to grace to operate in man by justifying
him from sin, and to co-operate with man that his work may be rightly
done. Consequently the forgiveness of guilt and of the debt of
eternal punishment belongs to operating grace, while the remission of
the debt of temporal punishment belongs to co-operating 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.
Consequently just as the effect of operating grace precedes the
effect of co-operating grace, so too, the remission of guilt and of
eternal punishment precedes the complete release from temporal
punishment, since both are from grace, but the former, from grace
alone, the latter, from grace and free-will.

Reply Obj. 3: Christ's Passion is of itself sufficient to remove all
debt of punishment, not only eternal, but also temporal; and man is
released from the debt of punishment according to the measure of his
share in the power of Christ's Passion. Now in Baptism man shares the
Power of Christ's Passion fully, since by water and the Spirit of
Christ, he dies with Him to sin, and is born again in Him to a new
life, so that, in Baptism, man receives the remission of all debt of
punishment. In Penance, on the other hand, man shares in the power of
Christ's Passion according to the measure of his own acts, which are
the matter of Penance, as water is of Baptism, as stated above (Q.
84, AA. 1, 3). Wherefore the entire debt of punishment is not
remitted at once after the first act of Penance, by which act the
guilt is remitted, but only when all the acts of Penance have been
completed.
_______________________

FIFTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 86, Art. 5]

Whether the Remnants of Sin Are Removed When a Mortal Sin Is Forgiven?

Objection 1: It would seem that all the remnants of sin are removed
when a mortal sin is forgiven. For Augustine says in _De Poenitentia_
[*De vera et falsa Poenitentia, the authorship of which is unknown]:
"Our Lord never healed anyone without delivering him wholly; for He
wholly healed the man on the Sabbath, since He delivered his body
from all disease, and his soul from all taint." Now the remnants of
sin belong to the disease of sin. Therefore it does not seem possible
for any remnants of sin to remain when the guilt has been pardoned.

Obj. 2: Further, according to Dionysius (Div. Nom. iv), "good is more
efficacious than evil, since evil does not act save in virtue of s