Chapter V: The Different Types of Actual Sins, § 19.
CHAPTER V: ON THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACTUAL SINS
The divisions of actual sins.
§ 19. The divisions of actual sins are varied and numerous. To list them is beneficial so that we might learn how very true the statement of the royal psalmist is, Ps. 19:[12]: “Who understands his sins?” and that of the apostle, James 3:2: “We all err much.”
With regard to the efficient cause: (1) Some sins are voluntary, and some are involuntary. (2) Of the latter (involuntary), some are committed out of ignorance, and some, out of weakness; but the former (voluntary) are committed out of deliberate malice and stubbornness of the mind.
With regard to the act itself: (1) Some are sins of commission; some are sins of omission. (2) Some consist of a turning away from God; some, of a turning toward created things.
With regard to cause and effect taken together, some are only sins; some are at the same time sins and causes and punishments of sins.
With regard to their subject: (1) Some are interior; some are exterior. (2) Some are sins of the heart; some, of the mouth; some, of work.
With regard to their objects: (1) Some sins are committed against God; some, against people. (2) Some are committed against the First Table [Exod. 20:3–11]; some, against the Second Table of the Decalogue [Exod. 20:12–17]. (3) Some are outside the body, but, in the case of some, a person sins against his own body. (4) Some are sins of the flesh; some, of the spirit.
With regard to their adjuncts,1 some are secret sins, and some are obvious.
With regard to their degrees: (1) Some are severe sins which cry out to heaven, but some are the sort which God keeps secret because of His patience. (2) Some are capital, and some have arisen from these. (3) Some are greater and more serious than others.
With regard to how we participate in sins, some are ours; some are alien to us.
Through accident: (1) Some are venial, though by their own nature all sins are mortal (bringing death). (2) Some are reigning sins; some are nonreigning. (3) Some are sins of themselves; some, because of something else. (4) Some sin is dead; some is living. (5) Some sin remains; some is forgiven. (6) Some sins are forgivable, but some are unforgivable. We shall discuss in greater detail the individual parts of these divisions.
1 An “adjunct” is anything added to something else which is not part of its essence. An adjunct is really distinguished from its subject, even if it is proper to the subject. While adjuncts are often accidents (like wisdom in a man), they can also be substances (like wine in a bottle).