|
Objection 1: It would seem that the ceremonies of the Old Law did
not cease at the coming of Christ. For it is written (Bar
4:1): "This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law
that is for ever." But the legal ceremonies were part of the Law.
Therefore the legal ceremonies were to last for ever.
Objection 2: Further, the offering made by a leper after being
cleansed was a ceremony of the Law. But the Gospel commands the
leper, who has been cleansed, to make this offering (Mt. 8:4).
Therefore the ceremonies of the Old Law did not cease at Christ's
coming.
Objection 3: Further, as long as the cause remains, the effect
remains. But the ceremonies of the Old Law had certain reasonable
causes, inasmuch as they were ordained to the worship of God, besides
the fact that they were intended to be figures of Christ. Therefore
the ceremonies of the Old Law should not have ceased.
Objection 4: Further, circumcision was instituted as a sign of
Abraham's faith: the observance of the sabbath, to recall the
blessing of creation: and other solemnities, in memory of other
Divine favors, as state above (Question 102, Article 4, ad
10; Article 5, ad 1). But Abraham's faith is ever to be
imitated even by us: and the blessing of creation and other Divine
favors should never be forgotten. Therefore at least circumcision and
the other legal solemnities should not have ceased.
On the contrary, The Apostle says (Col. 2:16,17): "Let
no man . . . judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a
festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths, which are a
shadow of things to come": and (Heb. 8:13): "In saying a
new (testament), he hath made the former old: and that which
decayeth and groweth old, is near its end."
I answer that, All the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law were
ordained to the worship of God as stated above (Question 101,
Articles 1,2). Now external worship should be in proportion to
the internal worship, which consists in faith, hope and charity.
Consequently exterior worship had to be subject to variations according
to the variations in the internal worship, in which a threefold state
may be distinguished. One state was in respect of faith and hope,
both in heavenly goods, and in the means of obtaining them---in both
of these considered as things to come. Such was the state of faith and
hope in the Old Law. Another state of interior worship is that in
which we have faith and hope in heavenly goods as things to come; but
in the means of obtaining heavenly goods, as in things present or
past. Such is the state of the New Law. The third state is that in
which both are possessed as present; wherein nothing is believed in as
lacking, nothing hoped for as being yet to come. Such is the state of
the Blessed.
In this state of the Blessed, then, nothing in regard to worship of
God will be figurative; there will be naught but "thanksgiving and
voice of praise" (Is. 51:3). Hence it is written concerning
the city of the Blessed (Apoc. 21:22): "I saw no temple
therein: for the Lord God Almighty is the temple thereof, and the
Lamb." Proportionately, therefore, the ceremonies of the
first-mentioned state which foreshadowed the second and third states,
had need to cease at the advent of the second state; and other
ceremonies had to be introduced which would be in keeping with the state
of divine worship for that particular time, wherein heavenly goods are
a thing of the future, but the Divine favors whereby we obtain the
heavenly boons are a thing of the present.
Reply to Objection 1: The Old Law is said to be "for ever"
simply and absolutely, as regards its moral precepts; but as regards
the ceremonial precepts it lasts for even in respect of the reality
which those ceremonies foreshadowed.
Reply to Objection 2: The mystery of the redemption of the human
race was fulfilled in Christ's Passion: hence Our Lord said then:
"It is consummated" (Jn. 19:30). Consequently the
prescriptions of the Law must have ceased then altogether through their
reality being fulfilled. As a sign of this, we read that at the
Passion of Christ "the veil of the temple was rent" (Mt.
27:51). Hence, before Christ's Passion, while Christ was
preaching and working miracles, the Law and the Gospel were
concurrent, since the mystery of Christ had already begun, but was
not as yet consummated. And for this reason Our Lord, before His
Passion, commanded the leper to observe the legal ceremonies.
Reply to Objection 3: The literal reasons already given (Question
102) for the ceremonies refer to the divine worship, which was
founded on faith in that which was to come. Hence, at the advent of
Him Who was to come, both that worship ceased, and all the reasons
referring thereto.
Reply to Objection 4: The faith of Abraham was commended in that
he believed in God's promise concerning his seed to come, in which
all nations were to blessed. Wherefore, as long as this seed was yet
to come, it was necessary to make profession of Abraham's faith by
means of circumcision. But now that it is consummated, the same thing
needs to be declared by means of another sign, viz. Baptism, which,
in this respect, took the place of circumcision, according to the
saying of the Apostle (Col. 2:11, 12): "You are
circumcised with circumcision not made by hand, in despoiling of the
body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ, buried with
Him in Baptism."
As to the sabbath, which was a sign recalling the first creation, its
place is taken by the "Lord's Day," which recalls the beginning of
the new creature in the Resurrection of Christ. In like manner other
solemnities of the Old Law are supplanted by new solemnities: because
the blessings vouchsafed to that people, foreshadowed the favors
granted us by Christ. Hence the feast of the Passover gave place to
the feast of Christ's Passion and Resurrection: the feast of
Pentecost when the Old Law was given, to the feast of Pentecost on
which was given the Law of the living spirit: the feast of the New
Moon, to Lady Day, when appeared the first rays of the sun, i.e.
Christ, by the fulness of grace: the feast of Trumpets, to the
feasts of the Apostles: the feast of Expiation, to the feasts of
Martyrs and Confessors: the feast of Tabernacles, to the feast of
the Church Dedication: the feast of the Assembly and Collection,
to feast of the Angels, or else to the feast of All Hallows.
|
|