Question Three. Whether Sin is a Punishment for Sin

15. About the thirty sixth distinction I aska whether sin is a punishment for sin.

a. a[Interpolation] About this thirty sixth distinction, where the Master turns to show that sometimes punishment and guilt are the same thing, the question is asked:

16. That it is not:

Augustine Retractions 1.26, “Every punishment is just, everything just is from God,     therefore every punishment is from God” [more precisely: “The punishment of the bad, therefore , which is from God, is bad indeed for the bad; but it is among the good works of God, since it is just for the bad to be punished”]; but no guilt is from God, therefore no guilt is a punishment of sin.

17. Further, every sin is voluntary, according to Augustine On True Religion ch.4; punishment is involuntary (Anselm, On the Virginal Conception ch.4); therefore etc     .a

a. a[Interpolation] And every punishment saddens.

18. Further, punishment does not exceed guilt, because God always punishes less than is deserved; sometimes a subsequent sin is greater than a preceding one. Likewise too, since there is an end to sins, the last sin is not punished by any sin; so it is not punished in the way any preceding one is; and yet the last sin can be greater than the preceding; therefore it is punished by a lesser punishment, which is unacceptable.

19. To the opposite is the Master in the text [2 d.36 chs.1, 3], and he brings forward many authorities [from Scripture and from Augustine and Gregory] .