All fine and good, provided you don't claim this is the teaching of Scripture.

The questions touching on good and evil are not about the having of power but the wielding of it. This conversation is about ethics, not metaphysics. Sin and righteousness are not things-in-themselves, but are ethical dispositions either toward God or against him. "In Adam's fall, we sinned all." What does it matter, what "good" is it, to "have a power" that inclines us to evil all the day long?

Scripture says: 
> "The human heart is desperately wicked; who can know it?" 

Scripture says:
> "...For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one  understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9–18)

Perhaps more to the point: God said: 
> "In the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die."

So, now we come to it: "did God *really say* we would die?" Did he *really say* he would "put enmity" between us and the serpent where we had (freely) chosen friendship with him and enmity with God? Is there any "good" in friendship with the devil?

At this point, as these debates always do, we resolve to the final question: to what authority should we turn to resolve all questions of doctrine and life? Rome says, "to the Magisterium." The Reformed say, "to the Scriptures." And never the two shall meet*.

#SolaScriptura  #SolaGratia  #SolaFide  #SolusChristus  #SoliDeoGloria  

[What are the Five Solas?](https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-are-the-five-solas)

*unless or until the Council of Trent is rescinded, for which we pray. 

 This reminds me of your other post in this thread, which I've linked below.

I'm interested in the question of whether sin is a substance in itself, or, as you claim in line with Reformed theologians, whether it is an ethical disposition (which, I suppose, would make it an accident associated with a human person).

It would seem that grace is a substance, for it is a positive gift that brings us into union with God.  By grace, Christ lives within us and unites us to Himself, and thus we are able to perform works of righteousness in and through Him.

"If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:23, RSV)

That indwelling of the Trinity within the human person enacts a substantial change, giving us "the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24, RSV).

This life in God seems to be more than a mere ethical disposition.

Sin, on the other hand, would not be a substance, but a privation, because it destroys this life of God within us.  Indeed, Original Sin destroyed the primordial friendship with God that Adam and Eve possessed.

I agree that we'll ultimately run into the classic stand-off between Catholic and Reformed theology over the authority of the Magisterium to interpret Scripture, though I would disagree that there is no meeting point.  We Catholics would certainly agree that all doctrine must accord with Scripture, but, of course, we would disagree that it is an authority that can stand on its own, without a living body to teach and interpret it.

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