Reply Obj. 2:  The impulse due to passion, is, as it were, due to a defect which is outside the will:  whereas, by a habit, the will is inclined from within.  Hence the comparison fails.

Reply Obj. 3:  It is one thing to sin while choosing, and another to sin through choosing.  For he that sins through passion, sins while choosing, but not through choosing, because his choosing is not for him the first principle of his sin; for he is induced through the passion, to choose what he would not choose, were it not for the passion.  On the other hand, he that sins through certain malice, chooses evil of his own accord, in the way already explained (AA. 2, 3), so that his choosing, of which he has full control, is the principle of his sin:  and for this reason he is said to sin “through” choosing. ________________________

QUESTION 79

OF THE EXTERNAL CAUSES OF SIN
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the external causes of sin, and (1) on the part of God; (2) on the part of the devil; (3) on the part of man.

Under the first head there are four points of inquiry: 

(1) Whether God is a cause of sin?

(2) Whether the act of sin is from God?

(3) Whether God is the cause of spiritual blindness and hardness of heart?

(4) Whether these things are directed to the salvation of those who are blinded or hardened? ________________________

FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 79, Art. 1]

Whether God Is a Cause of Sin?

Objection 1:  It would seem that God is a cause of sin.  For the Apostle says of certain ones (Rom. 1:28):  “God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not right [Douay:  ’convenient’],” and a gloss comments on this by saying that “God works in men’s hearts, by inclining their wills to whatever He wills, whether to good or to evil.”  Now sin consists in doing what is not right, and in having a will inclined to evil.  Therefore God is to man a cause of sin.

Obj. 2:  Further, it is written (Wis. 14:11):  “The creatures of God are turned to an abomination; and a temptation to the souls of men.”  But a temptation usually denotes a provocation to sin.  Since therefore creatures were made by God alone, as was established in the First Part (Q. 44, A. 1), it seems that God is a cause of sin, by provoking man to sin.

Obj. 3:  Further, the cause of the cause is the cause of the effect.  Now God is the cause of the free-will, which itself is the cause of sin.  Therefore God is the cause of sin.

Obj. 4:  Further, every evil is opposed to good.  But it is not contrary to God’s goodness that He should cause the evil of punishment; since of this evil it is written (Isa. 45:7) that God creates evil, and (Amos 3:6):  “Shall there be evil in the city which God [Vulg.:  ‘the Lord’] hath not done?” Therefore it is not incompatible with God’s goodness that He should cause the evil of fault.