SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS AND NATURAL LAW

(A WRITTEN DISCUSSION FOR FSUU ETHICS COLLEGE STUDENTS)

BY FR. JOSEPH A.Y. GARRIDO, MATPh

20 0CTOBER 2022

WHAT IS THE LAW?

Do we need laws? Daghan sa atoa dili ganahan ug balaod. LAWS seem to hinder or block freedom. Is it
true? What if there are no more laws? Can we say that this is what life is? Kanang ikaw ra ang magbuot
unsay maayo unsay dili?

ENTER THOMAS AQUINAS…

As a Christian, Saint Thomas Aquinas believes that laws are important to humanity. Primarily for him,
laws are from GOD. Based on our Judeo-Christian faith, we received God’s word from our elders
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc.). This becomes the guiding principle for Jews. Through Moses, God gave to us
the 10 Commandments. Thus, Thomas Aquinas believes that the greatest of all laws that govern
humanity is the law of God - Divine Law. This law is eternal. The divine law then becomes the bases of all

human laws. This law is called positive law which simply means “established” by society. More so, Saint
Thomas Aquinas said that there is a law from within or a law that is embedded in our nature. He called
this natural law. This law is based on our being rational. Now let us roughly define these laws:

1. ETERNAL LAW OR DIVINE LAW

 This law is God’s plan for us. Believers like Christians, have the Bible as our source. In the
church, we called it Divine Revelation.
 As explained above, some examples of these are obviously the 10 Commandments, or
Jesus’ summary of it, which is “to love God and to love our neighbor”.
 Other religions like Islam follows Qur-an, Hindus have their sacred vedas too.
2. POSITIVE LAW OR HUMAN LAW
 As humanity becomes modernized, politics becomes developed and society becomes
more diverse. Other than centered on religions, governments were established as
separate entities to religions.
 Consequently, rules and regulations have to be promulgated. Kings and leaders of the
polis have to make sure that society is in order. This means laws must be made.
 Without any judgment, one cannot simply discard the teachings of the church and the
government is part of that. Thus, in this case, human laws have to be still rooted in
divine law. It is not because governments are under the control of the hierarchical
church but because the laws of God being given in the Church is a good springboard to
making humane laws.
 Reflection: Laws should be made to safeguard the weak, to secure the ordinary citizens,
and to uplift the common good. Kung ang paghimo sa mga tawhanong balaod wala
nakaugat sa Diyosnong mga balaod na adunay posibilidad nga kini dili para sa kaayohan
sa tanan kondili alang lamang sa kaayohan sa pipila. Atheists can argue that we do not
 need God to create good laws but they cannot deny that all human governments have
been founded from the foundation of the divine laws.
3. NATURAL LAW OR LAW AS BEING RATIONAL
 More so, our discussion here is not about eternal law or human law. Our focus is on this
so-called NATURAL LAW.
 Natural comes from the root word NATURE. Aristotle said that what makes us especially
is our human nature. Not like animals who act through instincts and emotions, our
human nature is RATIONALITY.
 HUMAN BEINGS ARE RATIONAL BEINGS. This rationality enables the person to recognize
what is good and what is bad. Created by God, we are creatures that can understand
what is right and what is wrong. Animals do not have that capacity. Kita na ka ug lion
nga niingon sa baka, “Gutom ra ba kaayo pero nakonsensya man ko, dili ta lang ka kan-
on”? Or iring nga niduol nimo pagkabuntag nga naghilak ug miingon, “sorry kayo maam
wa gyud koy makaon gabii maong ang imong pinaksiw na lang akong gikaon”? Nope.
They do not do that. This is not part of their nature. Human? Yes we can. Because we
have rationality.
 Saint Thomas Aquinas said that as human beings there is that law from within that
governs us. This is called “CONSCIENCE”. Ang tawo dunay konsensya ug sa panahon sa
kalisod ug pagsulay pwede niya paminawon unsay giingon sa iyang konsensya. In
religious terms, we sometimes describe conscience as “the voice of God from within”.
Naa pa ba kay konsensya? Conscience is there not to condemn you as sinner but to warn
you and to help you decide in times of ethical dilemma or moral dilemma. In times of
difficulties to decide in life, listen to your conscience. For Saint Thomas Aquinas, our
nature as rational beings is a nature inclined to God. And this Natural law follows three
tenets:

THE THREE TENETS OF NATURAL LAW:

