290. What penance does to sin
290. WHAT PENANCE DOES TO SIN
Are there any sins that are not taken away and forgiven by penance (repentance)? Is there such a thing as “the unforgivable sin”?
Whether all sins are taken away by Penance?
The fact that a sin cannot be taken away by Penance may happen . . . because of the impossibility of repenting of sin. . . . [T]he sins of the demons and of men who are lost cannot be blotted out by Penance because their will is confirmed in evil, so that sin cannot displease them as to its guilt, but only as to the punishment which they suffer, by reason of which they have a kind of repentance (the feeling without the choosing), which yet is fruitless. . . . Consequently such Penance brings no hope of pardon, but only despair.
Nevertheless no sin of a wayfarer can be such as that, because his will is flexible to good and evil. Therefore to say that in this life there is any sin of which one cannot repent, is erroneous: first, because this would destroy free will; secondly, because this would be derogatory to the power of grace, whereby the heart of any sinner whatsoever can be moved to repent. . . .
It is also erroneous to say that any sin cannot be pardoned through true Penance . . . because this is contrary to the divine mercy . . . for in a manner God would be overcome by man. . . .
Therefore we must say simply that in this life every sin can be blotted out by true Penance.
(The “unforgivable sin” of) blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mk 3:29) is final impenitence, as Augustine states, which is altogether unpardonable because after this life is ended there is no pardon of sins (III,86,1).
St. Thomas’ answer to the question above is essentially this: Because of the limitless divine mercy, there is no sin that is not taken away by repentance on earth, during life. Only those who are already dead both physically and spiritually, i.e., only those in Hell, both humans and demons, have no hope of forgiveness, because they have no hope of repentance because they are no longer in time, or at least the kind of time which allows change of state and repentance.
Since those in Hell hate their punishment, they have sorrow, and regret, and this may be called a kind of “repentance” or “penance”, but it is only the feelings associated with repentance rather than true repentance. True repentance is not a feeling (see #288) but a change of will. But “their will is confirmed in evil” forever. As St. Thomas puts it, “such ‘penance’ brings no hope of pardon, but only despair.” Dante hit the bull’s eye when he put these words on the sign over the door to Hell: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
No one in time, no “wayfarer”, can ever be so evil that he is hopeless, even if he feels hopeless. For “his will is flexible to good and evil” because it is a free will. That freedom is lost in Hell.
Thus St. Thomas gives two very strong reasons for his radically optimistic conclusion that there can be no sin that is unforgivable in this life: to say the contrary would deny free will and it would rank our sin greater than God’s mercy. The first is the greatest possible insult to man and the second is the greatest possible insult to God, Who then “would be overcome by man”.
Therefore when Christ (Mt 12:32) and later St. John (1 Jn 5:16) spoke of an unforgivable sin, this could only possibly mean final impenitence, the refusal to the end to repent and accept God’s forgiveness which is always offered. In other words, singing “I did it my way” as you enter Hell.
“After this life is ended there is no pardon of sins” only because the will is no longer in time, no longer “flexible to good and evil”, no longer able to change. At death, we all hear the referee say “Time’s up.” Einstein proved that time was relative to matter, so once the soul has left the world of matter by leaving its body, it is no more in time either—at least the time we now experience, the “space—time continuum”.