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Objection 1: It would seem that the forgiveness of guilt is not an
effect of penance as a virtue. For penance is said to be a virtue, in
so far as it is a principle of a human action. But human action does
nothing towards the remission of guilt, since this is an effect of
operating grace. Therefore the forgiveness of guilt is not an effect
of penance as a virtue.
Objection 2: Further, certain other virtues are more excellent than
penance. But the forgiveness of sin is not said to be the effect of
any other virtue. Neither, therefore, is it the effect of penance as
a virtue.
Objection 3: Further, there is no forgiveness of sin except through
the power of Christ's Passion, according to Heb. 9:22:
"Without shedding of blood there is no remission." Now Penance,
as a sacrament, produces its effect through the power of Christ's
Passion, even as the other sacraments do, as was shown above
(Question 62, Articles 4,5). Therefore the forgiveness of
sin is the effect of Penance, not as a virtue, but as a sacrament.
On the contrary, Properly speaking, the cause of a thing is that
without which it cannot be, since every defect depends on its cause.
Now forgiveness of sin can come from God without the sacrament of
Penance, but not without the virtue of penance, as stated above
(Question 84, Article 5, ad 3; Question 85, Article
2); so that, even before the sacraments of the New Law were
instituted, God pardoned the sins of the penitent. Therefore the
forgiveness of sin is chiefly the effect of penance as a virtue.
I answer that, Penance is a virtue in so far as it is a principle of
certain human acts. Now the human acts, which are performed by the
sinner, are the material element in the sacrament of Penance.
Moreover every sacrament produces its effect, in virtue not only of
its form, but also of its matter. because both these together make the
one sacrament, as stated above (Question 60, Article 6, ad 2,
Article 7). Hence in Baptism forgiveness of sin is effected, in
virtue not only of the form but also of the matter, viz. water,
albeit chiefly in virtue of the form from which the water receives its
power---and, similarly, the forgiveness of sin is the effect of
Penance, chiefly by the power of the keys, which is vested in the
ministers, who furnish the formal part of the sacrament, as stated
above (Question 84, Article 3), and secondarily by the
instrumentality of those acts of the penitent which pertain to the
virtue of penance, but only in so far as such acts are, in some way,
subordinate to the keys of the Church. Accordingly it is evident that
the forgiveness of sin is the effect of penance as a virtue, but still
more of Penance as a sacrament.
Reply to Objection 1: The effect of operating grace is the
justification of the ungodly (as stated in the FS, Question
113), wherein there is, as was there stated (Articles
1,2,3), not only infusion of grace and forgiveness of sin, but
also a movement of the free-will towards God, which is an act of
faith quickened by charity, and a movement of the free-will against
sin, which is the act of penance. Yet these human acts are there as
the effects of operating grace, and are produced at the same time as
the forgiveness of sin. Consequently the forgiveness of sin does not
take place without an act of the virtue of penance, although it is the
effect of operating grace.
Reply to Objection 2: In the justification of the ungodly there is
not only an act of penance, but also an act of faith, as stated above
(ad 1: FS, Question 113, Article 4). Wherefore the
forgiveness of sin is accounted the effect not only of the virtue of
penance, but also, and that chiefly, of faith and charity.
Reply to Objection 3: The act of the virtue of penance is
subordinate to Christ's Passion both by faith, and by its relation
to the keys of the Church; and so, in both ways, it causes the
forgiveness of sin, by the power of Christ's Passion.
To the argument advanced in the contrary sense we reply that the act of
the virtue of penance is necessary for the forgiveness of sin, through
being an inseparable effect of grace, whereby chiefly is sin pardoned,
and which produces its effect in all the sacraments. Consequently it
only follows that grace is a higher cause of the forgiveness of sin than
the sacrament of Penance. Moreover, it must be observed that, under
the Old Law and the law of nature, there was a sacrament of Penance
after a fashion, as stated above (Question 84, Article 7, ad
2).
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