Scotus Academicus, Tomus sextus: De Legibus Divinis et Humanis

The Mosaic Law and the Evangelical Law do not contradict one another in opposite ways, nor do they establish precepts perfectly opposed: for although some Mosaic law forbids what the Evangelical Law permits to be done; thus Leviticus 11 forbids many things from being eaten, such as unclean things, while Matthew 15 declares no foods unclean; for Christ says there, Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: whence the Apostle, 1 Tim. 1, says: All things are clean to the clean: yet these two precepts do not conflict with one another; for Alexander of Hales says, qu. 56, art. 1.

The Law forbade foods and declared them unclean for a threefold cause: First, on account of signification: hence it called them unclean, because they figured unclean things: Second, on account of abuse, hence it called them unclean and forbade them, because men used them for the worship of idolatry: Third, on account of the unworthiness of that people, on whose account it withdrew certain things from them as unclean: but the law of the Gospel declares and grants all things clean with respect to the nature of things, and to their fitting use, and to the dignity of those using them: and so the Law and the Evange> lium conflict only disparately, inasmuch as the Evangelical law excels the Mosaic in most respects

Note 2. From the same Alexander of Hales in the same place, the old law can be compared with the new chiefly according to six considerations. The first indeed, according to the consideration of virtue and efficacy. The second, according to the consideration of severity. The third, according to the consideration of truth. The fourth, according to the consideration of goodness. The fifth, according to the consideration of remuneration. The sixth finally, according to the consideration of the bearer of the law, or of the legislator. And so it must be resolved in the present question whether the Mosaic law truly differs from the Evangelical in all these respects.

Note 3. From the same Alexander of Hales in the same place, art. 2, ad secundum: a twofold sanctification can be distinguished, namely carnal and spiritual. Carnal sanctification is liberation from the penalty of sin which someone would incur if he were to despise or fail to do what was commanded: but spiritual sanctification is the very cleansing from the stain of sin which is in the soul. Now it is certain that the Mosaic law had the power of conferring sanctification of the flesh: for the Apostle says, Hebrews 9: The blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled to the cleansing of the flesh, that is, says the Gloss, it sanctifies those defiled by contact with the dead from the penalty, availing for cleansing not of the soul but of the flesh, because it freed from the penalty. But the difficulty is whether the Mosaic law also had the power of conferring true justification before God, which consists in the remission of sins and the infusion of sanctifying grace.

Single Conclusion. — The old law and the new differ first in this, that the latter has the power of justifying, while the former does not.

The Apostle proves this truth with many arguments, but especially in Rom. 1, where he says: I am not ashamed of the Gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and to the Greek. On this passage Anselm writes thus: It is the power, because it bestows grace, by whose aid we may be able to do what it commands. Which because the Mosaic law did not do, it was weak.

But that the Mosaic law did not have the power of justifying, the same Apostle teaches openly in the same place, chapter 8, when he says: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son condemned sin, that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us: and Galatians 2, verse 16: By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified, that is, no man. And verse 21: If justice be by the law, then Christ died gratis. And chapter 3: Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before God (certainly by the force of the law) it is manifest, because the just man liveth by faith: and Hebrews 7: There is a setting aside of the preceding commandment, because of its weakness and unprofitableness: for the law brought nothing to perfection. From all these it is established that both laws differ in this, that the Old cleansed indeed from the defilement of the flesh contracted by reason of transgression of the ceremonial precepts, but did not confer true justice of the soul: while the New has the power of conferring such justice: because it has present Christ the font of justice, who offered satisfaction to God for our sins, and merited sanctifying grace: whence John 1: The law was given by Moses; grace and truth were made by Jesus Christ. Hence, as we have said, as many as were justified in the old law ex opere operato, either through martyrdom or through other services rendered to God, did not obtain this grace of justification except through respect to Christ, the author and whole of the same grace, from which the grace of justification derived to absolutely all men living under whatever law: For neither is there another name under heaven given to men, wherein we must be saved, as we read in Acts IV.; hence chapter XV.: Through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, even as those Fathers of the Old Testament, who, as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. X., did drink of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.

