Whether There Is a Law in the Fomes of Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that there is no law of the _fomes_ of
sin. For Isidore says (Etym. v) that the "law is based on reason."
But the _fomes_ of sin is not based on reason, but deviates from it.
Therefore the _fomes_ has not the nature of a law.
Obj. 2: Further, every law is binding, so that those who do not obey
it are called transgressors. But man is not called a transgressor,
from not following the instigations of the _fomes;_ but rather from
his following them. Therefore the _fomes_ has not the nature of a law.
Obj. 3: Further, the law is ordained to the common good, as stated
above (Q. 90, A. 2). But the _fomes_ inclines us, not to the common,
but to our own private good. Therefore the _fomes_ has not the nature
of sin.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Rom. 7:23): "I see another law
in my members, fighting against the law of my mind."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 2; Q. 90, A. 1, ad 1), the law,
as to its essence, resides in him that rules and measures; but, by
way of participation, in that which is ruled and measured; so that
every inclination or ordination which may be found in things subject
to the law, is called a law by participation, as stated above (A. 2;
Q. 90, A. 1, ad 1). Now those who are subject to a law may receive a
twofold inclination from the lawgiver. First, in so far as he
directly inclines his subjects to something; sometimes indeed
different subjects to different acts; in this way we may say that
there is a military law and a mercantile law. Secondly, indirectly;
thus by the very fact that a lawgiver deprives a subject of some
dignity, the latter passes into another order, so as to be under
another law, as it were: thus if a soldier be turned out of the army,
he becomes a subject of rural or of mercantile legislation.
Accordingly under the Divine Lawgiver various creatures have various
natural inclinations, so that what is, as it were, a law for one, is
against the law for another: thus I might say that fierceness is, in
a way, the law of a dog, but against the law of a sheep or another
meek animal. And so the law of man, which, by the Divine ordinance,
is allotted to him, according to his proper natural condition, is
that he should act in accordance with reason: and this law was so
effective in the primitive state, that nothing either beside or
against reason could take man unawares. But when man turned his back
on God, he fell under the influence of his sensual impulses: in fact
this happens to each one individually, the more he deviates from the
path of reason, so that, after a fashion, he is likened to the beasts
that are led by the impulse of sensuality, according to Ps. 48:21:
"Man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he hath been compared
to senseless beasts, and made like to them."
So, then, this very inclination of sensuality which is called the
_fomes,_ in other animals has simply the nature of a law (yet only in
so far as a law may be said to be in such things), by reason of a
direct inclination. But in man, it has not the nature of law in this
way, rather is it a deviation from the law of reason. But since, by
the just sentence of God, man is destitute of original justice, and
his reason bereft of its vigor, this impulse of sensuality, whereby
he is led, in so far as it is a penalty following from the Divine law
depriving man of his proper dignity, has the nature of a law.
Reply Obj. 1: This argument considers the _fomes_ in itself, as an
incentive to evil. It is not thus that it has the nature of a law, as
stated above, but according as it results from the justice of the
Divine law: it is as though we were to say that the law allows a
nobleman to be condemned to hard labor for some misdeed.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument considers law in the light of a rule or
measure: for it is in this sense that those who deviate from the law
become transgressors. But the _fomes_ is not a law in this respect,
but by a kind of participation, as stated above.
Reply Obj. 3: This argument considers the _fomes_ as to its proper
inclination, and not as to its origin. And yet if the inclination of
sensuality be considered as it is in other animals, thus it is
ordained to the common good, namely, to the preservation of nature in
the species or in the individual. And this is in man also, in so far
as sensuality is subject to reason. But it is called _fomes_ in so
far as it strays from the order of reason.
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