The Moral Reality of Sin

Chapter 5
The Moral Reality of Sin
Prof. Joel A. Reyes, J.D., Ph.D.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Acknowledge the moral reality of the mystery of sin in their
life leading to the reception of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Eucharist;
2. Explain the nature and meaning of sin;
3. Reflect the complications brought about by sin in the life of
the person;
4. Discuss the difference between sin and moral guilt, guilt
feeling, and juridical or legal guilt;
5. Correct some false ideas of sin;
6. Identify the seven capital sins; and
7. Realize the experience of mercy of God.
• “All moral reality is made up of the objective
nature of the act/attitude, the intention of the
agent, and the circumstances. Sin as a moral reality
is an attitude, an action or failure to act, or power or
force that leads us into evil.
Sin separates us from, alienates us from,, i.e.,
makes us strangers (aliens) from. . . our true selves
(intra-personal), our neighbors (inter-personal), the
larger community (societal), and God, the ground
and source of all three.” (CFC, 1083)
• There are some false ideas of sin. Sin is
often taken as: merely breaking some
impersonal law in a book, or a guilt feeling,
or as something we cannot avoid.
• These simply avoid the evil of sin and the
harm it does to the sinner and others.
• A common example of a false, legalistic,
impersonal idea of sin is expressed by the
question: “How far can I go without falling
into sin?”
• This reduces sin to a plaything or gamble,
totally ignoring the true nature of our
relationship to God, as etched in the love
commandments.
Some erroneous notions of sin:
“Masayop man gani ang kabaw nga upat
ma’y tiil; ang tawo pa kaha?”
(If a carabao with its four feet takes a wrong
step, what more a human being?)
“Anumang gawin ng tao, nadaramay pati
inaapo.”
(Whatever a person does, its consequences
affect even the grandchildren.)
“Sapagkat ako’y tao lamang.” (Since I am
only human.)
Sin Distinguished from Guilt
• The concept of sin is very closely related to
that of guilt. Sin and moral guilt designate the
same reality, though under different aspects.
• Sin always involves moral guilt, and moral guilt
always presupposes sin. Both always exist
together.
• Sin expresses the truth that a wrongful act is
morally evil and an offense against God.
• Guilt, on the other hand, denotes the fact that
a person is liable for the evil he has done and
that it is attributed to him as the responsible
agent.
• Moral guilt is different from guilt feeling for
the latter merely psychological, that is false
guilt, which therefore does not necessarily
mean that sin is committed.
• Juridical guilt, which is incurred by a merely
offense against the existing legal order, is not
the same with moral guilt also.
• In Constitutional Law, the accused has the
right to the presumption of innocence until
proven otherwise.
• This is because the court must certainly
establish and determine the guilt beyond
reasonable doubt.
• But the moral guilt is indispensable for such
an accused who has committed the offense.
The Mystery of Wickedness: Sin
Clearly sin is a product of man’s
freedom. But deep within its human
reality there are factors at work which
place it beyond the merely human, in the
border-area where human conscience,
will, and sensitivity are in contact with the
dark forces which, according to St. Paul,
are active in the world, almost to the
point of ruling it (RP 14).
The Mystery of Wickedness: Sin
The mystery of sin “hates the light” (cf.
Jn 3:19; 1Jn 2:9f), and we, sinners all, are
often ashamed to take it seriously.
But we need to reflect deeply on sin:
1) to truly appreciate God’s everlasting
merciful love, and 2) to correct common
distorted ideas of God, the Church,
conscience, law and the Sacrament of
Reconciliation (CFC # 761).
Meaning of sin
• James F. Keenan, S.J., simply defines sin as the
failure to bother to love.
• This definition captures the many stories in
the bible such as Matthew’s goat, Lazarus’ rich
man, the wounded man’s priest and the
Levite, the publican’s Pharisee, etc.
Meaning of sin
The Catechism for Filipino Catholics
defines sin as basically: a refusal of God’s
love. It entails:
• refusing to follow our own conscience;
• rejecting our true selves, others, and God
by turning away from God, our true end;
• breaking God’s covenant of love with us
(no. 784).
Meaning of sin
• It is “a word, an act, or a desire contrary to
the eternal Law” (Saint Augustine).
• It is an offense against God in
disobedience to his love. It wounds human
nature and injures human solidarity.
• Christ in his passion fully revealed the
seriousness of sin and overcome it with his
mercy. Compendium of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church, # 392.
Meaning of sin
• In refusing God, we make ourselves little
gods, in which process we deceive and
destroy ourselves. Sin can also be a sin of
commission and sin of omission.
• The former is the performance of a
forbidden act, while the latter is the failure
to perform an obligatory act.
Types of Sin
1. Sin of Commission - The sin of commission is
the performance of a forbidden act or a
disobedience to a direct command.
The scriptural verses that describe this sin
are the following: “You shall have no other gods
before Me”, “You shall not take the name of the
Lord your God in vain”, “You shall not kill”, “You
shall not commit adultery”, and “You shall not
steal.”
Types of Sin
2. Sin of Omission - Sin of omission is a failure to
do something one who is able to do and ought
to do. It is a failure to make an obligatory act
accomplished. St. James, in his letter (4:17),
said, “So for one who knows the right thing to
do and does not do it, it is a sin.” Karl Peschke
(p.308), on the other hand, identifies this sin as
an offense against positive precept, such as
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”;
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
Kinds of Sin according to Structure
• Sin, taken strictly, is always personal. But in a

