In what sense does the moral law remain God's will for the Christian who has been called to freedom in Christ? (Gal 5: 1, 13) To answer this important question, especially now when winds of antinomianism and confusing claims about conscience are blowing through the Church, we can look to Aquinas' distinction between the obliging and compelling forces of the moral law. (Commentary on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians)
Aquinas reflects on two key texts: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17); “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal 5:18)
Paul is talking about the interior freedom of those who are moved by the Spirit. But those moved by the Spirit would not act against the moral laws expressed in the second table of the Decalogue, for these laws have an obliging force: “All the faithful are under the Law, because it was given to all – hence it is said: ‘I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it' [Matt 5:17-19].”
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