De gratia Redemptoris

“The just man”: the thesis treats of the justified; but if it holds of them, then a fortiori the same must be said of the rest of men.

“All venial sins”: what venial sin is, see above pag. 253, note 74. A sin can be venial either from the nature of its object or from a defect of deliberation; the latter are called sins of surprise. The thesis of itself speaks of all venial sins, deliberate and of surprise, but it is chiefly understood of sins of surprise, although to remain free from every deliberate venial sin is already altogether a great gift of God. Further, the thesis treats of venial sins taken collectively, not of individual sins taken one by one.

“In the whole of life”: so the thesis itself has it, and it is defined in this sense; from this, moreover, the conclusion is easily drawn that not even for a long time can the just man remain free from venial sin, “for a long time” being understood in the sense in which it is understood in thesis 11.

“Without a privilege”: a privilege is defined as an exception to a general law, and an odious exception. If therefore to avoid every venial sin is a privilege, there must exist some law according to which all men, even the just, commit venial sins. But this is not to be understood as though God had established a law that all men should commit venial sins; but God in the present order does not will to give the just those graces with which they would avoid all venial sins, but wills to permit such sins to be committed by the just. As is shown in the treatise on providence, God can permit this, because even sin can be ordered outwardly to some good¹.

“A special privilege” is one that is granted only most rarely. This privilege was in fact granted to the Blessed Virgin, that she should remain free from every venial sin throughout her whole life. It is clear that it is a great privilege if anyone remains free “for a long time” from every venial sin.

“Cannot”: this is to be understood in the same way as in thesis 11, not of physical but of moral impotence.

Against the thesis stand the Pelagians, of whom St Augustine said: “They even go so far as to say that the life of the just in this world has no sin at all, and that from such men the Church of Christ is made perfect in this mortal state, so that she is altogether without spot and wrinkle; as though the Church of Christ were not she who cries to God throughout the whole world: Forgive us our debts”².

Further, the Beghards thought that a man could arrive at such a degree of perfection as to be altogether impeccable.

THE DOCUMENTS OF THE CHURCH

CONC. VIENNENSE condemned the error of the Beghards, 1: “That a man in the present life can acquire so great and such a degree of perfection that he will be rendered wholly impeccable and will be able to advance no further in grace: for, as they say, if anyone could always advance, someone could be found more perfect than Christ”³.

CONC. TRIDENTINUM, can. 23: “If anyone says that a man once justified... can throughout his whole life avoid all sins, even venial ones, unless by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds concerning the Blessed Virgin: let him be anathema”⁴.

SACRED SCRIPTURE

Sacred Scripture says or supposes, in a wholly universal way, of all the just, that there are in them sins which, since they cannot be understood as mortal (for they are just), must be understood as venial; therefore in the present order God does not will to give the just those graces with which they would avoid all venial sins; therefore if in some special case he nevertheless grants such graces, there is an exception to that universal law.

The texts are the same as those adduced in thesis 13, part III: Iac 3, 2: “In many things we all offend”; and Matth 6, 12: all must pray: “forgive us our debts”.

THE FATHERS

St Gregory Nazianzen: “Let us hold this as known, that to be free from every vice truly exceeds the measure of man; and it belongs to God alone”⁵.

St Augustine: “For all sins baptism was instituted; for light sins, without which we cannot be, prayer was instituted. What does prayer have? Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Once we are washed in baptism, daily we are washed in prayer”⁶. — “For as certain venial sins, without which this life is not lived, do not keep the just man from eternal life, so to eternal salvation no good works avail the impious, without which the life of any most wicked man is found only with the greatest difficulty”⁷.

“Except therefore the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, for the honour of the Lord, I wish no question at all to be raised when there is question of sins — for whence do we know what abundance of grace was conferred on her for conquering sin in every respect, she who merited to conceive and bring forth him whom it is certain had no sin? — this Virgin, then, excepted, if we could gather together all those holy men and women, while they lived here, and ask them whether they were without sin, what do we think they would have answered? Would it be what this man (Pelagius) says, or what the Apostle John says? I ask you, however great the excellence of holiness in this body, if they could have been asked this, would they not have cried out with one voice: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?”⁸. — “Man cannot, so long as he bears the flesh, but have at least light sins”⁹.

THE THEOLOGIANS

St Thomas: “But in the state of corrupted nature man needs habitual grace healing nature in order that he abstain altogether from sin; and this healing is first wrought in the present life as regards the mind, the carnal appetite not yet being wholly repaired; whence the Apostle says in Rom 7 in the person of the man repaired: I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin; in which state man can abstain from every mortal sin, which consists in reason, as was said above (1, 2 q. 74 a. 5), but man cannot abstain from every venial sin because of the corruption of the lower sensitive appetite, whose movements reason can indeed repress one by one, and from this they have the character of sin and of the voluntary; but not all, because while it strives to resist one, perhaps another rises up, and also because reason cannot always be watchful to avoid movements of this kind, as was said above (1, 2 q. 74 a. 10)”¹⁰.