293. We don’t get off scot-free
293. WE DON’T GET OFF SCOT-FREE
Does forgiveness mean that punishment is no longer needed?
Whether the debt of punishment remains after the guilt has been forgiven through Penance?
It is related (2 Kings 12:13) that when David, penitent, said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord, Nathan said to him, The Lord also hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Nevertheless . . . the child that is born to thee shall surely die, which was to punish him for the sin he had committed. . . . Therefore a debt of some punishment remains after the guilt has been forgiven. . . .
In so far as a mortal sin turns inordinately to a mutable good, it gives rise to a debt of some punishment because the disorder of guilt is not brought back to the order of justice except by punishment, since it is just that he who has been too indulgent to his will should suffer something against his will, for thus will equality (an aspect of justice) be restored. . . . (E.g., thieves obviously should not be allowed to keep their ill-gotten gains, but be made to pay them back with interest, as restitution.)
Since, however, the turning to mutable good is finite, sin does not in this respect induce a debt of eternal punishment. Wherefore, if man turns inordinately to a mutable good without turning from God, as happens in venial sins, he incurs a debt not of eternal but of temporal punishment (i.e., not Hell but Purgatory).
The remission of the debt of temporal punishment belongs to cooperating grace in so far as man, by bearing punishment patiently with the help of divine grace, is released also from the debt of temporal punishment. . .
(In other words, the more we agree with God’s will in willing our just punishments, the less separation from God remains in our will; i.e., the more we want our punishments, the less we need them.)
The remission of guilt and of eternal punishment (justification) precedes the complete release from temporal punishment (sanctification), since both are from grace but the former is from grace alone (the “Protestant” point: salvation (justification) by grace alone through faith alone) while the latter is from grace and free will (the Catholic point: salvation (sanctification) by good works as well as faith) (III,86,4).
Just as mortal sin cannot be forgiven so long as the will is attached to sin, so neither can venial sin, because while the cause remains, the effect remains (III,87,1).
Even repented sin still leaves its tracks, its effects, in the soul—evil habits and desires—like a wild animal leaving its scent, or its stool, even after it is removed. These effects too must be removed, and that is the purpose of the punishments or penances that remain even after sin is forgiven. They are for the soul’s sanctification, even after it has been justified by the Blood of Christ.
In this life we often do not see why we need these sanctifying punishments, and we naturally do not want them, because punishment always involves some sort of pain, some sort of “no” to our own will. But we will see the good of these cleansings and we will want them with all our heart in Purgatory, where God’s presence will enable us to see ourselves clearly and to willingly purify our motives.
We must want our just punishments, because God does. We must freely cooperate with God’s sanctifying grace in Purgatory, and we should “rehearse” for this on earth by accepting the humblings and humiliations that come to us in this life. For we do not cease to be human in Purgatory, and therefore do not cease to be active and free there. We must literally co-operate with God’s grace.
St. Thomas locates the need for punishment even after repented and forgiven sin in the objective debt of justice. This is one aspect, and a true one, of the relationship. Another is the psychological need explained in the previous paragraphs. The pre—modern mind was more sensitive to the objective and the modern mind to the subjective. It should not be an either / or but a both / and.