First,
they provide criteria for judging who we are
and how we should act. By explicitating the moral memory and value-experience of the community, moral
norms afford us a broader basis for judging than our own limited
personal moral experience. Secondly, moral norms/laws help our
moral development, especially in the formation of conscience, by
expressing typical patterns of moral behavior and human values. Thirdly,
they provide stability and consistency in our lives by
acting as a constant and reliable point of reference. Universal negative moral
laws indictate the minimum below which moral acts cannot sink. It would be
humanly impossible to decide every moral issue “from zero,” i.e., with no precedent
or guide. Lastly, positive norms/laws can also challenge us
by stretching us in view of an ideal, or correcting
us by illuminating our faults.
804. But many Filipinos tend to confuse morality
with legality: if something is legal, permissible by law,
they think it must be morally good. This misunderstanding ignores the
difference between positive civil law which judges crimes against
the state, and authentic moral law which is the objective norm for
judging sin. Something is legal when it does not contradict any
law of the state, but it is morally good only if its nature, intention
and circumstances are positively good for the person as person-in-community,
that is, according to moral norms. The functions of moral norms
can best be seen in Sacred Scripture.
II. Law in Scripture
805. The Old Testament.
Through His revealing word, God gave to Israel, His chosen people, the Law
of the Covenant (cf. CCC 1961-64). This
Law or Torah, called by various names such as instruction, witness,
precept, and word, went far beyond the limits of merely human
law. It governed the whole Covenant relationship. The priests
promulgated the law to Israel
(cf. Dt 33:10), instructing the people in the knowledge of Yahweh and
His ways (cf. Jer 18:18; 5:4). The prophets reproached the
priests for failing in their duty to the Law (cf. Ez 22:26; Hos 4:6),
and warned: “Cursed be the one who does not observe the terms of this covenant”
(Jer 11:3). The Wisdom authors extolled the Law: “The book of the
Most High’s covenant, the law which Moses commanded us, . . . overflows . . .
with wisdom” (Sir 24:22f), and the psalmist sang:
806. The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing
the soul.
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom
to the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart.
The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the
eyes. . .
The ordinances of the Lord are true, and all of them
just.
(Ps
19;8-10; cf. Ps 119 passim; 147:19f)
807. The Old Testament Law covered not only
moral demands, and prescriptions for religious ritual, but even legal
stipulations for social behavior as well. Instructive for us are certain basic
characteristics.
a) The
Law flowed directly from the Covenant relationship
of Yahweh’s loving call creating His Chosen people. This means the whole law
was based on the vision and values of God’s Covenant with His people.
b) Obedience,
then, to God’s comprehensive Law was the hallmark for the believing Israelite.
All sin was viewed primarily as an offense against the Lord with whom the
Israelites were “bonded” in every aspect of their lives by the Covenant.
c) The
law, then was God’s great gift, bringing great joy
to His people: “In your decrees I rejoice and in your statutes I take delight” (Ps
119).
808. But the history of Old Testament Law has
also unfortunately manifested how all law is dangerously open to the serious
abuse of legalism. The Israelites “without guile” saw the actions
commanded by the law more as symbols of love of God, the Covenant Lord,
than as means of accomplishing specific tasks. Thus seemingly insignificant
acts could have rich devotional potential. But the temptation to mistake the
precept for the value, the external compliance for “obedience of the heart,”
was ever present (cf. Is 29:13; Mt 13:15; Acts 28:26). Two specific
abuses stand out.
a) By putting all the law’s ordinances __
moral, religious, civil and ritual __ on equal footing, an
impossible burden was placed on the people (cf. Lk 11:46), and the
“weightier matter” were lost (Mt 23:23).
b) By so extolling obedient observance of the
law, it seemed that persons could save themselves simply by perfectly keeping
the law, without any need for God’s grace.
809. The New Testament. Even while they vigorously attacked these
abuses, the Old Testament prophets had prophesied the coming of a New Covenant.
“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel . . . . I will place My law
within them, and write it upon their hearts” (Jer 31:31, 33). “I will
put My spirit within you, and make you live by my statutes” (Ez 36:27).
So Christ came not to “abolish the law and the prophets, . . . but to fulfill
them” (Mt 5:17). He did this, first, by inaugurating the new law
of the Kingdom. “The law and the prophets were in force until John. From his
time on, the Good News of God’s Kingdom has been proclaimed” (Lk 16:16).
Secondly, Christ removed the imperfections allowed because of their
“stubborness of hearts” (cf. Mt 19:8) by proclaiming his new commandment
of love which transcends all human wisdom and all morality, and summons his
disciples to the sovereign demands of their calling. “Be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48; cf. CCC 1967-72).
810. This is possible only by the interior
strength offered by the Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13; Acts 1:8). The
presence of the Holy Spirit gives an absolutely new meaning to moral life.
