239. The Eternal Law and Natural Things

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Eternal Law’s Extension to Natural Things #

Objection: Natural contingent things cannot be subject to the eternal law because:

• Promulgation is essential to law, but promulgation only works for rational creatures to whom something can be announced
• Only things that obey reason partake in reason and thus the eternal law
• The eternal law is most efficacious, yet defects occur in nature, suggesting they escape the law

The Problem of Apparent Defects in Nature Berquist gives the example of birds flying into clear windows—they seem to act without understanding divine precepts, yet their behavior must still be ordered by law.

God’s Command and Natural Motion #

Thomas distinguishes between how human law and divine law operate:

• Human law: Extends only to rational creatures subject to human governance; cannot be imposed on irrational creatures even if subject to man
• Divine law: God commands all nature by impressing upon creatures “inward active beginnings” (intrinsic principles of action)

Thus all natural motions and actions are subject to the eternal law according to Psalm 148: “He laid down a precept and will not [pass away].”

Two Modes of Subjection to Eternal Law #

1. Rational creatures: Subject through understanding and knowledge of the divine precept
2. Irrational creatures: Subject through being moved by divine providence, without understanding the precept

Analogy with Body and Mind Just as the members of a human body are moved by reason’s command but do not themselves possess reason, so irrational creatures are moved by God but remain non-rational.

Training Animals as Analogous to God’s Action Berquist notes that when humans train dogs, habit becomes “a second nature,” and in this sense humans act somewhat like God, imposing an inward principle of action.

Defects in Nature and Divine Providence #

Objection: Defects in natural things (e.g., sickness, malfunction) seem to escape the eternal law’s efficacy.

Resolution: Although particular defects may fall outside the order of particular causes, nothing escapes the order of the First Cause (God). Providence encompasses all defects. As stated: “Subterra fugere” (to flee from under)—nothing can escape from beneath God’s governance.

Thus even natural defects are subject to the eternal law.

Article 6: Human Beings and the Eternal Law #

Objection from Scripture: Paul says in Galatians that those led by the Spirit are not under the law.

Further Objection: Just men are led by God’s Spirit; therefore they are not under the eternal law.

Objection from Depravity: The prudence of the flesh is hostile to God’s law; many people are dominated by carnal prudence; therefore they are not subject to eternal law.

Objection from Augustine: The eternal law is that by which the bad merit misery and the good merit eternal life. The already damned and already beatified do not merit; therefore they are not subject to the eternal law.

The Two Ways Something is Subject to Eternal Law #

Thomas presents a twofold subjection:

1. By knowledge (participation in the eternal law through understanding)
2. By acting and undergoing (participation through an intrinsic principle of action)

In Rational Creatures Rational creatures are subject in BOTH ways:

• They have some notion of the eternal law (through practical reason’s natural inclinations)
• They naturally incline toward that which accords with the eternal law
• Aristotle teaches that we are innate to having virtues (naturally inclined to virtue)

Perfection in the Good; Imperfection in the Bad

In the good:

• Natural knowledge of the good is perfected by faith and wisdom (gifts of the Holy Spirit)
• Natural inclination to good is perfected by infused virtue and grace as an inward mover
• Result: They act “perfectly under the eternal law, always acting according to it”

In the bad:

• Natural inclination to virtue is depraved through vicious habits
• Natural knowledge of good is darkened by passions and habits of sin
• Result: They are subject “imperfectly” regarding their own actions
• BUT what they lack in action is supplied by passion (they undergo what the eternal law dictates through punishment for failing to act rightly)

The Meaning of “Not Under the Law” (Paul’s Teaching) #

First Interpretation: “Under the law” means being subject to it as a burden or weight. Spiritual persons are not under this burden because charity moves them to voluntary obedience, not fear of punishment.

Second Interpretation: Works done by the Holy Spirit are attributed more to the Holy Spirit than to the person; since the Spirit is not under law, these works are not said to be under the law. As 2 Corinthians 3 states: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Conclusion: One freely obeys the law (through charity) rather than under compulsion.

The Flesh and Divine Law #

The “prudence of the flesh” cannot be subject to the law on the side of action (it inclines to contrary actions), BUT it is subject to the law on the side of undergoing—meriting punishment according to divine justice.

Preservation of Natural Good in All No sin so dominates any person that it corrupts the entire good of nature. Therefore, even the wicked retain some natural inclination to act according to eternal law, and hence some natural ability to do good.

Augustine’s Resolution on Meriting Even the damned and beatified are subject to eternal law insofar as they are preserved in their state (misery or beatitude) by the same law through which they came to merit that state. Just as gravity both moves a heavy body to a place below AND preserves it there, so the eternal law both brings creatures to beatitude/misery AND preserves them there.

