THEOLOGY NOTES
THESIS # 5: Sin is “NO” to God’s love. At best, it is the arrogance of power. It is rooted
in the mystery of evil from ancient times to present times. It can be illustrated in various
ways. Church teaching clarifies the reality (object, intention, and reality) roots (pride,
sensuality and selfishness), structure personal, social and original) and degree (mortal
and venial) of sin
I. Personal Sin
A. Definition and Nature
• It is the refusal to follow one’s conscience whose call brings one to good.
• Breaking the covenant with God (turning away from Him) who is the absolute
good.
• It is an offense against reason, truth and right conscience
• It is a failure in genuine love for God and neighbor because a perverse attachment
to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injuries human dignity or
solidarity.
• It is an utterance, a deed or a desire contrary to the eternal law.
• Richard Gula – It is an arrogance of power. The capacity to influence a change in
others or situations, whether for good or evil.
Definition of Sin
-
Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience
It is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law
It is an offense against God; saying NO to God, to love, to personal growth, and to
others.
It is evil intentionally committed, it is a bad free human decision.
B. Biblical Understanding
 OT. Missing the mark, rebellion, transgression, or disobedience
 NT. The sin of the world: A no to God’s love, will and salvation
C. Models of Sin (Transgression, Spiral and Sickness)
D. Threefold Dimension of Sin
 Personal
 Social
Sin as rejection of God
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL SIN
A PERSONAL SIN results when we give in to our self-centered tendencies and freely
choose to do what we know is moral evil. It may take in the form of an impure thought,
a false or hurtful word, or an evil deed. Because personal sin results from the abuse of
our individual free choice, we are culpable to our personal sin
A SOCIAL SIN is any situation or structure that causes or supports evil, or that fails,
because of apathy or involvement in it, to correct a moral evil when it is possible (CFC
1206). It can refer to a negative moral attitude: consumerism, an act bribery, or a failure
to act turning a blind eye to corruption in one’s office that attacks human rights and basic
freedoms, human dignity, justice, and the common good (CFC 775)
E. Division of Sin
1. Internal Sin: sins that are consummated in the mind. They are sins of the heart. They
arise from evil dispositions and desires
 Mental complacency in sinful imagination
 Sinful joy in an accomplished evil deed. Sinful regret of not having performed an
evil act.
 Evil desire. Wish to perform a sinful action. Prejudice or bias: tendency to
eliminate one’s considerations and decision data that are perceived to be potential
threats to one’s well being
. Sin of Commission and Omission
• Commission: it is a performance of forbidden act, an offense against a negative
precept
• Omission: it is a failure to perform an obligatory act and offense against positive
precept.
3. Capital sins: the 7 capital sins (gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, sloth, envy, pride or
vainglory) are called capital sins because they become vices and sources of many other
sins.
CONCUPISCENCE often manifests itself through what we call the capital sins, which lie
at the root of many of our sinful acts. These capital sins can affect not only individual but
also groups, communities, and institutions.
CAPITAL SINS
DESCRIPTIONS (BASED ON CFC 381)
PRIDE
EXALTING ONESELF BEYOND WHAT IS
DUE AND TRUE
LUST
DISORDERED DESIRE FOR OR INORDINATE
ENJOYMENT OF SEXUAL PLEASURE
ANGER/WRATH
DESTRUCTIVE AGGRESSIVENESS
GLUTTONY
EXCESSIVE INDULGENCE IN FOOD OR DRINK
ENVY
BEDGRUDGING OTHERS THEIR TALENTS OR
SUCCESS AND WISHING THEM EVIL
COVETOUSNESS/
AVARICE
DESIRING WHAT BELONGS TO OTHERS, WHICH
LEADS TO DISHONESTY,STEALING, AND INJUSTICE
SLOTH
LAZINESS AND ESCAPE FROM EXERTING DUE EFFORT
. Reality (Object, intention, and circumstances)
 Object: it is the material object of the action, the external part, the action itself;
when the object of an action is against natural law, thus the action is said to be
intrinsically evil. (Murder, euthanasia, abortion, genocide, and masturbation)
 Intention: it is the formal element of the action, the internal part, the whole
purpose, the end of the personal meaning of the action. CCC, 1753: - “The end does
not justify the means. A good intention does not make an evil act good. A bad
intention makes an act evil that in and of itself, can be good.[
 Circumstance: it is the total context in which the action takes place: CCC, 1754Circumstance contribute to increasing or diminishing, the moral goodness or evil
of human acts. They cannot change the moral quality of the action.
G. Roots of Sins
 Pride
 Sensuality
Selfishness
ORIGINAL SIN
What is our understanding of Original Sin?
We first encountered the term original sin in the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 1-7
Is it a past event that occurred at the dawn of humanity, or is it something that we
continue to experience here and now?
To better understand its meaning we need to distinguish between “the originating sin”
or the sinful act of our first parents and the “originated sin” or the consequences of this
sinful act
The Sinful Act of Our First Parents: Originating Sin
 The first sinful act of our biblical first parents is the first meaning of original sin.
 We live in a state of sinfulness because the first members of the human race
abused their freedom and chose to reject God’s friendship, desiring to “be like
God” (Gn. 3:5)
 The sin of Adam and Eve was a personal sin that our first parents committed
against God. As such, we cannot be held responsible for it.
 Because of their first sinful act, our first parents lost the original state of grace and
holiness in which they were created by God (CCC 399) Their sin alienated them
from one another, from God Himself, and even from their true selves.
The Sinful Condition within us and in Our World: Originated Sin
In Filipino, original sin is sometimes translated as “kasalanang mana”. This implies that
we do inherit a state of sinfulness because of the sin of our first parents. This does not
mean that:
From birth
Nor transmitted in a biological way
Or through heredity
Rather, it means we inherit the effects of the first sin ---- the condition of sinfulness that
we experience both within us and in society
This second meaning of original sin includes the reality of concupiscence and the “sin of
the world”
III. Social Structural Sin
A. Elements of Social Sins
 Social Sins refers to every sin against justice in interpersonal relationship.
 Social sins refers to every sin against the common good (graft and corruption)
 Sacred Scripture recognizes the reality of human solidarity in all human
endeavors.
There is – no- private sin. As there is a
communion of saints, there is also
communion of sinners
B. Some characteristics of Social Sin
 Dehumanizing element built into social, political, economic, and religious
institutions (e.g. bias, prejudices, ethnocentrism)
 Cultural and Religious symbols that legitimate and reinforce their influences. (e.g.
division between Lived Truth and Revealed truth)
 False consciousness. Any questioning of the profit t0 oriented dominion is evil.
 Collective decision made by organizations of existing social structure that
permeate and aggravate dehumanizing trend.
C. The Church
 The Church is an important reality, but the Church itself is the agent and growth
toward holiness.
 We are brother’s keepers, and we are responsible to each other.
 Every person we meet is a sacrament of God, his image.
 All sins are forgivable except the sins against the Holy Spirit: “God, who created
with you, will not save you without you” – St. Augustine