Whether We Were Delivered from Sin Through Christ's Passion?
Objection 1: It would seem that we were not delivered from sin
through Christ's Passion. For to deliver from sin belongs to God
alone, according to Isa. 43:25: "I am He who blot out your iniquities
for My own sake." But Christ did not suffer as God, but as man.
Therefore Christ's Passion did not free us from sin.
Obj. 2: Further, what is corporeal does not act upon what is
spiritual. But Christ's Passion is corporeal, whereas sin exists in
the soul, which is a spiritual creature. Therefore Christ's Passion
could not cleanse us from sin.
Obj. 3: Further, one cannot be purged from a sin not yet committed,
but which shall be committed hereafter. Since, then, many sins have
been committed since Christ's death, and are being committed daily,
it seems that we were not delivered from sin by Christ's death.
Obj. 4: Further, given an efficient cause, nothing else is required
for producing the effect. But other things besides are required for
the forgiveness of sins, such as baptism and penance. Consequently it
seems that Christ's Passion is not the sufficient cause of the
forgiveness of sins.
Obj. 5: Further, it is written (Prov. 10:12): "Charity covereth all
sins"; and (Prov. 15:27): "By mercy and faith, sins are purged away."
But there are many other things of which we have faith, and which
excite charity. Therefore Christ's Passion is not the proper cause of
the forgiveness of sins.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Apoc. 1:5): "He loved us, and
washed us from our sins in His own blood."
_I answer that,_ Christ's Passion is the proper cause of the
forgiveness of sins in three ways. First of all, by way of exciting
our charity, because, as the Apostle says (Rom. 5:8): "God commendeth
His charity towards us: because when as yet we were sinners,
according to the time, Christ died for us." But it is by charity that
we procure pardon of our sins, according to Luke 7:47: "Many sins are
forgiven her because she hath loved much." Secondly, Christ's Passion
causes forgiveness of sins by way of redemption. For since He is our
head, then, by the Passion which He endured from love and obedience,
He delivered us as His members from our sins, as by the price of His
Passion: in the same way as if a man by the good industry of his
hands were to redeem himself from a sin committed with his feet. For,
just as the natural body is one though made up of diverse members, so
the whole Church, Christ's mystic body, is reckoned as one person
with its head, which is Christ. Thirdly, by way of efficiency,
inasmuch as Christ's flesh, wherein He endured the Passion, is the
instrument of the Godhead, so that His sufferings and actions operate
with Divine power for expelling sin.
Reply Obj. 1: Although Christ did not suffer as God, nevertheless His
flesh is the instrument of the Godhead; and hence it is that His
Passion has a kind of Divine Power of casting out sin, as was said
above.
Reply Obj. 2: Although Christ's Passion is corporeal, still it
derives a kind of spiritual energy from the Godhead, to which the
flesh is united as an instrument: and according to this power
Christ's Passion is the cause of the forgiveness of sins.
Reply Obj. 3: Christ by His Passion delivered us from our sins
causally--that is, by setting up the cause of our deliverance, from
which cause all sins whatsoever, past, present, or to come, could be
forgiven: just as if a doctor were to prepare a medicine by which all
sicknesses can be cured even in future.
Reply Obj. 4: As stated above, since Christ's Passion preceded, as a
kind of universal cause of the forgiveness of sins, it needs to be
applied to each individual for the cleansing of personal sins. Now
this is done by baptism and penance and the other sacraments, which
derive their power from Christ's Passion, as shall be shown later (Q.
62, A. 5).
Reply Obj. 5: Christ's Passion is applied to us even through faith,
that we may share in its fruits, according to Rom. 3:25: "Whom God
hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood." But
the faith through which we are cleansed from sin is not _lifeless
faith,_ which can exist even with sin, but _faith living_ through
charity; that thus Christ's Passion may be applied to us, not only as
to our minds, but also as to our hearts. And even in this way sins
are forgiven through the power of the Passion of Christ.
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