ARTICLE
X
"
The Forgiveness Of Sins "
Importance
of this Article
The
enumeration of this among the other Articles of the Creed is alone sufficient
to satisfy us that it conveys a truth, which is not only in itself a divine mystery,
but also a mystery very necessary to salvation. We have already said that, without a firm belief of all the
Articles of the Creed, Christian piety is wholly unattainable. However, should that which ought to be clear
in itself seem to require the support of some authority, the declaration of our
Lord will suffice. A short time
previous to His Ascension into heaven, when opening the understanding of His
disciples that they might understand the Scriptures, He bore testimony to
this Article of the Creed, in these words: It behooved Christ to suffer, and
to rise again from the dead the third day, and that penance and remission of
sins should be preached, in His name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
1
Let
the pastor but weigh well these words, and he will readily perceive that the
Lord has placed him under a most sacred obligation, not only of making known to
the faithful whatever regards religion in general, but also of explaining with
particular care this Article of the Creed.
On
of this point of doctrine, then, it is the duty of the pastor to teach that,
not only is forgiveness of sins to be found in the Catholic Church, as Isaias had foretold in these words: The people that dwell therein shall have
their iniquity taken away from them; 2 but also that in her resides the power of
forgiven sins; and furthermore that we are bound to believe that this power, if
exercised duly, and according to the laws prescribed by our Lord, is such as
truly to pardon and remit sins.
Extent of this
Power:
All Sins That Precede
Baptism
When
we first make a profession of faith and are cleansed in holy Baptism, we
receive this pardon entire and unqualified; so that no sin, original or actual,
of commission or omission, remains to be expiated, no punishment to be
endured. The grace of Baptism, however,
does not give exemption from all the infirmities of nature. On the contrary, contending, as each of us
has to contend, against the motions of concupiscence, which ever tempts us to
the commission of sin, there is scarcely one to be found among us, who opposes
so vigorous a resistance to its assaults, or who guards his salvation so
vigilantly, as to escape all wounds. {a}
All
Sins Committed After Baptism
It
being necessary, therefore, that a power of forgiving sins, distinct from that
of Baptism, should exist in the Church, to her were entrusted the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, by which each one, if penitent, may obtain the remission of his
sins, even though he were a sinner to the last day of his life. This truth is vouched for by the most
unquestionable authority of the Sacred Scriptures. In St. Matthew the Lord says to Peter: I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound also in
heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt lose on earth, shall be loosed also in
heaven; 3 and again: Whatsoever
you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you
shall lose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. 4 Further, the testimony of St. John
assures us that the Lord, breathing on the Apostles, said: Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins
you shall forgive they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they
are retained. 5 {b}
Limitation of this
Power:
It Is Not Limited As
To Sins, Persons, Or Time
Nor
is the exercise of this power restricted to particular sins. No crime, however heinous, can be committed
or even conceived which the Church has
not power to forgive, just as there is no sinner, however abandoned, however
depraved, who should not confidently hope for pardon, provided he sincerely
repent of his past transgressions.
Furthermore,
the exercise of this power is not restricted to particular times. Whenever the sinner turns from his evil ways
he is not to be rejected, as we learn from the reply of our Savior to the
Prince of the Apostles. When St. Peter
asked how often we should pardon an offending brother, whether seven times, Not
only seven times, said the Redeemer, but till seventy times seven. 6
It Is Limited As To
Its Ministers And Exercise
But
if we look to its ministers, or to the manner in which it is to be exercised,
the extent of this divine power will not appear so great; for our Lord gave not
the power of so sacred a ministry to all, but to Bishops and priest only. The same must be said regarding the manner
in which this power is to be exercised; for sins can be forgiven only through
the Sacraments, when duly administered.
The Church has received no power otherwise to remit sin. Hence it follows that in the forgiveness of
sins both priests and Sacraments are, so to speak, the instruments which Christ
our Lord, the author and giver of salvation, makes use of, to accomplish in us
the pardon of sin and the grace of justification.
To
raise the admiration of the faithful for this heavenly gift, bestowed on the
Church by God's singular mercy towards us, and to make them approach its use
with the more lively sentiments of devotion the pastor should endeavor to point
out the dignity and the extent of the grace which it imparts. If there be any one means better calculated
than another to accomplish this end, it is carefully to show how great must be
the efficacy of that which absolves from sin and restores the unjust to a state
of justification.
Sin Can Be Forgiven
Only By The Power Of God
This
is manifestly an effect of the infinite power of God, of that same power which
we believe to have been necessary to raise the dead to life and to summon
creation into existence. But if it be
true, as the authority of St. Augustine assures us it is, 7 that to
recall a sinner from the state of sin to that of righteousness is even a
greater work than to create the heavens and the earth from nothing, though
their creation can be no other than the effect of infinite power, it follows
that we have still stronger reason to consider the remission of sins as an
effect proceeding from the exercise of this same infinite power.
