Greco-Christian stream·Opera Omnia Sancti Thomae (Complete Works of Thomas Aquinas)·Summa Theologiae·Prima Pars·Q100. The condition of the offspring as regards righteousness
Source context
- Theme
- transmission of original righteousness (or its absence) to offspring through generation
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Vedantic doctrine of inherited dharmic tendency (samskara)Cross-tradition congruence: Vedantic thought holds that moral and spiritual tendencies (samskaras) are transmitted across generations through subtle-body inheritance, structurally paralleling Aquinas's question of whether original justice could pass to offspring through the generative act.
- Kabbalistic concept of zelem (divine image) and generational transmissionCross-tradition congruence: Kabbalistic anthropology treats the divine image (zelem) as a heritable spiritual quality whose integrity or corruption passes through lineage, offering a structural parallel to Aquinas's analysis of righteousness as a condition of the soul transmissible — or withheld — through human generation.
Q100. The condition of the offspring as regards righteousness
Article 2
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.1] It would seem that in the state of innocence children would have been born confirmed in righteousness. For Gregory says (Moral. iv) on the words of Job 3:13: "For now I should have been asleep, etc.: If no sinful corruption had infected our first parent, he would not have begotten "children of hell"; no children would have been born of him but such as were destined to be saved by the Redeemer." Therefore all would have been born confirmed in righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.1] Ad secundum sic proceditur. 1. Videtur quod pueri in statu innocentiæ nati fuissent in justitia confirmati. Dicit enim Gregorius, Mor., lib. IV, c. xxxi, § 62, col. 671, t. 4, super illud Job, III: Somno meo requiescerem, etc. « Si parentem primum nulla pecati putredo corrumperet, nequaquam ex se filios gehennæ generaret; sed hi qui nunc per redemptionem salvandi sunt, soli ab illo electi nascerentur. » Ergo nascerentur omnes in justitia confirmati.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.2] Further, Anselm says (Cur Deus Homo i, 18): "If our first parents had lived so as not to yield to temptation, they would have been confirmed in grace, so that with their offspring they would have been unable to sin any more." Therefore the children would have been born confirmed in righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.2] 2. Præterea, Anselmus dicit in libro II Cur Deus homo, c. xviii, col. 387, t. 4, quod « si primi parentes sic vixissent ut non pecarent tentati, ita confirmarentur cum omni propagine sua, ut ultra peccare non possent. » Ergo pueri nascerentur in justitia confirmati.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.3] Further, good is stronger than evil. But by the sin of the first man there resulted, in those born of him, the necessity of sin. Therefore, if the first man had persevered in righteousness, his descendants would have derived from him the necessity of preserving righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.3] 3. Præterea, bonum est potentius quam malum. Sed propter peccatum primi hominis consecuta est necessitas peccandi in his qui nascuntur ex eo. Ergo si primus homo in justitia perstitisset, derivaretur ad posteros necessitas observandi justitiam.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.4] Further, the angels who remained faithful to God, while the others sinned, were at once confirmed in grace, so as to be unable henceforth to sin. In like manner, therefore, man would have been confirmed in grace if he had persevered. But he would have begotten children like himself. Therefore they also would have been born confirmed in righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.arg.4] 4. Præterea, angelus adhærens Deo, aliis peccantibus, statim est in justitia confirmatus, ut ulterius peccare non potest. Ergo similiter et homo, si tentationi restitisset, confirmatus fuisset. Sed qualis ipse fuit, tales alios generasset. Ergo et ejus filii confirmati in justitia nascerentur.
[I.q.100.a.2.sc] Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv, 10): "Happy would have been the whole human race if neither they--that is our first parents--had committed any evil to be transmitted to their descendants, nor any of their race had committed any sin for which they would have been condemned." From which words we gather that even if our first parents had not sinned, any of their descendants might have done evil; and therefore they would not have been born confirmed in righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.sc] Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit XIV De civit. Dei, c. x, col. 417, t. 7: « Tam felix universa societas esset humana, si nec illi, » scilicet primi parentes, « malum quod etiam in posteros trajecerunt, nec quisquam ex eorum stirpe iniquitatem committeret, quæ damnationem reciperet. » Ex quo datur intelligi, quod, etiamsi primi homines non peccassent, aliqui ex eorum stirpe potuissent iniquitatem committere. Non ergo nascerentur in justitia confirmati.
