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Objection 1: It would seem that no debt of punishment remains after
the guilt has been forgiven through Penance. For when the cause is
removed, the effect is removed. But the guilt is the cause of the
debt of punishment: since a man deserves to be punished because he has
been guilty of a sin. Therefore when the sin has been forgiven, no
debt of punishment can remain.
Objection 2: Further, according to the Apostle (Rm. 5) the
gift of Christ is more effective than the sin of Adam. Now, by
sinning, man incurs at the same time guilt and the debt of punishment.
Much more therefore, by the gift of grace, is the guilt forgiven and
at the same time the debt of punishment remitted.
Objection 3: Further, the forgiveness of sins is effected in
Penance through the power of Christ's Passion, according to Rm.
3:25: "Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through
faith in His Blood . . . for the remission of former sins." Now
Christ's Passion made satisfaction sufficient for all sins, as
stated above (Questions 48,49,79, Article 5). Therefore
after the guilt has been pardoned, no debt of punishment remains.
On the contrary, It is related (2 Kgs. 12:13) that when
David penitent had said to Nathan: "I have sinned against the
Lord," Nathan said to him: "The Lord also hath taken away thy
sin, thou shalt not die. Nevertheless . . . the child that is born
to thee shall surely die," which was to punish him for the sin he had
committed, as stated in the same place. Therefore a debt of some
punishment remains after the guilt has been forgiven.
I answer that, As stated in the FS, Question 87, Article 4,
in mortal sin there are two things, namely, a turning from the
immutable Good, and an inordinate turning to mutable good.
Accordingly, in so far as mortal sin turns away from the immutable
Good, it induces a debt of eternal punishment, so that whosoever sins
against the eternal Good should be punished eternally. Again, in so
far as mortal sin turns inordinately to a mutable good, it gives rise
to a debt of some punishment, because the disorder of guilt is not
brought back to the order of justice, except by punishment: since it
is just that he who has been too indulgent to his will, should suffer
something against his will, for thus will equality be restored. Hence
it is written (Apoc. 18:7): "As much as she hath glorified
herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye
to her."
Since, however, the turning to mutable good is finite, sin does
not, in this respect, induce a debt of eternal punishment.
Wherefore, if man turns inordinately to a mutable good, without
turning from God, as happens in venial sins, he incurs a debt, not
of eternal but of temporal punishment. Consequently when guilt is
pardoned through grace, the soul ceases to be turned away from God,
through being united to God by grace: so that at the same time, the
debt of punishment is taken away, albeit a debt of some temporal
punishment may yet remain.
Reply to Objection 1: Mortal sin both turns away from God and
turns to a created good. But, as stated in the FS, Question
71, Article 6, the turning away from God is as its form while the
turning to created good is as its matter. Now if the formal element of
anything be removed, the species is taken away: thus, if you take
away rational, you take away the human species. Consequently mortal
sin is said to be pardoned from the very fact that, by means of grace,
the aversion of the mind from God is taken away together with the debt
of eternal punishment: and yet the material element remains, viz. the
inordinate turning to a created good, for which a debt of temporal
punishment is due.
Reply to Objection 2: As stated in the FS, Question 109,
Articles 7,8; FS, Question 111, Article 2, it belongs to
grace to operate in man by justifying him from sin, and to co-operate
with man that his work may be rightly done. Consequently the
forgiveness of guilt and of the debt of eternal punishment belongs to
operating grace, while the remission of the debt of temporal punishment
belongs to co-operating grace, in so far as man, by bearing
punishment patiently with the help of Divine grace, is released also
from the debt of temporal punishment. Consequently just as the effect
of operating grace precedes the effect of co-operating grace, so too,
the remission of guilt and of eternal punishment precedes the complete
release from temporal punishment, since both are from grace, but the
former, from grace alone, the latter, from grace and free-will.
Reply to Objection 3: Christ's Passion is of itself sufficient to
remove all debt of punishment, not only eternal, but also temporal;
and man is released from the debt of punishment according to the measure
of his share in the power of Christ's Passion. Now in Baptism man
shares the Power of Christ's Passion fully, since by water and the
Spirit of Christ, he dies with Him to sin, and is born again in
Him to a new life, so that, in Baptism, man receives the remission
of all debt of punishment. In Penance, on the other hand, man
shares in the power of Christ's Passion according to the measure of
his own acts, which are the matter of Penance, as water is of
Baptism, as stated above (Question 84, Articles 1,3).
Wherefore the entire debt of punishment is not remitted at once after
the first act of Penance, by which act the guilt is remitted, but
only when all the acts of Penance have been completed.
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