254. Precepts of the Old Law: Moral, Judicial, and Ceremonial

Summary

This lecture examines Thomas Aquinas’s treatment of the precepts contained in the Old Law, specifically addressing whether there are only three categories (moral, judicial, ceremonial) or additional ones. Berquist works through Question 99 of the Summa Theologiae, analyzing objections that propose additional precepts such as testimonies, mandates, and justifications, and demonstrates how all precepts reduce to the three principal divisions. The lecture includes discussion of how the Old Law pedagogically leads an imperfect people toward God through temporal rewards and punishments, and concludes with contemporary applications regarding rights language, duties, and marriage.

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Threefold Division of Precepts #

All precepts of the Old Law are contained under three categories: moral, judicial, and ceremonial
Other apparent categories (testimonies, mandates, justifications) are not distinct precepts but are ordered to the observation of the three principal precepts
This structure parallels how temporal things are ordered to spiritual things

Moral Precepts and Justice #

Justice is the only virtue among virtues that implies the notion of debt (something owed)
Moral precepts, insofar as they are determinable by law, retain to justice
Religion itself is a part of justice (as Cicero acknowledges)
Because justice implies duty, moral law is fundamentally about duties, not merely rights

The Problem of Contemporary Moral Language #

The contemporary Western world focuses on rights to the exclusion of duties
Without the notion of duty, moral matters become “amorphous and undefined”
This is contrary to the proper understanding of justice found in Thomas Aquinas

Why Temporal Rewards and Punishments? #

The Old Law uses temporal promises and threats because it addresses an imperfect people (compared to a boy under a pedagogue, per Galatians 3:24)
The teacher leads from the known to the unknown—from sensible things to spiritual realities
Temporal goods dispose imperfect men toward God; they are not the ultimate end
The perfection of man consists in having contempt for temporal things and adhering to spiritual things

Cupidity vs. Proper Use of Temporal Goods #

Cupidity (covetousness that makes temporal goods one’s end) is the poison of charity
However, the attaining of temporal goods which a man desires in order to God is a road leading the imperfect toward love of God
Even Christ cured people and answered prayers, disposing them toward God through temporal benefits

Key Arguments #

Against Temporal Rewards and Punishments (Objection 6) #

Premise 1: The divine law aims at making men subject to God through fear and love
Premise 2: Cupidity (covetousness of temporal things) leads away from God
Premise 3: Therefore, temporal promises and threats are contrary to the law’s intention
Counterargument from Scripture: Isaiah 1:19 shows God promising temporal prosperity to those who obey

Thomas’s Resolution #

The Old Law, as an imperfect law, appropriately leads men from temporal goods (which they desire) toward God
This is a pedagogical method suitable for spiritual children
The law disposes the people for Christ, who brought perfection
Temporal prosperity was experienced by the Jewish people so long as they observed the law; departure from law brought adversities

On Additional Precepts (Objection 5) #

Objection: Beyond moral, judicial, and ceremonial precepts, there must be others covering virtues like temperance, fortitude, and liberality
Objection: Deuteronomy 11:1 mentions “ceremonias and judicia,” suggesting additional categories of “mandata”
Objection: Other biblical passages mention “testimonies” and “justifications” as distinct from the three
Thomas’s Answer:
- Testimonies (e.g., “Here O Israel, the Lord your God is one”) indicate the authority of God commanding—ordered to observing precepts
- Justifications (rewards and punishments) indicate divine justice—ordered to motivating observance
- Mandates are things commanded as better and persuasive, not strictly owed, but still ordered to the three main categories
- All these function as means to observing the principal precepts, not as additional types of precepts

Important Definitions #

Precept #

A command that binds; something ordered to an end
Includes both what is strictly owed and what is useful or persuasive toward fulfilling duties

Debt (Debitum) #

Twofold: one according to the rule of reason, another according to the rule of one determining what (the law)
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, Book V) distinguishes moral justice and legal justice
Moral debt: reason dictates something either as necessary for virtue or as useful for preserving virtue better

