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Objection 1: It would seem that we were not delivered from sin
through Christ's Passion. For to deliver from sin belongs to God
alone, according to Is. 43:25: "I am He who blot out your
iniquities for My own sake." But Christ did not suffer as God,
but as man. Therefore Christ's Passion did not free us from sin.
Objection 2: Further, what is corporeal does not act upon what is
spiritual. But Christ's Passion is corporeal, whereas sin exists
in the soul, which is a spiritual creature. Therefore Christ's
Passion could not cleanse us from sin.
Objection 3: Further, one cannot be purged from a sin not yet
committed, but which shall be committed hereafter. Since, then,
many sins have been committed since Christ's death, and are being
committed daily, it seems that we were not delivered from sin by
Christ's death.
Objection 4: Further, given an efficient cause, nothing else is
required for producing the effect. But other things besides are
required for the forgiveness of sins, such as baptism and penance.
Consequently it seems that Christ's Passion is not the sufficient
cause of the forgiveness of sins.
Objection 5: Further, it is written (Prov. 10:12):
"Charity covereth all sins"; and (Prov. 15:27): "By
mercy and faith, sins are purged away." But there are many other
things of which we have faith, and which excite charity. Therefore
Christ's Passion is not the proper cause of the forgiveness of sins.
On the contrary, It is written (Apoc. 1:5): "He loved us,
and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
I answer that, Christ's Passion is the proper cause of the
forgiveness of sins in three ways. First of all, by way of exciting
our charity, because, as the Apostle says (Rm. 5:8): "God
commendeth His charity towards us: because when as yet we were
sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us." But it is by
charity that we procure pardon of our sins, according to Lk.
7:47: "Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much."
Secondly, Christ's Passion causes forgiveness of sins by way of
redemption. For since He is our head, then, by the Passion which
He endured from love and obedience, He delivered us as His members
from our sins, as by the price of His Passion: in the same way as if
a man by the good industry of his hands were to redeem himself from a
sin committed with his feet. For, just as the natural body is one
though made up of diverse members, so the whole Church, Christ's
mystic body, is reckoned as one person with its head, which is
Christ. Thirdly, by way of efficiency, inasmuch as Christ's
flesh, wherein He endured the Passion, is the instrument of the
Godhead, so that His sufferings and actions operate with Divine
power for expelling sin.
Reply to Objection 1: Although Christ did not suffer as God,
nevertheless His flesh is the instrument of the Godhead; and hence it
is that His Passion has a kind of Divine Power of casting out sin,
as was said above.
Reply to Objection 2: Although Christ's Passion is corporeal,
still it derives a kind of spiritual energy from the Godhead, to which
the flesh is united as an instrument: and according to this power
Christ's Passion is the cause of the forgiveness of sins.
Reply to Objection 3: Christ by His Passion delivered us from our
sins causally---that is, by setting up the cause of our
deliverance, from which cause all sins whatsoever, past, present, or
to come, could be forgiven: just as if a doctor were to prepare a
medicine by which all sicknesses can be cured even in future.
Reply to Objection 4: As stated above, since Christ's Passion
preceded, as a kind of universal cause of the forgiveness of sins, it
needs to be applied to each individual for the cleansing of personal
sins. Now this is done by baptism and penance and the other
sacraments, which derive their power from Christ's Passion, as
shall be shown later (Question 62, Article 5).
Reply to Objection 5: Christ's Passion is applied to us even
through faith, that we may share in its fruits, according to Rm.
3:25: "Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through
faith in His blood." But the faith through which we are cleansed
from sin is not "lifeless faith," which can exist even with sin, but
"faith living" through charity; that thus Christ's Passion may be
applied to us, not only as to our minds, but also as to our hearts.
And even in this way sins are forgiven through the power of the
Passion of Christ.
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