188. The Connection and Equality of Sins

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Connection of Sins #

• Question: Are all sins connected to one another?
• The Problem: If one mortal sin takes away all infused virtues, and all virtues are connected through prudence, must all sins also be connected?
• Thomas’s Distinction: Sins must be viewed from two perspectives:
  • Aversion (turning away): All sins turn away from God and His law; in this sense, sinning against one commandment is like offending against all, since God is contemned in every sin
  • Conversion (turning toward): Each sin turns toward a specific creaturely good (pleasure, wealth, honor, etc.), and these diverse goods have no necessary connection to one another

Unity of Virtue vs. Multiplicity of Vice #

• Virtues are connected because they all proceed from prudence (right reason) and are ordered to one end: God
• Vices and sins are not connected because they proceed from diverse motives and scatter the affection toward diverse temporal goods
• The love of God (which constitutes the City of God) gathers the affection into unity and connects all virtues
• The love of self (which constitutes the City of Babylon) divides and scatters the affection among diverse things, preventing connection among vices

The Equality of Sins Question #

• The Stoic Error: The Stoics held that all sins are equal because all equally transgress reason, just as being short of a line is equally wrong whether one falls short much or little
• The Refutation: This error stems from considering sin only as pure privation (non-being), but sins are not simple privations

Two Kinds of Privation #

1. Simple Privation: Complete absence with nothing remaining (e.g., death, total darkness)

   • These do NOT admit of degrees
   • A man is not “more dead” on day three than day one
   • A room covered by one veil that completely excludes light is not darker if more veils are added

2. Privation Retaining Something of the Opposite Habit: Partial disorder while the subject remains (e.g., sickness, ugliness)

   • These DO admit of degrees
   • Based on how much of the suitable measurement of reason remains
   • A sickness can be more or less severe depending on the degree of discommensuration of humors
   • Similarly, sins admit of degrees based on how much disorder they introduce regarding reason

The Substance and Degree of Sin #

• Sin cannot entirely destroy reason, because if reason were completely destroyed, the act itself would be destroyed (as Aristotle says in the Fourth Book of the Ethics: “a bad thing, if integral, will destroy itself”)
• The gravity of sin pertains to how much or how little the sin receives from the rightness of reason
• A sin with greater disorder is more illicit (contrary to law) and therefore more grievous

The Role of Virtues in Understanding Sin’s Connection #

• Venial sin does not take away infused virtue
• One mortal sin takes away all infused virtues (because it turns one away from God)
• Acquired virtues are not destroyed by one act; they require repeated contrary acts
• All moral virtues are connected through prudence (right reason); they lose their formal perfection without it
• When a man acts against any virtue, he acts against prudence (foresight), thus excluding all moral virtues in their formal aspect

Key Arguments #

First Objection and Response (Connection of Sins) #

Objection (James 2:10):

• “Whoever observes the whole law but offends in one point is made guilty of all”
• Since sin is transgression of divine law, whoever sins by one sin is subject to all sins
• Every sin excludes the opposed virtue; one lacking one virtue lacks all (virtues are connected)
• Therefore, one who has one sin has all sins

Response:

• James speaks of sin on the side of aversion (turning from God), not conversion (turning toward creaturely goods)
• All commandments come from one source: God; thus contempt of God is incurred in every sin
• From this side, sinning in one is guilt of all (guilt of contempt of God)
• However, the intention of the sinner is to enjoy some specific good, not formally to depart from the whole law
• Sins have no connection according to their species because they do not “go from multiplicity to unity” as virtues do; they “recede from unity to multiplicity”

Second Objection and Response (Connection Through Virtues) #

Objection:

• Some vices are contrary to others (cowardice vs. foolhardiness)
• Contraries cannot exist simultaneously
• Therefore, all sins cannot be connected

Response:

• Not every mortal sin takes away acquired virtue (only one act does not generate contrary habit)
• Not every sin takes away the formal perfection of virtue
• Even with loss of infused virtues, virtuous inclinations may remain
• One virtue can be eliminated while others remain, because:
  • Many vices oppose one virtue
  • Sin is directly opposed to virtue in the inclination to act
  • Remaining virtuous inclinations prevent saying one has all opposite vices

Third Objection and Response (Love as Root) #

Objection:

• Love of God gathers affection into unity and connects virtues
• By symmetry, love of self should gather vices together
• Therefore, all vices should be connected

Response:

• Love of God: gathers affection from many things into one (unity) → connection of virtues
• Love of self: scatters affection among diverse temporal goods (multiplicity) → no connection of vices
• The object of illicit self-love is various and diverse (money, pleasure, honor, etc.)
• These diverse goods have no necessary connection to one another

