Whether Pride Is the Most Grievous of Sins?
Objection 1: It would seem that pride is not the most grievous of
sins. For the more difficult a sin is to avoid, the less grievous it
would seem to be. Now pride is most difficult to avoid; for Augustine
says in his Rule (Ep. ccxi), "Other sins find their vent in the
accomplishment of evil deeds, whereas pride lies in wait for good
deeds to destroy them." Therefore pride is not the most grievous of
sins.
Obj. 2: Further, "The greater evil is opposed to the greater good,"
as the Philosopher asserts (Ethic. viii, 10). Now humility to which
pride is opposed is not the greatest of virtues, as stated above (Q.
61, A. 5). Therefore the vices that are opposed to greater virtues,
such as unbelief, despair, hatred of God, murder, and so forth, are
more grievous sins than pride.
Obj. 3: Further, the greater evil is not punished by a lesser evil.
But pride is sometimes punished by other sins according to Rom. 1:28,
where it is stated that on account of their pride of heart, men of
science were delivered "to a reprobate sense, to do those things
which are not convenient." Therefore pride is not the most grievous
of sins.
_On the contrary,_ A gloss on Ps. 118:51, "The proud did
iniquitously," says: "The greatest sin in man is pride."
_I answer that,_ Two things are to be observed in sin, conversion to
a mutable good, and this is the material part of sin; and aversion
from the immutable good, and this gives sin its formal aspect and
complement. Now on the part of the conversion, there is no reason for
pride being the greatest of sins, because uplifting which pride
covets inordinately, is not essentially most incompatible with the
good of virtue. But on the part of the aversion, pride has extreme
gravity, because in other sins man turns away from God, either
through ignorance or through weakness, or through desire for any
other good whatever; whereas pride denotes aversion from God simply
through being unwilling to be subject to God and His rule. Hence
Boethius [*Cf. Cassian, de Caenob. Inst. xii, 7] says that "while all
vices flee from God, pride alone withstands God"; for which reason it
is specially stated (James 4:6) that "God resisteth the proud."
Wherefore aversion from God and His commandments, which is a
consequence as it were in other sins, belongs to pride by its very
nature, for its act is the contempt of God. And since that which
belongs to a thing by its nature is always of greater weight than
that which belongs to it through something else, it follows that
pride is the most grievous of sins by its genus, because it exceeds
in aversion which is the formal complement of sin.
Reply Obj. 1: A sin is difficult to avoid in two ways. First, on
account of the violence of its onslaught; thus anger is violent in
its onslaught on account of its impetuosity; and "still more
difficult is it to resist concupiscence, on account of its
connaturality," as stated in _Ethic._ ii, 3, 9. A difficulty of this
kind in avoiding sin diminishes the gravity of the sin; because a man
sins the more grievously, according as he yields to a less impetuous
temptation, as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv, 12, 15).
Secondly, it is difficult to avoid a sin, on account of its being
hidden. In this way it is difficult to avoid pride, since it takes
occasion even from good deeds, as stated (A. 5, ad 3). Hence
Augustine says pointedly that it "lies in wait for good deeds"; and
it is written (Ps. 141:4): "In the way wherein I walked, the proud
[*Cf. Ps. 139:6, 'The proud have hidden a net for me.'] [Vulg.:
'they'] have hidden a snare for me." Hence no very great gravity
attaches to the movement of pride while creeping in secretly, and
before it is discovered by the judgment of reason: but once
discovered by reason, it is easily avoided, both by considering one's
own infirmity, according to Ecclus. 10:9, "Why is earth and ashes
proud?" and by considering God's greatness, according to Job 15:13,
"Why doth thy spirit swell against God?" as well as by considering
the imperfection of the goods on which man prides himself, according
to Isa. 40:6, "All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the
flower of the field"; and farther on (Isa. 64:6), "all our justices"
are become "like the rag of a menstruous woman."
Reply Obj. 2: Opposition between a vice and a virtue is inferred from
the object, which is considered on the part of conversion. In this
way pride has no claim to be the greatest of sins, as neither has
humility to be the greatest of virtues. But it is the greatest on the
part of aversion, since it brings greatness upon other sins. For
unbelief, by the very fact of its arising out of proud contempt, is
rendered more grievous than if it be the outcome of ignorance or
weakness. The same applies to despair and the like.
Reply Obj. 3: Just as in syllogisms that lead to an impossible
conclusion one is sometimes convinced by being faced with a more
evident absurdity, so too, in order to overcome their pride, God
punishes certain men by allowing them to fall into sins of the flesh,
which though they be less grievous are more evidently shameful. Hence
Isidore says (De Summo Bono ii, 38) that "pride is the worst of all
vices; whether because it is appropriate to those who are of highest
and foremost rank, or because it originates from just and virtuous
deeds, so that its guilt is less perceptible. On the other hand,
carnal lust is apparent to all, because from the outset it is of a
shameful nature: and yet, under God's dispensation, it is less
grievous than pride. For he who is in the clutches of pride and feels
it not, falls into the lusts of the flesh, that being thus humbled he
may rise from his abasement."
From this indeed the gravity of pride is made manifest. For just as a
wise physician, in order to cure a worse disease, allows the patient
to contract one that is less dangerous, so the sin of pride is shown
to be more grievous by the very fact that, as a remedy, God allows
men to fall into other sins.
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