The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
The Wages of Sin
November 29, 1998
Before the Fall, it is generally thought that Adam and Eve were in complete paradise. They had everything they wanted. They even had eternal life, for it is when they sinned that God decreed they would not eat from the Tree of Eternal Life (Gen. 3: 22).
Aquinas also sees that before the Fall, there was an original justice, "which not only kept the lower powers of the soul in subjection to reason, without any disorder, but also kept the whole body in subjection to the soul, without any defect" (ST I-II, Q. 85, Art. 5).
When Adam and Eve committed original sin, "human nature was so wounded by the derangement of the powers of the soul … that it was rendered corruptible by the derangement of the body" (ibid.).
This explains why 1) the wages of sin is death in that the soul became deranged leading to the derangement of the body and 2) why we struggle to keep reason in control of our soul.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
