Whether Any Sin Incurs a Debt of Eternal Punishment?
Objection 1: It would seem that no sin incurs a debt of eternal
punishment. For a just punishment is equal to the fault, since
justice is equality: wherefore it is written (Isa. 27:8): "In measure
against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it." Now
sin is temporal. Therefore it does not incur a debt of eternal
punishment.
Obj. 2: Further, "punishments are a kind of medicine" (Ethic. ii, 3).
But no medicine should be infinite, because it is directed to an end,
and "what is directed to an end, is not infinite," as the Philosopher
states (Polit. i, 6). Therefore no punishment should be infinite.
Obj. 3: Further, no one does a thing always unless he delights in it
for its own sake. But "God hath not pleasure in the destruction of
men" [Vulg.: 'of the living']. Therefore He will not inflict eternal
punishment on man.
Obj. 4: Further, nothing accidental is infinite. But punishment is
accidental, for it is not natural to the one who is punished.
Therefore it cannot be of infinite duration.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Matt. 25:46): "These shall go into
everlasting punishment"; and (Mk. 3:29): "He that shall blaspheme
against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be
guilty of an everlasting sin."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), sin incurs a debt of
punishment through disturbing an order. But the effect remains so
long as the cause remains. Wherefore so long as the disturbance of
the order remains the debt of punishment must needs remain also. Now
disturbance of an order is sometimes reparable, sometimes
irreparable: because a defect which destroys the principle is
irreparable, whereas if the principle be saved, defects can be
repaired by virtue of that principle. For instance, if the principle
of sight be destroyed, sight cannot be restored except by Divine
power; whereas, if the principle of sight be preserved, while there
arise certain impediments to the use of sight, these can be remedied
by nature or by art. Now in every order there is a principle whereby
one takes part in that order. Consequently if a sin destroys the
principle of the order whereby man's will is subject to God, the
disorder will be such as to be considered in itself, irreparable,
although it is possible to repair it by the power of God. Now the
principle of this order is the last end, to which man adheres by
charity. Therefore whatever sins turn man away from God, so as to
destroy charity, considered in themselves, incur a debt of eternal
punishment.
Reply Obj. 1: Punishment is proportionate to sin in point of
severity, both in Divine and in human judgments. In no judgment,
however, as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxi, 11) is it requisite for
punishment to equal fault in point of duration. For the fact that
adultery or murder is committed in a moment does not call for a
momentary punishment: in fact they are punished sometimes by
imprisonment or banishment for life--sometimes even by death; wherein
account is not taken of the time occupied in killing, but rather of
the expediency of removing the murderer from the fellowship of the
living, so that this punishment, in its own way, represents the
eternity of punishment inflicted by God. Now according to Gregory
(Dial. iv, 44) it is just that he who has sinned against God in his
own eternity should be punished in God's eternity. A man is said to
have sinned in his own eternity, not only as regards continual
sinning throughout his whole life, but also because, from the very
fact that he fixes his end in sin, he has the will to sin,
everlastingly. Wherefore Gregory says (Dial. iv, 44) that the "wicked
would wish to live without end, that they might abide in their sins
for ever."
Reply Obj. 2: Even the punishment that is inflicted according to
human laws, is not always intended as a medicine for the one who is
punished, but sometimes only for others: thus when a thief is hanged,
this is not for his own amendment, but for the sake of others, that
at least they may be deterred from crime through fear of the
punishment, according to Prov. 19:25: "The wicked man being scourged,
the fool shall be wiser." Accordingly the eternal punishments
inflicted by God on the reprobate, are medicinal punishments for
those who refrain from sin through the thought of those punishments,
according to Ps. 59:6: "Thou hast given a warning to them that fear
Thee, that they may flee from before the bow, that Thy beloved may be
delivered."
Reply Obj. 3: God does not delight in punishments for their own sake;
but He does delight in the order of His justice, which requires them.
Reply Obj. 4: Although punishment is related indirectly to nature,
nevertheless it is essentially related to the disturbance of the
order, and to God's justice. Wherefore, so long as the disturbance
lasts, the punishment endures.
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