QUESTION 85

OF THE EFFECTS OF SIN, AND, FIRST, OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE GOOD OF
NATURE
(In Six Articles)

We must now consider the effects of sin; and (1) the corruption of the good of nature; (2) the stain on the soul; (3) the debt of punishment.

Under the first head there are six points of inquiry: 

(1) Whether the good of nature is diminished by sin?

(2) Whether it can be taken away altogether?

(3) Of the four wounds, mentioned by Bede, with which human nature is stricken in consequence of sin.

(4) Whether privation of mode, species and order is an effect of sin?

(5) Whether death and other bodily defects are the result of sin?

(6) Whether they are, in any way, natural to man?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 85, Art. 1]

Whether Sin Diminishes the Good of Nature?

Objection 1:  It would seem that sin does not diminish the good of nature.  For man’s sin is no worse than the devil’s.  But natural good remains unimpaired in devils after sin, as Dionysius states (Div.  Nom. iv).  Therefore neither does sin diminish the good of human nature.

Obj. 2:  Further, when that which follows is changed, that which precedes remains unchanged, since substance remains the same when its accidents are changed.  But nature exists before the voluntary action.  Therefore, when sin has caused a disorder in a voluntary act, nature is not changed on that account, so that the good of nature be diminished.

Obj. 3:  Further, sin is an action, while diminution is a passion.  Now no agent is passive by the very reason of its acting, although it is possible for it to act on one thing, and to be passive as regards another.  Therefore he who sins, does not, by his sin, diminish the good of his nature.

Obj. 4:  Further, no accident acts on its subject:  because that which is patient is a potential being, while that which is subjected to an accident, is already an actual being as regards that accident.  But sin is in the good of nature as an accident in a subject.  Therefore sin does not diminish the good of nature, since to diminish is to act.

On the contrary, “A certain man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30), i.e. to the corruption of sin, was stripped of his gifts, and wounded in his nature,” as Bede [The quotation is from the _Glossa Ordinaria_ of Strabo] expounds the passage.  Therefore sin diminishes the good of nature.

I answer that, The good of human nature is threefold.  First, there are the principles of which nature is constituted, and the properties that flow from them, such as the powers of the soul, and so forth.  Secondly, since man has from nature an inclination to virtue, as stated above (Q. 60, A. 1; Q. 63, A. 1), this inclination to virtue is a good of nature.  Thirdly, the gift of original justice, conferred on the whole of human nature in the person of the first man, may be called a good of nature.