Sin as Sinful Disposition

Sinful dispositions lying at the basis of a certain kind of sinful acts, otherwise sinful habits, inclinations, and passions, are constant desires to sin in a particular way, thus, for example, frivolity is a constant desire for distractions. Some of these sinful dispositions are acquired through frequent repetition of the same sins, while some naturally develop from self-love, which constitutes our hereditary corruption. The chief of them are “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 Jn. 2:16), or sensuality, avarice, and pride.

The Chief Passions: 1) Sensuality. By sensuality is meant a strong inclination to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures. The chief forms of this vice are: a) gluttony and drunkenness, or the habit of excessive consumption of food and strong drink; b) delicacy or a taste for exotic and costly foods; c) lust and all sexual sins; d) luxury or excessive wastefulness in food, clothing, home decoration, and so forth. How reprehensible the vice of sensuality is and what harmful consequences it can produce not only for our body and well-being, which it gradually ruins, but especially for the soul, can be seen, among other things, from the Gospel parable of the rich man (Lk. 12:16–21). The sensual cannot be lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:1–4); “their god is their stomach” (Phil. 3:19); 2) Avarice. Avarice is called excessive concern with acquiring and preserving wealth or riches. Its forms are: a) money-love or passion for acquiring money. The person possessed by it sometimes reaches such childish absurdity as to collect money merely to gaze upon it; b) stinginess—such a passion by which a person, out of attachment to wealth, reluctantly and far too little uses his possessions even for necessary needs. The sins accompanying avarice are: falsehood, deceit, theft, robbery, and even murder. Moreover, love of money disposes one toward envy, hatred, hardheartedness, and other vices; “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:10); 3) Pride is an excessively high opinion of one’s worth joined with the contempt of others. This vice appears in various forms and serves as the source of many others; for “pride is the beginning of all sin” (Sir. 10:15). The chief branches of it are: a) vanity—the passion to make oneself known in society and gain great reputation; b) love of power—the striving to subject others to one’s authority and make them follow one’s way of thinking; c) ambition—the excessive desire to surpass others through external advantages and receive external marks of honor; d) conceit—such a vice by which a person highly values his own deeds and advantages, displays them in order that others might respect him.

Pride, while being in itself a grave sin, entirely incompatible with the spirit of Christian humility, leads to many other sins, such as: hypocrisy, flattery, envy, obstinacy, disobedience, presumptuousness, forgetfulness of God, murmuring against His Providence, despair, and so forth. Wherefore “pride is hated before God and men.” (Sir. 10:7)

Sinful attachment is deeply rooted in the heart of man and becomes as it were his second nature. It holds a person in its power as a slave, so that he unwillingly obeys it even after seeing his own ruin. Sometimes he comes to his senses, grieves, and is sorrowful; but when the occasion arises, drawn by habit, he returns to the passion (an example is drunkenness). Therefore it is slavery to sin and corruption. Love of passions is an inward and spiritual idolatry; for those who serve their passions honor them, like idols, with swift and ready obedience. Thus for some “the belly” is “their God” (Phil. 3:19); for others “greed… is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). Wherefore one possessed by passion is inevitably in a sinful state, in separation from God and His grace.