Theodicy Soteriology, Hermeneutics

SOTERIOLOGY : M. M. NINAN
moral deformity", "a separation from God", as "the death of the soul", original sin is a real sin
which deprives the soul of sanctifying grace. It has the same claim to be a sin as has habitual
sin, which is the state in which an adult is placed by a grave and personal fault, the "stain"
which St. Thomas defines as "the privation of grace" (I-II:109:7; III:87:2, ad 3), and it is from
this point of view that baptism, putting an end to the privation of grace, "takes away all that is
really and properly sin", for concupiscence which remains "is not really and properly sin",
although its transmission was equally voluntary (Council of Trent, Sess. V, can. v.).
Considered precisely as voluntary, original sin is only the shadow of sin properly so-called.
According to St. Thomas (In II Sent., dist. xxv, Q. i, a. 2, ad 2um), it is not called sin in the
same sense, but only in an analogous sense.
Several theologians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, neglecting the importance
of the privation of grace in the explanation of original sin, and explaining it only by the
participation we are supposed to have in the act of Adam, exaggerate this participation. They
exaggerate the idea of voluntary in original sin, thinking that it is the only way to explain how
it is a sin properly so-called. Their opinion, differing from that of St. Thomas, gave rise to
uncalled-for and insoluble difficulties. At present it is altogether abandoned.
S. HARENT
Transcribed by Sean Hyland
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright © 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc.
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