Hence all the holy Fathers constantly affirm that those who in the Old Testament were acceptable to God through faith belonged to the New Testament: for they were not justified except through faith in Christ, who is the author of the New Testament: which truth Saint Augustine thus expounds, epistle 17, which is to Optatus, where he says:

Since all the just, that is, the true worshippers of God, whether before the incarnation or after the incarnation of Christ, neither believed nor live except by the faith of the incarnation of Christ, in whom is grace and fullness, certainly what is written, that there is not another name under heaven wherein we must be saved, holds from that time, and the suprascript name [prevails over] man, from the time he was vitiated in Adam: for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive: because as in the kingdom of death no one without Adam, so in the kingdom of life no one without Christ: as through Adam all men are unjust, so through Christ all men are just: as through Adam all mortals in punishment were made children of the age, so through Christ all immortals in grace become Sons of God.

This same truth St. Leo explains in a wonderful manner, sermon 3, De Nativitate: Let there be silence, therefore, says he, the complaints of those who, with impious murmuring reviling the divine dispensations, complain of the slowness of the divine nativity, as though what was done in the last age of the world had not been expended in times past:

the incarnation of the Word conferred these things to be done which were done, and the sacrament of human salvation never ceased in any antiquity: what the apostles preached, this the prophets announced: nor is that fulfilled late which has always been believed. But the wisdom and benignity of God, by this delay of so salutary a work, made us more capable of his voice by occasion, so that what had been foretold by many signs, many voices, and many mysteries through so many centuries might not be ambiguous in these days of the Gospel; and the nativity, which was about to surpass all miracles and every measure of understanding, would beget faith in us so much the more constant, as its preaching had been both more ancient and more frequent. God, therefore, consulted human affairs neither with a new counsel nor too late: but from the constitution of the world he instituted one and the same cause of salvation for all. But the grace of God, whereby the whole company of the Saints has always been justified, was increased at the birth of Christ, not taken away; and this Sacrament of great piety, whereby the whole world has now been filled, was so powerful in its significations, that those who believed in it as promised attained no less than those who received it as given. From this you will understand that, as the same sun of nature pierces both hemispheres with its light and cherishes them with its warmth, so that there is none who hides himself from its heat, so Christ the Lord, the Sun of justice, made fruitful both law by the light and dew of his grace. And as one hemisphere shines the more brightly, the nearer the sun approaches it: so the state of the old law, according as it drew nearer to the approach of Christ, received a more abundant illustration and fruit of the divine mysteries; and, as St. Gregory says, homily 16 on Ezechiel, According to the increases of time grew the knowledge of the holy Fathers, and the nearer they were to the advent of the Savior, the more fully did they perceive the sacrament of salvation.

Secondly, the Evangelical and Mosaic laws differ as regards the manifestation of truth; for, says the Alexian,

truth looks to three things as well in the Gospel as in the law. 1. The knowledge of things to be believed. 2. The grace of things to be done meritoriously. 3. The glory of rewards. With respect to the knowledge of things to be believed, the Gospel and the law differ according to veiled and revealed: with respect to the grace of things to be done, as promise and exhibition: with respect to the glory of rewards they differ as shadow and image: so that in the law there is a veiling of knowledge, a promise of grace, a shadow of glory: but in the Gospel there is the revelation of the knowledge of faith, the exhibition of the grace of God, the image of the reward.

And indeed the Apostle confirms this truth, 2 ad Corinthians III, where he says: The veil in the reading of the Old Testament remaineth unrevealed, because it is made void in Christ. Hence he adds: But we, beholding with unveiled face the glory of God, are transformed into the same image. Whence truth in the law was as a shadow: but in the Gospel as an image; hence Hebr. X: The law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image. Wherefore St. Gregory, super Ezech., book II, expounding these words, A wheel was within a wheel, says: A wheel was within a wheel, because what the law preaches, what the prophets announce, this the Gospel exhibits: and St. Leo, sermon VII, De Passione: Shadows cling to the body; from the ancient observance there is no departure from the Sacrament. Host passes into host, blood is taken away by blood, and while the legal festival is changed, it is fulfilled.

