Whether the Ceremonies of the Old Law Ceased at the Coming of Christ?
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.
Obj. 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 (Matt. 8:4). Therefore the
ceremonies of the Old Law did not cease at Christ's coming.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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
stated above (Q. 102, A. 4, ad 10; A. 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 (Q. 101, AA. 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" (Isa. 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 Obj. 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 Obj. 2: The mystery of the redemption of the human race was
fulfilled in Christ's Passion: hence Our Lord said then: "It is
consummated" (John 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" (Matt. 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 Obj. 3: The literal reasons already given (Q. 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 Obj. 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.
________________________