ied freely by
His grace."

_I answer that,_ by sinning a man offends God as stated above (Q. 71,
A. 5). Now an offense is remitted to anyone, only when the soul of
the offender is at peace with the offended. Hence sin is remitted to
us, when God is at peace with us, and this peace consists in the love
whereby God loves us. Now God's love, considered on the part of the
Divine act, is eternal and unchangeable; whereas, as regards the
effect it imprints on us, it is sometimes interrupted, inasmuch as we
sometimes fall short of it and once more require it. Now the effect
of the Divine love in us, which is taken away by sin, is grace,
whereby a man is made worthy of eternal life, from which sin shuts
him out. Hence we could not conceive the remission of guilt, without
the infusion of grace.

Reply Obj. 1: More is required for an offender to pardon an offense,
than for one who has committed no offense, not to be hated. For it
may happen amongst men that one man neither hates nor loves another.
But if the other offends him, then the forgiveness of the offense can
only spring from a special goodwill. Now God's goodwill is said to be
restored to man by the gift of grace; and hence although a man before
sinning may be without grace and without guilt, yet that he is
without guilt after sinning can only be because he has grace.

Reply Obj. 2: As God's love consists not merely in the act of the
Divine will but also implies a certain effect of grace, as stated
above (Q. 110, A. 1), so likewise, when God does not impute sin to a
man, there is implied a certain effect in him to whom the sin is not
imputed; for it proceeds from the Divine love, that sin is not
imputed to a man by God.

Reply Obj. 3: As Augustine says (De Nup. et Concup. i, 26), if to
leave off sinning was the same as to have no sin, it would be enough
if Scripture warned us thus: "'My son, hast thou sinned? do so no
more?' Now this is not enough, but it is added: 'But for thy former
sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee.'" For the act of sin
passes, but the guilt remains, as stated above (Q. 87, A. 6). Hence
when anyone passes from the sin of one vice to the sin of a contrary
vice, he ceases to have the act of the former sin, but he does not
cease to have the guilt, hence he may have the guilt of both sins at
once. For sins are not contrary to each other on the part of their
turning from God, wherein sin has its guilt.
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THIRD ART