Whether the Will Is a Subject of Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that the will cannot be a subject of sin.
For Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv) that "evil is outside the will and
the intention." But sin has the character of evil. Therefore sin
cannot be in the will.
Obj. 2: Further, the will is directed either to the good or to what
seems good. Now from the fact that will wishes the good, it does not
sin: and that it wishes what seems good but is not truly good, points
to a defect in the apprehensive power rather than in the will.
Therefore sin is nowise in the will.
Obj. 3: Further, the same thing cannot be both subject and efficient
cause of sin: because "the efficient and the material cause do not
coincide" (Phys. 2, text. 70). Now the will is the efficient cause of
sin: because the first cause of sinning is the will, as Augustine
states (De Duabus Anim. x, 10, 11). Therefore it is not the subject
of sin.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Retract. i, 9) that "it is by the
will that we sin, and live righteously."
_I answer that,_ Sin is an act, as stated above (Q. 71, AA. 1, 6).
Now some acts pass into external matter, e.g. _to cut_ and _to burn_:
and such acts have for their matter and subject, the thing into which
the action passes: thus the Philosopher states (Phys. iii, text. 18)
that "movement is the act of the thing moved, caused by a mover." On
the other hand, there are acts which do not pass into external
matter, but remain in the agent, e.g. _to desire_ and _to know_: and
such are all moral acts, whether virtuous or sinful. Consequently the
proper subject of sin must needs be the power which is the principle
of the act. Now since it is proper to moral acts that they are
voluntary, as stated above (Q. 1, A. 1; Q. 18, A. 6), it follows that
the will, which is the principle of voluntary acts, both of good
acts, and of evil acts or sins, is the principle of sins. Therefore
it follows that sin is in the will as its subject.
Reply Obj. 1: Evil is said to be outside the will, because the will
does not tend to it under the aspect of evil. But since some evil is
an apparent good, the will sometimes desires an evil, and in this
sense is in the will.
Reply Obj. 2: If the defect in the apprehensive power were nowise
subject to the will, there would be no sin, either in the will, or in
the apprehensive power, as in the case of those whose ignorance is
invincible. It remains therefore that when there is in the
apprehensive power a defect that is subject to the will, this defect
also is deemed a sin.
Reply Obj. 3: This argument applies to those efficient causes whose
actions pass into external matter, and which do not move themselves,
but move other things; the contrary of which is to be observed in the
will; hence the argument does not prove.
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