With great truth, therefore, have the ancient
Fathers declared that God alone can forgive sins, and that to His infinite
goodness and power alone is so wonderful a work to be referred. I am he, says the Lord Himself, by
the mouth of his Prophet, I am he,
who blotteth out your iniquities. 8
The
remission of sins seems to bear an exact analogy to the canceling of a
pecuniary debt. None but the creditor can forgive a pecuniary debt. Hence,
since by sin we contract a debt to God alone-wherefore we daily pray: forgive us our debts 9 -sin, it is
clear, can be forgiven by Him alone, and by none else.
This
Power Communicated To None Before Christ
This
wonderful and divine power was never communicated to creatures, until God
became man. Christ our Savior, although
true God, was the first one who, as man, received this high prerogative from
His heavenly Father. That you may
know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then he said he
to the man sick of the palsy), rise, take up thy bed, and go into a thy house.
10
As, therefore, He became man, in order to bestow on man this forgiveness
of sins, He communicated this power to Bishops and priest in the Church,
previous to his ascension into heaven, where He sits for ever at the right hand
of God. Christ, however, as we have
already said, remits sin by virtue of His own authority; all others, by virtue
of His authority delegated to them as His ministers.
If, therefore, whatever is the effect of infinite power claims are highest admiration and reverence, we must readily perceive that this gift, bestowed on the Church by the bounteous hand of Christ our Lord, is one of inestimable value.
Sin
Remitted Through The Blood Of Christ
The
manner too, in which God, in the fullness of his paternal clemency resolved to
cancel the sins of the world, must powerfully move the faithful to contemplate the
greatness of this blessing. It was His
will that our offenses should be expiated by the blood of His Only-begotten
Son; that His Son should voluntarily assume the imputability of our sins, and
suffer a most cruel death, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the
guilty. 11
When,
therefore, we reflect that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted
and undefiled, 12 we are naturally led to conclude that we could have received no
gift more salutary than this power of forgiving sins, which proclaims the
ineffable Providence of God and the excess of His love towards us. This reflection must produce an all the most
abundant spiritual fruit.
The Great Evil From Which
Forgiveness Delivers Man
For
whoever offends God, even by one mortal sin, instantly forfeits whatever merits
he may have previously acquired through the sufferings and death of Christ, and
is entirely shut out from the gate of heaven which, when already closed, was
thrown open to all by the Redeemer's Passion.
When we reflect on this, the thought of our misery must fill us with
deep anxiety. But if we turn our
attention to this admirable power with which God has invested His Church; and,
in the firm belief of this Article, feel convinced that to every sinner is
offered the means of recovering, with the assistance of divine grace, his
former dignity, we must exult with exceeding joy and gladness, and must offer
immortal thanks to God.
If,
when we are seriously ill, the medicines prepared for us by the art and
industry of the physician are wont to be welcome and agreeable to us, how much more welcome and agreeable should
those remedies prove which the wisdom of God has established to heal our souls and
restore us to the life of grace, especially since they bring with them, not,
indeed, uncertain hope of recovery, like the medicines that are applied to the
body, but assured health to such as desire to be cured! {c}
This
Remedy To Be Used
The
faithful, therefore, having formed a just conception of the dignity of so
excellent and exalted a blessing, should be exhorted to profit by it to the
best of their ability. For he who makes
no use of what is really useful and necessary must be supposed to despise
it; particularly since, in
communicating to the Church the power of forgiving sin, the Lord did so with the view that all
should have recourse to this healing remedy.
As without Baptism no one can be cleansed, so in order to recover the
grace of Baptism, forfeited by actual mortal guilt, recourse must be had to
another means of expiation,--- namely, the Sacrament of penance.
Abuse To Be Guarded
Against
But
here the faithful are to be admonished to guard against the danger of becoming
more prone to sin, or slow to repentance, from a presumption that they can have
recourse to this power of forgiving sins which is so complete and, as we saw,
unrestricted as to time. For, as such a
propensity to sin would manifestly convict them of acting injuriously and
contumaciously to this divine power, and would therefore render them unworthy
of the divine mercy; so this slowness to repentance gives great reason to fear
that, overtaken by death, they may in vain confess their belief in the
remission of sins, which by their tardiness and procrastination they deservedly
forfeited.
Endnotes Article X
1.> Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
2.> Isaias xxxiii. 24.
3.> Matt. xvi. 19.
4.> Matt. xviii. 18.
5.> John xx. 22, 23.
6.> Matt. xviii. 21, 22.
7.> On John, tr. lxxii. 3.
8.> Isaias xliii. 25.
9.> Matt. vi. 12
10.> Matt. ix. 6; Mark ii. 9, 10.
11.> 1 Pet. iii. 18.
12.> 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
{a} On the effects of Baptism see Summa Theol. 3a. lxix.
{b} On the effects of the Sacrament of Penance see Summa Theol. 3a.
{c} On the justification of the sinner see Summa Theol. 1a. cxiii.