Bibliotheca Catholicaa library of libraries
Support
Summa Theologiae · Suppl., q. 99, a. 4

Whether the punishment of Christians is brought to an end by the mercy of God?

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Supplement, question 99, Of God's Mercy and Justice Towards the Damned, article 4. About 4 min.

Read in the reading room → This article at New Advent

From the Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his Commentary on the Sentences and transcribed here from the 1917 to 1922 printings. About the Supplement.

Text: Summa Theologiae, Supplement to the Third Part (Supplementum Tertiae Partis), transcribed from Internet Archive scans, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Supplement, compiled after Aquinas’s death from his earlier Commentary on the Sentences, in the same English Dominican translation as the Gutenberg Parts. Transcribed by Bibliotheca Catholica from the OCR of four Internet Archive scans of the pre-1931 printings (Questions 1 to 33 from the 1917 Washbourne and Benziger volume, 34 to 68 from the 1922 volume, 69 to 86 from the 1921 volume, and 87 to 99 from the 1922 Benziger volume), with OCR errors corrected and doubtful passages marked, not rewritten. 99 questions and 446 articles. The two appendices printed after Question 99 are not included. Sources, SHA-256 of each OCR file, and the method are in the source record. Rights: Public domain (US)

The Supplement is not a Project Gutenberg text. It is Bibliotheca Catholica’s transcription of public-domain scans at the Internet Archive; obvious OCR errors were corrected, and passages marked “OCR uncertain” could not be confidently corrected, so check them against the linked scan page.

2 passages on this page are marked “OCR uncertain”; check them against the scan.

Objection 1: It would seem that at least the punishment of Christians is brought to an end by the mercy of God. For he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved (Markxvi. 16). Now this applies to every Christian. Therefore all Christians will at length be saved.

Obj. 2: Further, It is written (Jo. vi. 35): He that eateth My body and drinketh My blood hath eternal Ife. Now this is the meat and drink whereof Christians partake in common. Therefore all Christians will be saved at length.

Obj. 3: Further, If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire (x Cor. iii. 15), where it is a question of those who have the foundation of the Christian faith. Therefore ail such persons will be saved in the end.

On the contrary, It is written (xr Cor. vi. 9): The unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God. Newsome Christians are unjust. Therefore Christians will not all come to the kingdom of God, and consequently they will be punished for ever.

Further, It is written (2 Pet. ii. 21): It had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them. Now those who know not the way of truth will be punished forever. Therefore Christians who have turned back after knowing it will also be punished for ever.

I answer that, According to Augustine (De Civ. Det, xxi. 20, 21), there have been some who predicted a delivery from eternal punishment not for all men, but only for Christians; although they stated the matter in different ways. For some said that whoever received the sacraments of faith would be immune from eternal punishment. But this is contrary to the truth, since some receive the sacraments of faith, and yet have not faith, without which 7 is impossible to please God (Heb. xi. 6). Wherefore others said that those alone will be exempt from eternal punishment who have received the sacraments of faith, and professed the Catholic faith. But against this it would seem to be that at one time somne people profess the Catholic faith, and afterwards abandon it, and these are deserving not of a lesser but of a greater punishment, since according to 2 Pet. ii. 21, it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back. Moreover it is clear that heresiarchs who renounce the Catholic faith and invent new heresies sin more grievously than those who have conformed to some heresy from the first. And therefore some have maintained that those alone are exempt from eternal punishment, who persevere to the end in the Catholic faith, however guilty they may have been of other crimes. But this is clearly contrary to Holy Writ, for it is written (James ii. 20): Faith without works is dead, and (Matth. vii. 21) Not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in heaven: and in many other passages Holy Scripture threatens sinners with eternal punishment. Consequently those who persevere in the faith unto the end will not all be exempt from eternal punishment, unless in the end they prove to be free from other crimes. [OCR uncertain: somne. Check the scan, image 220.]

Reply Obj. 1: Our Lord speaks there of formed faith* that worketh by love (Vulg.,--charity, Gal. v. 6): wherein whosoever dieth shall be saved. But to this faith not only is the error of unbelief opposed, but also any mortal sin whatsoever.

CRIT, O. IVs, A: 3.

Reply Obj. 2: The saying of our Lord refers not to those who partake only sacramentally, and who sometimes by receiving unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves (x Cor. xi. 29), but to those -who eat spiritually and are incorporated with Him by charity, which incorporation is the effect of the sacramental eating, in those who approach worthily.* Wherefore, so far as the power of the sacrament is concerned, it brings us to eternal life, although sin may deprive us of that fruit, even after we have received worthily.

Reply Obj. 3: In this passage of the Apostle the foundation denotes formed faith, upon which whosoever shall build venial sins} shall suffer loss, because he will be punished for them by God; yet he himself shall be saved in the end by jive, either of temporal tribulation, or of the punishment of purgatory which will be after death. [OCR uncertain: sins}. Check the scan, image 221.]

_______________________

Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Supplement to the Third Part. Internet Archive scans: Third Part, Fourth Number (QQ. LXXXIV to Suppl. XXXIII), 1917, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. XXXIV to LXVIII, 1922, Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXIX to LXXXVI, 1921, and Third Part (Supplement), QQ. LXXXVII to XCIX and Appendices, 1922; two curled pages of the 1921 volume are read from another scan of the same printing. Public domain in the USA. Printed in 1917, 1921, and 1922, before 1931. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Transcription, OCR file checksums, and method: source record.