300. Justification of the Impious and the Remission of Sins

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Justification as an Effect of Grace #

• Operating Grace vs. Cooperating Grace: Question 113 addresses justification of the impious as an effect of operating grace (God’s motion), while Question 114 addresses merit as an effect of cooperating grace
• Justification in Passive Sense: Justification (iustificatio) implies a motion to justice (motio ad iustitiam), understood as a passive change in the soul
• Two Types of Justice:
  1. Justice as a particular virtue: ordering the act of man according to rectitude in relation to another individual (particular justice)
  2. Justice as general rectitude of order: when the highest part of man is subject to God and lower powers subject to reason (metaphorically called justice by the Philosopher)

The Equivocation in ‘Justice’ #

• Berquist and Thomas identify the crucial equivocation in the term iustitia (justice) that must be clarified at the outset
• The objection falsely assumes justice refers only to the particular virtue of justice
• Thomas resolves this by showing that every sin, in implying disorder of the mind not subject to God, can be called contrary to justice in the broader sense
• According to 1 John: “Everyone who commits sin commits iniquity” (iniquitas—what is against equity and justice)

Two Modes of Acquiring Justice in Man #

1. Simple Generation: From privation to form; this is how Adam received original justice without being in sin
2. Motion from Contrary to Contrary: From one form to another form; this is how the impious acquire justice—a transmutation (transportatio) from injustice to justice

Remission of Sins as the Term From Which; Justice as the Term To Which #

• Motion is denominated more from the term to which (terminus ad quem) than from the term from which (terminus a quo)
• Therefore, the change from injustice to justice takes its name from justice (the term to which), not from the absence of sin (the term from which)
• The remission of sins is thus the necessary consequence of acquiring justice

Why Justice Rather Than Faith or Charity? #

• Objection: Why is remission of sin called justification when sin is contrary to all virtues, not just justice?
• Response: Faith and charity speak of special orders (understanding to God via faith; affections to God via charity), while justice implies the general rectitude of order in the soul
• Reference to Plato: Since justice is the ordering principle of all virtues, it is most fitting to denominate the change in justification from justice

Vocation vs. Justification #

• Objection: Justification seems to be the same as vocation, since one is called from a distance (sin) to God
• Resolution: Vocation refers to God’s inward motion arousing the mind to desert sin; this motion of God is the cause of remission, not the remission itself
• Romans 8:30: “Whom He has called, these He has also justified”—vocation is the precondition, not identical with justification

Key Arguments #

The Principal vs. Term Distinction #

• Equivocation Resolution: The primary task in discussing justification is clarifying that ‘justice’ has multiple meanings
• Aristotle’s Principle: Each thing ought to be denominated from that which is most potent in it (potissimum in ipso), as stated in the second book of On the Soul
• Application: Though sin is contrary to all virtues, justification is denominated from justice because justice represents the comprehensive ordering of the soul

Motion as Key to Understanding Justification #

• Justification is fundamentally a motion (motio)—a change from one state to another
• Motion always goes from contrary to contrary (in the case of justification: from injustice to justice)
• This distinguishes justification from how Adam received original justice (simple generation)

Why the Term ‘To Which’ Determines the Name #

• Principle: Motion takes its denomination more from its terminus ad quem than from its terminus a quo
• Example in justification: The remission of sins (terminus a quo) is secondary in naming; the acquisition of justice (terminus ad quem) is primary
• This reflects the Aristotelian understanding of motion as essentially ordered toward an end

Important Definitions #

Justification (Iustificatio) #

• Passive Sense: A motion to justice; a change from the state of injustice to the state of justice
• Broad Sense of Justice: The rectitude of order wherein the highest power of man is subject to God and lower powers subject to reason
• In Context of Impious: Specifically, the transmutation (transportatio) of the impious from injustice to justice

