The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
Does the Eternal Law Change?
November 2, 1998
Aquinas rules that natural law can change by addition. For instance, prior to abortion, there was no consideration in natural law for abortion, as stated in yesterday’s lesson.
This is not to propose that the eternal law is also changeable, for the very word eternal dictates unchanging, for if something is eternal, it exists forever.
In discussing whether laws change, Aquinas explains that the eternal law does not change because it is derived from the unchanging Divine Reason:
The natural law is a participation of the eternal law … and therefore endures without change, owing to the unchangeableness and perfection of the Divine Reason, the Author of nature. But the reason of man is changeable and imperfect: wherefore his law [human law] is subject to change. (ST I-II, Q. 97, Art. 1)
Therefore, though natural law did not consider abortion prior to the existence of abortion, the act itself has always been in violation of eternal law. Once abortion was invented, its inherent evil was revealed to man.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
