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ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

 

ON THE LAW

 

SUMMA THEOLOGIAE

FIRST PART OF THE SECOND PART (I-II)

(Trans. Alfred J. Freddoso)

QUESTION 100

The Moral Precepts of the Old Law

ARTICLE 3

 

Are all the moral precepts of the Old Law traced back to the ten precepts of the Decalogue?

 

It seems that not all the moral precepts of the Old Law are traced back to (reducantur) the ten precepts of the Decalogue:

 

Objection 1:  As Matthew 22:37,39 puts it, the first and principle precepts of the Law are “You shall love the Lord your God” and “You shall love your neighbor.”  But these two precepts are not contained in the precepts of the Decalogue.  Therefore, not all the moral precepts are contained in the precepts of the Decalogue.

        

Objection 2:  The moral precepts are not traced back to the ceremonial precepts, but rather vice versa.  But among the precepts of the Decalogue there is one ceremonial precept, viz., “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day” (Exodus 20:8).  Therefore, the moral precepts are not traced back to all the precepts of the Decalogue.

        

Objection 3:  The moral precepts have to do with all the acts of the virtues.  But only precepts having to do with acts of justice are found among the precepts of the Decalogue—as is clear from running through them one by one.  Therefore, the precepts of the Decalogue do not contain all the moral precepts.

        

But contrary to this:  The Gloss on Matthew 5:11 (“Blessed are you when they shall revile you .....”) says, “After Moses had proposed the ten precepts, he afterwards explained them through their parts (per partes).”  Therefore, all the precepts of the Law are, as it were, parts of the precepts of the Decalogue.

        

I respond:  The precepts of the Decalogue differ from the other precepts of the Law in the fact that the precepts of the Decalogue are such that God Himself (Deus per seipsum) is said to have presented them to the people, whereas He presented the other precepts to the people through Moses.  Therefore, the precepts belonging to the Decalogue are those that man has knowledge of from God Himself.  But these precepts include (a) the ones that can be known immediately, with very little reflection, on the basis of first general principles and, again, (b) the ones that are known immediately on the basis of divinely infused faith.
Therefore, there are two kinds of precepts that are not counted among the precepts of the Decalogue, viz., (a) precepts which are first general principles and which do not need to be made known (editio) in any way other than by being written in natural reason as something known per se, e.g., ‘A man should not do evil to anyone’ and others of this sort, and, again, (b) precepts that are found to be consonant with reason through the diligent inquiry of the wise, since these precepts come to the people from God through the teaching of the wise.  Still, both of these sorts of precepts are contained in the precepts of the Decalogue, though in different ways.  For the ones that are first general principles are contained in the precepts of the Decalogue in the way that principles are contained in their proximate conclusions, whereas, conversely, the ones that are known through the wise are contained in the precepts of the Decalogue in the way that conclusions are contained in their principles.

        

Reply to objection 1:  The two precepts in question are first general precepts of the law of nature, and they are known per se to human reason, either by nature or by faith.  And so all the precepts of the Decalogue are traced back to these two precepts in the way that conclusions are traced back to their general principles.

        

Reply to objection 2:  The precept about the observance of the Sabbath is a moral precept in a certain respect, viz., insofar as it commands man to free up some time or other (aliquo tempore vacet) for divine matters—this according to Psalm 45:11 (“Be still (vacate) and see that I am God”).  It is in this sense that it is counted among the precepts of the Decalogue.
However, it is not a moral precept as far as the exact specification of the time is concerned (quantum ad taxationem temporis), since in this respect it is a ceremonial precept.

 

Reply to objection 3:  The character of being something’s owed (ratio debiti) is less noticeable (magis latens) in the case of the other virtues than it is in the case of justice.  And so the precepts having to do with the other virtues are not as well known to the people as the precepts about the acts of justice are.  It is for this reason that acts of justice fall specifically under the precepts of the Decalogue, which are the first elements of the Law.

 

 
     

ON THE LAW

ON THE LAW IN GENERAL

I-II, q. 90, The Essence of Law

I-II, q. 91, The Different Kinds of Law

I-II, q. 92, The Effects of Law

THE PARTS OF LAW

Eternal law

I-II, q. 93, Eternal Law

Natural law

I-II, q. 94, The Natural Law

Human law

I-II, q. 95, Human Law

I-II, q. 96, The Force of Human Law

I-II, q. 97, Changes in Human Law

The old law

I-II, q. 98, The Old Law

I-II, q. 99, The Precepts of the Old Law

I-II, q. 100, The Moral Precepts of the Old Law

I-II, q. 101, The Ceremonial Precepts of the Old Law in Themselves

I-II, q. 102, The Causes of the Ceremonial Precepts

I-II, q. 103, The Duration of the Ceremonial Precepts

I-II, q. 104, The Judicial Precepts of the Old Law

I-II, q. 105, The Nature of the Judicial Precepts

The new law

I-II, q. 106, The Law of the Gospel, called the New Law, in Itself

I-II, q. 107, The Relation between the Old Law and the New Law

I-II, q. 108, The Contents of the New Law