Justice (Iustitia) #

1. Particular Sense: A specific virtue ordering individual acts
2. General/Metaphorical Sense: The comprehensive rectitude of the soul’s ordering to God (called metaphorical because it carries the meaning of order beyond the strict virtue of justice)

Remission of Sins (Remissio Peccatorum) #

• The removal of sin as guilt; the term from which justification proceeds
• Necessarily follows from the acquisition of justice
• Denominated from the term to which rather than standing alone as the definition of justification

Vocation (Vocatio) #

• God’s inward motion and arousing of the mind to desert sin
• The cause of justification, not identical with it
• Precedes justification in the order of causation

Examples & Illustrations #

The Ordering of Justice in All Virtues #

• Platonic Understanding: Plato recognized that justice is the ordering principle of all virtues; it has no specific power of its own but orders all other powers (fortitude in the irascible, temperance in the concupiscible, prudence in reason)
• Implication: Because justice represents the comprehensive ordering, justification—as a change in the comprehensive ordering of the soul—is appropriately named from justice

Faith and Charity as Specific Orders #

• Faith represents the ordering of the understanding to God
• Charity represents the ordering of the affections to God
• Both are “special orders” compared to justice, which implies the general rectitude of the entire soul’s disposition

Remission and Motion #

• Terminal Point: Remission of sins is the consequence of the motion toward justice, not its source or name
• Analogy: As motion through space is named from the destination (“going to Rome”) rather than the starting point, so justification is named from the acquisition of justice rather than the departure from sin

Notable Quotes #

“Every sin, according as it implies a certain disorder of a mind not subject to God, can be called contrary to justice.” - Thomas Aquinas, cited by Berquist

“Each thing ought to be denominated from that which is most potent in it (potissimum in ipso), as is said in the second book on the soul.” - Aristotle, cited by Thomas and explained by Berquist

“Everyone who commits a sin commits iniquity” - 1 John, cited as scriptural support for understanding sin as contrary to justice

“Whom He has called, these He has also justified” - Romans 8:30, cited regarding the relationship between vocation and justification

“Motion is more named from the term to which than from the term from which.” - Thomas Aquinas, cited by Berquist as the principle explaining why justification takes its name from justice (the term to which) rather than from the remission of sins (the term from which)

Questions Addressed #

Article 1: Is Justification of the Impious the Same as Remission of Sins? #

• Objection: Sin is opposed to all virtues, not just justice; therefore justification (motion to justice) cannot simply be remission of sin
• Resolution: The term ‘justice’ must be understood in its broad sense as the comprehensive ordering of the soul to God. In this sense, all sin is contrary to justice. Moreover, justification is named from its term to which (justice), not its term from which (remission)

Why Denominate from Justice Rather Than Faith or Charity? #

• Objection: Faith and charity effect the remission of sins (Acts 15:9; Proverbs 10:12), so why not denominate from these?
• Resolution: Faith and charity represent special orders of the soul (understanding and affections respectively), while justice represents the general rectitude of all ordering. The comprehensive virtue is more apt for denominating the comprehensive change called justification

How Does Vocation Relate to Justification? #

• Objection: Vocation appears to be the same as justification since the sinner is called from a distance (sin) to God
• Resolution: Vocation is the cause of justification (God’s inward motion arousing the will), not identical with it. Vocation is a motion of God; justification is the resulting change in the soul

Structure of Question 113 (Ten Articles to Follow) #

Berquist outlines the ten articles that will follow in this question:

1. What is the justification of the impious? (covered in this lecture)
2. Whether infusion of grace is required
3. Whether motion of free will is required
4. Whether motion of faith is required
5. Whether motion of free will against sin is required (Berquist notes: “I bet you have to”)
6. Whether remission of sins should be numbered among the requirements
7. Whether there is temporal order in justification, or whether it occurs subito (all at once)
8. The natural order of the things that run together in justification
9. Whether justification of the impious is God’s greatest work
10. Whether justification of the impious is miraculous