"Divine law is divided into the Old Law and the New Law (q91, a5). The Old and New Law roughly corresponding to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. When he speaks of the Old Law, Thomas is thinking mainly of the Ten Commandments. When he speaks of the New Law, the teachings of Jesus.
Old Law -- commands conduct externally -- reaches humans through their capacity for fear -- Law promised earthly rewards (social peace and its benefits)
New Law -- commands internal conduct -- reaches humans by the example of divine love -- promises heavenly reward" (
Now the divine law derive from eternal law and according to our notes, does so: "Because human reason is insufficient to determine what kinds of behavior correspond to the natural laws assuring the common good, it needs to be supplemented by scripture, which acts as a guide for human reason when rules for acting cannot be derived from the observation of nature alone. (17c1)"
Nonetheless, suffice it to say that divine law is basically the will of God as revealed in the scriptures and is revealed to provide humans with a deeper insight on how to act/administer the law.
Isn't it interesting, though, to see the difference between revelation in the old testament versus the new testament. That is, the old testament, when one thinks of it, has prominent biblical figures performing God's will or commands (specifically the 10 commandments) in hopes, as mentioned above, for some kind of social benefit. The new testament, however, with Jesus, has a different view of God's will, a view which dictates how we feel internally--that is to say, we develop some sense of compassion or love for thy neighbor, something different than acting of out God's commands in the old testament.
Nonetheless, it was interesting to see the different dynamics of divine law as presented in the bible. I never really thought about how the teachings from one part of the bible versus another differ.
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