208. Original Sin: Transmission and Nature Through Generation

Subscribe in Podcast App | Download Transcript

Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Transmission of Original Sin Through Generation #

• Original sin passes to all humanity through the act of generation, not through imitation or direct personal guilt
• Only the first sin of Adam transmits to posterity; his other actual sins do not
• Transmission occurs through Adam as the active principle of generation, comparable to how the hand’s action is attributed to the person whose will moves the hand
• All humans except Christ contract original sin; the Blessed Virgin was preserved by special privilege through Christ’s merits

Why Only Adam’s First Sin Transmits #

• A man generates another of the same species but not according to individual characteristics
• Personal acts (like knowledge of grammar) do not transmit from parent to child through generation
• Only what pertains to nature itself transmits—natural dispositions and the corruption of nature
• The analogy: a grammarian does not pass on knowledge of grammar to his son, but a man with eyes generates a son with eyes (unless nature is deficient)

Active and Passive Principles in Generation #

• The father is the active principle in generation; provides the seed (semen, from which seminal ideas derive)
• The mother is the passive/material principle; provides matter (materia, related to mother/mater)
• Therefore, original sin is transmitted through the father, not the mother
• If only Eve had sinned and Adam had not, their offspring would not contract original sin

The Problem of Justice: Why Children Suffer for Parents’ Sin #

• Objection: Punishment is owed only to guilt; how can children be punished for Adam’s sin?
• Scripture presents texts that appear to contradict this (Exodus 20: “visiting the iniquity of fathers on their sons to the third and fourth generation”; Ezekiel 18: the son does not bear the father’s iniquity)
• Solution: Spiritual punishment (guilt/damnation) requires the child to share in the guilt. Children contract original sin not through external punishment imposed by God, but through contracting the corruption of nature itself from which they derive
• Bodily punishment can be inflicted for the parent’s sin insofar as the child is part of the father’s body

Original Sin as Corruption of Nature, Not Personal Act #

• Original sin is a corruption of nature (pertaining to the species), not a corruption of the person (personal sin)
• Actual sins corrupt only what pertains to the person (personal proneness to action); original sin corrupts nature itself
• By being “in Adam” through generation—not just temporally but as part of human nature—all humans share in the corruption he caused

The Argument from Greater Power #

• Principle: One transmits more readily what one has from oneself than what one has from another
• Application: Fire heats more effectively than water. A man transmits to his son the sin he has from Adam (original sin) more readily than sins he acquires himself
• Conclusion: Therefore posterity contracts original sin even more surely than they would contract the actual sins of proximate parents (which they do not contract at all)

Comparison of Merits and Demerits #

• Objection (dialectical): Good is more diffusive of itself than evil; the merits of proximate parents do not pass to children; therefore much less their sins
• Response: Original sin is not merely a sin but a corruption of nature itself; it transmits as corruption of nature, analogously to how natural dispositions (velocity of body, good genius) pass to children

Key Arguments #

Argument 1: Generation and Imputation of Disorder #

Structure:

• Just as the hand’s sinful action is imputed to the person because moved by the will, the disorder in one born from Adam is imputed to that person because moved by Adam through generation
• The motion of generation is comparable to the motion of the will moving the hand
• Therefore original sin is rightfully imputed to all descended from Adam

Argument 2: Why Only the First Sin Transmits #

Structure:

• What pertains to the individual as personal acts (knowledge, skills, personal virtues) does not transmit from parent to child
• What pertains to nature (physical dispositions, natural inclinations) does transmit
• Original sin pertains to nature itself—the corruption of human nature—not to the person
• Therefore original sin transmits; other actual sins do not

Argument 3: Active vs. Passive Principle #

Structure:

• Generation requires both active principle (father/seed) and passive principle (mother/matter)
• The active principle is what moves and generates; the passive principle is what is moved
• Original sin transmits through the active principle (generation), not the passive (matter alone)
• Therefore if only Eve sinned, offspring would not contract original sin (she provided only matter)

Argument 4: Two Aspects of Offspring Status #

Structure:

• Sons pre-exist in the father as an active principle (potential offspring to be generated)
• Sons pre-exist in the mother as a material/passive principle
• Active principle = principle of movement/generation
• Therefore transmission of disorder through generation comes through the active principle (father), not the passive (mother)

Argument 5: Grace and Nature Parallel #

Structure:

• Just as grace and nature each have their own principles and causes, so to nature belong things according to itself and things from grace
• Original justice was a gift of grace given to human nature in Adam, to be transmitted with nature
• When Adam lost original justice through sin, the opposite—disorder—was transmitted with nature
• Therefore the corruption (lack of original justice) transmits as original justice would have transmitted

