ON THE ESSENCE OF THE NEW LAW.

S. Th. I-II, q. 106 and 107.

315. The new law properly and principally is an internal law implanted in us (q. 106, a. 1) : for as natural law is the very light of our reason habitually showing what is good to be done and evil to be avoided, and the very habitual inclination to the good of reason, so the new law is the very habitual grace of the Holy Spirit, written in the heart of the faithful, in which the whole power of the law consists, since from the abundance of the light of faith and of the gifts (of understanding and of knowledge) and of the illuminations of the Holy Spirit it indicates what is to be done in order to eternal life, and from the abundance of love and grace sweetly inclining it also helps to fulfill it.

It is clear from the doctrine of the Apostle who a) Hebr. VIII, 8-10, says the prophecy of Jeremiah (XXXI, 33) about the new covenant or testament is fulfilled : « I will give my law in their bowels and I will write it on their heart » ; whence II Cor. III, 3 : « you are the epistle of Christ (ministered by us) and written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on the fleshly tablets of the heart » ; — b) Rom. III, 27, 31, he calls the very grace of faith a law, and as an internal one he sets it over against the old law of exterior works ; — and c) VIII, 2, he calls it the law of the spirit of life, i.e. of the Holy Spirit internally giving life (for the spirit of life is something internal), which frees us from the law of sin and of death, i.e. from interior concupiscence, which the old law, as external, could not overcome. Cf. John VI, 44, 45 and Is. LIV, 13.

Secondarily however the new law is an external and written law, inasmuch as by words and writings it instructs the faithful about those things to be believed and done which dispose to grace or regard its use.

From which it follows that the new law justifies by its force according as it is principally the very grace inwardly given, but not according to the precepts which secondarily pertain to it (a. 2).

316. The new law ought not to have been given from the beginning (a. 3), 1) because it is principally the grace of the Holy Spirit, which ought not to be given abundantly except after the redemption by Christ has been accomplished (John VII, 39 ; Rom. VIII, 3) ; 2) because it is perfect : something ought not to be brought to perfection at once but successively, and therefore an imperfect law had to precede (Gal. IV, 24) ; 3) because it is the law of grace, and therefore it was fitting that man be left to his own powers in the Old Law, so that, falling into sin, knowing his own infirmity, he would acknowledge that he needs grace (Rom. V, 20).

317. The old and new law are one in species inasmuch as they tend to one thing, that men be subjected to God and have eternal life (q. 107, a. 1-4) ; they are however two in degree of perfection inasmuch as the Old is imperfect, the New however perfect because it is the law of charity and friendship with God.

Hence 1) the New fulfills the Old (Mt. V, 17) because the perfect completes what is lacking to the imperfect : a) as to the end, which is the justification of men, which the old law could not effect but prefigured and promised to be effected by the new law ; b) as to the precepts : for Christ not only confirmed the moral precepts of the law but also exposed their true sense by showing that interior acts are also forbidden by it, indicated how they would be more surely observed, and added counsels of perfection (Mt. V-VII) ; — 2) the New is contained in the Old as the tree in the seed ; — 3) the New is less burdensome than the Old (Mt. XI, 28), both in number of precepts, because it adds few positive external [precepts] to natural law, and in the easiness and delightfulness of love by which it is fulfilled : for although it prescribes the manner of acting according to the perfection of virtue and even prescribes justice in every interior affection, these things however are not burdensome to those who love God and have justice.

Whence the new law is altogether spiritual : a) it has a spiritual and eternal sanction (Mt. X, 28) ; therefore it calls blessed those who are poor, who mourn, who suffer persecution, because their reward is copious in heaven (Mt. V, 3-12), and denounces temporal goods as an impediment which retards us from the kingdom of heaven (Lk. VI, 24-25 ; Mt. XVI, 26) ; b) it is a spiritual kingdom, to enter which faith in the Gospel, love of God and neighbor, imitation of Christ, denial of self are required (Mt. V, 48) ; c) the worship which it promotes, although it must be manifested externally, must be pre-eminently internal (John IV, 23). Hence the ancient sacrifices, which consisted principally in external immolation, are abolished and in their place succeeds the sacrifice of Christ, who offers not only his body, but his soul, in most perfect obedience (Hebr. X, 5-7). Which he wishes also his disciples to offer as spiritual hosts¹ (I Pet. II, 5 ; Mt. VI, 1).

318. The new law was solemnly promulgated on the day of Pentecost, in the presence of Jews from every nation ; on which day it began to oblige in Jerusalem, but in other regions successively according to the time necessary that the knowledge of the law might morally come to them of itself. Which however is commonly believed to have been sufficiently done for the world then known about 40 years after the death of the Savior (at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem) : for then the sound of the Apostles had gone out into all the earth (Rom. X, 18). — Not however for this reason was the law divulged, since its knowledge had not yet in fact come to all.