Whether There Should Have Been Sacraments After Sin, Before Christ?
Objection 1: It seems that there should have been no sacraments after
sin, before Christ. For it has been stated that the Passion of Christ
is applied to men through the sacraments: so that Christ's Passion is
compared to the sacraments as cause to effect. But effect does not
precede cause. Therefore there should have been no sacraments before
Christ's coming.
Obj. 2: Further, sacraments should be suitable to the state of the
human race, as Augustine declares (Contra Faust. xix). But the state
of the human race underwent no change after sin until it was repaired
by Christ. Neither, therefore, should the sacraments have been
changed, so that besides the sacraments of the natural law, others
should be instituted in the law of Moses.
Obj. 3: Further, the nearer a thing approaches to that which is
perfect, the more like it should it be. Now the perfection of human
salvation was accomplished by Christ; to Whom the sacraments of the
Old Law were nearer than those that preceded the Law. Therefore they
should have borne a greater likeness to the sacraments of Christ. And
yet the contrary is the case, since it was foretold that the
priesthood of Christ would be "according to the order of
Melchisedech, and not . . . according to the order of Aaron" (Heb.
7:11). Therefore sacraments were unsuitably instituted before Christ.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Contra Faust. xix) that "the first
sacraments which the Law commanded to be solemnized and observed were
announcements of Christ's future coming." But it was necessary for
man's salvation that Christ's coming should be announced beforehand.
Therefore it was necessary that some sacraments should be instituted
before Christ.
_I answer that,_ Sacraments are necessary for man's salvation, in so
far as they are sensible signs of invisible things whereby man is
made holy. Now after sin no man can be made holy save through Christ,
"Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His
blood, to the showing of His justice . . . that He Himself may be
just, and the justifier of him who is of the faith of Jesus Christ"
(Rom. 3:25, 26). Therefore before Christ's coming there was need for
some visible signs whereby man might testify to his faith in the
future coming of a Saviour. And these signs are called sacraments. It
is therefore clear that some sacraments were necessary before
Christ's coming.
Reply Obj. 1: Christ's Passion is the final cause of the old
sacraments: for they were instituted in order to foreshadow it. Now
the final cause precedes not in time, but in the intention of the
agent. Consequently, there is no reason against the existence of
sacraments before Christ's Passion.
Reply Obj. 2: The state of the human race after sin and before Christ
can be considered from two points of view. First, from that of faith:
and thus it was always one and the same: since men were made
righteous, through faith in the future coming of Christ. Secondly,
according as sin was more or less intense, and knowledge concerning
Christ more or less explicit. For as time went on sin gained a
greater hold on man, so much so that it clouded man's reason, the
consequence being that the precepts of the natural law were
insufficient to make man live aright, and it became necessary to have
a written code of fixed laws, and together with these certain
sacraments of faith. For it was necessary, as time went on, that the
knowledge of faith should be more and more unfolded, since, as
Gregory says (Hom. vi in Ezech.): "With the advance of time there was
an advance in the knowledge of Divine things." Consequently in the
old Law there was also a need for certain fixed sacraments
significative of man's faith in the future coming of Christ: which
sacraments are compared to those that preceded the Law, as something
determinate to that which is indeterminate: inasmuch as before the
Law it was not laid down precisely of what sacraments men were to
make use: whereas this was prescribed by the Law; and this was
necessary both on account of the overclouding of the natural law, and
for the clearer signification of faith.
Reply Obj. 3: The sacrament of Melchisedech which preceded the Law is
more like the Sacrament of the New Law in its matter: in so far as
"he offered bread and wine" (Gen. 14:18), just as bread and wine are
offered in the sacrifice of the New Testament. Nevertheless the
sacraments of the Mosaic Law are more like the thing signified by the
sacrament, i.e. the Passion of Christ: as clearly appears in the
Paschal Lamb and such like. The reason of this was lest, if the
sacraments retained the same appearance, it might seem to be the
continuation of one and the same sacrament, where there was no
interruption of time.
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