Are there in God's law any precepts relating to faith?
Yes, in God's law there are certain precepts relating to faith, especially in the New Law (XVI. 1, 2).
Why especially in the New Law?
Because in the Old Law there were no precepts treating in detail the things to be believed; God thought it not yet necessary to impose these truths in their details on the faith of all people (XVI. 1).
These truths that are now expanded in detail, at least those that regard the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. and are imposed on the faith of all, why were they not imposed on all in the Old Testament?
Because in the Old Testament the mysteries relating to Jesus Christ existed only in the state of promise as it were or of figure, and it was reserved to Jesus Christ Himself to reveal to men in their plenitude the two essential mysteries of our faith, namely, those of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
What then were the people under the Old Law bound to believe?
As regards these two mysteries they were not bound to believe anything explicitly; but they believed them in an implicit way by believing in the perfection of God and in His repeated promises of salvation (XVI. 1).
Was this sufficient for them to be able to make an act of supernatural faith?
Yes.
Is our state to be preferred to that of the people under the Old Law?
There is no comparison between our state and that under the Old Law.
In what does this superiority consist?
It consists in this, that these mysteries are now manifested to us directly as they are in themselves, although in a way that is veiled and obscure; whereas under the Old Law they were unknown except implicitly, and in a vague and figurative sense.
Next - The Catechism of the Summa -SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - IV. OF THE PRECEPTS RELATING TO FAITH -- OF THE CATECHISM, AND OF THE SUMMA OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (B)
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