228. Venial Sin in Innocence and Angelic Sin

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• Venial Sin in the State of Innocence: Whether Adam and Eve could commit venial sins before the mortal sin of eating the forbidden fruit
• The Infallible Order of Innocence: How the perfect subjection of lower faculties to higher ones prevented any disorder necessary for venial sin
• Angels and the Capacity for Venial Sin: Why neither good nor bad angels can commit venial sin, despite appearances
• Discursive vs. Non-Discursive Intellection: The fundamental distinction between human reason and angelic understanding
• The Problem of Pride (Alatio) Preceding the Fall: How Augustine’s argument about pride preceding sin is reconciled with the prohibition of venial sin

Key Arguments #

Arguments That Adam Could Commit Venial Sin #

• Augustine suggests Adam believed eating the apple was venial, implying he could commit venial sin
• Pride (alatio) must have preceded the fall as a motion of the soul, appearing to be venial
• Eve’s doubt about God’s word (“lest we die”) seems to be a venial sin of infidelity
• The axiom: whoever can do the greater (mortal sin) can do the lesser (venial sin)
• Mortal sin is more contrary to innocence than venial sin, so if mortal is possible, venial should be too

Thomas’s Resolution: Why Venial Sin Was Impossible in Innocence #

• Venial sin arises from: (1) imperfection of the act (sudden motions in the genus of mortal sin), OR (2) disorder about means while preserving order to the end
• Both conditions require a defect of order—the lower not being firmly subject to the higher
• In innocence, there was infallible order: sensuality was perfectly subject to reason, and reason to God
• No sudden, unreasonable passions existed (they knew not they were naked until after sin)
• No disorder could exist about means while keeping order to the end, because all things stood infallibly under the ultimate end
• Therefore, mortal sin had to precede venial sin in innocence—the very breaking of the supreme order that first enabled venial sin
• Once reason broke from God, sensuality broke from reason, allowing subsequent venial sins

Arguments That Angels Can Commit Venial Sin #

• Man shares understanding (intelligentia) with angels according to Gregory
• The principle: whoever can do the greater can do the lesser
• Bad angels seem to provoke men to laughter and levities, which appear venial in nature

Thomas’s Resolution: Why Angels Cannot Commit Venial Sin #

• The angel’s understanding is not discursive; it does not proceed from premises to conclusions
• Angels grasp conclusions in their principles immediately
• In desirable things, the end is like a principle and means are like conclusions
• The angel’s intellect does not turn toward means except as they stand under the order to the end
• Good angels: Always ordered to God; all acts are acts of charity; no venial sin possible
• Bad angels: Ordered only to the end of their own pride; all acts they perform by their own will are mortal sin
• The demons’ provocations to levity are mortal sins because they intend through these acts to lead men into mortal sin

Important Definitions #

Venial Sin: A sin arising from either imperfection of the act or disorder about means while the order to the ultimate end is preserved; does not destroy charity or sever the soul from God

Mortal Sin: A sin that breaks the order to God as the ultimate end; destroys sanctifying grace and merits eternal punishment

Infallible Order (in state of innocence): The perfect subjection whereby the lower is always necessarily contained under the higher—sensuality under reason, reason under God

Alatio: Pride; elevation of self; the first motion of sin in Adam preceding the external act of disobedience

Discursive Reason: Human reasoning that proceeds from premises or principles to conclusions; characteristic of human intellection

Non-Discursive Understanding (intelligentia): Angelic intellection that grasps conclusions in their principles immediately without discursive movement; characteristic of angels

Examples & Illustrations #

• The Hierarchy After the Fall: When the highest part of man is no longer subject to God, then sensuality is no longer subject to reason, and the body no longer subject to the soul—like the parable of the servant and debtor
• The Drug Users and the Red Light: Berquist’s anecdote of students on drugs who could only focus on a recorder’s red light, illustrating how the intellect becomes disordered when not subject to right reason
• Before and After in States: In the fallen state, venial sins typically precede mortal sins and dispose toward them; in innocence, this order was reversed—mortal sin had to come first to break the infallible order
• Woman and Girl / Man and Boy: Illustration of how the imperfect member of a pair loses the full name and gains a new one; similarly, human reason is reason “in shadow” while angelic understanding bears the full name

Questions Addressed #

1. Could man in innocence commit venial sin? No. The infallible order of innocence precluded the defects of order necessary for venial sin. Mortal sin had to come first.

2. How can pride precede the fall if no venial sin was possible? The pride (alatio) that preceded was the very mortal sin itself—the interior disordering of the will toward self rather than God, which preceded the external act of eating the fruit.

3. Can good angels sin venially? No. Because angels have non-discursive understanding, they necessarily see all means as ordered to their ultimate end. Good angels are always ordered to God; thus all their acts are acts of charity.

4. Can bad angels sin venially? No. Their non-discursive intellect orders all their acts toward their chosen end of pride. Whatever they do by their own will is mortal sin; they cannot have disordered acts about mere means.

5. What of the demons’ provocations to laughter? These appear venial in nature but are actually mortal because the demons’ intention is to lead men into mortal sin. The intention transforms the character of the act.