Whether the external action adds any goodness or malice to that of the interior act?

❌ Objection 1 : It would seem that the external action does not add any goodness or malice to that of the interior action. For Chrysostom says (Hom. xix in Mt.): "It is the will that is rewarded for doing good, or punished for doing evil." Now works are the witnesses of the will. Therefore God seeks for works not on His own account, in order to know how to judge; but for the sake of others, that all may understand how just He is. But good or evil is to be estimated according to God's judgment rather than according to the judgment of man. Therefore the external action adds no goodness or malice to that of the interior act.

❌ Objection 2 : Further, the goodness and malice of the interior and external acts are one and the same, as stated above (Article [3]). But increase is the addition of one thing to another. Therefore the external action does not add to the goodness or malice of the interior act.

❌ Objection 3 : Further, the entire goodness of created things does not add to the Divine Goodness, because it is entirely derived therefrom. But sometimes the entire goodness of the external action is derived from the goodness of the interior act, and sometimes conversely, as stated above (Articles [1],2). Therefore neither of them adds to the goodness or malice of the other.