justice, thus all the precepts of the Law justified man, but in
various ways. Because the ceremonial precepts taken as a whole
contained something just in itself, in so far as they aimed at
offering worship to God; whereas taken individually they contained
that which is just, not in itself, but by being a determination of
the Divine law. Hence it is said of these precepts that they did not
justify man save through the devotion and obedience of those who
complied with them. On the other hand the moral and judicial
precepts, either in general or also in particular, contained that
which is just in itself: but the moral precepts contained that which
is just in itself according to that "general justice" which is "every
virtue" according to _Ethic._ v, 1: whereas the judicial precepts
belonged to "special justice," which is about contracts connected
with the human mode of life, between one man and another.

Reply Obj. 1: The Apostle takes justification for the execution of
justice.

Reply Obj. 2: The man who fulfilled the precepts of the Law is said
to live in them, because he did not incur the penalty of death, which
the Law inflicted on its transgressors: in this sense the Apostle
quotes this passage (Gal. 3:12).

Reply Obj. 3: The precepts of human law justify man by acquired
justice: it is not about this that we are inquiring now, but only
about that justice which is before God.
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QUESTION 101

OF THE CEREMONIAL PRECEPTS IN THEMSELVES
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the ceremonial precepts: and first we must
consider them in themselves; secondly, their cause; thirdly, their
duration. Under the first head there are four points of inquiry:

(1) The nature of the ceremonial precepts;

(2) Whether they are figurative?

(3) Whether there should have been many of them?

(4) Of their various kinds.
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 101, Art. 1]

Whether the Nature of the Ceremonial Precepts Consists in Their
Pertaining to the Worship of God?

Objection 1: It would seem that the nature of the ceremonial precepts
does not consist in their pertaining to the worship of God. Because,
in the Old Law, the Jews were given certain precepts about abstinence
from food (Lev. 11); and about refraining from certain kinds of
clothes, e.g. (Lev. 19:19): "Thou shalt not wear a garment that is
woven of two sorts"; and again (Num. 15:38): "To make to themselves
fringes in the cor