Important Definitions #

Original Sin (Peccatum Originale) #

• A corruption of human nature inherited from Adam through generation
• Consists in the defect of original justice (lack of subjection of the will to God)
• Transmitted as part of human nature itself, not as a personal act

Original Justice (Iustitia Originalis) #

• A gift of grace given divinely to human nature in Adam
• Consisted in the subjection of the human will to God and the subjection of lower powers to reason
• Lost through Adam’s first sin; its loss explains why all descended from him lack this supernatural gift

Active Principle (Principium Activum) #

• That which moves or generates in the act of generation
• The father’s seed (semen)
• Contrasted with passive/material principle

Passive/Material Principle (Principium Materiale) #

• That which is moved or formed in generation
• The mother’s matter (materia)
• Provides the substance but not the generative motion

Generation (Generatio) #

• The biological process by which offspring derive from parents
• The means by which both nature and corruption of nature transmit from parent to child
• Compared to the motion by which the will moves the body’s members

Examples & Illustrations #

The Hand and the Will #

• The hand performs a sinful action, but the sin is attributed to the person because the hand is moved by the person’s will
• Similarly, the disorder in one born from Adam is attributed to that person because that person’s nature is moved/generated by Adam
• This illustrates how imputation can be just even when the individual is not the direct cause

The Grammarian and His Son #

• A grammarian possesses knowledge of grammar acquired through his own study
• He does not transmit this knowledge to his son through generation
• But a man with an eye generates a son with an eye (unless nature is deficient)
• This shows personal acquisitions don’t transmit, but natural dispositions do

Berquist’s Father and the Machine Shop #

• Berquist’s father learned to understand machines by hanging around his uncle’s machine shop
• This skill was personal—he acquired it through exposure and practice
• He did not pass this skill to his children through generation, though he could teach it
• Illustration: children don’t inherit acquired skills, only natural dispositions

Fire and Water #

• Fire heats things more readily than water does
• Similarly, a man transmits what he has from himself (his nature, corrupted by Adam) more readily than what he acquires personally
• This justifies why original sin transmits more certainly than actual sins would

The Young Neighbor Children and Geometry #

• Berquist attempted to teach neighboring boys and girls geometry one summer
• The boys persisted in learning to make circles, squares, and triangles
• The girls were drawn away to make cookies in the kitchen
• Illustration (somewhat tongue-in-cheek): even knowledge of geometry, if acquired, does not transmit to the next generation

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Is original sin transmitted to all descended from Adam? #

A: Yes, original sin is transmitted to all humans except Christ through generation from Adam. The formal cause is the corruption of nature; the means is generation. Even the Blessed Virgin contracted it formally, though she was preserved from it by special privilege through Christ’s merits.

Q2: Are the other sins of Adam (and other parents) transmitted to posterity? #

A: No. Only the first sin of Adam transmits because it corrupts nature itself. Other actual sins are purely personal acts and pertain to the individual, not to the nature transmitted through generation. Therefore they do not pass to children.

Q3: How can it be just that children are punished for their parents’ sin? #

A: Spiritually, children are not punished except insofar as they contract the guilt themselves through original sin. The punishment follows the guilt; they contract guilt by contracting the corruption of nature from Adam. Bodily punishments may be inflicted by human or divine judgment insofar as the child is something of the father according to the body.

Q4: Is original sin transmitted through the mother or the father? #

A: Through the father as the active principle of generation. The mother provides matter (passive principle); the father provides the generative motion. If only Eve had sinned and Adam had not, offspring would not contract original sin, though they would experience death (which comes from the matter/necessity of the body, which comes from the mother).

Q5: What of those alive at Christ’s coming—do they contract original sin if they do not die? #

A: Thomas holds (with probability) that all found at Christ’s advent die, if only briefly. However, some say they never die. Even so, the punishment (death) may be taken away by God. Original sin itself (the corruption of nature) would still be present unless removed by grace/baptism, though the specific punishments might be remitted.

Q6: Can original sin be transmitted if someone is formed from human flesh without normal generation? #

A: No. Original sin is transmitted only through active generation from Adam. If someone were miraculously formed from human flesh without the generative motion/active principle derived from Adam, they would not contract original sin. The active power in generation is the essential requirement.

Notable Quotes #

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

“In the loins of Adam, the whole posterity was corrupted.” — Augustine (cited via gloss on Genesis 4)

“It is impossible that some sins of one’s proximate parents, or even of the first parent, apart from that first sin, can be passed over by origin.” — Thomas Aquinas (Berquist’s exposition)

“A man generates to himself the same in species, but not according to the individual.” — Thomas Aquinas (on transmission of nature vs. personal traits)