Present in the hearts of the baptized, the Spirit is himself in a way the New
Law which is the law of LOVE. The Spirit signifies
this law because He is love. He realizes it because He is the gift of the love of the Father. He calls to
love because the whole life of the baptized should express this gift
(cf. CCC 1966).
811. Thirdly,
Christ perfected the dietary laws regulating eating and purity of food,
so important in Jewish daily life, by disclosing their “pedagogical” meaning,
and the Sabbath Law by recalling that the sabbath rest is not broken by the
service of God or of one’s neighbor (cf. Mt 12:5; Lk 13:15-16; 14:2-4). Lastly,
he set the precepts of the law in a hierarchical order in which everything
is subordinated to love of God and neighbor. His law of love which
“sums up the law and the prophets” (Mt 7:12) radically transformed the
ancient ‘Golden Rule’ from a law of simple mutual give-and-take to a law of
positive love (cf. CCC 1789, 1970).
812. The Great Commandments. When asked “which commandment in the
law is the greatest?” Jesus replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest
and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Mt
22:37-40; cf. CCC 2055). In this reply Christ brought together two well
known precepts of the Old Testament (Dt 6:5 and Lv 19:18) in a
novel fashion.
First, he
brought out the inner bond between love of God and love of neighbor.
This is stressed in John’s first letter: “We can be sure we love God’s children
when we love God and do what He has commanded” (1 Jn 5:2).
813. Secondly, Christ
exemplified the triple “heart, soul, and strength”
of the “love-of-God-injunction” in his life and teaching.
Old Testament interpreters had identified “heart” with our inner and
outer desires and longings; “soul” with obeying God at the risk even of
one’s life; and “strength” with all one’s resources of wealth, property
and reputation. But these three dimensions must be concretized. One necessary
way is by making use of the rich Filipino cultural terms and values so
expressive of these dimensions: with “buong puso/loob/kalooban”;
with “buong kaluluwa,” and “buong lakas.”
814. Another way is to bring out their social
and contextual effects, as Christ does in his teaching, for example in his
parable of the sower, depicting three groups who failed to respond to God’s
word: the “path” group had no real desire or understanding, so the devil
easily steals away the word from their hearts. The “rocky
soil” group withers away under heat because it has no “soul” to
risk life for God. The “weeds and thorns” group allows other interests to
divide its attention and choke out undivided commitment of resources (strength)
to God (cf. Mt 13:4-9, 18-23).
815. But perhaps the best Scriptural
concretization of loving God with all one’s heart, soul and strength is
not in Christ’s teaching, but in his very life. In his triple
temptation in the desert, Christ first refused to satisfy his own basic
needs in view of an undivided heart for God’s word. Second, in
refusing divine intervention, he risked his life (soul) for God. Finally,
ignoring all enticements of the devil, Jesus committed all his strength
to God alone (cf. Mt 4: 1-11).
816. These temptations were faced by Christ all
through his life as is shown by the jeers at the Cross that parallel the three
temptations. 1) “If you are the Son of God, save yourself!” 2) “He
relied on God, let God rescue him now if He
wants to. For he claimed ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 3) “So he is the
King of Israel.
Let us see him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Mt
27:41). The temptation “Come down from the cross” has echoed through the
centuries. But so too has “Father, . . . not my will, but yours be done” (Lk
22:42).
817. Third, Christ
gave a radically new interpretation to “neighbor.” It is now to be
understood universally, to cover everyone: those in need, as taught by
the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:30-37), and even our
enemies (cf. Mt 5:44). Christ went further and made everyone
“neighbor” by identifying himself with them as Vatican II has pointed
out, “Christ wished to identify himself with his brethren as the object of this
love when he said: ‘As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you
did it for me’ ” (Mt 25:40; cf. AA 8).
818. Fourth, Christ
reduced the whole law and the prophets to this __ and
only this __ double commandment, because “the
law of love is at the heart of each of the commandments. Love is the source of
their value and obligation” (cf. CCC 1971, 2055). “The commandments,
‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you
shall not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in
the saying: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love is the fulfillment
of the law” (Rom 13:9-10).
819. PCP
II focuses on “loving faith,” an
active love like that of Christ, a participation in God’s own love which
comes to us through His Son” (PCP II 71). Thus, love is the summary of
the whole law because it is the reflection in human life of God’s very being.
“Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is
begotten of God and has knowledge of God” (1 Jn 4:7-8).
820. Now we are empowered to love both God and
neighbor since God’s own love “has been poured out in our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). In the strength of this
divine Spirit of love, Christ gave his own command: “This is my commandment:
love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Christ thus overcame
the greatest weakness of the Old Law, namely, it showed people what sin
was without empowering them to avoid it. But now St. Paul declares, “The law of the spirit,
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has freed you from the law of sin and
death. The law was powerless because of its weakening by the flesh. Then God
sent His Son” (Rom 8:2-3).
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