ARTICLE XI

In the Eleventh Article We Ask: CAN THE FREE CHOICE OF MAN IN THIS PRESENT LIFE BE OBSTINATE IN EVIL?

Difficulties:

It seems that it can, for

1. Whatever is inflicted because of the deserts of fallen nature is present in all before the reparation of fallen nature. But the sin of fallen nature is deserving of obstinacy, as the Gloss says in commenting upon the Epistle to the Romans (9:18). Hence every man before reparation in this present life is obstinate.

2. A sin against the Holy Spirit in all its species can be found in a person in this life. But obstinacy is a species of sin against the Holy Spirit, as is taught in the Sentences. Consequently a person in this present life can be obstinate.

3. No one in the state of sin can return to good unless there remains in him some inclination to good. But whoever falls into mortal sin lacks all inclination to good; for a person sins mortally through an inordinate love; but according to Augustine in spirits love is like weight in bodies. A heavy body is so inclined in one direction, as a stone downward, that it retains no contrary inclination--e.g., upward. Then neither does a sinner retain any inclination to good. Whoever sins mortally is accordingly obstinate in evil.

4. No one withdraws from the evil of guilt except by repentance. But according to the Philosopher one who sins through malice is incapable of repentance, because he is corrupted in regard to the principle in matters of choice, namely, the end. Consequently, since it happens that a person in this present life may sin from malice, it seems that it is possible for man in this life to be obstinate in evil.

5. It was said in answer that, although such a person is incapable of repentance by his own powers, he can nevertheless be brought back to repentance by the gift of divine grace.--On the contrary, when something is impossible from the viewpoint of lower causes even though it could be done by a divine operation, we say that simply speaking it is impossible; for example, that a blind man should see or a dead person rise. If, then, someone is not capable of repentance by his own powers, he should simply be said to be obstinate in evil, even though he could be brought to repentance by the divine power.

6. Every sickness that works against its cure seems to be incurable, as the physicians say. But a sin against the Holy Spirit works against its cure, divine grace, by which a person is freed from sin. A person in this present life can therefore have an incurable spiritual sickness, and can accordingly be obstinate in evil.

7. In support of this seems to be the fact that a sin against the Holy Spirit is called unforgivable (Matthew 12:31). But that is a sin which some people in this life commit.

8. Augustine and Gregory assign as the reason why the saints will not pray for the damned in the day of judgment that the damned cannot return to the state of justice. But there are some in the present life for whom we are not to pray, as is written in the first Epistle of St. John (5:16): "There is a sin unto death: for that I say not that any man ask"; and in Jeremias (7:16): "Therefore do not thou pray for this people. . . ." There are therefore some in this present life so obstinate that they cannot return to the state of justice.

9. It belongs to the misery of the damned to be confirmed in evil, just as it belongs to the glory of the saints to be confirmed in good. But a person in this present life can be confirmed in good, as was shown above. With equal reason, then, it seems that a person in this life can be obstinate in evil.

10. Augustine speaks to the effect that the angels are endowed with greater capabilities than man. But after sinning the angels could not return to justice. Then neither can man; and so man in this life can be obstinate.

To the Contrary:

1'. Concerning the Epistle to the Romans (2:4-5) Augustine says, and is quoted in the Gloss: "That impenitence or impenitent heart cannot be judged as long as a person is living in this flesh; for we are not to despair of anyone so long as the patience of God leads him to repentance." And so it seems that no one in this present life is obstinate in evil.

2'. It is written in the Psalm (67:23): "I shall turn to the depth of the sea," i.e., to those who are the most desperate. And so those who seem to be the most desperate in this life are sometimes converted to God and God to them.

3'. On the words of the Psalm (147:6): "He sendeth his crystal . . ." the Gloss comments: "Crystal means the obstinate, by whom He feeds others; that is, He makes them such that they feed others with the word of God." And so the same is to be concluded as before.

4'. A sickness can be incurable either because of the nature of the sickness or because of the lack of skill of the physician or because of the indisposition of the patient. But the spiritual sickness of a man in this life, sin, is not incurable from the nature of the sickness; for he has not arrived at the term of malice. Nor again is it incurable because of the lack of skill of the physician, because God has the knowledge and ability to cure. Nor again is it incurable because of the indisposition of the man, because he can rise by another's means just as he has fallen by another's means. Man in this present life can therefore by no means be confirmed in evil.

REPLY:

Obstinacy implies a certain firmness in sin by reason of which a person cannot turn from sin. Now the inability to turn from sin can be understood in two senses:

In the first sense the person's own powers are not sufficient to free him entirely from sin. It is in this sense that anyone who falls into mortal sin is said to be unable to return to justice. But from this sort of firmness in sin a person is not properly called obstinate.

