Whether the Old Law Should Have Been Given to the Jews Alone?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law should not have been
given to the Jews alone. For the Old Law disposed men for the
salvation which was to come through Christ, as stated above (AA. 2,
3). But that salvation was to come not to the Jews alone but to all
nations, according to Isa. 49:6: "It is a small thing that thou
shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
convert the dregs of Israel. Behold I have given thee to be the light
of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation, even to the
farthest part of the earth." Therefore the Old Law should have been
given to all nations, and not to one people only.
Obj. 2: Further, according to Acts 10:34, 35, "God is not a respecter
of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh
justice, is acceptable to Him." Therefore the way of salvation should
not have been opened to one people more than to another.
Obj. 3: Further, the law was given through the angels, as stated
above (A. 3). But God always vouchsafed the ministrations of the
angels not to the Jews alone, but to all nations: for it is written
(Ecclus. 17:14): "Over every nation He set a ruler." Also on all
nations He bestows temporal goods, which are of less account with God
than spiritual goods. Therefore He should have given the Law also to
all peoples.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Rom. 3:1, 2): "What advantage then
hath the Jew? . . . Much every way. First indeed, because the words
of God were committed to them": and (Ps. 147:9): "He hath not done in
like manner to every nation: and His judgments He hath not made
manifest unto them."
_I answer that,_ It might be assigned as a reason for the Law being
given to the Jews rather than to other peoples, that the Jewish
people alone remained faithful to the worship of one God, while the
others turned away to idolatry; wherefore the latter were unworthy to
receive the Law, lest a holy thing should be given to dogs.
But this reason does not seem fitting: because that people turned to
idolatry, even after the Law had been made, which was more grievous,
as is clear from Ex. 32 and from Amos 5:25, 26: "Did you offer
victims and sacrifices to Me in the desert for forty years, O house
of Israel? But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the
image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to
yourselves." Moreover it is stated expressly (Deut. 9:6): "Know
therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this excellent land
in possession for thy justices, for thou art a very stiff-necked
people": but the real reason is given in the preceding verse: "That
the Lord might accomplish His word, which He promised by oath to thy
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
What this promise was is shown by the Apostle, who says (Gal. 3:16)
that "to Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He saith
not, 'And to his seeds,' as of many: but as of one, 'And to thy
seed,' which is Christ." And so God vouchsafed both the Law and other
special boons to that people, on account of the promised made to
their fathers that Christ should be born of them. For it was fitting
that the people, of whom Christ was to be born, should be signalized
by a special sanctification, according to the words of Lev. 19:2: "Be
ye holy, because I . . . am holy." Nor again was it on account of the
merit of Abraham himself that this promise was made to him, viz. that
Christ should be born of his seed: but of gratuitous election and
vocation. Hence it is written (Isa. 41:2): "Who hath raised up the
just one form the east, hath called him to follow him?"
It is therefore evident that it was merely from gratuitous election
that the patriarchs received the promise, and that the people sprung
from them received the law; according to Deut. 4:36, 37: "Ye did
[Vulg.: 'Thou didst'] hear His words out of the midst of the fire,
because He loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them." And
if again it asked why He chose this people, and not another, that
Christ might be born thereof; a fitting answer is given by Augustine
(Tract. super Joan. xxvi): "Why He draweth one and draweth not
another, seek not thou to judge, if thou wish not to err."
Reply Obj. 1: Although the salvation, which was to come through
Christ, was prepared for all nations, yet it was necessary that
Christ should be born of one people, which, for this reason, was
privileged above other peoples; according to Rom. 9:4: "To whom,"
namely the Jews, "belongeth the adoption as of children (of God)
. . . and the testament, and the giving of the Law . . . whose are
the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh."
Reply Obj. 2: Respect of persons takes place in those things which
are given according to due; but it has no place in those things which
are bestowed gratuitously. Because he who, out of generosity, gives
of his own to one and not to another, is not a respecter of persons:
but if he were a dispenser of goods held in common, and were not to
distribute them according to personal merits, he would be a respecter
of persons. Now God bestows the benefits of salvation on the human
race gratuitously: wherefore He is not a respecter of persons, if He
gives them to some rather than to others. Hence Augustine says (De
Praedest. Sanct. viii): "All whom God teaches, he teaches out of
pity; but whom He teaches not, out of justice He teaches not": for
this is due to the condemnation of the human race for the sin of the
first parent.
Reply Obj. 3: The benefits of grace are forfeited by man on account
of sin: but not the benefits of nature. Among the latter are the
ministries of the angels, which the very order of various natures
demands, viz. that the lowest beings be governed through the
intermediate beings: and also bodily aids, which God vouchsafes not
only to men, but also to beasts, according to Ps. 35:7: "Men and
beasts Thou wilt preserve, O Lord."
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