Whether the New Law Fulfils the Old?
Objection 1: It would seem that the New Law does not fulfil the Old.
Because to fulfil and to void are contrary. But the New Law voids or
excludes the observances of the Old Law: for the Apostle says (Gal.
5:2): "If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
Therefore the New Law is not a fulfilment of the Old.
Obj. 2: Further, one contrary is not the fulfilment of another. But
Our Lord propounded in the New Law precepts that were contrary to
precepts of the Old Law. For we read (Matt. 5:27-32): "You have heard
that it was said to them of old: . . . 'Whosoever shall put away his
wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you that
whosoever shall put away his wife . . . maketh her to commit
adultery.'" Furthermore, the same evidently applies to the
prohibition against swearing, against retaliation, and against hating
one's enemies. In like manner Our Lord seems to have done away with
the precepts of the Old Law relating to the different kinds of foods
(Matt. 15:11): "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man:
but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Therefore the
New Law is not a fulfilment of the Old.
Obj. 3: Further, whoever acts against a law does not fulfil the law.
But Christ in certain cases acted against the Law. For He touched the
leper (Matt. 8:3), which was contrary to the Law. Likewise He seems
to have frequently broken the sabbath; since the Jews used to say of
Him (John 9:16): "This man is not of God, who keepeth not the
sabbath." Therefore Christ did not fulfil the Law: and so the New Law
given by Christ is not a fulfilment of the Old.
Obj. 4: Further, the Old Law contained precepts, moral, ceremonial,
and judicial, as stated above (Q. 99, A. 4). But Our Lord (Matt. 5)
fulfilled the Law in some respects, but without mentioning the
judicial and ceremonial precepts. Therefore it seems that the New Law
is not a complete fulfilment of the Old.
_On the contrary,_ Our Lord said (Matt. 5:17): "I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil": and went on to say (Matt. 5:18): "One jot or
one tittle shall not pass of the Law till all be fulfilled."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), the New Law is compared to
the Old as the perfect to the imperfect. Now everything perfect
fulfils that which is lacking in the imperfect. And accordingly the
New Law fulfils the Old by supplying that which was lacking in the
Old Law.
Now two things in the Old Law offer themselves to our consideration:
viz., the end, and the precepts contained in the Law.
Now the end of every law is to make men righteous and virtuous, as
was stated above (Q. 92, A. 1): and consequently the end of the Old
Law was the justification of men. The Law, however, could not
accomplish this: but foreshadowed it by certain ceremonial actions,
and promised it in words. And in this respect, the New Law fulfils
the Old by justifying men through the power of Christ's Passion. This
is what the Apostle says (Rom. 8:3, 4): "What the Law could not do
. . . God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh . . .
hath condemned sin in the flesh, that the justification of the Law
might be fulfilled in us." And in this respect, the New Law gives
what the Old Law promised, according to 2 Cor. 1:20: "Whatever are
the promises of God, in Him," i.e. in Christ, "they are 'Yea'." [*The
Douay version reads thus: "All the promises of God are in Him, 'It
is'."] Again, in this respect, it also fulfils what the Old Law
foreshadowed. Hence it is written (Col. 2:17) concerning the
ceremonial precepts that they were "a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ"; in other words, the reality is found in
Christ. Wherefore the New Law is called the law of reality; whereas
the Old Law is called the law of shadow or of figure.
Now Christ fulfilled the precepts of the Old Law both in His works
and in His doctrine. In His works, because He was willing to be
circumcised and to fulfil the other legal observances, which were
binding for the time being; according to Gal. 4:4: "Made under the
Law." In His doctrine He fulfilled the precepts of the Law in three
ways. First, by explaining the true sense of the Law. This is clear
in the case of murder and adultery, the prohibition of which the
Scribes and Pharisees thought to refer only to the exterior act:
wherefore Our Lord fulfilled the Law by showing that the prohibition
extended also to the interior acts of sins. Secondly, Our Lord
fulfilled the precepts of the Law by prescribing the safest way of
complying with the statutes of the Old Law. Thus the Old Law forbade
perjury: and this is more safely avoided, by abstaining altogether
from swearing, save in cases of urgency. Thirdly, Our Lord fulfilled
the precepts of the Law, by adding some counsels of perfection: this
is clearly seen in Matt. 19:21, where Our Lord said to the man who
affirmed that he had kept all the precepts of the Old Law: "One thing
is wanting to thee: If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell whatsoever thou
hast," etc. [*St. Thomas combines Matt. 19:21 with Mk. 10:21].
Reply Obj. 1: The New Law does not void observance of the Old Law
except in the point of ceremonial precepts, as stated above (Q. 103,
AA. 3, 4). Now the latter were figurative of something to come.
Wherefore from the very fact that the ceremonial precepts were
fulfilled when those things were accomplished which they
foreshadowed, it follows that they are no longer to be observed: for
if they were to be observed, this would mean that something is still
to be accomplished and is not yet fulfilled. Thus the promise of a
future gift holds no longer when it has been fulfilled by the
presentation of the gift. In this way the legal ceremonies are
abolished by being fulfilled.
Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (Contra Faust. xix, 26), those
precepts of Our Lord are not contrary to the precepts of the Old Law.
For what Our Lord commanded about a man not putting away his wife, is
not contrary to what the Law prescribed. "For the Law did not say:
'Let him that wills, put his wife away': the contrary of which would
be not to put her away. _On the contrary,_ the Law was unwilling that
a man should put away his wife, since it prescribed a delay, so that
excessive eagerness for divorce might cease through being weakened
during the writing of the bill. Hence Our Lord, in order to impress
the fact that a wife ought not easily to be put away, allowed no
exception save in the case of fornication." The same applies to the
prohibition about swearing, as stated above. The same is also clear
with respect to the prohibition of retaliation. For the Law fixed a
limit to revenge, by forbidding men to seek vengeance unreasonably:
whereas Our Lord deprived them of vengeance more completely by
commanding them to abstain from it altogether. With regard to the
hatred of one's enemies, He dispelled the false interpretation of the
Pharisees, by admonishing us to hate, not the person, but his sin. As
to discriminating between various foods, which was a ceremonial
matter, Our Lord did not forbid this to be observed: but He showed
that no foods are naturally unclean, but only in token of something
else, as stated above (Q. 102, A. 6, ad 1).
Reply Obj. 3: It was forbidden by the Law to touch a leper; because
by doing so, man incurred a certain uncleanness of irregularity, as
also by touching the dead, as stated above (Q. 102, A. 5, ad 4). But
Our Lord, Who healed the leper, could not contract an uncleanness. By
those things which He did on the sabbath, He did not break the
sabbath in reality, as the Master Himself shows in the Gospel: both
because He worked miracles by His Divine power, which is ever active
among things; and because His works were concerned with the salvation
of man, while the Pharisees were concerned for the well-being of
animals even on the sabbath; and again because on account of urgency
He excused His disciples for gathering the ears of corn on the
sabbath. But He did seem to break the sabbath according to the
superstitious interpretation of the Pharisees, who thought that man
ought to abstain from doing even works of kindness on the sabbath;
which was contrary to the intention of the Law.
Reply Obj. 4: The reason why the ceremonial precepts of the Law are
not mentioned in Matt. 5 is because, as stated above (ad 1), their
observance was abolished by their fulfilment. But of the judicial
precepts He mentioned that of retaliation: so that what He said about
it should refer to all the others. With regard to this precept, He
taught that the intention of the Law was that retaliation should be
sought out of love of justice, and not as a punishment out of
revengeful spite, which He forbade, admonishing man to be ready to
suffer yet greater insults; and this remains still in the New Law.
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