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Objection 1: It would seem that spiritual sins are unfittingly
distinguished from carnal sins. For the Apostle says (Gal.
5:19): "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are
fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry,
witchcrafts," etc. from which it seems that all kinds of sins are
works of the flesh. Now carnal sins are called works of the flesh.
Therefore carnal sins should not be distinguished from spiritual sins.
Objection 2: Further, whosoever sins, walks according to the
flesh, as stated in Rm. 8:13: "If you live according to the
flesh, you shall die. But if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of
the flesh, you shall live." Now to live or walk according to the
flesh seems to pertain to the nature of carnal sin. Therefore carnal
sins should not be distinguished from spiritual sins.
Objection 3: Further, the higher part of the soul, which is the
mind or reason, is called the spirit, according to Eph. 4:23:
"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind," where spirit stands for
reason, according to a gloss. Now every sin, which is committed in
accordance with the flesh, flows from the reason by its consent; since
consent in a sinful act belongs to the higher reason, as we shall state
further on (Question 74, Article 7). Therefore the same sins
are both carnal and spiritual, and consequently they should not be
distinguished from one another.
Objection 4: Further, if some sins are carnal specifically, this,
seemingly, should apply chiefly to those sins whereby man sins against
his own body. But, according to the Apostle (1 Cor. 6:18),
"every sin that a man doth, is without the body: but he that
committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body." Therefore
fornication would be the only carnal sin, whereas the Apostle (Eph.
5:3) reckons covetousness with the carnal sins.
On the contrary, Gregory (Moral. xxxi, 17) says that "of the
seven capital sins five are spiritual, and two carnal."
I answer that, As stated above (Article 1), sins take their
species from their objects. Now every sin consists in the desire for
some mutable good, for which man has an inordinate desire, and the
possession of which gives him inordinate pleasure. Now, as explained
above (Question 31, Article 3), pleasure is twofold. One
belongs to the soul, and is consummated in the mere apprehension of a
thing possessed in accordance with desire; this can also be called
spiritual pleasure, e.g. when one takes pleasure in human praise or
the like. The other pleasure is bodily or natural, and is realized in
bodily touch, and this can also be called carnal pleasure.
Accordingly, those sins which consist in spiritual pleasure, are
called spiritual sins; while those which consist in carnal pleasure,
are called carnal sins, e.g. gluttony, which consists in the
pleasures of the table; and lust, which consists in sexual pleasures.
Hence the Apostle says (2 Cor. 7:1): "Let us cleanse
ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit."
Reply to Objection 1: As a gloss says on the same passage, these
vices are called works of the flesh, not as though they consisted in
carnal pleasure; but flesh here denotes man, who is said to live
according to the flesh, when he lives according to himself, as
Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv, 2,3). The reason of this
is because every failing in the human reason is due in some way to the
carnal sense.
This suffices for the Reply to the Second Objection.
Reply to Objection 3: Even in the carnal sins there is a spiritual
act, viz. the act of reason: but the end of these sins, from which
they are named, is carnal pleasure.
Reply to Objection 4: As the gloss says, "in the sin of
fornication the soul is the body's slave in a special sense, because
at the moment of sinning it can think of nothing else": whereas the
pleasure of gluttony, although carnal, does not so utterly absorb the
reason. It may also be said that in this sin, an injury is done to
the body also, for it is defiled inordinately: wherefore by this sin
alone is man said specifically to sin against his body. While
covetousness, which is reckoned among the carnal sins, stands here for
adultery, which is the unjust appropriation of another's wife.
Again, it may be said that the thing in which the covetous man takes
pleasure is something bodily, and in this respect covetousness is
numbered with the carnal sins: but the pleasure itself does not belong
to the body, but to the spirit, wherefore Gregory says (Moral.
xxxi, 17) that it is a spiritual sin.
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