Thirdly, the old law and the new differ by reason of severity; since the old law furnished wrath, but the Evangelical mercy: the former was a law of fear, the latter of love; the former of servitude, this of liberty; the former prescribed for servants, this for sons. Wherefore the Apostle, ad Romanos VIII, says: You have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, wherein we cry: Abba, Father.

But the severity of the Mosaic law flourished chiefly in this, that, says the Alexian, that law has wrath and the strictness of punishment in its judicial precepts: fear through the multitude of its threats in its moral precepts: but in its ceremonial precepts servitude through the prospect and dread of eternal damnation.

Wherefore St. Peter, Act. XV, explaining the difficulty of observing the law, says: Why do you tempt God by putting a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But otherwise concerning the Evangelical law, which has very few precepts and contains an abundance of grace annexed, whereby they are made easy: hence Christ the Lord rightly said, Matt. XI: My yoke is sweet, and my burden light. For, as St. Augustine expounds, Epist. CXVIII, Christ subjected us to his light yoke, and bound together the society of the new people with a light burden, namely with sacraments fewest in number, easiest of observance, most excellent in signification.

Nor does it stand in the way that in the Evangelical law certain precepts seem difficult of observance, such as the precept concerning the indissolubility of marriage, concerning the love of enemies, concerning the necessity of confession; for those are rendered easy on account of the abundance of grace, which is imparted by Christ in the new law; according to that prophecy of Isaiae 10: In that day his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall rot at the presence of him. Nor does it equally matter that the Gospel is called a burden and a yoke: for, says St. Augustine, sermon 22, De verbis Apostoli, This burden is not the weight of one weighed down, but of a wing flying; for birds also have the burdens of their wings: they carry them on earth, they are carried by them in heaven, etc. And St. Bernard, Epistolar. 87, ad Monachos S. Bertini: Light, he says, is the burden of the Savior, and the more it grows, the more bearable it becomes. Does not even the multitude of wings itself lift the bird, not weigh it down? Take away the wings, and the rest of the body is carried to the depths: so the discipline of Christ, so the sweet yoke, so the light burden, that the more we lay it aside, the more it is drawn forth by him, because rather does he carry it than is carried. The Apostle commends this truth excellently, ad Galatas IV, in these words: It is written, that Abraham had two sons: one by a bondwoman, and one by a free woman, etc. Weighing these words, St. Anselmus, in the same place, says: In each Testament God begat sons who should serve him, but in the Old Testament Jews as servants, who would obey slavishly out of fear of punishment and the promise of temporal things: but in the grace of the New Testament free men, who would serve out of love. To him accords S. Chrysologus, sermon 1, on the Gospel: Cum ieiunatis etc., where he says: He who changed the Lord God into a Father wished to reign more by charity than by power, and chose rather to be loved than feared. This truth St. Augustine had indicated before, writing in the book against Adimantum, chapter 16: God, to the whole man laboring, appointed as Lord that which he should fear; and to the son born redeemed opened as Father that which he should love. Wherefore in chapter 17 he says: This is the shortest and most manifest difference of the two Testaments, fear and love.

Fourth, the difference between the Old Law and the New is that the Old Law was less perfect: but the Evangelical Law breathes and holds every perfection whatsoever; which prerogative of the New Law the Apostle commends with many words to the Galatians 4, and to the Hebrews 7, saying that the Old Law was the figure and shadow of the New: but the New, the truth and complement of the Old. Hence Jerome in book 1 against the Pelagians, chapter 9: In the Law it is promised, in the Gospel it is fulfilled; there is the beginning, here the perfection; there the foundations are laid, here the summit of faith and grace is set. This truth Victor of Antioch explains with an elegant simile, expounding that passage of Mark 4: The earth bringeth forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. For he says: First it brings forth the blade in the law of nature, afterwards the ears of grain in the law of Moses, then the full corn in the Gospel.

