Whether Hatred of God Is the Greatest of Sins?
Objection 1: It would seem that hatred of God is not the greatest of
sins. For the most grievous sin is the sin against the Holy Ghost,
since it cannot be forgiven, according to Matt. 12:32. Now hatred of
God is not reckoned among the various kinds of sin against the Holy
Ghost, as may be seen from what has been said above (Q. 14, A. 2).
Therefore hatred of God is not the most grievous sin.
Obj. 2: Further, sin consists in withdrawing oneself from God. Now an
unbeliever who has not even knowledge of God seems to be further away
from Him than a believer, who though he hate God, nevertheless knows
Him. Therefore it seems that the sin of unbelief is graver than the
sin of hatred against God.
Obj. 3: Further, God is an object of hatred, only by reason of those
of His effects that are contrary to the will: the chief of which is
punishment. But hatred of punishment is not the most grievous sin.
Therefore hatred of God is not the most grievous sin.
_On the contrary,_ The best is opposite to the worst, according to
the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 10). But hatred of God is contrary to
the love of God, wherein man's best consists. Therefore hatred of God
is man's worst sin.
_I answer that,_ The defect in sin consists in its aversion from God,
as stated above (Q. 10, A. 3): and this aversion would not have the
character of guilt, were it not voluntary. Hence the nature of guilt
consists in a voluntary aversion from God.
Now this voluntary aversion from God is directly implied in the
hatred of God, but in other sins, by participation and indirectly.
For just as the will cleaves directly to what it loves, so does it
directly shun what it hates. Hence when a man hates God, his will is
directly averted from God, whereas in other sins, fornication for
instance, a man turns away from God, not directly, but indirectly, in
so far, namely, as he desires an inordinate pleasure, to which
aversion from God is connected. Now that which is so by itself,
always takes precedence of that which is so by another. Wherefore
hatred of God is more grievous than other sins.
Reply Obj. 1: According to Gregory (Moral. xxv, 11), "it is one thing
not to do good things, and another to hate the giver of good things,
even as it is one thing to sin indeliberately, and another to sin
deliberately." This implies that to hate God, the giver of all good
things, is to sin deliberately, and this is a sin against the Holy
Ghost. Hence it is evident that hatred of God is chiefly a sin
against the Holy Ghost, in so far as the sin against the Holy Ghost
denotes a special kind of sin: and yet it is not reckoned among the
kinds of sin against the Holy Ghost, because it is universally found
in every kind of that sin.
Reply Obj. 2: Even unbelief is not sinful unless it be voluntary:
wherefore the more voluntary it is, the more it is sinful. Now it
becomes voluntary by the fact that a man hates the truth that is
proposed to him. Wherefore it is evident that unbelief derives its
sinfulness from hatred of God, Whose truth is the object of faith;
and hence just as a cause is greater than its effect, so hatred of
God is a greater sin than unbelief.
Reply Obj. 3: Not everyone who hates his punishment, hates God the
author of punishments. For many hate the punishments inflicted on
them, and yet they bear them patiently out of reverence for the
Divine justice. Wherefore Augustine says (Confess. x) that God
commands us to bear with penal evils, not to love them. On the other
hand, to break out into hatred of God when He inflicts those
punishments, is to hate God's very justice, and that is a most
grievous sin. Hence Gregory says (Moral. xxv, 11): "Even as sometimes
it is more grievous to love sin than to do it, so is it more wicked
to hate justice than not to have done it."
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