Sin as impediment

2 passages · search this phrase →

Often appears with: wild lettuces · unleavened bread · the nature and attributes of God · spiritual versus corporal worship · sin, guilt, and repentance · sacrament mapping · repentance · purifications of the old law · old law divorce · matrimony · justice as a virtue · grace as gratuitous gift

Usually: argument (1) · commentary or gloss (1) · detachment (1) · reverence (1)

Quotable

“Let us feast . . . with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · precept

Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) primary

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1265–1273
PART I-II ("Prima Secundae") > i.e. into imperfect men, "the bottles break, and the wine runneth out," i.e. the precepts are despised, and those men, from contempt, break into evils worse still. (81/91)

Aquinas explains that Old Law purifications removed impediments to worship—spiritual via cleansing from sins and corporal via sacrifices—insisting that these rites signified expiation later fulfilled by Christ.

eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house": because, to wit, on account of their haste, they could not send any gifts of it. The stress they suffered while in Egypt was denoted by the wild lettuces. The figurative reason is evident, because the sacrifice of the paschal lamb signified the sacrifice of Christ according to 1 Cor. 5:7: "Christ our pasch is sacrificed." The blood of the l…

Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) primary

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1265–1273
PART I-II ("Prima Secundae") > i.e. in the Old Testament, "the Law was set forth in an outward fashion, that the ungodly might be afraid"; "here," i.e. in the New (75/81)

In Art. 5 Aquinas denies that anyone can merit the first grace for himself: grace is gratuitous and exceeds nature, and previous sin obstructs meriting, though later grace can enable good works.

himself the first grace, because, as Augustine says (Ep. clxxxvi), "faith merits justification." Now a man is justified by the first grace. Therefore a man may merit the first grace. Obj. 2: Further, God gives grace only to the worthy. Now, no one is said to be worthy of some good, unless he has merited it condignly. Therefore we may merit the first grace condignly. Obj. 3: Further, with men we may merit a gift alr…