Joe Versus the Volcano: St Thomas Aquinas: "The Law of the New Testament is Instilled in Our Hearts"

Monday, 20 July 2009

St Thomas Aquinas: "The Law of the New Testament is Instilled in Our Hearts"

The New Law is the law of the New Testament. But the law of the New Testament is instilled in our hearts. St Paul, quoting the authority of Jeremiah 31:31,33, says: ‘Behold the days shall come, says the Lord; and I will perfect unto the house of Israel, and unto the house of Judah, a new testament’...
..The New Law is chiefly the grace itself of the Holy Ghost, which is given to those who believe in Christ. This is manifestly stated by St Paul who says (Romans 3:27): ‘Where is…your boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith’; for he calls the grace itself of faith ‘a law’. And still more clearly it is written (Romans 8:2): ‘The law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, has delivered me from the law of sin and of death’.

Hence Augustine says that ‘as the law of deeds was written on tables of stone, so is the law of faith inscribed on the hearts of the faithful’; and elsewhere…‘What else are the divine laws written by God Himself on our hearts, but the very presence of His Holy Spirit?’

St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274; Summa Theologiae IaIIae, q.106, a.1)

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Cyril of Alexandria

"After Christ had completed his mission on earth, it still remained necessary for us to become sharers in the divine nature of the Word. We had to give up our own life and be so transformed that we would begin to live an entirely new kind of life that would be pleasing to God. This was something we could do only by sharing in the Holy Spirit....When the time came for Christ to ascend to his heavenly Father, it was necessary for him to be united through his Spirit to those who worshipped him, and to dwell in our hearts through faith."

Basil of Caesarea

"Just as when a sunbeam falls on bright and transparent bodies, they themselves become brilliant too, and shed forth a fresh brightness from themselves, so souls wherein the Spirit dwells, illuminated by the Spirit, themselves become spiritual, and send forth their grace to others. Hence comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of mysteries, apprehension of what is hidden, distribution of good gifts, the heavenly citizenship, a place in the chorus of angels, joy without end, abiding in God, the being made like to God, and, highest of all, the being made God."

Benedict of Nursia

"We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that ‘the eyes of the Lord are looking on the good and the evil in every place’. But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God. To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words ‘Serve the Lord in fear’, and again, ‘Sing praises wisely’, and ‘In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to Thee’. Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in the sight of the Godhead and of His Angels, and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way that our mind may be in harmony with our voice."