The Stoic Error on Equality #

Objection (from Stoics/Cicero’s Paradoxes):

• All sins equally transgress the rule of reason
• Just as going beyond a line (in carpentry) is equally wrong whether one goes far or slightly beyond
• Privations do not receive more or less
• Therefore, all sins are equal

Response:

• Stoics considered sin only as pure privation, but this is incorrect
• Sin is not a simple lack but a privation retaining something of the opposite habit (like sickness, not like death)
• Since something of reason’s rightness remains, sins can vary in how much they depart from reason
• The degree of disorder introduced determines the degree of gravity

Important Definitions #

Aversion (ἀποστροφή): The turning away from God and His law; common to all sins; grounded in contempt of God

Conversion (στροφή): The turning toward some creaturely good; determines the species of the sin and grounds the distinction among sins

Simple Privation (privatio simplex): Complete absence of a quality with nothing remaining (death, darkness) → does NOT admit of degrees

Privation Retaining Something of the Opposite Habit: Partial disorder where something of the opposite quality remains (sickness, ugliness) → DOES admit of degrees

Prudence (φρόνησις / prudentia): Right reason concerning things to be done; the integrating virtue through which all moral virtues connect; the measure of human acts

Infused Virtue: Virtue given by grace; lost entirely by one mortal sin

Acquired Virtue: Virtue developed through repeated acts; requires repeated contrary acts to be lost

Illicit (illicitum): Contrary to law; more grave sins are those with greater disorder from reason

Examples & Illustrations #

On the Carpenter’s Rule vs. the Level #

• The objection uses the example of a carpenter’s ruler: going short of the line is equally wrong whether short by a little or much
• Counter-example with the level: A level shows either “right” or “not right”; but a ruler (measuring line) can show degrees of falling short
• Just as departing from a measuring standard admits of degree, so do sins

On Virtues vs. Vices #

• Virtues: All ordered to God; all depend on prudence; if you exclude prudence, you exclude the formal perfection of all moral virtues
• Vices: Each seeks a different creaturely good (one man pursues wealth, another pleasure, another honor); these goods are contrary, not connected

On Privation #

• Death: A man is not “more dead” on the third day than the first day; he is simply dead
• Dissolved bodies: A perfectly dissolved corpse is just as dead as a fresh one
• Darkness: A room covered by one veil that excludes all light is not darker if more veils are added
• Sickness: Can be more or less severe depending on the degree of humoral discommensuration (can be regulated by medicine)

On Practical Arts #

• Cooking: Can put too much or too little salt; too much or too little heat
• Carpentry: Can cut a piece of wood too short or too long; can measure and cut three times before cutting once
• Music: From Baroque and Classical to Romantic period, music becomes “less beautiful,” then “positively ugly” (as with rock bands)

Notable Quotes #

“The love of God, which makes the city of God, is the beginning and root of all the virtues. The love of oneself, which makes the city of Babylon, is the root of all sins.” — St. Augustine (City of God, Book 14), cited by Thomas Aquinas

“A bad thing, if integral, will destroy itself.” — Aristotle, cited in Thomas’s discussion of how reason must remain for sin to exist

“Never affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.” — Dominican maxim, cited by Berquist to illustrate the importance of distinction in understanding sin

Questions Addressed #

Article 1: Are All Sins Connected? #

Main Question: If one mortal sin excludes all infused virtues, and all virtues are connected, must all sins be connected?

Answer: No. The connection of virtues depends on their being ordered to one end (God) through prudence. Sins, by contrast, proceed from diverse motives and turn toward diverse creaturely goods that have no necessary connection to one another. The connection exists on the side of aversion (common to all) but not on the side of conversion (diverse to each sin).

Article 2: Are All Sins Equal in Gravity? #

Main Question: If all sins equally transgress reason, are they all equally grave?

Answer: No. The Stoic error was to treat sin as a pure privation (like death), which admits no degrees. But sin is a privation retaining something of the opposite habit (like sickness), which admits of degrees. Sins are graver or less grave depending on how much disorder they introduce regarding reason. A sin introducing greater disorder is more grave.

Structural Principles Employed #

Distinction: The resolution of the connection question hinges on distinguishing aversion from conversion—two formal aspects of sin that must be kept conceptually separate

Privation Analysis: Understanding sin’s equality question requires the distinction between simple privation (admitting no degrees) and privation retaining something (admitting degrees)

Unity and Multiplicity: Virtues move from multiplicity to unity (through prudence to God); vices move from unity to multiplicity (scattering affection among diverse goods)