285. Interior Acts and the New Law: Precepts and Counsels

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Problem: Does the New Law Insufficiently Order Interior Acts? #

• The Gospel appears to address only three of the Ten Commandments (homicide, adultery, perjury)
• It seems to omit many judicial precepts from the Mosaic Law
• It provides no specific teaching about ceremonial precepts
• It appears incomplete regarding solicitude for temporal necessities and judgment of others

The Solution: Christ’s Sermon on the Mount #

• Contains the complete formation of Christian life
• Orders interior motions in two ways: toward oneself and toward one’s neighbor
• Addresses the will according to diverse precepts of the law
• Directs intention toward proper ends (not human glory or earthly wealth)
• Orders motions toward neighbor (against rash, unjust, or presumptuous judgment)
• Shows the way of fulfilling Gospel doctrine through divine aid and virtue

Interior vs. Exterior Acts #

• The Pharisees understood only exterior prohibition (e.g., “do not kill,” “do not commit adultery”)
• They failed to grasp the interior desire or motion must also be ordered
• They believed certain emotions (anger, concupiscence) were natural and therefore not culpable
• Christ perfects the law by extending prohibition to interior acts and dispositions

Three Types of Old Law Precepts and Their Perfection in the New Law #

Moral Precepts: Remain in necessity in the New Law because they pertain to virtue itself

• Christ adds fulfillment by extending them to interior acts and occasions
• Example: Not merely avoiding adultery externally, but avoiding interior desire

Judicial Precepts: Not binding in the same determinate way; left to human judgment

• Three ways the Pharisees erred:
  1. Treated permissions (like divorce) as commands
  2. Believed precepts commanded revenge, cupidity, or hatred rather than justice
• Christ removes disordered dispositions:
  1. Against revenge: prepares the soul to sustain more rather than retaliate (eye for eye)
  2. Against cupidity: prepares the soul to give more rather than merely recover (restitution)
  3. Against hatred: teaches love of enemies and readiness to do good to them

Ceremonial Precepts: Fulfilled through spiritual transformation

• Old bodily cult transformed into spiritual worship
• Example: Christ teaches the woman at the well that true worship is “in spirit and in truth,” not in Jerusalem or on a mountain

Temporal Solicitude and Ordered Care #

• Four-fold disorder of solicitude regarding temporal things (to be avoided):
  1. Constituting temporal things as one’s end (making them the rule and measure of deeds)
  2. Despair of divine aid (anxious solicitude without trust in Providence)
  3. Presumption (believing one’s own effort alone can procure necessities without God)
  4. Worry about the future (extending solicitude beyond present needs)
• Legitimate solicitude: natural care for food and clothing as necessities for living
• Teaching: “Your Father knows that you need these things”

Three Earthly Goods and Works of Virtue #

• All earthly goods reduce to three categories:
  1. Wealth (concupiscence of the eyes)
  2. Bodily delights (concupiscence of the flesh)
  3. Honor and glory (pride of life)
• All works of virtue reduce to three:
  1. Fasting (restrains concupiscences regarding bodily delights)
  2. Almsgiving (works of love toward neighbor)
  3. Prayer (acts of worship toward God)

Judgment in the New Law #

• Christ does not prohibit judgment of justice (necessary for administration)
• He prohibits disordered judgment: rash, unjust, or presumptuous judgment
• Distinction: One may judge worthiness for holy things while maintaining charity

Precepts vs. Counsels in the New Law #

Precepts: Imply necessity; address what is required for salvation and achieving beatitude

• Apply to all Christians
• Concern things necessary to the end (eternal beatitude)
• The New Law is “the law of liberty” precisely because it adds counsels beyond precepts

Counsels: Invite to greater perfection; address what is expedient but not necessary

• Apply to those capable and called to them
• Concern things better and more expeditious for achieving the end
• Christ proposes them with conditions: “If you wish to be perfect…”; “Who can hold this? Let him do so”
• The Apostle frames them as useful advice, not commands: “I say this for your usefulness, not as a command”

The Three Evangelical Counsels #

• Poverty: Renounces wealth (external goods)
• Chastity: Renounces bodily delights (perpetual continence)
• Obedience: Renounces personal will (servitude of will to another’s governance)
• These three constitute the foundation of every religious state professing the state of perfection
• Understood as: complete abdication when lived in religious life; partial observance when lived for special times or circumstances

