Participation and the Natural Law

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What is the deep philosophical connection between divine wisdom and human moral reasoning? Professor Rudi te Velde, member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, unveils Aquinas’ revolutionary understanding of natural law as the eternal law profoundly imprinted on rational creatures. Learn how this concept of participation empowers human self-government, offering insight into the source of our deepest ethical principles and the nature of the good life.

The comprehensive and systematic character of Thomas Aquinas’ thought has for centuries informed inquiry into questions of human dignity, freedom, economic development, work, poverty, the environment, and other issues of global significance. Celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Aquinas, exploring the ongoing importance of his thought to contemporary cultural, philosophical, and theological discussions. In gathering many of the most accomplished contemporary scholars of Aquinas’ thought from throughout the world working on themes in Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Anthropology, Political Theory, Christology, Trinitarian Theology, Sacramental Theology and Ecclesiology, among others, this series promotes fruitful interchange of diverse perspectives on the importance of Aquinas in the world today.

Professor Rudi te Velde’s keynote address, “Signatum EST Superos: Participation and Natural Law,” explores Thomas Aquinas’s foundational text on natural law, Lex naturalis found in the Summa Theologiae. Te Veldi acknowledges the vast amount of scholarship on natural law over the last 800 years, but argues for a closer look at Aquinas’s specific use of the concept of participation.

Te Velde begins by presenting Aquinas’s definition: natural law is “nothing else than the participation of the Eternal law in the rational creature”. This means natural law is the eternal law as it is participated in by the specific creature endowed with reason (ourselves).

A core concern of the address is the misinterpretation often found in contemporary literature, which reformulates the definition to say that natural law participates in the eternal law. This shift, according to te Velde, emphasizes a theological dependence where natural law is viewed as needing to be related to God’s transcendent law to fulfill its normative role. Such readings often stress the dependence on Divine wisdom and betray a lack of trust in human reason.

Te Velde proposes a reading with a dual focus: the relationship between the eternal law and natural law, and the relationship between nature (what we are) and reason. He suggests that the three constitutive dimensions of natural law—law of reason, law of nature, and law of God—should be viewed as different depth dimensions of a single law, the law of reason.

The key to understanding Aquinas’s formulation lies in the context surrounding the quote from Psalm 4: “The light of your face, O Lord, is shined upon us” (signatum EST superos). Te Velde explains that signatum means “marked, inscribed, impressed”. Participation is used here in the sense of receiving an impression (impressio) that becomes part of our created nature.

This interpretation emphasizes a downward movement. The impression of God’s light is received not in a superficial way, but as a natural light that constitutes us in our own intellectual nature*. This total dependency (creation) leads to an imminent order, enabling human beings to know the truth by themselves and discern good and evil. Thus, the natural law is the light of practical reason that constitutes man in his moral agency, allowing for rational self-government.

Rational creatures participate in God’s Providence in an excellent way because they not only are ruled by it but also rule themselves in their acts. This participation is self-reflective, taking the form of the light of practical reason in which the first normative principles are naturally known.

Te Velde also addresses the role of natural inclinations, which serve to specify the first precept of practical reason: “do what is good and avoid what is bad.” Inclinations are not external facts or mere biological urges; rather, they are included in every freely willed act. Crucially, inclinations only become normative principles when they are apprehended by reason as good. For example, the inclination to preserve life becomes the precept “thou shalt not kill” because reason acknowledges life as a fundamental good. To choose suicide, therefore, involves a practical contradiction, as it cancels the basic value (life) that serves as the ground and meaning for all other values.

In conclusion, Te Velde contends that the two modern alternatives—natural law without eternal law (secularism) or natural law intrinsically dependent on eternal law (theonomy)—are based on a false assumption. There is no natural law without eternal law, because natural law is the Eternal law as participated in the rational creature. The normative force stems from the light of practical reason reflecting this eternal Law, guiding human self-government.

The following are the top five takeaways from Professor Rudi te Velde’s address concerning Aquinas’s view on natural law and participation:

Definition of Natural Law: Natural law is fundamentally defined by Aquinas as “nothing else than the participation of the Eternal law in the rational creature”. This asserts that natural law *is the eternal law as it is participated in by the human being.
Participation as Impression: Participation is interpreted as a downward movement where the rational creature receives an “impression (impressio)” or is “marked, inscribed, impressed” (signatum) by the Divine Light. This impression is received not externally, but as a natural light that constitutes human intellectual nature.
Natural Law Constitutes Reason: This light becomes the inherent faculty of the rational creature, allowing humans to know the truth by themselves and discern good and evil. Natural law is therefore the light of practical reason.
Enabling Self-Government: The unique way in which rational creatures participate in God’s Providence is by ruling themselves in their acts. This makes natural law the law of rational self-government, providing human beings with a normative principle of their own.
Inclinations Require Rational Apprehension: Natural inclinations (such as the inclination to preserve life) do not immediately have normative value. They only become precepts of natural law and sources of moral obligation when their object is apprehended by reason as good.

• “natural law is defined as nothing else than the participation of the Eternal law in the rational creature“ (This is the foundational definition from Aquinas that Professor Tel analyzes.)

• “The light of your face, O Lord, is shined upon us” (This passage from Psalm 4, often quoted by Thomas, illustrates the relationship between Divine Light and natural human reason.)

• “The Light of your face, Lord, is written on us“ (Te Velde uses this text to show that the Divine Light is received as a natural light that constitutes our intellectual nature.)

• “the natural law is nothing other than an imprint of impressio… nothing other than impressional impression of the Divine Light on us” (Professor te Velde explains that participation should be understood as the rational creature receiving an impression (impressio) of the Divine Light.)

• “natural law is nothing but the Eternal law as participated in the rational creature“ (Professor te Velde rejects the false assumption that natural law can exist without the eternal law or that it is merely subordinate to it.)