Article 23

The twenty-third article raises the question whether Christ principally came to take nothing but original sin away.

It should be said in response to this that Christ principally came for the sake of leading men towards eternal life, as he himself says in John 10:10, I came that they might have life. Accordingly, he came to remove every impediment to eternal life and to subsequently take away every sin. But as the common good is better than the particular good of an individual, so the common evil of many is worse. Thus he more principally came to take away the original sin which had corrupted the whole of human nature than to take away particular sins. For this reason a marginal note (Most likely, St. Thomas is speaking of a collection of commentatorial notes, but it is unclear which one he is referring to.) is added to the words, behold the one who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) which says the sin of the world is named original sin, which is common to the whole world. And further below, a note says, grace loosens both original sin and all the sins added to it. It seems better, therefore, to say affirmatively that Christ principally comes to take away original sin rather than other sins instead of saying something negatively such as what is posited; namely, that Christ came principally not to take anything but original sin away. For it also pertains to the principal intention of Christ to take away actual sins, which is indicated by the words of Luke 5:32, which says, I came to call sinners to repentance.