Catechism of the Catholic Church: Article 1:The Moral Law
In Brief
1975According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes the ways of evil.
1976"Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 90, 4).
1977Christ is the end of the law (cf. Rom 10:4); only he teaches and bestows the justice of God.
1978The natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties.
1979The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.
1980The Old Law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments.
1981The Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts.
1982The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel.
1983The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us.
1984The Law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to perfection: its promises, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.
1985The New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom.
1986Besides its precepts the New Law includes the evangelical counsels. "The Church's holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to his disciples in the Gospel" (LG 42 § 2).
Notes
2 Leo XIII, Libertas præstantissimum: AAS 20 (1887/88),597; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II,90,1.
3 Cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marc, 2,4:PL 2,288-289.
4 Rom 10:4.
5 Leo XIII, Libertas praestantissimum, 597.
6 GS 89 § 1.
7 St. Augustine, De Trin. 14,15,21:PL 42,1052.
8 St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. præc. I.
9 Cicero, Rep. III,22,33.
10 Cf. GS 10.
11 St. Augustine, Conf. 2,4,9:PL 32,678.
12 Pius XII, Humani generis: DS 3876; cf. Dei Filius 2: DS 3005.
13 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 57,1:PL 36,673.
14 Cf. Rom 7:12,14,16.
15 Cf. Gal 3:24.
16 Cf. Rom 7.
17 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,15,1:PG 7/1,1012.
18 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II,107,1 ad 2; cf. Rom 5:5.
19 Heb 8:8, 10; cf. Jer 31:31-34.
20 St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. 1,1:PL 34,1229-1230.
21 Cf. Mt 5:17-19.
22 Cf. Mt 15:18-19.
23 Cf. Mt 5:44,48.
24 Cf. Mt 6:1-6; 16-18.
25 Cf. Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:2-4.
26 Cf. Mt 7:13-14,21-27.
27 Mt 7:12; cf. Lk 6:31.
28 Cf. Jn 15:12; 13:34.
29 Rom 12:9-13.
30 Cf. Rom 14; 1 Cor 5-10.
31 Jn 15:15; cf. Jas 1:25; 2:12; Gal 4:1-7,21-31; Rom 8:15.
32 Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,184,3.
33 St. Francis de Sales, Love of God 8,6.