Questions to Guide Your Reading

Thomas Aquinas on the Old Law and New Law

1. Why does sin hurt the sinner?  What is man's ultimate goal?  What is the tragedy of sin?

2. In class, I suggested that the traditional Catholic position is that the truths of faith and the truths of reason cannot ultimately contradict, because the One God, who is both Creator and Revealer, is the Author of both.  How might this apply to the relationship between the Ten Commandments and what our natural reason tells us is good.

3. According to Thomas Aquinas, of what two things is man proud?  How does God cure our pride over each?

4.  Discuss the notions of eternal law and divine providence expressed in the encyclical Veritatis splendor.  Having done this, and in light of this discussion, discuss what it means to say that the natural law is a participation in the eternal law, and that man can participate in God's providence.

5. Why should we consider the moral law -- as revealed in the Bible and given to us by God -- as gift and not as a burden?

6. According to Thomas Aquinas, is the Old Law binding on all people at all time?  If yes, why?  If no, why not?  What fundamental distinction helps Thomas to answer this question?

7. What sort of reply might a Christian give to the criticism that the moral commandments found in his or her tradition are not particularly original -- that, indeed, they are to be found in other religions and moral traditions throughout the world?

8. If everyone can know the natural law by the light of his or her natural reason, they why do we need the Ten Commandments?  Why is our reason not a sufficient guide to what is right and wrong?

9. According to Thomas Aquinas, the law has two functions for two different kinds of people.  What are the two different kinds of person, and what is the function of the law with regard to each?

10. According to Thomas Aquinas, what are the two "first and common" principles of the moral law, which are intuitively known by all people?  Does Thomas have any scriptural warrants for suggesting that these are, in fact, the first principles of all the Law of the Old Testament?

11. According to Thomas Aquinas, what are the "simple judgments, of which even the unlearned are capable" that are derived from the two first and common principles of the moral law?  Please list these in order!

12. According to Thomas Aquinas, are there any other moral precepts in the Old Law other than the two first and common precepts and the Ten Commandments of the Law?  If so, name two.

13. According to Thomas Aquinas, all the precepts of the Old Law should be seen as applications of what principles?

14. Keeping in mind the two first and common principles of the moral law, what should we say about all the other precepts of the Old Law?  How should we view them?

15. If we observe the requirements of the Ten Commandments, but we do so not out of love, but out of fear (or greed, or pride), have we, according to Thomas Aquinas, really fulfilled the law?  In other words, is the mode of charity required by the law?

16. What's the basic problem with the written law?  To what element of the human person does a written law appeal?  What can happen with laws that are apprehended only in this way?

17. What is the promise of the prophet Jeremiah with regard to God's people and the Law?