Summa Theologiae Moralis, vol. I: De Principiis

S. Th. I-II, q. 80; De Malo q. 3, a. 3, 4, 5.

481. The devil is not the cause of sin except indirectly: a) by way of persuader, not indeed directly moving the intellect which he does not intend to illuminate, because the more it were illuminated the more it would be withdrawn from the deception which the devil desires; but internally instigating or working in the senses and imagination by which he wills to cloud the intellect, and moving the sensitive appetite; b) sometimes externally proposing to the senses an object as suave, pleasant, etc., or even visibly appearing (I Thes. III, 5; I Pet. V, 8).

482. Are all sins from the temptation of the devil? — All sins, although they proceed indirectly from the devil (I John III, 8), inasmuch as [he is] the cause of original sin (from which we are inclined to sin), nevertheless do not all proceed directly from his instigation, but either from the sollicitations of the world, i.e. of sinners, or from the very nature of man vitiated, or from the will alone.

483. Temptation is wont to be called the sollicitation or incitement to sin. Which word originally and in a broad sense sounds the same as examination or testing: « to tempt is to take an experiment about something » (I q. 114, a. 2), to the end that something may be known, and this is the temptation of testing which can also be attributed to God, who tests the faithful by afflictions and extraordinary commands and explores their virtue and constancy (Deut. XIII, 3), not that he himself may know what they are but that man may show it (I Tim. VI, 9). In the present however the word is taken in a stricter sense and there is question only of the temptation of seduction, which is the incitement to sin whether internal or external: this is not from God (James I, 13), although he permits temptation (I Cor. X, 13), but proceeds from our corrupted nature, also from the world, especially from the demon. And it can be grave or light according as it vehemently incites the will or not; its force however depends on the nature of the thing, on the vividness of representation, on the intensity of appetite.

Since however by its nature it is only the sollicitation to evil, of itself it is not sin itself, but it can be the cause of sin, the consent of the will being added; whence the following principles about it can be stated.

484. Principle I. To feel temptation is not sin but to consent: not the feeling or pleasure, but the consent and complacency. To feel, i.e. to have intellectual awareness of the sollicitation, indeed to be moved by the delight of evil and so to experience and feel (even by the inferior faculties) that it is pleasing and agreeable; this is not yet sin; but voluntarily to adhere to the evil to which one is sollicited: for only the free act from the consent of the will is morally evil. Which is altogether certain from common doctrine, which is moreover proved from the Council of Trent itself, sess. 5, can. 5 and from the condemnation of prop. 50 of Baius.

Which, that it may be more easily applied in practice, it is well in the process of temptation to distinguish three stages. There are namely:

a) suggestion or the mere representation, or mere idea of evil: the simple proposition of evil through imagination and intellect, and this, however wicked and long-lasting, is not sin because in it the will has no part;

b) undeliberate delight, arising from suggestion in the sensitive or even rational appetite, by which the temptation pleases: for frequently and connaturally from suggestion, especially if it is vivid, intense, or long continued, there arises delight, indeed an organic pleasing impression and a sensible commotion, by which one is affected toward the pleasing object: this also, until deliberation of reason intervenes, is no sin, because such a movement is not deliberate nor free;

c) free consent of the will: after reason has perceived the wicked suggestion and also the delight in the appetite arising from it, and its malice, if the will immediately rejects both, there is no sin: for this is not in the intellect alone, or in the sensitive appetite, or in the spontaneous inclination of the rational appetite, but in the free will which adheres to evil; but if it freely consents to the delight or in it has complacency for itself or admits it, approves it or retains it because it pleases or adheres to it, then sin will be present.

485. Principle II. Rashly and without just cause to provoke temptation or to expose oneself to it is illicit, more or less according to the gravity of the danger.

For temptation involves some danger of sinning, more or less grave. But to expose oneself to the danger of sinning without sufficient reason is not licit (n. 177). Therefore it is also illicit to expose oneself to temptation without a just cause; which must be proportionate to the gravity of the temptation, i.e. to the incitement and danger of sinning, considered not only absolutely and in itself, but also relatively to diverse individuals. And indeed:

a) It is gravely illicit without sufficient reason freely to expose oneself to a grave temptation of a graver sin, which namely involves a proximate danger of gravely sinning.

b) It is licit from a grave just cause to expose oneself to a grave temptation with a proximate danger of gravely sinning, provided due precautions are used to remove the danger and at the same time there is a founded hope of overcoming the temptation.

c) It is lightly illicit without just cause lightly to expose oneself to a light temptation of gravely sinning or to a grave temptation of lightly sinning.

486. Observation. — For avoiding and overcoming temptations, suitable remedies are to be used:

A. Before temptation: 1) watchfulness to prevent many and graver ones (I Pet. V, 8; Mk. XIII, 37), for which it is necessary a) to flee occasions, b) to avoid idleness and useless wanderings of mind, from which often dangerous phantasms arise, c) also positively to convert the powers of the soul and the passions to good, useful, and religious things;

2. prayer (Mt. XXVI, 41; VI, 13; Lk. XI, 4), for which are required a) humility (James IV, 6), b) trust (Phil. IV, 13), and c) fervor;

3. to which can usefully be added the practice of meditation, as e.g. of the passion of Christ, of the last things, of the presence of God, by which we are moved to pray more fervently and to flee sin and occasions.

B. In temptation one is to resist: 1) immediately and from the beginning, when the enemy is still weak and victory is easier;

2. strenuously and strongly: for if we hesitate and waver, or only mildly resist, the enemy becomes bolder and attacks more sharply;

3. perseveringly, until he has been fully conquered.

Thus a) by praying, b) by working strenuously, c) not arguing with the enemy, d) by turning the mind to the work of virtue, e) and turning it away from vice.

C. After temptation is ended or overcome, it is expedient: 1) humbly to give thanks to God, to whom alone the victory is to be attributed; nor ever to be downcast but confidently to flee to the mercy of God; 2) not to examine oneself longer about consent given or refused, lest a new temptation be provoked;

3. to open graver temptations to a prudent and pious spiritual director, and to seek his counsel.