Gradations of Counsel Observance #

• Complete observance: Total renunciation in the religious state
• Particular observance: Keeping specific counsel in particular cases
  • Example: Almsgiving (keeping poverty counsel)
  • Example: Fasting for a determined time to aid prayer (keeping chastity counsel)
  • Example: Not following one’s will in illicit matters; forgiving one to whom one could exact revenge (keeping obedience counsel)

Key Arguments #

Argument for the Sufficiency of the Gospel’s Teaching #

• The Sermon on the Mount contains the complete formation of Christian life (Augustine)
• Christ orders interior motions first regarding oneself, then regarding one’s neighbor
• He addresses both the will (regarding diverse precepts) and the intention (regarding proper ends)
• This ordering extends natural law precepts to their interior dimensions, perfecting them

Argument for Why Some Old Law Precepts Appear Omitted #

• Many apparent omissions are actually implicit in the general principles Christ establishes
• Example: “Do not judge rashly” implicitly addresses unjust judgment and presumption
• The judicial precepts are not binding in the specific determinate form but remain in principle (justice must be pursued)
• The ceremonial precepts are fulfilled spiritually rather than abolished

Argument for Distinguishing Precepts from Counsels #

• The difference lies in necessity vs. choice
• Precepts concern things necessary to achieving the end (beatitude)
• Counsels concern things better and more expeditious but not necessary
• The New Law is law of liberty because it adds counsels to precepts
• Christ always conditions counsels: implying they are optional

Argument for the Reality of Greater and Lesser Goods #

• Objection: If greater goods are undetermined in individuals, counsels cannot be determinate
• Reply: Although greater goods are undetermined in particular cases, those that are simply and absolutely greater are determined universally (e.g., virginity > marriage; poverty > wealth; obedience > self-will)
• All particular counsels reduce to the three general and perfect counsels

Important Definitions #

Interior Acts (Interna Actus) #

Acts of the will, intention, and emotional dispositions (motus interiores), as distinguished from exterior acts. The ordering of interior acts concerns desires, intentions, judgments, and the preparation of the soul (praeparatio animae).

Praeparatio Animae (Preparation of the Soul) #

The dispositional readiness to act virtuously. When Christ teaches that one should be prepared to sustain more than is unjustly taken, He addresses the preparation of the soul, not necessarily commanding the exterior act in every circumstance.

Permission (Permissio) vs. Command (Praeceptum) #

In the Mosaic Law, some provisions were permissions (allowing what is not in itself good) rather than commands. The Pharisees mistakenly treated permissions as commands. Example: Divorce was permitted but not commanded.

Judicial Precepts (Praecepta Iudicialia) #

Precepts of the Mosaic Law concerning civil justice and restitution. These are not binding in the new law in their specific determinate form but remain in principle (justice must be pursued). Their observance is left to human prudential judgment.

Ceremonial Precepts (Praecepta Ceremonalia) #

Precepts concerning bodily worship in the Old Law. These are fulfilled spiritually in the New Law rather than repeated in their material form. Example: Animal sacrifice becomes spiritual sacrifice.

Counsel (Consilium) #

An invitation to perfection beyond what is necessary. It implies choice (optio) for the one to whom it is given. Differs from precept in that it does not bind by necessity but invites to greater good.

The State of Perfection (Status Perfectionis) #

A state of life (religious life) that professes the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, ordered toward the perfection of charity. Not all counsels require this state, but religious profession formally embraces them.

Disordered Solicitude (Sollicitudo Inordinata) #

Anxious concern about temporal necessities that (1) makes them the end of life, (2) despairs of God’s providence, (3) presumes one’s own effort suffices, or (4) extends to future needs beyond present necessity.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Pharisees’ Misunderstanding of Adultery and Homicide #

• They understood “do not commit adultery” as prohibiting only the exterior act
• They failed to recognize that the interior desire (concupiscence tending to adultery) is also disordered
• They thought anger and desire were more natural and therefore less culpable than theft or false witness
• Christ extends the precept to the interior motion itself

Perjury and the Pharisees’ False Understanding #

• The Pharisees believed perjury was only wrong when one swore falsely
• They did not grasp that swearing oaths itself should be avoided if possible
• Better to speak truth without swearing than to make many oaths
• Christ teaches: “Let your word be yes or no”

The Precept “Eye for Eye” #

• Pharisees believed this commanded revenge and retaliation
• In truth, it was ordained to establish justice (proportional restitution), not to satisfy anger
• Christ removes the disordered disposition (desire for revenge) by teaching preparedness to sustain even more injury
• He does not abolish justice but reorders the interior intention

