Chapter XIV: Sins of the Flesh and of the Spirit, § 83.
CHAPTER XIV: ON SINS OF THE FLESH AND OF THE SPIRIT
Some sins are sins of the flesh, and some are of the spirit.
§ 83. Tenth, some actual sins are sins of the body, and some are of the spirit. 2 Cor. 7:1: “Let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of body and spirit, perfecting sanctification.”
The Scholastics explain this division in the following way. Sin consists in an inordinate appetite for a good; when it is possessed, a man is inordinately pleased. But there are two kinds of pleasure: one is of the soul, which is perfected in the mere apprehension of something held in desire, and this can be called “spiritual delight,” such as when someone takes pleasure in human praise. The other is bodily pleasure, which is perfected in the actual touch and can be called “carnal delight.”
Bellarmine (De amiss. grat. et stat. peccati, bk. 1, ch. 2) follows these Scholastics. “All things to which we inordinately turn when we sin are good things apprehended by the senses, such as food, drink, intercourse [concubitus]; or by the intelligence, such as honor, power, wealth.” Through (unrestrained) turning to the former, they become carnal sins; through turning to the latter, they become spiritual sins.
Ambrose (on 2 Corinthians, ch. 19) reads it as follows: “Let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of the flesh that we may perfect holiness”; and from this he concludes: “All vices are carnal.” But the Greek codices consistently read “of the flesh and spirit.” Therefore the apostle requires that the reborn keep both mind and body unpolluted.
Some think that the apostle is referring to the Corinthians’ excuse. They had been charged with becoming involved in idolatrous banquets of the heathen, and thus with being defiled with the worship of idols, and they responded that they were not coming with the intent of giving honor to idols because they knew well that an idol was nothing, and thus were preserving their spirit clean of pollution. Here a reply is made to them by the apostle that it is not enough to keep the spirit free of corruption, but that the flesh or body must also be kept unpolluted.