Whether Omission Is a Special Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that omission is not a special sin. For
every sin is either original or actual. Now omission is not original
sin, for it is not contracted through origin; nor is it actual sin,
for it may be altogether without act, as stated above (I-II, Q. 71,
A. 5) when we were treating of sins in general. Therefore omission is
not a special sin.
Obj. 2: Further, every sin is voluntary. Now omission sometimes is
not voluntary but necessary, as when a woman is violated after taking
a vow of virginity, or when one lose that which one is under an
obligation to restore, or when a priest is bound to say Mass, and is
prevented from doing so. Therefore omission is not always a sin.
Obj. 3: Further, it is possible to fix the time when any special sin
begins. But this is not possible in the case of omission, since one
is not altered by not doing a thing, no matter when the omission
occurs, and yet the omission is not always sinful. Therefore omission
is not a special sin.
Obj. 4: Further, every special sin is opposed to a special virtue.
But it is not possible to assign any special virtue to which omission
is opposed, both because the good of any virtue can be omitted, and
because justice to which it would seem more particularly opposed,
always requires an act, even in declining from evil, as stated above
(A. 1, ad 2), while omission may be altogether without act. Therefore
omission is not a special sin.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (James 4:17): "To him . . . who
knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him it is sin."
_I answer that,_ omission signifies the non-fulfilment of a good, not
indeed of any good, but of a good that is due. Now good under the
aspect of due belongs properly to justice; to legal justice, if the
thing due depends on Divine or human law; to special justice, if the
due is something in relation to one's neighbor. Wherefore, in the
same way as justice is a special virtue, as stated above (Q. 58, AA.
6, 7), omission is a special sin distinct from the sins which are
opposed to the other virtues; and just as doing good, which is the
opposite of omitting it, is a special part of justice, distinct from
avoiding evil, to which transgression is opposed, so too is omission
distinct from transgression.
Reply Obj. 2: Omission is not original but actual sin, not as though
it had some act essential to it, but for as much as the negation of
an act is reduced to the genus of act, and in this sense non-action
is a kind of action, as stated above (I-II, Q. 71, A. 6, ad 1).
Reply Obj. 2: Omission, as stated above, is only of such good as is
due and to which one is bound. Now no man is bound to the impossible:
wherefore no man sins by omission, if he does not do what he cannot.
Accordingly she who is violated after vowing virginity, is guilty of
an omission, not through not having virginity, but through not
repenting of her past sin, or through not doing what she can to
fulfil her vow by observing continence. Again a priest is not bound
to say Mass, except he have a suitable opportunity, and if this be
lacking, there is no omission. And in like manner, a person is bound
to restitution, supposing he has the wherewithal; if he has not and
cannot have it, he is not guilty of an omission, provided he does
what he can. The same applies to other similar cases.
Reply Obj. 3: Just as the sin of transgression is opposed to negative
precepts which regard the avoidance of evil, so the sin of omission
is opposed to affirmative precepts, which regard the doing of good.
Now affirmative precepts bind not for always, but for a fixed time,
and at that time the sin of omission begins. But it may happen that
then one is unable to do what one ought, and if this inability is
without any fault on his part, he does not omit his duty, as stated
above (ad 2; I-II, Q. 71, A. 5). On the other hand if this inability
is due to some previous fault of his (for instance, if a man gets
drunk at night, and cannot get up for matins, as he ought to), some
say that the sin of omission begins when he engages in an action that
is illicit and incompatible with the act to which he is bound. But
this does not seem to be true, for supposing one were to rouse him by
violence and that he went to matins, he would not omit to go, so
that, evidently, the previous drunkenness was not an omission, but
the cause of an omission. Consequently, we must say that the omission
begins to be imputed to him as a sin, when the time comes for the
action; and yet this is on account of a preceding cause by reason of
which the subsequent omission becomes voluntary.
Reply Obj. 4: Omission is directly opposed to justice, as stated
above; because it is a non-fulfilment of a good of virtue, but only
under the aspect of due, which pertains to justice. Now more is
required for an act to be virtuous and meritorious than for it to be
sinful and demeritorious, because "good results from an entire cause,
whereas evil arises from each single defect" [*Dionysius, De Div.
Nom. iv]. Wherefore the merit of justice requires an act, whereas an
omission does not.
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