In the second sense he has a firmness in sin such that he cannot even cooperate in rising from sin. But this inability can be of two kinds: (1) It is such that he is unable to cooperate at all. This is the perfect obstinacy by which the demons are obstinate. For their minds are so hardened in evil that every motion of their free choice is inordinate and sinful. They can accordingly in no way prepare themselves to have the grace by which sin is remitted. (2) It is such that the person is not able easily to cooperate in his deliverance from sin. This is the imperfect obstinacy by which a person can be obstinate in this present life, as long as he has a will so hardened in sin that there do not arise in him any except weak motions to good. Nevertheless, because some arise, the way is open by their means to prepare for grace.

The reason why no one can be so obstinate in evil in this life that he is unable to cooperate in his liberation is clear from what has been said. For passion is dissipated and repressed; habit does not wholly corrupt the soul; and reason does not cling so stubbornly to what is false that it cannot be led away from it by a contrary argument. But after this present life the separated soul will not understand by receiving anything from the senses, nor will it engage in the act of the sense appetitive powers. The separated soul is thus conformed to the angels in the manner of understanding and in the indivisibility of its appetite, which were seen to be the causes of the perfect obstinacy in the sinful angels. Hence there will be obstinacy in the separated soul for the same reason. In the resurrection, moreover, the body will follow the condition of the soul; and so the soul will not return to its present state, in which it must necessarily receive something from the body, though it will use bodily instruments. Consequently, even then the same reason for obstinacy will remain.

Answers to Difficulties:

1. The sin of fallen nature is said to be deserving of obstinacy inasmuch as the same sin is deserving of everlasting damnation. For by the deserts of the first sin the whole human nature became subject to damnation, except that some should be snatched from it by the grace of the Redeemer. But this does not mean that a man is obstinate immediately from his birth, nor that he is damned with final damnation.

2. That argument is speaking of imperfect obstinacy, by which a person is not absolutely confirmed in evil. Such an obstinacy is a species of sin against the Holy Spirit.

3. Augustine compares love to weight because both incline. It is not necessary, however, that there be likeness in all respects. It consequently does not follow that one who loves something has no inclination to the contrary, except perhaps in the case of perfect love, such as the love of the saints in heaven.

4. One who sins from malice is said to be incapable of repentance, not because he cannot repent at all, but because he cannot easily repent. He does not perfectly repent upon the urging of reason alone, because this urging proceeds from a principle, the end, regarding which the sinner is corrupted. He can, however, be led to repent by gradually growing accustomed to the contrary. He can be led to this customary attitude both by reason of the manner of judging, because he comes to a judgment rationally and more or less by comparison, and also because his whole appetitive power does not tend to a single objective. From this familiarity he will get a correct conception of the principle, that is, the appetible end. The Philosopher accordingly says: "Neither in speculative matters nor in operative can reasoning teach principles; but virtue, whether natural or acquired by habit, is the reason why we have a correct opinion about the principle."

5. When a lower nature is able to dispose things for some operation or in any way cooperate in it, that operation is not called simply impossible even though it cannot be achieved except by divine action. We do not say, for instance, that it is simply impossible for the offspring in the womb of the mother to be animated by a rational soul. In the same way, although deliverance from sin takes place by the divine action, nevertheless, because free choice also cooperates in this, it is not said to be simply impossible.

6. Although one who sins against the Holy Spirit works against the grace of the Holy Spirit because of the inclination of sin, yet, because he is not wholly corrupted by this sin, there remains some motion, though weak, by which he can cooperate in some way with grace; for he does not always actually resist grace.

7. A sin against the Holy Spirit is not called unforgivable in the sense that it cannot be forgiven in this life, but because it cannot easily be forgiven. The reason for this difficulty is that the sin in question goes directly contrary to grace, by which sin is remitted.--Or it is called unforgivable because, being committed out of malice, it does not have in itself the cause of its forgiveness, as does a sin committed out of weakness or ignorance.

8. We are not forbidden to pray for sinners, however great, in this life. But in the words of the Apostle which were quoted, the meaning is that it is not the business of anyone and everyone to pray for those hardened in sin but of a perfect man.--Or the Apostle is speaking of a sin unto death, that is, which continues all the way up to death. In the words of the prophet, however, the people in question are shown to have been in the just judgment of God unworthy of obtaining mercy, but not to have been altogether obstinate in evil.

9. Confirmation in good is brought about by a divine gift. Consequently, nothing prevents its being granted to some people in this life as a special privilege even though they are not confirmed in good in the same way as the blessed in heaven, as was said above. But this cannot be said of confirmation in evil.

10. From the very fact that the angels were endowed with greater capabilities it follows that immediately after their first choice they were obstinate in sin, as is clear from what has been said. It is not Augustine's intention, however, to prove that man is obstinate in sin, but that he lacks the power to rise from sin by himself.