207. The Transmission of Original Sin and Nature

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Problem of Transmission: How can guilt (which requires voluntary action) be transmitted to posterity if they did not commit Adam’s sin?
• Nature vs. Person in Sin: The crucial distinction between sin as a personal act (actual sin) versus sin as a corruption of nature (original sin)
• The Generative Act: How original sin passes through generation from parent to offspring, with focus on the active principle (father) in generation
• Original Justice: Adam’s supernatural gift from God that was meant to be transmitted with human nature; its loss constitutes original sin
• Unity of the Human Race: How all humans can be considered as one body with Adam as the first motive principle

Key Arguments #

Against the Transmission of Original Sin #

• Ezekiel 18: “The son does not carry the iniquity of the father”—objection that guilt cannot be transferred
• Accidents Cannot Transfer: An accident (like guilt) cannot pass from one subject to another without the subject being transferred
• The Seed Lacks Rationality: The seed cannot cause sin because it lacks the rational soul, which alone can cause sin
• Perfect Cannot Corrupt Lesser: Perfect flesh cannot infect the soul united to it, so imperfect seed certainly cannot
• Nature Cannot Be Criticized: Aristotle states that what occurs by nature (not by voluntary negligence) cannot be criticized or merit guilt

For the Transmission of Original Sin #

• Romans 5: “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin”
• Wisdom 2: “By the envy of the devil, death came into the world”—establishing the necessity of transmission
• The Body Analogy: Just as the hand’s act is imputed to the man through the soul’s will that moves it, so all humans’ disorder derives from Adam through the motion of generation
• One Nature from One Principle: All men born from Adam share one human nature derived from him; generation is the motion that propagates this nature

Important Definitions #

Original Sin (Peccatum Originale) #

• A sin of nature rather than a personal or actual sin
• Transmitted through the corruption of human nature itself, not through personal guilt or voluntary action
• Consists in the privation of original justice (iustitia originalis)
• Involves both guilt and punishment, but guilt understood not as voluntary wrongdoing but as the deprivation of what ought to be present in the nature

Original Justice (Iustitia Originalis) #

• A supernatural gift of grace given by God to Adam at creation
• Ordered the soul to God and kept bodily appetites subject to reason
• Was to be transmitted with human nature to all of Adam’s descendants
• Its loss in Adam corrupts the nature he transmits, making original sin universal

Active and Passive Principles in Generation #

• Active Principle: The generative power, associated with the father; what moves and determines the form
• Passive Principle: The matter provided, associated with the mother
• Original sin is transmitted through the active principle because generation is the proper act of nature, and the father is the active mover
• The active principle carries within itself (“in virtue”) the corruption of human nature

Guilt vs. Nature #

• Guilt (culpa): Requires voluntariness; pertains to the person and their personal will
• Corruption of Nature: A deprivation of a gift that should adhere to nature; transmissible through generation
• Original sin involves guilt not because the individual willed it, but because the nature itself is deprived of original justice

Examples & Illustrations #

The Hand and the Body #

• The hand’s homicide is not imputed to the hand itself but to the man whose will moves it
• Similarly, the disorder in each person generated from Adam is not voluntary by his own will but by Adam’s will through the motion of generation
• All men are members of one body with Adam as the first principle

Physical Defects (Leprosy, Gout) #

• Bodily defects like leprosy or gout pass from parent to offspring through corruption of the seed
• However, such bodily defects do not constitute guilt because they lack the element of voluntariness
• This shows that things can be transmitted by generation without being personal sins

The Blindness Example #

• Aristotle: “No one is criticized for being born blind, but one feels mercy and sorrow for him”
• This illustrates that what occurs by nature (not by negligent voluntary action) cannot be the basis for criticism
• Yet original sin differs because it involves a specific privation of a supernatural gift

Questions Addressed #

Question 1: Is the First Sin Transferred by Origin to Posterity? #

Objections:

• Ezekiel says the son does not carry the father’s iniquity
• Accidents cannot transfer from subject to subject
• The seed cannot cause sin (lacks rational soul)
• Bodily defects transmit without guilt
• Nothing by nature can be criticized

Thomas’s Answer:

• Original sin IS transferred by origin, which is a matter of Catholic faith
• This is evidenced by the practice of baptizing infants “as soon as born” to remove the infection of guilt
• The error of Pelagianism denies this doctrine

The Solution:

• Original sin is a sin of nature, not a personal sin
• It is transmitted through the corruption of human nature caused by Adam’s loss of original justice
• When Adam lost original justice, he corrupted the human nature he would transmit; all his descendants receive nature without this gift
• Just as the hand participates in the will’s act through being part of one body, so all humans participate in the disorder from Adam through being part of one nature with him
• The transmitting principle is generation itself—the active principle (the father) moves the generation

Question 2: Are Other Sins of Parents Also Transmitted by Origin? #

Answer (by implication from the lecture):

• Only things pertaining to nature are transmitted by generation
• Personal acts (actual sins) do not pertain to nature; they pertain to the individual person
• Original sin is unique because it involves the loss of a supernatural gift meant to be transmitted with nature itself

Question 3: How Can Guilt Exist Without Voluntariness? #

Answer:

• Original sin is called “guilt” (culpa) by analogy, not univocally
• Its essence is the privation of original justice in human nature
• One who is born receives nature without this gift not by his own voluntary act, but because the nature received from the first parent is deprived of it
• As Paul says: “We were by nature the sons of anger” (Ephesians 2)—guilt attaches to the nature itself as received

Question 4: Why Does the Mother Not Transmit Original Sin? #

Answer (implied in lecture):

• The active principle in generation is the father
• Original sin is transmitted through the active principle because generation is the proper act of nature seeking propagation
• The mother provides matter but not the active motive force
• If someone were formed miraculously from human flesh (like Eve from Adam’s rib) without the active generative power, they would not contract original sin

Notable Quotes #

“All men who are born from Adam can be considered as one man, insofar as they agree in nature, which they get from their first parent. According as in civil things, all who are one community are regarded as one body.” — Thomas Aquinas (cited by Berquist)

“The disorder which is derived from the first parent in his posterity is not voluntary by the will of himself but by the will of his first parent who moves by the motion of generation.” — Thomas Aquinas (cited by Berquist)

“We were by nature the sons of anger.” — St. Paul, Ephesians 2

“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin.” — Romans 5