252. The Timing and Unity of the Old Law

Summary

This lecture addresses why God gave the Old Law specifically at the time of Moses rather than immediately after sin or during Abraham’s time, and argues that while the Old Law contains many diverse precepts, they are all unified according to a single end: friendship with God. Berquist works through Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of these questions, emphasizing how man’s pride and ignorance necessitated a written law at a particular historical moment, and how the law’s multiplicity of precepts—moral, ceremonial, and judicial—all serve the single purpose of ordering man to God.

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Timing of the Old Law (Question 98, Article 6) #

Thomas argues that the Old Law was most suitably given at the time of Moses for two fundamental reasons:

First Reason: Man’s Pride About Knowledge

Man was proud, believing his natural reason was sufficient for salvation
Man needed to experience his own deficiency through failure
This experience would teach him that his reason is intellectus adumbratus (darkened intellect)
Therefore, man was permitted to rule by his own reason until he suffered the consequences

Second Reason: Obscuring of Natural Law

The natural law had become obscured through exuberance of sins (exuberantia peccatorum)
This led to widespread idolatry and moral corruption
A written law was necessary as a remedy for human ignorance
Through law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20)

Man’s Twofold Pride #

Thomas identifies two sources of human pride:

Pride of knowledge—thinking natural reason is sufficient
Pride of power—thinking one can accomplish what one knows

The law addresses both: first by instructing man regarding what he should do, then by convicting him when he cannot fulfill what he knows.

Why Not Earlier? #

The objections propose the law should have been given:

Immediately after sin (man needed to recognize his deficiency first)
In Abraham’s time (the law requires a people, not just a family; Abraham received family/domestic precepts instead)
Before David (the promise was narrowed progressively from Noah to Abraham to David, requiring written law only after the people was established)

Key Arguments #

The Essential Structure of a Precept #

A precept is obligatory (obligatoria) because it concerns something that ought to come about
What ought to come about stems from necessity of some end
The notion of precept essentially implies an order to an end (ordinem ad finem)
For one end, many things may be necessary or expedient
Therefore, many diverse precepts can be given for one end

Unity and Multiplicity of the Law #

All precepts of the Old Law are one according to their order to a single end
They are many according to the diversity of things ordered to that end
The end is friendship with God (amicitia cum Deo)
By extension, man is ordered to other men insofar as they are ordered to God

The Role of the Law in Three Stages #

Thomas explains how the law functions pedagogically:

Instruction: Through the law man comes to knowledge of sin
Conviction: When man sees what he knows he should do but cannot do it, his pride is broken
Preparation for Grace: As Romans 8:3 states, what was impossible to the law God fulfilled through sending his Son

Important Definitions #

Precept (Praeceptum)

An obligatory command that implies an order to an end (ordinem ad finem)
Something that ought to come about (aliquid quod oportet fieri) from the necessity of some end

The End (Finis) of the Law

Primary: constituting friendship (amicitia) between man and God
Secondary: ordering men to each other insofar as they serve this primary end

Exuberance (Exuberantia)

Excessive overflowing of sins that obscured the natural law
The excessive state of corruption requiring external written law as remedy

Examples & Illustrations #

The Steak Dinner Example #

One end: cutting and eating a filet mignon
Multiple precepts ordered to this end:
- Need the filet mignon itself
- Need wine to accompany it
- Need a steak knife (not just any knife)
All diverse yet unified by one end

The Building (Edificatio) #

The art of building is one according to unity of end (edification)
Yet it contains diverse precepts according to diverse acts ordered to that end
Just as the Old Law is one in ordering to friendship with God but contains diverse precepts

Progressive Narrowing of the Promise #

Noah: universal covenant
Abraham: promise narrowed to his seed
David: promise narrowed further to his lineage
This progression shows the pedagogical ordering toward Christ

Family vs. Written Law for a People #

Abraham received family/domestic precepts (praecepiones familiales domesticae) not a written law
A written law is required for a people because law pertains to the common good
Israel as an established people needed written law; Abraham’s household did not

Notable Quotes #

“All the precepts of the old law are one according to their order to one end. But they are many according to the diversity of those things which are ordered to that one end.”

“The precept of the law, since it is obligatory, is about something that ought to come about. But the something ought to come about comes from the necessity of some end. Whence it is manifested of the notion of a precept is that it implies an order to an end.”

“The end of the precept is charity. For to this every law tends that there be constituted friendship, either of men to each other or of man to God.” (Saint Paul, 1 Timothy)

Questions Addressed #

Question 98, Article 6: Why Moses? #

Resolution: Most suitable timing because:

Man needed experiential knowledge of his own deficiency
Natural law had become obscured through sin
A written law was necessary as pedagogical remedy
A people (not just a family) had been established

Question 100, Article 1: One Precept or Many? #

Resolution:

One according to unity of end (friendship with God)
Many according to diversity of things ordered to that end
The law itself is one, but its precepts are many—like a building that is one by its edifying purpose but contains diverse construction precepts

Philosophical Method #

Before and After (Prius et Posterius)

Something can be “before” another in time but also “before” in another sense
Example: man and woman are before husband and wife both temporally and essentially (you must be a man/woman before being husband/wife)
Thomas uses this distinction to explain the ordering of the precepts

From Imperfect to Perfect (Ab Imperfecto ad Perfectum)

The pedagogical method moves from lesser to greater understanding
Natural law → Old Law → New Law represents this progression
This follows Aristotle’s method of leading students from known to unknown (a noto ad ignotum)