NATURE OP SIN 3 



The definition given by St. Augustine and 

 adopted by St. Thomas applies alike to actual sins 

 (i. e., acts or omissions violating the moral law) 

 and sinful habits (habitus peccaminosi). 



2. Characteristics. — Sin, being a wilful 

 transgression of the divine law, has the follow- 

 ing, partly positive and partly negative, notes or 

 characteristics : 



a) Sin does not inhere in the nature of things, 

 nor proceed from the Divine Essence or some 

 other independent principle, but owes its exist- 

 ence entirely to free-will. "By the will," says St. 

 Augustine, "a man sins or lives a good life." 9 

 St. Thomas writes: "Sin consists essentially in 

 an act of free choice, which is a function of the 

 will and of reason." 10 And in another place: 

 "A man's will alone is directly the cause of his 

 sin." n 



Being an act of a created agent, sin is not a sub- 

 stance but merely an accident. It is not some- 



est prima regula, scil. lex aeterna, venture, Comment, in Sent., II, dist. 



quae est quasi ratio Dei. Et ideo 35, dub. 6 {Opera Omnia, Quaracchi 



Augustinus in definitione peccati 1885, Vol. II, p. 838). 

 posuit duo: unum quod pertinet ad Retract., I, c. 9, n. 4: "Volun- 



substantiam actus humani, quod est tas est, qua et peccatur et recte vi- 



quasi materiale in peccato, quum vitur." (Migne, P. L., XXXII, 



dixit, 'dictum, vel factum, vet concu- 596). 



pitum;' aliud autem quod pertinet 10 Summa Theol., la 2ae, qu. 77, 



ad rationem mali, quod est quasi art. 6: "Peccatum essentialiter con- 



formate in peccato, quum dixit, 'con- sistit in actu liberi arbitrii, quod est 



tra legem aeternam.' " — Cfr. Schee- facultas voluntatis et rationis." 

 ben, Dogmatik, Vol. II, pp. 522 sqq. 11 Summa Theol., ia 2ae, qu. 80, 



— The various definitions of sin given art. 1 : "Sola voluntas hominis est 



by the Fathers and leading Scho- directe causa peccati eius." 

 lastics will be found in St. Bona- 



