Catechism of the Catholic Church · Part Three › Section One › Chapter One · Article 8 (§§1846–1876)
Paragraphs · 31
The Catechism's text is under copyright, so each paragraph is quoted briefly here with a link to the full text at vatican.va.
I. Mercy and Sin
- §1846 — The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."vatican.va
- §1847 — "God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us." To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.vatican.va
- §1848 — As St. Paul affirms, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us "righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ ourLord."vatican.va
II. The Definition of Sin
- §1849 — Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods.vatican.va
- §1850 — Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight." Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it.vatican.va
- §1851 — It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of…vatican.va
III. The Different Kinds of Sins
- §1852 — There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity,…vatican.va
- §1853 — Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate.vatican.va
IV. The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin
- §1854 — Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. the distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture, became part of the tradition of the Church.vatican.va
- §1855 — Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.vatican.va
- §1856 — Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity - necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:vatican.va
- §1857 — For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent."vatican.va
- §1858 — Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother."vatican.va
- §1859 — Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice.vatican.va
- §1860 — Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man.vatican.va
- §1861 — Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace.vatican.va
- §1862 — One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.vatican.va
- §1863 — Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment.vatican.va
- §1864 — "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.vatican.va
V. The Proliferation of Sin
- §1865 — Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil.vatican.va
- §1866 — Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St.vatican.va
- §1867 — The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel, The sin of the Sodomites, The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, The cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.vatican.va
- §1868 — Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them: - by participating directly and voluntarily in them; - by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them; - by not disclosing or not hindering them…vatican.va
- §1869 — Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness.vatican.va
In Brief
- §1870 — "God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32).vatican.va
- §1871 — Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St. Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God.vatican.va
- §1872 — Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity.vatican.va
- §1873 — The root of all sins lies in man's heart. the kinds and the gravity of sins are determined principally by their objects.vatican.va
- §1874 — To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin.vatican.va
- §1875 — Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it allows to subsist in us.vatican.va
- §1876 — The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices, among which are the capital sins.vatican.va
Scripture cited · 60 verses
Genesis 3:5 · Genesis 4:10 · Genesis 18:20 · Genesis 19:13 · Exodus 3:7 · Exodus 3:8 · Exodus 3:9 · Exodus 3:10 · Exodus 20:20 · Exodus 20:21 · Exodus 20:22 · Deuteronomy 24:14 · Deuteronomy 24:15 · Psalm 51:4 · Matthew 1:21 · Matthew 12:32 · Matthew 15:19 · Matthew 15:20 · Matthew 26:28 · Mark 3:5 · Mark 3:6 · Mark 3:29 · Mark 10:19 · Luke 12:10 · Luke 16:19 · Luke 16:20 · Luke 16:21 · Luke 16:22 · Luke 16:23 · Luke 16:24 · Luke 16:25 · Luke 16:26 · Luke 16:27 · Luke 16:28 · Luke 16:29 · Luke 16:30 · Luke 16:31 · John 14:30 · Romans 1:28 · Romans 1:29 · Romans 1:30 · Romans 1:31 · Romans 1:32 · Romans 5:20 · Romans 5:21 · Galatians 5:19 · Galatians 5:20 · Galatians 5:21 · Ephesians 5:3 · Ephesians 5:4 · Ephesians 5:5 · Philippians 2:6 · Philippians 2:7 · Philippians 2:8 · Philippians 2:9 · Colossians 3:5 · Colossians 3:6 · Colossians 3:7 · Colossians 3:8 · James 5:4