Fifth, the New Law surpasses the Old according to the reason of wages and reward; for the Old Law alone pledged and promised temporal goods as the wages of its observers, as we have already observed, according to that of Isaiah 1: If you will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But the Evangelical Law promises eternal life and the heavenly kingdom to its followers. Hence the Apostle to the Hebrews 7: Christ was made the surety of a better testament. That is, as the Gloss there says, the New Testament is better than the Old: because it promises better goods, that is, eternal ones: but the Old, temporal ones.

Finally, the preeminence of the New Law above the Old appears chiefly from this, that the Old Law was prescribed to the Jewish people alone; hence Deuteronomy 4: What other nation is so illustrious, as to have ceremonies, just judgments, and a universal law? Hence the Apostle to the Galatians 3: To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. Whence the Royal Prophet, Psalm 147: He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them. But the Gospel was given to the whole human race without exception; for Christ commands the Apostles in Mark 16: Preach the Gospel to every creature. And in Matthew 28: Go ye, teach all nations, etc. Moreover, the Old Law was prescribed to the Jewish people indeed by God, but by the ministry of Angels and through the hands of Moses; but the Evangelical Law has Christ the Lord, the Son of God, as its author and promulgator: which prerogative the Apostle commends with many words to the Hebrews 1.

At last, the Old Law was promulgated with terror, but the New with love: for it began to be published on the very day of Pentecost, on which the Holy Spirit, whose proper name is Love, poured himself into the Apostles, and poured forth divine love into their hearts; in regard to which St. Bernard, Epistle 107, exclaiming in admiration, says:

O twofold, and at the same time most firm proof of love toward us! Christ dies: therefore he merits to be loved. The Spirit moves us, and makes us love: the former made it that he might be loved, the latter that we might love; the former commends much love to us, the latter gives it; in the former we discern whom we are to love, from the latter we take whence we are to love: therefore from the former comes the occasion of charity, from the latter the affection.

You ask: whether the Evangelical Law was prescribed at a fitting time. I answer affirmatively: since that law has the reason of the Holy Spirit joined to it, it ought not to have been prescribed before sin was taken away from the human race by the death and passion of Christ, as the Apostle teaches to the Romans 8, where, having premised the description of the new law, he subjoins: God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, hath condemned sin in the flesh, that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us. 2. The new law is a perfect law; but what is perfect ought not to be given at once, but what, as St. Thomas says, according to the order of temporal succession, as one becomes a boy, and afterwards a man. The Apostle gives this reason: The law, he says to the Galatians 3, was our pedagogue in Christ, that we might be justified by faith: but after the faith is come, now we are no longer under a pedagogue. 3. It was fitting that man should experience his infirmity through sins, and know that he had need of grace, according to that of the Apostle to the Romans 5: The law entered in, that sin might abound: and where sin abounded, grace did more abound.

The Subtle Doctor embraced all these five prerogatives of the Evangelical Law above the Mosaic in five headings in book 3, distinction 10, n. 1.

First, because Christ, by his passion exhibited to us, merited more grace than by that to be exhibited to the ancients. Second, because we have more helps of grace than the Israelites had; for they, he says, besides matrimony (if indeed matrimony was a sacrament among them), had no sacrament except circumcision, and that as a remedy against original sin. But after their relapse, if they could merit some grace by their own motion, well enough: but for acquiring grace at that time no sacrament was instituted among them. For they had not the sacrament of penance, nor several other helps for obtaining grace, which we have. Third, besides the greater efficacy of the sacraments and their plurality, we have a doctrine more explicative and declarative of the truth than they had, and more examples of the saints, and more efficacious for imitation. And fourth, more merits of the saints, who perhaps merited not only for themselves but also for us; and we also merit by invoking their aid and intercession with God. Simply, therefore, there are more and more efficacious helps in the Christian law than in the old, and therefore in that respect the new law is lighter. There is also one help very noteworthy, because for the observance of the Christian law eternal life is explicitly promised to us: but to them either rarely, or never, were anything but temporal goods promised; for temporal goods never so much allure the soul to keep an everlasting law as eternal goods do. » Thus the Doctor.