Divorce: Permission vs. Command #

• Moses permitted divorce due to the hardness of hearts (Mt. 19:8)
• The Pharisees treated this permission as if it were a command or good practice
• Christ restores the original intention of the law: permanent indissoluble marriage

The Woman at the Well (John 4) #

• She believed true worship required specific location (Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim)
• Christ teaches that the ceremonial precepts are fulfilled spiritually
• “True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth”
• The bodily cult is transformed into spiritual worship

The Ant (Proverbs 6:6-8) #

• “Go to the ant, consider its ways; prepare in summer food for yourself”
• Illustrates natural solicitude for necessities
• Shows that even natural creatures exercise foresight for living
• Christ does not forbid this natural care but forbids disordered anxiety about it

The Three Works Reducing All Others (Mt. 6) #

• Fasting represents all acts restraining bodily concupiscences (internal discipline)
• Almsgiving represents all acts of love toward one’s neighbor
• Prayer represents all acts of worship toward God
• These three encompass the ordering of all virtue in the Christian life

Temporal Goods and the Three Temptations #

• Wealth (concupiscence of eyes): possessions and material goods
• Bodily delights (concupiscence of flesh): pleasures and sensual gratification
• Honor (pride of life): glory, fame, and human recognition
• These three categories encompass all earthly goods (1 Jn. 2:16)

Notable Quotes #

“It should be considered that since he said, ‘Hear my words,’ he sufficiently signifies that the Lord’s speech is formed by all the precepts by which Christian life is formed to be perfect.” — Augustine, cited by Thomas regarding the Sermon on the Mount

“The sermon which the Lord proposed in the mountain contains the whole informing of Christian life in which perfectly the inward motions of man are ordered.” — Thomas Aquinas

“The Lord ordered the intention of man teaching that in the goods which we do we neither seek human glory nor earthly wealth.” — Thomas Aquinas, on Christ’s teaching about interior disposition

“The difference between a consul and a precept is that a precept implies necessity, a consul implies choice for the one to whom it is given.” — Thomas Aquinas

“Therefore, suitably in the new law, which is the law of liberty, above the precepts are added the consuls.” — Thomas Aquinas, on why counsels appear only in the New Law

“The consuls are necessary to be about those things to which better and more expeditiously a man is able to achieve the foresaid end.” — Thomas Aquinas, defining the scope of counsels

“All particular consuls are reduced to those three general and perfect [counsels]: poverty, chastity, and obedience.” — Thomas Aquinas

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Does the Gospel insufficiently order man regarding interior acts? #

Answer: No. The Sermon on the Mount contains the complete formation of Christian life. Christ perfects the law by extending precepts from exterior acts to interior motions (will, intention, desires, judgments).

Q2: Why does the Gospel appear to omit most of the Ten Commandments and judicial precepts? #

Answer: Christ does not omit them but perfects them by addressing the interior dimension the Pharisees neglected. He orders the will and intention, teaching that interior dispositions must be reformed. Judicial precepts remain in principle but are left to prudential judgment rather than fixed in a specific determinate form.

Q3: What happened to the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law? #

Answer: They are fulfilled spiritually in the New Law. The bodily worship prescribed in the Mosaic Law is transformed into spiritual worship “in spirit and in truth.” Ceremonial precepts are no longer binding in their material form.

Q4: Does Christ prohibit all concern for food and clothing? #

Answer: No. He prohibits only disordered solicitude. Legitimate natural care for necessities remains. There are four disorders to avoid: (1) making temporal things one’s end, (2) despairing of God’s aid, (3) presuming one’s own effort suffices, (4) worrying about future needs.

Q5: Does Christ prohibit all judgment of others? #

Answer: No. He prohibits disordered judgment (rash, unjust, presumptuous judgment). Judgment of justice is necessary and remains lawful. The precept concerns the interior disposition (avoiding uncharitable judgment) rather than abolishing the virtue of justice.

Q6: What is the difference between precepts and counsels in the New Law? #

Answer: Precepts command what is necessary for salvation and achieving beatitude. Counsels invite to perfection beyond necessity. Precepts bind all; counsels bind only those capable and called to them. The New Law is called “law of liberty” because it adds counsels to precepts.

Q7: Are the evangelical counsels the same for all? #

Answer: The counsels are universally expedient in themselves (poverty, chastity, obedience are simply better than wealth, marriage, self-will). However, their observance is determined by individual capacity and calling. Complete observance belongs to the religious state; partial observance can occur in particular circumstances for all Christians.