Whether Original Sin Is More in the Flesh Than in the Soul?
Objection 1: It would seem that original sin is more in the flesh
than in the soul. Because the rebellion of the flesh against the mind
arises from the corruption of original sin. Now the root of this
rebellion is seated in the flesh: for the Apostle says (Rom. 7:23):
"I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my
mind." Therefore original sin is seated chiefly in the flesh.
Obj. 2: Further, a thing is more in its cause than in its effect:
thus heat is in the heating fire more than in the hot water. Now the
soul is infected with the corruption of original sin by the carnal
semen. Therefore original sin is in the flesh rather than in the soul.
Obj. 3: Further, we contract original sin from our first parent, in
so far as we were in him by reason of seminal virtue. Now our souls
were not in him thus, but only our flesh. Therefore original sin is
not in the soul, but in the flesh.
Obj. 4: Further, the rational soul created by God is infused into the
body. If therefore the soul were infected with original sin, it would
follow that it is corrupted in its creation or infusion: and thus God
would be the cause of sin, since He is the author of the soul's
creation and fusion.
Obj. 5: Further, no wise man pours a precious liquid into a vessel,
knowing that the vessel will corrupt the liquid. But the rational
soul is more precious than any liquid. If therefore the soul, by
being united with the body, could be corrupted with the infection of
original sin, God, Who is wisdom itself, would never infuse the soul
into such a body. And yet He does; wherefore it is not corrupted by
the flesh. Therefore original sin is not in the soul but in the flesh.
_On the contrary,_ The same is the subject of a virtue and of the
vice or sin contrary to that virtue. But the flesh cannot be the
subject of virtue: for the Apostle says (Rom. 7:18): "I know that
there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is
good." Therefore the flesh cannot be the subject of original sin, but
only the soul.
_I answer that,_ One thing can be in another in two ways. First, as
in its cause, either principal, or instrumental; secondly, as in its
subject. Accordingly the original sin of all men was in Adam indeed,
as in its principal cause, according to the words of the Apostle
(Rom. 5:12): "In whom all have sinned": whereas it is in the bodily
semen, as in its instrumental cause, since it is by the active power
of the semen that original sin together with human nature is
transmitted to the child. But original sin can nowise be in the flesh
as its subject, but only in the soul.
The reason for this is that, as stated above (Q. 81, A. 1), original
sin is transmitted from the will of our first parent to this
posterity by a certain movement of generation, in the same way as
actual sin is transmitted from any man's will to his other parts. Now
in this transmission it is to be observed, that whatever accrues from
the motion of the will consenting to sin, to any part of man that can
in any way share in that guilt, either as its subject or as its
instrument, has the character of sin. Thus from the will consenting
to gluttony, concupiscence of food accrues to the concupiscible
faculty, and partaking of food accrues to the hand and the mouth,
which, in so far as they are moved by the will to sin, are the
instruments of sin. But that further action is evoked in the
nutritive power and the internal members, which have no natural
aptitude for being moved by the will, does not bear the character of
guilt.
Accordingly, since the soul can be the subject of guilt, while the
flesh, of itself, cannot be the subject of guilt; whatever accrues to
the soul from the corruption of the first sin, has the character of
guilt, while whatever accrues to the flesh, has the character, not of
guilt but of punishment: so that, therefore, the soul is the subject
of original sin, and not the flesh.
Reply Obj. 1: As Augustine says (Retract. i, 27) [*Cf. QQ. lxxxiii,
qu. 66], the Apostle is speaking, in that passage, of man already
redeemed, who is delivered from guilt, but is still liable to
punishment, by reason of which sin is stated to dwell "in the flesh."
Consequently it follows that the flesh is the subject, not of guilt,
but of punishment.
Reply Obj. 2: Original sin is caused by the semen as instrumental
cause. Now there is no need for anything to be more in the
instrumental cause than in the effect; but only in the principal
cause: and, in this way, original sin was in Adam more fully, since
in him it had the nature of actual sin.
Reply Obj. 3: The soul of any individual man was in Adam, in respect
of his seminal power, not indeed as in its effective principle, but
as in a dispositive principle: because the bodily semen, which is
transmitted from Adam, does not of its own power produce the rational
soul, but disposes the matter for it.
Reply Obj. 4: The corruption of original sin is nowise caused by God,
but by the sin alone of our first parent through carnal generation.
And so, since creation implies a relation in the soul to God alone,
it cannot be said that the soul is tainted through being created. On
the other hand, infusion implies relation both to God infusing and to
the flesh into which the soul is infused. And so, with regard to God
infusing, it cannot be said that the soul is stained through being
infused; but only with regard to the body into which it is infused.
Reply Obj. 5: The common good takes precedence of private good.
Wherefore God, according to His wisdom, does not overlook the general
order of things (which is that such a soul be infused into such a
body), lest this soul contract a singular corruption: all the more
that the nature of the soul demands that it should not exist prior to
its infusion into the body, as stated in the First Part (Q. 90, A.
4; Q. 118, A. 3). And it is better for the soul to be thus,
according to its nature, than not to be at all, especially since it
can avoid damnation, by means of grace.
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