1. SELF-PRESERVATION
 As human beings, it is always natural and automatic that we want to preserve
ourselves or our lives. The law within says, “I WANT TO LIVE”.
 Application: This is the root why the church condemns suicide and death penalty.
Though presently science says that suicide is not a pure evil act but a sign of mental
illness or mental sickness mao nga mamisahan na ang patay. More so, ALL LIFE has
to be respected that is why the church is also against death penalty.
 Reflection: Killing oneself goes against the natural law of self-preservation. This is
why we can justify “self-defense”. To kill someone is wrong but when you do it for
the sake of saving yourself, then the natural law states that it is the right thing to do.
(Or his just war theory? It is also a self-defense argument. Anti death penalty
advocates often ran to this kind of argument: “why do we kill people who kill people
to show that killing people is wrong?”
 Jesus died so that we will live. This is our Christian teaching right? If God saves us
from death, we may also appreciate how precious our life is no matter what
circumstances we are right now. In fact, I heard people having greater “shit” in life
 than us telling me, “Nah Father, ang importante buhi, maningkamot lang ta ani
gyud”.
2. PROCREATION AND REARING OF CHILDREN
 As human beings, our nature is to seek intimacy. Intimacy leads to sexual
expression. Thus, to be sexual is a human nature. But is intimacy the only purpose of
sex?
 This is where the church is at odds with the medical community or even
governments or of its own people. The church believes that sexual activity is not just
about intimacy. Dili mag sex para magpalami lang. Sex also ha sa telos or goal or end
or purpose - this is procreation.
 When one have intimate moments leading to sexual activity, the church reminds us
that it is not just about pleasure but also the possibility of a new life because that is
also part of our nature.
 In sex, God made a man and a woman a co-creator. Only God can create a human
being but in sex God share this power to the couple or even to the woman who will
conceive. Sex might be too human an act but it is also divine. Divine in the sense
that you give yourself to the other and in doing so you give to the world a new
creature - a new life - the baby that will soon be born - a new creation indeed.
 APPLICATION: This is also why the church see sexual activity as a marital act. It is an
act only for married couples. Kung magbuhat mo sa pakighilawas apan dili minyo
syempre dili gyud na priority ninyo ang procreation, the priority is pleasure. In this
case, we go against our nature as procreators.
 REFLECTION: On the other hand, the church is also attacked because of this teaching
on procreation. Ingon sa uban, “Sayop daw ang giingon sa bible nga ‘Go to the world
and multiply” kay daghan na daw tawo sa kalibutan unta lisod ang economic
situation. As a result, population control to alleviate poverty is being pushed. Thus
promoting contraceptives and even abortion hiding in the guise of reproductive
health. Yes, reproductive health is very essential but the church continues to argue
with some of the things on it calling them anti-life.
 MORE SO: The societal concerns are true. The end of sex is procreation and yet
LISOD PUD KUNG SIGE RA UG SEX UNYA SIGE PANGANAK UNYA WAY IKABUHI. The
natural law states. “...AND REARING OF CHILDREN” in bisaya PAGPADAKO UG
PAGMATUTO SA MGA ANAK.
 DILI LANG MAG BREEDING NGA MURA TAG MGA ANAY NGA BABOY ANI.
Procreation is not just about sex but it is also about the capacity to feed the
children, to give them a good life, and the capacity to send them to school. In the
first place, children did not ask to be born but because of their parents they were
born. Now, kung walay ikapa eskwela ug ikapakaon dili sa lang unta magpalabi sa
panginahanglang lawasnon.
 In this case, you may say MAO NA FATHER MAG-PROTECTION. It is up to you to
follow your conscience. The point here is that deep within there is that voice that
tells us what is right and what is wrong.
3. SEARCH FOR TRUTH
 Saint Thomas Aquinas believes that as rational beings WE ARE SEARCHERS OF
TRUTH.
 Deep within us is this hunger to know the truth, to make sense of life, to discover
one's purpose, to achieve the good, to see God.
 In other words, we are curious about things but more than curiosity we seek for the
meaning of life, we shun ignorance, and we want to live life rightly.
 In this sense, no matter how chaotic the world is as long as we continue searching
for truth we can arrive at an understanding of existence.
 In fact, for Saint Thomas Aquinas, all searches and seeking will hopefully end in
seeing the ONE, THE TRUTH, THE GOOD, THE BEAUTIFUL - GOD. HE CALLED THIS
BEATIFIC VISION