself (III, 14-15; V, 12), nor the charity of God (III, 17; IV, 8, 20). But he says that two sins especially are to be avoided: sin against the love of neighbor (II, 9-11; III, 15-17; IV, 8), and sin against Christ, by denying his divinity (II, 22; IV, 15; V, 10-12). This is sin unto death (V, 16-17), so grave that prayers are not poured forth for him who has perpetrated it (16).