larger sense we speak of social and structural
sin (CFC # 1804).
1. PERSONAL SIN
• It is never just “private,” with no effect on
anyone else.
• Rather, just as all “persons” are relational,
always affecting others and the community in
everything they do, and likewise being
affected by what others do, so personal sin is
neither committed nor overcome in “private.”
• The grace of personal conversion and
repentance always involves a community
dimension.
2. SIN
• to negative moral attitudes and acts or failure to act
that are common to a community or particular
society.
• Its remedy is to change what is negative or lacking
in the community's moral acts or attitudes into what
is positive and graced.
• “Social sin,” stresses complicity in evil by showing
how members of the same group are mutually
involved.
SOCIAL SIN - It can refer to:

1.sin's power to affect others by reason
of human solidarity;
2.sins that directly attack human rights
and basic freedoms, human dignity,
justice, and the common good;

3.sins infecting relationships between
various human communities such as
class struggle, or obstinate
confrontations between block of
nations; and

4.situations of sin, or sinful structures
that are the consequences of sinful
choices and acts, e.g., racial
discrimination, and economic systems
of exploitation (CFC # 775).
3. STRUCTURAL SIN
• It is not a question of a particular
person's or a community's moral
knowledge, attitudes and
responsibility.
STRUCTURAL SIN
• Rather, it refers to existing structures
that condition society in a harmful and
unjust way, such as long-standing
racial or sexist prejudicial structures,
unjust economic taxation systems,
established military and political
customs, and unfair immigration
legalities.
STRUCTURAL SIN
• These need to be reformed by a long
tedious process of concerted social
moral effort.
Original sin, on the other hand, can
refer to two things: the first “originating sin”
which brought evil and brokenness into the
world; or “originated sin,” or the actual
sinful state into which we are born, the
essence of which is the privation of
sanctifying grace, and some of whose
consequences are evident in the outside
sinful situation (sin of the world), and inner
effect of disordered desires (concupiscence)
we all experience within us (CFC # 401).
Kinds of Sin according to Gravity
Sin can be venial or mortal depending

