Sin’s Interior Diagnostic
The doctrine that voluntary sin produces an immediate interior diagnostic signature — “upsetting the humors of the soul” and soaking her with its quality (impatience, anger, disorder) so that the soul can know by her own interior state whether she has sinned (Romans 2:15: the law written on the heart; 1 John 3:19-21: the self-condemning heart as the sign of sin) — while virtue produces its own contrary diagnostic: harmony, sweetness, charity, and peace, corresponding to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-23); the soul’s interior disintegration under voluntary sin (Psalm 32:3-5: bones wasting, strength dried up) is not incidental but the constitutive response of a soul made for harmony when that harmony is violated. (E)
Anchors: Galatians 5:19-23; 1 John 3:19-21; Romans 2:15; Psalm 32:3-5 — Appearances: 3. Full Registry entry.