Moral Precepts #

Things commanded or prohibited as strictly owed (e.g., “You shall not kill, you shall not steal”)
Properly called “precepts”

Mandates (Mandata) #

Things commanded or prohibited as better, having an inducing and persuasive force rather than strict obligation
Example: Exodus 22 on returning property before sunset
Jerome notes: in precepts is justice; in mandates is charity

Testimony (Testimonium) #

Statements that protest or indicate the divine justice and God’s authority
Examples: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4); “In the beginning God created heaven and earth” (Genesis 1:1)

Justification (Justificatio) #

The carrying out of legal justice; includes both rewards and punishments
Shows how God justly punishes or justly rewards
All precepts of the law are called justifications insofar as they ensure carrying out legal justice

Examples & Illustrations #

The Great Commandment and Multiple Aspects #

Matthew’s account: “Love the Lord with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole reason (or mind)”
Sometimes includes “your whole strength”
Berquist clarifies: these are not four distinct things but three with a quality to be observed in each
One shouldn’t look for a “fourth” precept; rather, one must do all three with one’s whole strength
This illustrates how apparent multiplicity can reduce to a unified order

Temporal Prosperity Under the Old Law #

Historical pattern: the Jewish people prospered so long as they observed the law
Upon departing from the law, they fell into many adversities
Some particular persons observing justice still experienced adversities:
- Either to draw them away from temporal things and develop their virtue
- Or because they were performing external works while their heart was far from God (Isaiah 29: “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”)

Marriage and Emotional Attachment #

Modern error: defining marriage as “a profession of emotional attachment to somebody”
Absurd consequence: “I’m married to my grandchildren, my dog or cat”
True definition: Marriage is based on an act of will, a choice
Liturgical evidence: the priest asks “Do you take so-and-so as your wife/husband?"—not “Do you have wonderful feelings?”
Essential elements: choosing each other and being open to life
The Supreme Court’s error: equivocation on the definition of marriage itself

No-fault divorce began the process of making marriage dissoluble
This disposes people to think marriage is very “dissolvable”
The book by Ryan Anderson traces these effects from no-fault divorce to redefining the essence of marriage

Questions Addressed #

Question 99, Article 5: Are there other precepts beyond moral, judicial, and ceremonial? #

Objection: Many virtues (temperance, fortitude, liberality) are mentioned in Scripture alongside these three categories, suggesting additional precepts
Thomas’s Answer: All apparent “others” (testimonies, mandates, justifications) are ordered to the observation of the three principal precepts, not distinct from them
These are like the “whole strength” applied to “heart, soul, and mind”—a quality across the principal categories, not a fourth thing

Question 99, Article 6: Why does the Old Law use temporal rewards and punishments? #

Objection: The divine law should lead men through fear and love of God, not through cupidity for temporal things
Scripture seems to contradict: Isaiah 1:19 explicitly promises temporal goods
Thomas’s Resolution:
- The Old Law addresses an imperfect people in spiritual childhood
- Temporal goods dispose the imperfect toward God, just as sensible rewards dispose boys
- This is a pedagogical method: from the known (temporal) to the unknown (spiritual)
- The law was given to prepare for Christ, who brought perfection
- Cupidity itself (making temporal goods one’s end) is poisonous; but using temporal goods as a path to God is legitimate

Notable Quotes #

“Justice alone among the other virtues implies the notion of something owed; therefore moral matters are determinable by law insofar as they belong to justice. But if there is no duty, then moral matters become very amorphous and undefined.”

“The perfection of man is that having contempt for temporal things, he adheres to spiritual things.”

“It is of the imperfect that they desire temporal goods in order nonetheless to God; but it is of the perverse that they constitute their end in temporal goods.”

“These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Isaiah 29, cited by Thomas to show that external observance without interior devotion is insufficient)

“The teacher leads the student from the known to the unknown; one way is leading them by sensible things.” (Q. 117, Article 1, cited to support the pedagogical method of the Old Law)