The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
Sins of the Flesh
August 22, 1998
You may have heard of sins of the flesh, but do you know what they are? Aquinas considered all sins to be sins of the flesh, in a manner of speaking.
Aquinas explains that intellectual substances are incorruptible: "if man is found to be intelligent, and if man’s understanding is not effected through the medium of a bodily organ, we are forced to acknowledge the existence of some incorporeal substance whereby man exercises the act of understanding" (Compendium Ch. 79).
The significant phrase in the above quote is "through the medium of a bodily organ," in which Aquinas hints that the body, rather than the soul, is what leads man to corruption.
He repeats this later in the Compendium: "Again, the proper subject of generation and corruption is matter. Hence a thing is immune to corruption to the extent that it is free from matter" (Ch. 84).
This explains why we are not to fear the death of the body and why we are always encouraged not to seek earthly goods but divine goods. It is when we become wrapped up with corporeal existence – "matter" – that we become corrupt.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
