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Temporal punishment

2 passages · search this phrase →

Often appears with: judgment, heaven, and hell · crime and punishment · wood hay stubble · spiritual foundation · sin, guilt, and repentance · purgatory · original sin · last end · eternal punishment · equity, mercy, and pardon

Usually: detachment (2) · argument (1) · commentary or gloss (1) · reconciliation (1) · reverence (1)

Quotable
“a sin incurs a debt of eternal punishment, in so far as it causes an irreparable disorder in the order of Divine justice, through being contrary to the very principle of that order, viz. the last end.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · insight

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

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1265–1273
PART I-II ("Prima Secundae") > Part (Suppl., Q. 78, A. 1, Obj. 1). If, however, it be true, as others hold, that they will never die, (an opinion which Jerome mentions among others in a letter to Minerius, on the Resurrection of the Body--Ep. cxix), then we must say in reply to the objection, that although they are not to die, the debt of death is none the less in them, and that the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since (34/52)

He argues that not every sin incurs eternal punishment: sins are eternal only when they irreparably disorder the soul’s relation to the last end, while other disorders merit only temporal punishment.

*On the contrary,* Gregory says (Dial. iv, 39), that certain slighter sins are remitted after this life. Therefore all sins are not punished eternally. *I answer that,* As stated above (A. 3), a sin incurs a debt of eternal punishment, in so far as it causes an irreparable disorder in the order of Divine justice, through being contrary to the very principle of that order, viz. the last end. Now it is evident that in…

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

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1265–1273
PART I-II ("Prima Secundae") > Part (Suppl., Q. 78, A. 1, Obj. 1). If, however, it be true, as others hold, that they will never die, (an opinion which Jerome mentions among others in a letter to Minerius, on the Resurrection of the Body--Ep. cxix), then we must say in reply to the objection, that although they are not to die, the debt of death is none the less in them, and that the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since (50/52)

Thomas explains why Scripture calls venial sins “wood, hay, and stubble”: they are “beside” the foundation of faith quickened by charity, so they are burned away and still allow salvation through purgation.

laid beside it; in the same sense as it is written (Ps. 136:1): "Upon the waters of Babylon," i.e. "beside the waters": because venial sins do not destroy the edifice. Reply Obj. 2: It is not said that everyone who builds wood, hay and stubble, shall be saved as by fire, but only those who build "upon" the "foundation." And this foundation is not dead faith, as some have esteemed, but faith quickened by charity, acc…