Key Arguments #

Against Subjection of Natural Things #

1. The Promulgation Argument: Only rational creatures can receive promulgation; natural things cannot; therefore natural things are not subject to eternal law

   • Response: Promulgation to rational creatures is distinct from God’s imprinting of intrinsic principles of action in all creatures

2. The Reason-Participation Argument: Only things partaking in reason are subject to the law of reason; natural things lack reason; therefore not subject

   • Response: Irrational creatures partake in divine reason through being moved by divine providence, not through understanding

3. The Efficacy Argument: The eternal law is most efficacious, yet defects occur in nature; therefore defects escape it

   • Response: Defects are outside the order of particular causes but within the order of the First Cause

Against Subjection of Sinful/Carnal Humans #

1. The Paul Argument: Galatians says those led by Spirit are not under law

   • Response: This means not under law AS A BURDEN, not that they escape the law’s governance

2. The Depravity Argument: Carnal prudence dominates some; it opposes God’s law; therefore they escape it

   • Response: They are imperfectly subject in action but subject in undergoing (punishment); natural good remains in all

Against Subjection of Damned/Beatified #

1. The Merit Argument: The damned and beatified do not merit; the eternal law is about meriting; therefore they are not subject
   • Response: They are subject by the same law that preserves them in their state as the law that brought them to that state

Important Definitions #

Promulgation (προμήνευσις): The making known or announcement of law; in human law, this involves expressing the law to rational subjects who can understand it.

Imprinting of Intrinsic Principles: God’s mode of “commanding” irrational nature by giving creatures their own intrinsic sources of action (forms, natures, tendencies) rather than external promulgation.

Divine Providence (providentia divina): God’s ordering and governance of all creation; nothing escapes its reach.

Subterra fugere (Latin): “To flee from under”; used to express that nothing can escape from beneath God’s providential order.

Prudence of the Flesh (prudentia carnis): Reasoning oriented toward bodily appetites and desires contrary to divine law; characteristic of those not moved by the Holy Spirit.

Natural Good of Nature (bonum naturae): The inherent capacities and inclinations toward good that remain in all human beings even after sin, which sin cannot entirely corrupt.

Examples & Illustrations #

Birds and Clear Windows Berquist describes birds repeatedly flying into the large clear windows of his daughter’s dining area and church. These birds act according to their nature (seeking to fly into what appears open space) without understanding the obstacle or divine precept. Yet their motion is still ordered by divine providence—they are moved toward their natural good (flight, exploration) even though they do not comprehend the law directing them.

Garage Door and Birds Similarly, birds fly into an open garage door, fly around, then exit. They are seeking their natural good (space to move) without understanding why they do so. This illustrates how irrational creatures are moved by their intrinsic natures toward goods, ordered by providence.

King Canute Berquist mentions the legendary King Canute who attempted to command the waves not to exceed their limits—illustrating the boundary between human law (which cannot extend to irrational things) and divine law (which commands all nature).

The Mad Modern Times Berquist reflects on contemporary news of arrested individuals planning violence in the name of ISIS, noting that no matter how depraved people become, they never entirely lose the capacity for good and remain subject to divine law, even if imperfectly through undergoing punishment.

Jeremiah’s Question Berquist references Jeremiah asking why the wicked prosper and the just suffer. Augustine’s resolution: no one is so wicked that they never do good, so God rewards their small good in this life (since they have no afterlife reward). No one is so just that they never sin, so God allows their punishment in this life to reduce purgatorial suffering.

Questions Addressed #

1. Are natural contingent things subject to the eternal law?

   • Yes, though not through promulgation and understanding. Rather, God impresses intrinsic principles of action upon all creatures, and these principles constitute their subjection to the eternal law through divine providence.

2. What is the mode of subjection for irrational creatures?

   • They are moved by divine providence and do not understand the divine precept, yet their very nature and inclinations are divinely ordered.

3. Are humans with carnal prudence subject to the eternal law?

   • Yes, imperfectly. On the side of action, they may resist; but they are perfected in subjection through undergoing the consequences (punishment) that the eternal law dictates for those who act contrary to it.

4. How can Paul say we are not under the law if we are led by the Spirit?

   • This means not under law AS A BURDEN requiring external constraint. Those moved by charity obey freely and willingly, participating in the law’s governance through voluntary action rather than compulsion.

5. Are the damned and beatified still subject to the eternal law?

   • Yes, in the sense that the same law that brought them to their state preserves them in it. They are subject by undergoing (not by meriting).

Connections and Context #

To Eternal Law: This lecture is the continuation of Question 93’s treatment of eternal law, now addressing its extension beyond rational creatures to all natural things and to the diversity of ways humans participate in it.

To Divine Providence: The lecture demonstrates how eternal law and divine providence are inseparable—the eternal law operates through providence in governing all creation.

To Human Law: Contrasts human law (limited to rational subjects through promulgation) with divine/eternal law (extended to all creatures through intrinsic ordering).

To Virtue and Grace: Introduces the distinction between natural inclination to virtue and the perfection of that inclination through grace and the Holy Spirit—relevant to the subsequent discussion of natural law.