Question Fourth. On the Gravity of Sin.

320. On the diverse gravity of sins. The gravity of sin is the quantity of malice which belongs to a sin from its object. Now it is asked whether grave sins, considered objectively, are of the same or of diverse gravity.

1. Not all sins are of the same gravity, but some are graver than others. Thus sins against religion are graver than sins against justice.

a. This is gathered from Sacred Scripture: He who delivered me to thee has the greater sin.¹ Yet for Tyre and Sidon it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment than for you.² Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; but he who says to his brother, raca, shall be liable to the council; and he who says, fool, shall be liable to the hell of fire.³ It can be disputed what the Lord wished to signify by the name of judgment, council, hell of fire; nevertheless this is certain, that to the diverse degrees of punishment which are signified by those words there correspond diverse degrees of fault.

b. The same is clear from reason. Sin is a transgression of the divine law; but laws are not all of the same moment and perfection, but some are more excellent than others and more necessary in relation to the ultimate end, according as the good is greater for the preservation of which they were established.

The Stoic philosophers, and in the Christian age Jovinian the monk, whom St. Jerome refutes, contended that all grave sins are equal. Their argument is this: the formal nature of mortal sin consists in aversion from the ultimate end; but there cannot be greater or lesser aversion from the ultimate end, since aversion consists in something indivisible. But it is clear that aversion from the ultimate end cannot be greater and lesser insofar as it is the negation of conversion; but it can be greater and lesser insofar as it signifies positive opposition to the ultimate end, or conversion to creatures.

2. For bearing judgment concerning the diverse gravity of sins, P. Lehmkuhl (n. 1224) establishes the following rules:

a. A sin is graver in proportion as the virtue to which it is opposed is nobler and higher; but within the range of the same virtue, other things being equal, sins against a prohibiting law are graver than sins against a prescribing law.

b. A sin is graver in proportion as the person against whom the sin is directed is nobler. Thus, of themselves, sins which are directed directly against God are graver than sins which are directed against man.⁴

c. A sin is graver in proportion as the good which is injured by the sin is greater. This rule indeed must be attended to in the first place in sins against neighbor.

3. With these things premised, sins, as regards gravity, follow one another in about this order.

a. Sins which are committed directly against God, or the internal divine goods: hatred of God, infidelity, despair.

b. Sins which are committed against God's external goods: blasphemy, idolatry, superstition, perjury, and tempting God. In this place are to be inserted sins which are committed against the humanity of Christ and the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist.

c. Sins which are committed against God indirectly, or against things consecrated to God, namely diverse sacrileges, as simony, profanation of sacred things, unworthy reception and administration of the sacraments, violation of a vow, etc.

d. Sins by which human persons are injured, and indeed in this order: sins which a man commits against himself, against those joined to him, as parents or superiors, and against strangers.

e. Sins by which human goods, of life, honor, reputation, fortune, are injured: homicide, lust, calumny, detraction, theft; drunkenness follows after these.

¹ John 19, 11.

² Matt. 11, 22.

³ Matt. 5, 22.

⁴ Cf. St. Thomas III, q. 80, a. 5.