JEWISH LAW. - In the writings of the New Testament, by L. is often meant, besides the Sinaitic legislation and the books that contain it, also the Old Testament or Mosaic economy, founded on the L., in opposition to the Christian one, informed by faith and Grace (cf. Rom. 6:14 ff.); therefore, not only the five books of Moses, as when the L. is distinguished from the "prophets" and the "other books," that is, the "hagiographa" (Eccl., prologue; cf. Lk. 24:44), and, still less, only the strictly legal parts of the Pentateuch. For the origins, the content and the historical vicissitudes of the L. see MOSES; PENTATEUCH; HEBREWS. The L. in relation to Grace, which is attained through faith, is illustrated above all by St. Paul.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews (v.), to which must be acknowledged, at the very least, no little affinity with the thought of St. Paul, one encounters the antithesis between the economy established through the angels (cf. Acts 7:53), which was only an L. or a revelation (λόγος), and that inaugurated by Christ, which is a salvation (σωτηρία), that is, a religious institution that saves (Hebr. 2:2 ff.); between the first covenant, which was not without defects (ibid. 8:7), and the second, which has its laws written in minds and hearts, rather than on stone (ibid. 8:8 ff.).
St. Paul's judgments on the L. would seem, at first sight, contradictory (F. Prat [v. bibl.], I, p. 214 ff.; A. Schweitzer, Die Mystik des Apostels Paulus, Tübingen 1930, p. 184 ff.; J. Bonsirven [v. bibl.], p. 135). On the one hand, it is said that the L. was given for life and is holy and spiritual (Rom. 7:10 ff., 14); that it was communicated through the angels, with Moses acting as mediator (Gal. 3:19; cf. Hebr. 2:3), whence it is the chief boast of Israel (Rom. 9:4), led by it, as by a pedagogue, to Christ (Gal. 3:24); that by observing it one is declared righteous (Rom. 2:13; 10:5; Gal. 3:12); that it was the shadow of the future Christ (Col. 2:16), in whom it has found its own fulfillment (τέλος; Rom. 10:4). On the other hand, the L. is accused of having brought nothing to perfection (Hebr. 7:19); of being the provoker of God's wrath (Rom. 4:15), because it multiplies transgressions (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 5:20), awakening the moral conscience (Rom. 3:20) without offering the strength to combat sin; whence whoever lives under it is subject to the divine curse (Gal. 3:10). The L. is the letter that kills (II Cor. 3:6), a cause of death and condemnation (ibid. 3:7 ff.; cf. Rom. 7:6), since it is within the realm of the flesh (Rom. 7:5; cf. Gal. 3:3).
What is one to think of such contrasting affirmations? One cannot believe that the severe judgments are due to the ardor with which Paul defends his "Gospel" of freedom from the L. against the attacks of the Judaizers. Indeed, if the Epistle to the Galatians takes us into the thick of this polemic, the Epistle to the Romans is more theoretical and doctrinal. Nor, on the other hand, can the laudatory expressions about the L. be reduced to an expedient of apostolate, to attract the Jews, as the brief panegyric of Rom. 9:4 ff. might lead one to believe. Note that praises and censures alternate, sometimes, in the same context (Rom. 7:7-13 and Gal. 3:19 ff.); which suggests that the anthologies are due to different points of view in considering things.
If Paul looks at the L. theoretically and in itself, he acknowledges its goodness: it comes from God and contains excellent norms for moral conduct. But, with the sense of reality that is his own, he passes immediately to considering the L. in practice, where concupiscence and sin come into play, against which it can do nothing; for, on the contrary, it worsens the situation, since, by forbidding sin, it provokes concupiscence, but does not supply the strength to master it. Is it not, thus, the letter that kills (II Cor. 3:6)? The fault of the L. was to command, without giving the strength to carry out the command. And this provoked in man the illusion of self-sufficiency, of being able to be justified by his own works.
Instead, righteousness was, even under the regime of the L., a fruit of Grace, obtained through faith in the divine promises. The case of Abraham, illuminated in Gal. 3:6-18, and which remains central also in the Epistle to the Romans, is an example of how faith operated before and above the L. The latter, having come much later, could not take away the efficacy of the faith, which had communicated Grace to the righteous of the pre-Mosaic age. For its part, the L. made the relations of fallen humanity with God more difficult, through the multiplication of transgressions; which, nevertheless, a providential plan made serve to demonstrate practically to man his incapacity to be righteous without the aid of Grace (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 5:20). Only through this could the true heirs of the faith and of Abraham's promises observe the L.: an unbearable yoke (cf. Acts 15:10) of innumerable and minute prescriptions, almost as many stumbling blocks on the path of moral and religious life.
However, in the L., understood as the divine Revelation of the Old Testament, there was not only the pedagogical element of the properly legal and ceremonial prescriptions, but also the heritage of the true religion, of monotheism, that is, with its morality and its messianic prophecies. This is the law that Jesus (Mt. 5:17-20) came not to abolish, but to perfect, teaching a more spiritual and more perfect observance of it, which tends to imitate the perfection of the heavenly Father (ibid. 5:21-48).
For the question whether for the righteous of the Old Testament — the heroes who acted under the inspiration and by virtue of faith (Hebr. 11) — sanctifying Grace was also an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, see GRACE. Cf. G. Philips, La Grâce des justes de l'Ancien Testament, in Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 23 (1947), pp. 521-56.
BIBL. besides the entries relating to faith, Grace, justification. L. in the various biblical and theological dictionaries (with very abundant bibl.), cf.: E. Tobac, Le problème de la justification dans le Paul, Louvain 1908, reprint Gembloux 1941, pp. 63-70, 102-14; F. Prat, La théologie de St. Paul, I, 15th ed., Paris 1927, pp. 197-242; F. Amiot, L'enseignement de Paul, I, 5th ed., ibid. 1938, pp. 149-57; J. Bonsirven, L'Évangile de Paul, ibid. 1948, pp. 135-142; L. Cerfaux, Justice et justification, in DIB, IV, coll. 1474-1478 (with bibl.).
Teodorico da Castel San Pietro