Reply Obj. 1:  Whoever are subject to a king, are bound to observe his law which he makes for all in general.  But if he orders certain things to be observed by the servants of his household, others are not bound thereto.

Reply Obj. 2:  The more a man is united to God, the better his state becomes:  wherefore the more the Jewish people were bound to the worship of God, the greater their excellence over other peoples.  Hence it is written (Deut. 4:8):  “What other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies and just judgments, and all the law?” In like manner, from this point of view, the state of clerics is better than that of the laity, and the state of religious than that of folk living in the world.

Reply Obj. 3:  The Gentiles obtained salvation more perfectly and more securely under the observances of the Law than under the mere natural law:  and for this reason they were admitted to them.  So too the laity are now admitted to the ranks of the clergy, and secular persons to those of the religious, although they can be saved without this. ________________________

SIXTH ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 98, Art. 6]

Whether the Old Law Was Suitably Given at the Time of Moses?

Objection 1:  It would seem that the Old Law was not suitably given at the time of Moses.  Because the Old Law disposed man for the salvation which was to come through Christ, as stated above (AA. 2, 3).  But man needed this salutary remedy immediately after he had sinned.  Therefore the Law should have been given immediately after sin.

Obj. 2:  Further, the Old Law was given for the sanctification of those from whom Christ was to be born.  Now the promise concerning the “seed, which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16) was first made to Abraham, as related in Gen. 12:7.  Therefore the Law should have been given at once at the time of Abraham.

Obj. 3:  Further, as Christ was born of those alone who descended from Noe through Abraham, to whom the promise was made; so was He born of no other of the descendants of Abraham but David, to whom the promise was renewed, according to 2 Kings 23:1:  “The man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob . . . said.”  Therefore the Old Law should have been given after David, just as it was given after Abraham.

On the contrary, The Apostle says (Gal. 3:19) that the Law “was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come, to whom He made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator”:  ordained, i.e. “given in orderly fashion,” as the gloss explains.  Therefore it was fitting that the Old Law should be given in this order of time.