on the different levels of MORAL EVIL
involved.
Traditionally, sin is defined as

“mortal” when
• the nature of the act,
• the intention of the sinner and
• the circumstances involve: grave
matter, sufficient knowledge, and full
consent of the will.
Mortal sins
• or sins which lead to death, the loss
of true or “eternal life” - exclude from
the “Kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10;
Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5). They are
mortal because they kill the over all
LOVE pattern of our relation to God.
Mortal sins
• By such sins, a person “freely rejects
God, his Law, the covenant of love
God offers, preferring to turn in on
himself or to some created and finite
reality, something contrary to the
divine will.”
Mortal sins
• Such sins must be confessed in the
sacrament of Penance or
Reconciliation (CFC # 1806).
Venial sins
• Sins called venial (from “venia,”
meaning pardon or forgiveness) are
“excusable” sins which d not involve
the persons' fundamental freedom
nor lead to spiritual death.
• “All wrong doing is sin, but not all sin
is deadly” (1 Jn 5:17). Venial of
charity, and can gradually lead to
mortal sins.
Venial sins
• Though venial sins are by definition
pardonable, they should not be taken
lightly, for they offend God. Some are
clearly more serious than others
because of the damage done to the
persons involved or others. Moreover,
carelessness with regard to them,
especially when a habit develops, can
lead to mortal sin.
Venial sins
• Our Lord warned us against
“lukewarmness,” saying to the church
of Laodicea, “Because you are
lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will
spew you out of my mouth” (Rv 3:16)
Vices
• Vices are the opposite of virtues.
• They are perverse habits which
darken the conscience and incline
one to evil.
The vices can be linked to the seven, so-called,
capital sins which:
1.pride – exalting oneself beyond what is due
and true;
2.lust – disordered desire for, or inordinate
enjoyment of sexual pleasure;
3.anger – destructive aggressiveness;
4.gluttony – excessive indulgence in food or
drink;
5.envy – begrudging others their talents,
success and wishing them evil;
6.covetousness – desiring what belongs to
others, leading to dishonesty stealing, and
injustice;
7.sloth – laziness and escape from exerting
due effort.
Pride
Pride (Garbo) – a desire for excessive
independence which does not belong to us
as creatures of God. It manifests itself in the
inordinate love for our own proper
excellence.
“How then are you more than the others?
What have you that you have not received?
And if you received it, why are you proud, as
if you did not receive it?” (1Cor 4:7)
excellence.
“By the grace of God you have been saved

through faith. This has not come from you: it
is God’s gift. This was not the result of your
works, so you are not to feel proud.” (Eph
2:8-9)
excellence.
“He has acted with power and done wonders,

and scattered the proud with their plans. He
has put down the mighty from their thrones
and lifted up those who are downtrodden.”
(Lk 1:51-52)
excellence.
Remedies: knowledge of oneself, the exercise

