Whether There Are Several Original Sins in One Man?
Objection 1: It would seem that there are many original sins in one
man. For it is written (Ps. 1:7): "Behold I was conceived in
iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me." But the sin in
which a man is conceived is original sin. Therefore there are several
original sins in man.
Obj. 2: Further, one and the same habit does not incline its subject
to contraries: since the inclination of habit is like that of nature
which tends to one thing. Now original sin, even in one man, inclines
to various and contrary sins. Therefore original sin is not one
habit; but several.
Obj. 3: Further, original sin infects every part of the soul. Now the
different parts of the soul are different subjects of sin, as shown
above (Q. 74). Since then one sin cannot be in different subjects, it
seems that original sin is not one but several.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (John 1:29): "Behold the Lamb of
God, behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world": and the reason
for the employment of the singular is that the "sin of the world" is
original sin, as a gloss expounds this passage.
_I answer that,_ In one man there is one original sin. Two reasons
may be assigned for this. The first is on the part of the cause of
original sin. For it has been stated (Q. 81, A. 2), that the first
sin alone of our first parent was transmitted to his posterity.
Wherefore in one man original sin is one in number; and in all men,
it is one in proportion, i.e. in relation to its first principle. The
second reason may be taken from the very essence of original sin.
Because in every inordinate disposition, unity of species depends on
the cause, while the unity of number is derived from the subject. For
example, take bodily sickness: various species of sickness proceed
from different causes, e.g. from excessive heat or cold, or from a
lesion in the lung or liver; while one specific sickness in one man
will be one in number. Now the cause of this corrupt disposition that
is called original sin, is one only, viz. the privation of original
justice, removing the subjection of man's mind to God. Consequently
original sin is specifically one, and, in one man, can be only one in
number; while, in different men, it is one in species and in
proportion, but is numerically many.
Reply Obj. 1: The employment of the plural--"in sins"--may be
explained by the custom of the Divine Scriptures in the frequent use
of the plural for the singular, e.g. "They are dead that sought the
life of the child"; or by the fact that all actual sins virtually
pre-exist in original sin, as in a principle so that it is virtually
many; or by the fact of there being many deformities in the sin of
our first parent, viz. pride, disobedience, gluttony, and so forth;
or by several parts of the soul being infected by original sin.
Reply Obj. 2: Of itself and directly, i.e. by its own form, one habit
cannot incline its subject to contraries. But there is no reason why
it should not do so, indirectly and accidentally, i.e. by the removal
of an obstacle: thus, when the harmony of a mixed body is destroyed,
the elements have contrary local tendencies. In like manner, when the
harmony of original justice is destroyed, the various powers of the
soul have various opposite tendencies.
Reply Obj. 3: Original sin infects the different parts of the
soul, in so far as they are the parts of one whole; even as original
justice held all the soul's parts together in one. Consequently there
is but one original sin: just as there is but one fever in one man,
although the various parts of the body are affected.
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