[I.q.100.a.2.co] It does not seem possible that in the state of innocence children would have been born confirmed in righteousness. For it is clear that at their birth they would not have had greater perfection than their parents at the time of begetting. Now the parents, as long as they begot children, would not have been confirmed in righteousness. For the rational creature is confirmed in righteousness through the beatitude given by the clear vision of God; and when once it has seen God, it cannot but cleave to Him Who is the essence of goodness, wherefrom no one can turn away, since nothing is desired or loved but under the aspect of good. I say this according to the general law; for it may be otherwise in the case of special privilege, such as we believe was granted to the Virgin Mother of God. And as soon as Adam had attained to that happy state of seeing God in His Essence, he would have become spiritual in soul and body; and his animal life would have ceased, wherein alone there is generation. Hence it is clear that children would not have been born confirmed in righteousness.
[I.q.100.a.2.co] Respondeo dicendum, quod non videntur possibile quod pueri in statu innocentiæ nascerentur in justitia confirmati. Manifestum est enim, quod pueri in sua nativitate non habuissent plus perfectionis quam eorum parentes in statu generationis. Parentes autem, quamdiu generassent, non fuissent confirmati in justitia. Ex hoc enim creatura rationalis in justitia confirmatur, quod efficitur beata per apertam Dei visionem, cui viso non potest non inhærere, cum ipse sit ipsa essentia bonitatis, a qua nullus potest averti; cum nihil desideretur et ametur nisi sub ratione boni. Et hoc dico secundum legem communem; quia ex aliquo privilegio speciali secus accidere potest, sicut creditur de Virgine matre Dei. Quam cito autem Adam ad illam beatitudinem pervenisset quod Deum per essentiam videret, efficeretur spiritualis et mente et corpore; et animalis vita cessaret, in qua sola generationis usus fuisset. Unde manifestum est quod parvuli non nascerentur in justitia confirmati.
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.1] If Adam had not sinned, he would not have begotten "children of hell" in the sense that they would contract from him sin which is the cause of hell: yet by sinning of their own free-will they could have become "children of hell." If, however, they did not become "children of hell" by falling into sin, this would not have been owing to their being confirmed in righteousness, but to Divine Providence preserving them free from sin.
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.1] Ad primum ergo dicendum, quod si Adam non peccasset, non generaret ex se filios gehennæ, ita scilicet quod ab ipso peccatum contraherent, quod est causa gehennæ; possent tamen fieri filii gehennæ per liberum arbitrium peccando. Vel si filii gehennæ non fierent per peccatum, hoc non esset per hoc quia essent in justitia confirmati; sed propter divinam providentiam, per quam a peccato conservarentur immunes.
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.2] Anselm does not say this by way of assertion, but only as an opinion, which is clear from his mode of expression as follows: "It seems that if they had lived, etc."
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.2] Ad secundum dicendum, quod Anselmus hoc non dicit asserendo, sed opinando; quod patet ex ipso modo loquendi, cum dicit: « Videtur quod si vixissent, etc. »
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.3] This argument is not conclusive, though Anselm seems to have been influenced by it, as appears from his words above quoted. For the necessity of sin incurred by the descendants would not have been such that they could not return to righteousness, which is the case only with the damned. Wherefore neither would the parents have transmitted to their descendants the necessity of not sinning, which is only in the blessed.
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.3] Ad tertium dicendum, quod ratio ista non est efficax; quamvis per eam Anselmus motus fuisse videatur, ut ex ejus verbis apparet, loc. in arg. 2 cit. Non enim sic per peccatum primi parentis ejus posteri necessitatem peccandi incurrunt, ut ad justitiam redire non possint: quod est tantum in damnatis. Unde nec ita necessitatem non peccandi transmisisset ad posteros, quod omnino peccare non possent; quod est tantum in beatis.
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.4] There is no comparison between man and the angels; for man's free-will is changeable, both before and after choice; whereas the angel's is not changeable, as we have said above in treating of the angels (64, 2).
The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas AquinasSecond and Revised Edition, 1920Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican ProvinceOnline Edition Copyright © 2009 by Kevin Knight Nihil Obstat. F. Innocentius Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor. Theol.Imprimatur. Edus. Canonicus Surmont, Vicarius Generalis. Westmonasterii.APPROBATIO ORDINISNihil Obstat. F. Raphael Moss, O.P., S.T.L. and F. Leo Moore, O.P., S.T.L.Imprimatur. F. Beda Jarrett, O.P., S.T.L., A.M., Prior Provincialis AngliæMARIÆ IMMACULATÆ - SEDI SAPIENTIÆ
[I.q.100.a.2.ad.4] Ad quartum dicendum, quod non est simile de homine et angelo. Nam homo habet liberum arbitrium vertibile et ante electionem, et post; non autem angelus, sicut supra dictum est, cum de angelis ageretur.
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