of humility, and meditation on the truth of
the Scriptures.
It is a
“Anyone who
disordered
looks at a
desire for, or
woman
inordinate
lustfully has
enjoyment
already
of sexual
committed
pleasure. It
adultery in his
is opposed
heart.” (Mt
to the virtue
5:28)
of chastity.
“The love of the Father
It is a
cannot be in any man
disordered
who loves the world,
desire for, or
because nothing the
inordinate
world has to offer – the
enjoyment
sensual body, the lustful
of sexual
eye, pride in possessions
pleasure. It
– could ever come from
is opposed
the Father but only from
to the virtue
the world.” (1 John 2:16)
of chastity.
It is a
disordered Purification
desire for, or of the heart
inordinate and
enjoyment practicing
of sexual temperance
pleasure. It are the
is opposed remedies
to the virtue against lust.
of chastity.
It is a passion for revenge that
Anger goes beyond the control of
reason.
Three Degrees
Anger Anger may consist in a mere
impulse of impatience.
Anger may consist in
uncontrolled gestures and
words
Anger can degenerate into
hatred, vengeance, going so far
to desire the death of the
adversary, etc.
Anger is
Anger a
passion
for
revenge
that
goes
beyond
the
control
of
reason .
Anger
Justifiable anger
- Jesus angered in the Temple
- Battle for social justice
Anger “I say to
you that if
you are
angry with
a brother
or sister,
you will be
liable to
judgment
(Mat 5:22).
Anger
Remedy – Forgiveness
Anger
Practical advice
- Take a concrete step towards
healing a broken relationship
- If you are hurt by someone, forgive
him/her quickly.
- Refrain from gossip.
- an immoderate or unreasonable
pleasure in food and drink.
- When one eats or drinks more than
what is necessary.
- When he partakes of food too
voraciously.
- When he eats or drinks too often.
- When he insists upon food that is
too dainty.
- When he partakes of food or drinks
that is unduly expensive.
Sins connected
- Drunkenness
- Alcoholism
- use of narcotics
Remedy :
Alms giving
Fasting
Detachment or
mortification
or asceticism
Works of
mercy
Envy
Envy
Envy is sadness caused in one because of
the good of another, which good is looked
upon as an obstacle to one’s own
excellence.
If a friend of mine succeeds something in
me dies.
If something bad happens especially to a
friend of mine I rejoice on that.
Envy
Remedy
- cultivate the virtues of humility and
charity
- suffer with those who suffer
- rejoice with those who are honored
by God.
- Admiration
Avarice is immoderate love of riches.
Love of riches is immoderate when it is not
ordained towards one’s own necessities,
those of his family or of his neighbor.
No one can serve two masters,
for he will either hate one but
love the other, or he will be
loyal to the first and look down
on the second. You cannot at
the same time serve God and
money. (Mt 6:24)
Indeed, the love of money is the root of evil.
Because of this greed, some have wandered
away from the faith, bringing on themselves
afflictions of every kind.
(1 Tim 6:10)
“Be on your guard and avoid every kind of
greed, for even though you have many
possessions, it is not that which gives you
life.” (Lk 12:15)
“Yes, believe me: it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for the
one who is rich to enter the kingdom of
heaven.” (Mt 19:24)
“The Lord does not condemn riches, but
attachment to riches.” The Lord demands
interior detachment. “None of you can
become my disciple if you do not give up all
your possessions.” (Luk 14:33)
Once the demands of necessity and
propriety are met in your life, everything
else you have belongs to the poor.
(Pope Leo, Rerum Novarum)
Remedies
- contemplation of the vanity of earthly
goods
- the inestimable value of spiritual things
and
- the meditation on the life of Christ.
It is a turning away from religious and
spiritual duty because of the effort that
they require.
It opposes the love of God and the
virtue of piety.
It is indifferent to the friendship of God.

The slothful man dislikes things spiritual.
Remedies
- Meditation on
the last things,
- mortification
and
- prayer
Advise – everything of every day that a
baptized does should be related to the
corporal works of mercy.
Remedial VIRTUES
HUMILITY
CHASTITY
FORGIVENESS
ASCETICISM
ADMIRATION
GENEROSITY
ZEAL FOR MISSION
Spiritual riches of
the Church
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
CONCLUSION
The matter of sin may be too heavy for students
of moral theology, that as if it’s impossible for
every person to share the glory of God in His
Heavenly Kingdom for no one will go up to
heaven with impurity. Hence, transgressors
seem to have eternal punishment as their final
end.
CONCLUSION
But certainly not, we have to remember the
spiritual riches of the Church through the
sacraments, particularly the sacrament of
reconciliation and the sacrament of the
Eucharist. It is in this sacrament that a baptized
who is alienated by sin and evil can be
reconciled to God, to man, and to the Christian
community.
Everyone God’s
has sinned mercy is
(Romans so
5:12) but abundant
where sin , and his
increased, love for
God’s grace us is so
increases great
much more (Ephesian
(5:21). s 2:4).

The Moral Reality of Sin

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Chapter 5

The Moral Reality of Sin

Prof. Joel A. Reyes, J.D., Ph.D.

• Sin, taken strictly, is always personal. But in a

SOCIAL SIN - It can refer to:

SOCIAL SIN - It can refer to:

SOCIAL SIN - It can refer to:

Sin can be venial or mortal depending

Traditionally, sin is defined as

“By the grace of God you have been saved

“He has acted with power and done wonders,

Remedies: knowledge of oneself, the exercise

It is indifferent to the friendship of God.

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