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Objection 1: It would seem that the will alone is the subject of
sin. For Augustine says (De Duabus Anim. x, 10) that "no
one sins except by the will." Now the subject of sin is the power by
which we sin. Therefore the will alone is the subject of sin.
Objection 2: Further, sin is an evil contrary to reason. Now good
and evil pertaining to reason are the object of the will alone.
Therefore the will alone is the subject of sin.
Objection 3: Further, every sin is a voluntary act, because, as
Augustine states (De Lib. Arb. iii, 18) [De Vera Relig.
xiv.], "so true is it that every sin is voluntary, that unless it
be voluntary, it is no sin at all." Now the acts of the other powers
are not voluntary, except in so far as those powers are moved by the
will; nor does this suffice for them to be the subject of sin, because
then even the external members of the body, which are moved by the
will, would be a subject of sin; which is clearly untrue. Therefore
the will alone is the subject of sin.
On the contrary, Sin is contrary to virtue: and contraries are about
one same thing. But the other powers of the soul, besides the will,
are the subject of virtues, as stated above (Question 56).
Therefore the will is not the only subject of sin.
I answer that, As was shown above (Article 1), whatever is the a
principle of a voluntary act is a subject of sin. Now voluntary acts
are not only those which are elicited by the will, but also those which
are commanded by the will, as we stated above (Question 6, Article
4) in treating of voluntariness. Therefore not only the will can be
a subject of sin, but also all those powers which can be moved to their
acts, or restrained from their acts, by the will; and these same
powers are the subjects of good and evil moral habits, because act and
habit belong to the same subject.
Reply to Objection 1: We do not sin except by the will as first
mover; but we sin by the other powers as moved by the will.
Reply to Objection 2: Good and evil pertain to the will as its
proper objects; but the other powers have certain determinate goods and
evils, by reason of which they can be the subject of virtue, vice,
and sin, in so far as they partake of will and reason.
Reply to Objection 3: The members of the body are not principles
but merely organs of action: wherefore they are compared to the soul
which moves them, as a slave who is moved but moves no other. On the
other hand, the internal appetitive powers are compared to reason as
free agents, because they both act and are acted upon, as is made
clear in Polit. i, 3. Moreover, the acts of the external members
are actions that pass into external matter, as may be seen in the blow
that is inflicted in the sin of murder. Consequently there is no
comparison.
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